Re: Metallic coloring, was: Painting irridium vehicles

Hi folks,

Ok, I've been offline for a day, and have several digests ahead of me so
I'm not exactly sure where this thread has gone, but while I'm thinking
of
it, I'll jump in now.

I was at a hobby show a couple of years back and was admiring some
plastic
airplanes done by a group who had figured out a *really* great metal
effect.  These planes looked pretty much exactly how you would want them
to, as "bare aluminum" (were WWII planes).

Their technique went something like this.  Get some fine aluminum powder
(you can get this at well-stocked hobby stores - I've seen it in the
kinds
of places that cater to the RC crowd).	Paint the model with a thin coat
of
(varnish? shellac? laquer?) and let it ALMOST completely dry.  When this
layer is just a little bit "tacky", buff on the aluminum powder.  Then
you
could top coat it however you normally would.

This isn't something appropriate for infantry figures, unless you have
an
inhuman level of patience.  But it would sure work for tanks in 25mm or
15mm.

There are a number of different types of fine metal powders available.
I've seen aluminum, pewter, brass, "gold" (not really, but close", and
other reddish and brownish metals.  Copper I think.  Anyway, one could
get
a couple of different colours and experiment with mixing them to get the
desired effect (a dull silvery metal, or something akin to that).

The effect on those airplane kits (just regular plastic models) was
excellent.

********************************************

Adrian Johnson
adrian.johnson@sympatico.ca