True Metallic Metal LiGHT - Forged Red

A metallic red of glowing iron

A metallic red with a warm core shifted toward orange brings into the metallic palette a tone of the kind heated iron or copper colored by fire has. It belongs to the True Metallic Metal system, where every shade exists in several grades according to where it is laid on a model. This bottle carries the brightest of them and is aimed at the edges of blades, at the rims of armor plates and at the points where the surface is to reflect the most light.

When a darkening grade pays off instead of this one

The counterpart is the variant of the same shade intended for shadows. That one is applied into the hollows, under overhangs and into the joints, where light does not reach, and without it metal acts flat even when the sheens are painted carefully. The decision can be made according to the nature of the part: a smooth continuous area will make do with a ground and this bright tone, whereas a broken-up surface with a quantity of rivets, grooves and layers gains more when the dark variant goes into it first. On parts that are looked at from close up it makes sense to have both extreme grades and to paint the transition between them in.

Another possibility is the thinned version for an airbrush, which covers large areas evenly, but a narrow sheen on an edge cannot be laid with it.

Metal particles sink to the bottom, so always stir the contents honestly and work rather with a small amount on the palette that you top up as you go. On a dried-out palette the pigment clumps and the stroke then comes out uneven. A degreased and primed surface is a necessity with metallic paints; on greasy plastic the film draws together.