"Color that won't cover ?" Topic

What is the color or colors you have difficulty getting to cover your miniatures?
Mine is yellow. Always has been for many years no matter what paints I use.
The only solution I have come up with is a coat or two of light gray first -- and even this is not always that effective?
Now, unless I just cannot avoid it for historical reasons I just avoid yellow!!

Russ Dunaway

Yep, yellow for me too.

Yellow and sometimes white.

yellow. maybe greyed-out-yellow.

I seldom find a need to employ yellow, but if I had to, I think I'd use enamel if at all possible. I'm a hard-core acrylic user otherwise.

Yellow works fine over white primer if we're talking coat or surcoat color, and generally speaking I don't have trouble with yellow collars or cuffs if I buy a reasonably expensive bottle. (I do sometimes use craft shop paints. I do not use craft shop yellow, and I use craft shop white only as an undercoat.) But yes, acrylic paints are translucent, so light over dark is always potential trouble. If it looks like real grief I use a white or light gray undercoat.

Fortunately, not a lot of yellow uniforms in Western history.

Yellow, some reds, and a few of the lighter browns and tans.

Jim

Yellow for sure

I now do it over white primer – which seems to work fairly OK

I have three units in yellow – a bunch of Chinese boxers, my Imagination SYW Garde battalion and a gaggle of the ever-popular Angry Marines

Red and yellow. For each I've had to find a close color with opaque medium. Army painter has two good darker yellows that work well as a base layer, desert yellow and troll claw. I have to use those first then hit it with a real yellow.

Yellow as well. I will brush on white over anything that I want to paint yellow.

A lot of gold colored paints tend to be crap.

There is a reason why yellow & red have difficulty covering…the pigments used are usually transparent. In order to get truly opaque paints, additives need to be added, which has the negative effect of dulling the colors, or reducing color saturation.

If you want brilliant yellows or reds, you MUST paint over a white basecoat. If you don't, they will always be dull or simply not cover very well.

Damon.

Mine was yellow until I started painting yellow over an ivory base(not white).

I've got a lot more yellow miniatures, now.

Yellow is the devil's color, then orange!

Yellow for me as well.

I find that if you paint the area with Yellow Ochre and then bright yellow, it works well. As mentioned above, a white undercoat helps. The same with orange (but what rhymes with that?)

Mike

There is not much call for yellow in organized armies -- however when doing ancients such as Gauls, Viking, etc. it gets called on a lot from me for my plaids. It torments me more then any color, no matter make, cost, etc.

Russ Dunaway

Agree with the above, but my vote is for VMC White Grey 70.993.

Orange is always a bit crappy. Yellow is not to bad I normal paint over black primer and I found using a base coat of yellow brown or Ochre instead of a straight up yellow, followed by pure yellow highlights, works better. The best yellow paint I've ever found is Revell Aqua colour yellow it has really good coverage.

Yellow, sometimes red. I use a white undercoat for the former and rust brown for latter.

Yellow & some reds in my experience.

Yellow, but I do the same as PRotR and paint a yellowish brown first. Similar with bronze and gold.

For yellow, please try a little trick I learned from recently from the 2021 RVE (Reaper Virtual Expo).
Before applying yellow to an area, paint the area with a base coat of pink. Due to the tint of yellow it is a difficult color to use and a pink base coat works well with allowing it to be a more effective color.
Also, layer on the yellow, and do not go for one day thick coat/layer.

Try artist's colors. Liquitex cadmium red (light and medium) cadmium orange and cadmium yellow. Note the heavy metal, don't lick your brush, expensive and covers black in one coat.

Yellow for me also. I recently had to paint some figures that had some yellow on them. I had to paint over the yellow four times until it finally looked good.

ANY light colour over anything but white primer!

For those who say yellow uniforms are rare;
uniform coats definitely, but lot of units had yellow facings.
South Essex for one.

Yes, for me, yellow, white, and red.

Choose your primer colors and paints wisely. Those of the latter, with higher quality will cover better.

A most informative thread!

Believe it or not, black (not black primer) was a problem. I don't use real black anymore. I use a very dark grey. Shading is black. Highlights are a blue-black called Coal Black.

Thanks for yellow tips.

Use a basecoat of a good, opaque, light leather tan or ochre. I use Reaper Tanned Leather. Not only does it allow the yellow to cover well, but it also gives it depth.

Or look at this nice tutorial from the wonderful "Just Add Water" blog.

link

Also, some paints are better than others and have more pigment in them, so they cover more thoroughly.

I have had good luck with yellow and red using gauche paints.

Tom