Game Color Set Metallic Colors

The sheen stands and falls with the ground

A metallic colorant works differently from an ordinary pigment. It carries fine shiny flakes that line up flat as it dries and reflect light. For them to line up evenly, the area beneath them has to be smooth. A grainy ground or one dotted with fluff breaks the sheen up and the result looks more like a gray paint with glitter.

Preparing the surface

Shake the bottle for a long time before opening it, as the flakes settle to the bottom faster than ordinary colorant. The best results come from a dark, smoothly laid ground, ideally slightly glossy. A glossy area lets the flakes slide into a plane, a matte one catches them crooked. Apply the base coat thinly, therefore, and in two passes rather than one heavy one, and let it cure properly before painting, not merely dry to the touch.

A brush stroke has a direction

Apply the metallic tones in strokes in one direction, along the length of the area. Crossing strokes will scatter the flakes and it shows in the reflection. Load a little paint, pass over the area and let it dry; a second application is usually enough for full covering. The set will also take use in an airbrush, but thinned and with a coarser nozzle, because the flakes are larger than the particles of an ordinary colorant.

Sealing the coat

Watch out for varnish. A matte product will reliably kill a metallic sheen, because it scatters exactly the light the shade is bought for. So either leave the metal areas unvarnished, or use a gloss or satin product and apply the matte one only to the surrounding material. The same consideration applies to a protective coat before decals are applied: a metal area calls for gloss, the rest of the model does not.