N1SB Labs: Experimenting with Enamel Paints on Power Armour

[N1SB]

I experiment with painting techniques. Every model is just a new test subject to me now. Some are successful. Many are not. All provide useful data (even if it's just never do THIS again). Having incurred the costs in money & time, sweat & gears, I share my findings with you freely now.


+++ Overview +++


Today's experiment: what does Power Armour look like with enamel paints, like on a 30th Anniversary Space Marine?

INB4 "Power Armour is Ceramite, not metallic" - I know, I know, I just thought this would look so super-'80s I had to do it.

+++ Methods and Materials +++


Here is the sequence and paints I used. That is not to say I think this is a good way to paint this, merely recording what I tried:


1. Undercoat with a matt black spray
2. Basecoat with spray Tamiya Light Metallic Blue (I think any metallic paint will do)
3. Paint with brush and GW (or Vallejo) paints the other metallic parts, like gun, tubing, etc.
4. Wash the whole thing with Tamiya Smoke, this weird ink (I think this HAS to be Tamiya Smoke)
5. Let it dry. Seriously, Tamiya Smoke takes a long time to settle. I played 2 hours of video games.
6. Paint with brush details in acrylic, like the crimson fist, arm computer, etc.


+++ Conclusions +++


Results - this enamel, metallic colour is imho a very 1st ed Rogue Trader-era style look, matching the miniature with a period-appropriate paint scheme; it's like how artists of the '80s painted sci-fi on roleplaying game book covers. The added benefit is how the acrylic crimson fist stands out precisely because it's a different sort of paint, drawing attention to itself despite or because of its comparative subtlety, and looks it was ritualistically added rather than how the armour was manufactured, befitting the fluff. I do consider it speed painting because no highlights, no hard edging, the metallic sheen and Tamiya Smoke and natural light takes care of all that; the only slow step was waiting for enamel paints & inks to dry. On the field, among other acrylic miniatures, it really stands out, just pops off the tabletop, great for a special character or something.

Problems - Tamiya Smoke is a bit of a miracle ink, but it's also tricky to use. It's not my 1st time, in fact I use it extensively, but while taking pictures I noticed it really reached certain areas (like the grills on the helmet absorbed it very well) but not others (after taking this close-up photo, I noticed I need more on the feet in particular, I'll fix that later). It also takes forever to dry and smells like really lousy bourbon, but it really is amazing stuff, just allow yourself some margin to learn its use.

Eureka Moment - pure enamel looks terrible imho, but as soon as you put on an acrylic component to contrast it with (i.e. the crimson fist), it suddenly looks awesome. When I was working on the base metallic blue colour and silver piping, it was still very meh. As soon as I applied the acrylic red on one hand, suddenly I felt the mini came to life.

Recommendations - Adeptus Custodes with enamel gold armour but acrylic red plumes should look amazing; in fact, I recently painted a Stormcast Celestial that way and it's awesome, very good speed paint method.. St. Celestine's armour would really pop; the fact that you have an enamel angelic mini amongst other acrylic ones does make it look a little otherworldly. For those of you familiar with the story of why Deathwing paints its armour white, imagine painting the moment when Cloud Runner, Lame Bear, Weasel Fierce, and their kindred putting ritual acrylic paint over their then-still-green Dark Angel Terminator Armour, that would be so cool.

When I first got started in The Hobby in the early '90s, I was in a small town, didn't have access to GW paints, bought some enamel paints meant for model cars. I totally ruined my 1st Space Marines, from that Rogue Trader era Mark VI Beakies box set.

Felt really gutted, it was an inauspicious start. Now, I return with this 30th Anniversary Beakie, still using enamel paints...and I still got to go back and fix them feet...but I feel relieved, like settling an old grudge. It's not a victory, but it may be redemption at last.


+++ Update +++


I've returned to this technique for Deathwatch Marines; at the time of this writing, their 8th edition Codex is just about to drop.

Having previously painted an Iron Hands army, whose Chapter uniform is mostly black, I wanted to find a new shortcut to painting black power armour. The traditional method of hard-edge highlighting was something I wanted to avoid. I wanted it fast, easy AND good. I think I found a way.

