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good general purpose silver


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Guys, for small parts, and areas where silver / aluminium type colours have to be used, I currently use Humbrol enamels. The only thing is that I find them a little coarse grained, so don't spray very finely for small areas. Maybe it's the size of the metallic particles in it. It also leaves a fairly grainy finish. This is not for use on exterior surfaces, and I'm not looking for a chrome or polished type appearance. I also would use it to mix for making the exhausts and nozzles for engines.

If this was normal circumstances (i.e. I lived outside the UAE) I would just buy one each of the different types at a model shop and try them but as a) there are no model shops here, b ) I can't get ANY paints here, c) I have to get everything either hand carried or mailed and d) most companies don't want to ship paints, I have to know which one(s) to get in advance.

What is you experience? For info my preference is for enamels or lacquers, but it is not a show stopper

Les

Edited by lesthegringo
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I really like the basic Testors Silver enamel. It goes on well with brush or airbrush and you can mix it with other Testors enamel colors for good effect.

I'm also a big fan of the Alclad lacquers. They are airbrush only, but are pre-thinned and spray nicely.

Edited by dmk0210
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Personally, I like to use Games Workshop's Boltgun Metal, but that's just weird old me.

Yeah, Boltgun Metal is a great steel color and Chainmail is great for silver.

But they changed the names of their paint so beware.

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Citadel acrylic (Games Workshop) Chainmail is a good NMF-looking silver.

For brighter, polished silvers, Citadel Mithril Silver, and for darker, somewhat duller shades, the above-mentioned Bolt Gun.

These paints spray beautifully and look nice when hand-brushed as well.

I like Tamiya rattle-can synthetic lacquers for individual small parts and subassemblies. Their Natural Metal Silver, Polished Aluminum, and Silver Leaf look great, and are much less of a fuss to use than Alclad.

I do prefer Alclad for overall silver finishes and large areas.

cheers

Old Blind Dog

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+1 on Citadel paint. Their metallic is very good. And because they were designed to be brush-painted, they're perfect for those small metallic parts that can only be painted with brush.

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I've been very happy with the Mr. Color Super Metallics. They are very expensive when compared to Humbrol or MM but they lay down beautifully. Mind you they are finicky with what you thin them out with being that they are "lacquer-based" acrylics? You need to stick to Mr. Color Thinning Leveller. I get mine from HobbyWave or through Amazon. The USPS has had no issues mailing these but then again, I'm state-side.

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Floquil's Old Silver and Platinum Mist are tops in my book, but Floquil paints are being discontinued. :(/>

:thumbsup:

I second that.

Curt

Old Silver.

100_7049.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Les, sorry for the late reply but I have just started using the Army Painter range of paint.

I started with the three metallic tones but I have since bought more of them and will from now on only use them for fine details.

They are for guys who are using brush painting a lot i.e. figurines.

The pigments are extremely small and numerous! I tried to airbrush the silver, very nice results but after that I had disco glitter left in my airbrush (got to find a better way to clean it I guess).

In my opinion they are better than the other acrylics I tried before (Tamyia, Humbrol, Lifecolor, Vallejo, Italeri and Games Workshop).

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