Trouble with color shift paint/suggestions

[Sik Willy]

Has anyone had trouble with color shifting paints? I recently picked up a couple colors from turbo dork and just tried putting them through my airbrush and they did NOT want to play. Constant clogging (I think the metallic flakes a kind of large) and paint separation even after lengthy vigorous shaking. Adding thinner didn’t really help. Anyone else encounter this? Also, have any tired using these paints with a traditional brush? Do they apply smoothly/how do they blend? I don’t HAVE to use these paints in my current project, but I was hoping they would archive the effect I was going for.

im doing an imperial knight armiger freeblade in a traditional knight/dragons layer theme. I want to encorporate this into the heraldry. My vision is to do the base armor panel color in form of dragon/wyrm/reptile scales, with the upper portions of the scales in more of a flat color (olive ish) blended into an iridescent shine towards the bottom and onto the edges where the light would catch. I originally planned to do this with thinned/mixed metallics but thought the color shift would give me a better effect. I was attempting/planning to lay the base pattern with an airbrush and stencil, then finish with a traditional be ush. I was trying to to the first blend of the shift paint with the airbrush as well but that’s not happening. Scales are too small and the paint won’t flow for that. I am planning on doing a trompe le oille effect afterward to make the scales look 3d, but need the mid tones and base fades nailed down first.

so even if anyone doesn’t have experience with the color shift paint or making them work, any feedback or suggestions to help me get to my final product will be MUCH appreciated. I have 1 month exactly to finish the project. Thanks!!!

 

[bullfrog]

I’m afraid I’m not going to be of much help regarding the turbo dork paints but I have used the Greenstuff World chameleon paints. I find I have to use a larger needle in my airbrush and crank the Psi up a touch but don’t have much more clogging than regular acrylics. I use a .05 needle and wouldn’t go smaller than .04. I’m not sure if the turbo dork paints are the same but it’s important the paints are sprayed in multiple light coats over a blemish free gloss black undercoat much like Alclad metallics. If you spray them like normal paints they will not work as well...the colour needs to be built up slowly.
Unfortunately with the chameleon paints the effect is extremely sub par if you apply the paint by brush. Although it’s advised against, I tried to paint by brush and the coloushift effect was random and full of brush strokes. The colourshift paints also work better on larger areas. Much of the desired effect may be negated by using a small scale stencil. If I need to brush paint or have smaller areas I tend to use the Lumiere Halo effect paints.

 

[Sik Willy]

Hey man, thanks for your feedback I do appreciate it. I saw this and forgot to respond, but will try your suggestions in the future. I actually scrapped the project because I didn’t like the way the scales were turning out in favor of something else but may revisit it in the future.