The chrome look, that brushed metal feel I previously found, gave this sense of contour on black that usually required drybrushing, which always looked a bit fake on black power armour (which was why we resorted to hard-edge highlighting). It was so easy to do and the effect was so much better than my Iron Hands, I really wished I had experimented with this before.

Here was the methodology, an even easier version of what I did on the 30th Anniversary Beakie:

1. Undercoat with a matt black spray
2. Basecoat with spray a metallic spray like Tamiya Metallic Gray (NOT Black, we'll shade down later)
3. Paint the left arm, chest eagle, and IMHO faceplate with silver (I used GW's Stormhost Silver Layer paint)

4. Because it'll be so dark, I drybrushed some silver on the edges, just very quickly, it works nicely on this
5. Wash everything BUT the Boltgun with Tamiya Smoke...it'll turn the Metallic Gray into a gradient Metallic Black
6. Let it dry. Seriously, Tamiya Smoke takes a long time to settle. Read B&C for at least an hour.
7. Paint with brush details in acrylic, like dark red on the gun, purity seals, eyes, etc.

Mistake to Avoid - I found I had to shake the Tamiya Metallic Gray a ridiculous amount. Seems like it's very emulsion-y in that the grey paint can easily separate from that metallic texture, so that if you spray it without enough shaking it'll come out a matt grey colour. I don't know if that's every brand, it's just something I observed with my bottle.

I took it into different lighting to test the look. Even in a poorly lit room, that brushed metal gives it a sense of contour, of roundness, it plays off the limited light to create its own higlights. Both the plus side AND down side is that it doesn't look just like power armour painted black; it looks instead like its made from an exotic graphite material.

That graphite effect might not be something you want, I tried it out and reported here in case you want to give it a go, though.

[Interrogator Stobz]

Nice! Very retro.

 

 

 

My RT era Dark Angels were this colour in the 80s. I actually thought black was too boring :devil:

 

Yep, Heresy. I'm off to see the Interrogators now, Never Forget, Never Forgive.

[N1SB]

I totally understand, Brother Stobz, because one of my 30k armies is Iron Hands.  I face that black armour issue myself.

 

I wanted Mark III Iron Armour as their uniform, which of course is famous for their dark grills.  Black armour is a thing that needs working around.  I ended up using a metallic paint as well (inspired by the FW 30k books' artwork, which actually depict a lot of Chapters' colour schemes as having a sheen or lustre).

 

In the end, I gave it a graphite-like texture, which is cool, but not enough.  I'll do another one of these threads on that, once I get good photos.

[Jackalwolf]

I really like your dedication to the hobby. Fantastic results this time too

[Dantay VI]

Looks great, I can now almost imagine that colour working well with the new Alpha Legion colours from FW

[Kierdale]

Nice!

I have a bottle of Tamiya Smoke but haven't used it yet.

I must get around to experimenting with it.

[N1SB]

My RT era Dark Angels were this colour in the 80s. I actually thought black was too boring

I totally understand, Brother Stobz, because one of my 30k armies is Iron Hands. I face that black armour issue myself.

I wanted Mark III Iron Armour as their uniform, which of course is famous for their dark grills. Black armour is a thing that needs working around. I ended up using a metallic paint as well (inspired by the FW 30k books' artwork, which actually depict a lot of Chapters' colour schemes as having a sheen or lustre).

In the end, I gave it a graphite-like texture, which is cool, but not enough. I'll do another one of these threads on that, once I get good photos.

Updated this lab report with new results from using the same techniques on a Deathwatch Primaris test subject.

Previously, for 30k, I used a Metallic Black spray. This time, I used Metallic Gray and shaded down to black with Tamiya Smoke. The effect was much more pronounced.

Posting the same image here so you don't have to scroll back up:

If you look at the 30k artwork for Marines in black armour, there's a metallic sheen to them. I think I finally reproduced it with this updated technique.

Just sharing this now because I wished I came across something like it before I painted my 1500 pts of 30k Iron Hands. I'm not repainting all those.