Gold, Silver & Copper

Metallic shades applied with a brush

A set of four metallic tones from an acrylic range developed for hand painting: silver, gold, old gold and copper. The thicker formula holds on the tip of a brush and does not run, which suits exactly the places where an airbrush has no business — belt buckles, clasps, the hilts of edged weapons, plate armor, candlesticks or coins scattered over the base of a diorama.

The metallic look here is not made by a colored pigment but by very fine metal flakes dispersed in the binder. Working with them therefore has rules of its own. The flakes settle at the bottom, so the bottle has to be stirred down to the last of the sediment. They are applied in two thin layers instead of one thick one, otherwise an uneven film results. And the surface beneath matters more than with opaque paints: over a black base coat the silver comes out cold and hard, over a brown one warm and softer.

The difference between gold and old gold is worth attention. The first is bright and yellowish, the second has a darker tone shifted toward green, which suits oxidized brass, antique objects and anything that is meant to look as if it has lain in dust for several centuries. Copper goes excellently with a dark wash shade: once it has run into the recesses it makes a convincing patina.

The paints are thinned with water or with the thinner of the same brand, they dry matte to semi-matte and they take a protective varnish over them. Fantasy modelers will use them on weapons and artifacts, historical modelers on uniform fittings and ship modelers on the brass elements of deck equipment.