Staining metallics with washes?

[Brother Clavero]

  I was wondering if anyone has ever used a green wash over a metallic basecoat when painting Sons of Horus power armour? I've never tried it myself, but I'm thinking it would give that metallic green look as shown in the illustrations.   

[Big Mek LugNutz]

Hey Brother Clavero,

I recently did a bit of an experiment with (silver) metallics and coloured washes. While the result wasn't quite what I was looking for at the time, it did create an effect similar to the Forge World/Gamesworkshop illustrations you referenced. I could post some pictures if that would be helpful.

All I used was a base coat of Boltgun Metal, then washed Azurman Blue over top of it (enough so that it would make a glaze effect across the surface).

I experimented with highlighting during this method too. If you highlight prior to the wash the highlights get muted/shady and look a little awkward. When using this method now I wait to highlight, mix the colour of the wash I used into the lighter silver colour and use that to treat the edges.

The one thing you need to be conscious of when washing metals with colour is the consistency of the base coat. Unlike black/brown washes, colour washes really showcase how smooth your metallic base coat was, so build up smooth layers and try not to let your brush strokes/directions stand out too much.

I hope something in all that helps!

[Brother Clavero]

Thanks for the reply! And yes, pics would be great!

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

You can tint metallics with colored washes but glazes or Tamiya Clear will give you much better and bolder effects. Maybe if you did enough layers of wash, giving each one enough time to dry, you can eventually build up to a more solid color on the metallic. Or you can just give it one or two glazes/Tamiya Clear coats.

[Evil Eye]

What you want is clear paint. Forge World's clear paints are actually pretty great IMO- they're meant for airbrushing but they work great with a paintbrush too. I was painting a Warhammer Vampire Lord and went for a similar colour to the armour of the Sons of Horus- it was an equal parts mix of Calth Blue and Mortarion Green over a Tamiya Chrome Silver basecoat. It works pretty damn well even by hand, though I would imagine airbrushing would net better results.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Is your end goal giving a specific aged or worn look to the metallic or are you trying to get the power armor to appear to have a shiny or "metal flake" style to it?

 

ie Forge World's Thousand Sons.

If you're going for the metal flake appearance I just saw a guide FW put out for their Thousand Sons. They used an airbrush for the reds and undercoated the model in a metallic paint. Applying thin coats of color should allow the metal to shine through.

[Kassill]

There was a brother here a while back that made a beautiful metallic Crimson Fists army using washes over silver bases. I believe he also experimented with a few other colors to show the possibilities. 

[Codicier Ignatius]

I've painted a whole army using this technique, and I think it looks pretty great. Here's an example of one of my models.

 

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q286/Codicier_Ignatius/IMGP0940.jpg

 

I start with a black base coat, then drybrush with Necron Compound. I like the brightest silver possible, as the washes really darken the metal. The drybrush is also important, as you don't get strong shadows in the recesses if you apply the washes over a flat coat of silver. I then apply 2 thin coats of wash, being careful that it doesn't pool, as that creates lines in the finish. The number of coats will depend on the wash and color that you use. I use Secret Weapon Washes, but only because they have the color that I want. I imagine GW washes would work just as well.

 

When working on models with large, flat areas, like tanks, thin the washes with equal amounts of water. This will mean you'll need to apply many more coats, but makes pooling less of a problem, meaning you can avoid lines in the finish where the edges of a pool dries. Here's an example of the finish.

 

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q286/Codicier_Ignatius/IMGP1714.jpg

 

I hope that helps. It's really a simple process, with a striking result if done carefully (if I may say so myself).

 

P.S. I'd like to hide the images behind Spoiler tags so that they're not so big, but I can't figure out how to do so. Can someone give me some pointers?

[Lucio]

Similar effect on my 1kSons, using the FW airbrush clear red paint over a Leadbelcher spray base colour. Washed the leadbelcher with Nuln oil to shade it and then applied 2 thin coats of the clear red with a normal glaze brush.

Standard washes generally don't have enough depth of colour to work, but with enough layers it'll build up to a good effect, otherwise look at getting a clear paint in the right shade (similar to the old inks, they dry glossy not matte)