Liquid Metal

[Wolf Fang]

any one have any ideas on painting liquid metal? any tips and pictures would be greatly appreciated! thinking of trying it on a ctan nightbringer for the necron.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Yep; Vallejo Airbrush mettalics.
Smoothest metallics I\'ve every come across.

 

[airhead]

If I understand what you are going at, SENMM is the style you are looking for.

Just google Chrome and look a the beautiful pics:

 

[Einion]

High-gloss black undercoat + one of the Alclad 2 colours (polished chrome?) is the business; best reflective-metal finish I\'ve seen in hobby paints.

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Yep; Vallejo Airbrush mettalics.
Smoothest metallics I\'ve every come across.

Glad you brought them up - wanted to ask which \'silver\' one you thought was brightest, Aluminium maybe? Same with the yellow metals if you\'ve tried them, Gold or Bright Brass?

Einion

 

[cyberakuma]

if you suck at painting like me and stand no chance of doing SENMM or are still reluctant on buying an airbrush just in case you don\'t get the desired effects after spending all that money on the gear there is another way

you can use an electroplating kit basic starter kits cost about £30+ plus and these kits are mainly used for gold or silver plating jewellery but can be used on pretty much any metallic surface

this video shows the idea behind it and a bit of the results though as i\'m sure you can tell the results will look better than they do in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=dObc0mGDFIY

it is possible to use electroplating on plastic but i\'m not sure if you can do it with the cheaper kits as i\'ve never tried it myself but if you\'ve seen model car kits you\'ve seen the chromed plastic parts and there were even some chromed gw sprues done for their anniversary recently so it\'s definately a possible option albeit a tad expensive if you just want to do this effect on a single miniature though there are some model car firms that offer the service of chrome plating your parts so that may work out a cheaper alternative depending on your project

 

[ScottRadom]

Einion-

I think Chrome is the brightest Vallejo air metal, and bright brass is brighter than the gold.

They\'re wonderful stuff!

 

[Einion]

Kewl, thanks Scott. Was already hedging towards the Bright Brass, as the swatch for the Gold made it look pretty dark (not that it\'s anything to go on unfortunately).

Einion

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Einion

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Yep; Vallejo Airbrush mettalics.
Smoothest metallics I\'ve every come across.

Glad you brought them up - wanted to ask which \'silver\' one you thought was brightest, Aluminium maybe? Same with the yellow metals if you\'ve tried them, Gold or Bright Brass?
Einion

Chrome is the brightest of all. Aluminium and Sliver are really great highlight colours for Thinned Boltgun Metal.
There is a Black airbrush Metal, but as yet I\'ve not got the handling of it just right.

The Yellow Metals I\'m not as impressed with, granted they are still smoother than the standard colours, but they do have a more Aged look to them.
I\'ve ended up using them with some thinned washes of browns and then rehighlighted and final highlights with Chrome added in.

 

[Einion]

Thanks Mike. I\'ll try to get some Chrome picked up for me.

Missed this last night:

Originally posted by cyberakuma
you can use an electroplating kit...

Haven\'t seen a mention of electroplating in a while! I\'ve only seen this used on hobby miniatures once or twice (more common on museum pieces) but the effect is simply awesome.

Einion

 

[cyberakuma]

Originally posted by Einion
Thanks Mike. I\'ll try to get some Chrome picked up for me.

Missed this last night:

Originally posted by cyberakuma
you can use an electroplating kit...

Haven\'t seen a mention of electroplating in a while! I\'ve only seen this used on hobby miniatures once or twice (more common on museum pieces) but the effect is simply awesome.

Einion

i agree with you i guess its because of the need to treat it with a lot of care after with some electorplating peeling away and such or that that people think they need the really expensive kits that cost hundreds of pounds to get a good effect the only problem i can really see is getting small details of one colour metal next to another but this is mainly because the cotton bud swabs that come with the kits are as big as the q-tip things you stick in your ear but i\'m sure you can customize some smaller ones

other than that i think its just a case of getting a decent clear coat on the surface after to try and prevent from peeling when its being used/handled and i\'m not so sure on longevity i\'ve seen a few pieces about 6 months or so after they\'ve been done and still look stunning but can\'t say for years to come but then i think that\'d be more effected by proper care etc.

 

[airhead]

would silver/gold leaf be an alternative?

you can get the foils (actually aluminum and brass unless you want to spend more money) and then it is a matter of the underpaint and the foil and a clear coat to protect it.

 

[Wolf Fang]

thanks for all the posts.. still not entirely sure if im going to be trying the liquid metal idea or not. was thinking of using it on a ctan nightbringer for the necron however after some thought im not sure it would look so good on it.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by airhead
would silver/gold leaf be an alternative?

Uh, yeah especially if you burnish after application.

*bangs head on table* should have thought to mention this myself! Not like I don\'t have leaf in the cupboard, bought specifically to try on miniatures!

Einion

 

[cyberakuma]

Originally posted by airhead
would silver/gold leaf be an alternative?

you can get the foils (actually aluminum and brass unless you want to spend more money) and then it is a matter of the underpaint and the foil and a clear coat to protect it.

i think there is a tutorial on it on here somewhere

and as for using it on necrons the necron warriors were some of the sprues GW did in chrome for their anniversary it\'d definately look cool but with necron would have to be something that\'s used across the whole army rather than just one or two models i think