Orange Fire

A fiery orange with no mixing

Orange Fire is a clean, markedly warm orange with no brown haze. It is used on flames, glowing metal and lava bases, but also on the clothing of fantasy characters, where the shade is meant to shout across the whole table. In lighting transitions it forms a natural bridge between red and yellow, so it tends to be the second step when spraying fire from the bottom up.

The most common trouble: drying on the nozzle

Heavily pigmented warm shades tend to settle on the tip of the needle. It shows up as spatter and an interrupted spray after a few seconds of work. The answer is not to raise the pressure but to add a drop or two of flow improver to the cup, which delays drying without thinning the paint to transparency. Airbrush thinner has a different role, it reduces the density, and the two can be combined.

What to combine it with

Orange sits high in the spectrum and over a gray or black base it looks muddy. The best result comes from a white surfacer, or from a yellow intermediate step. The transition that results will then take an overlay of a translucent glaze. Once dry, seal the model with varnish according to what is to follow: gloss under decals and washes, matte as the final surface. Also prepare a cleaning agent for the airbrush and a container for pouring out the remainder, because a rich orange leaves a tint in the chamber that will color the next light paint.

On small areas, such as the embers of a campfire, spray in short bursts from a greater distance. The transition will then stay soft and no sharp edge will form that would have to be blended back afterwards.