Vallejo metal color range

[Spiritual Liege]

I'm looking to get some Vallejo metal color paints for my next army and I've heard some really good things about them but one thing bugs me. In every review, the colors look different and the color chart seems way off and I'm not sure anymore which paint looks like this and which like that.

 

So those of you who have used them, recommend me some good paints from the range. I'm looking for a simple darker metal as a base and a brighter metal as a zenithal highlight.

[Arkhanist]

Here's some photos of the painted colors I've found useful for figuring out what they look like in reality - mine match these well. (pdf for numbers to names)

Something like 77.720 (gunmetal grey) or 77.713 (jet exhaust) makes a nice dark metal base; then 77.702 (Duraluminium) or 77.703 (dark aluminium) for a highlight, with 77.707 (chrome ) for extreme highlights.

[m0nolith]

Arkhanist, this is fantastic! 

[Spiritual Liege]

Thanks, that is super helpful.

 

Have you used them with or without the gloss primer? Do I absolutely need it or not?

[Laughingman]

I have Dull Aluminum and Magnesium colors and have used stynylrez (badger) primer Grey, white and black primers without issue... It is surprising good as a brush paint as well, just don't use a wet pallet the paint goes crazy... 

[Arkhanist]

If you're using them as a primary colour over flat(ish) surfaces - i.e. you'll see a significant amount of that first metal color -  the gloss black primer will improve lustre and the metallic look a bit. It will still work well and be metallic over a standard black primer, it just won't look quite as good, which I think is partly why the review photos are so variable. If you're going to chuck significant washes, weathering and highlights on it etc, then you likely won't see much or any difference in the end result.

 

You also have to shake the hell out of it before using it as the pigment settles quite a bit. You can brush small areas by hand and it levels well, but for larger areas they really benefit from airbrush application for a really smooth coat.

 

That said, I don't rate the vallejo metal color gloss black primer, I have a pot sat gathering dust - it clogs my 0.4mm infinity like mad. I switched to stynylrez gloss black which has worked well for me so far (it does need a good shake too). Alternatively, spray a coat of gloss varnish over standard black primer which should work just as well.

 

One of the differences when choosing the colors BTW is not so much the shade, but the reflectiveness - you can see from the sharpness of the reflections in the pictures that some of them deliberately have a slightly more matt finish to represent the different metals, they don't really benefit from a gloss black primer. 

Edited May 7, 2018 by Arkhanist

[Spiritual Liege]

Thanks again.

 

My plan is to airbrush a basecoat and a zenithal highlight, then use the gloss varnish-gloss wash trick to get the shade easily into the recesses without tinting the colour and maybe doing a really bright edge highlight to the sharpest areas.

[betrayer41]

These are easily the best metallics iver ever used. They go on like liquid Silk.

 

Ive used them on both regular black primer and gloss. Both work fine. Highly reccomend these.

[Imren]

The gold is smooth and goes on like dream with an airbrush, but the gold colour itself is not very goldy as GW, Scale75, Vallejo liquid gold or P3 golds are. It's quite muted compared to many other acrylic golds.

[Spiritual Liege]

Yes, I have noticed that. If I decide to go with gold as my main colour, I will probably use Scale 75 as their golds look really good.

[appiah4]

I moved to Vallejo GC metallics a while before I took a mandagory break from painting.  I must say I was not overly impressed by them, I was expecting better coverage and a more genuine metallic look than I got.

[Arkhanist]

I moved to Vallejo GC metallics a while before I took a mandagory break from painting.  I must say I was not overly impressed by them, I was expecting better coverage and a more genuine metallic look than I got.

 

Vallejo metal color is a new(ish) range designed for use through an airbrush on aircraft models for various 'real metal' finishes. They're quite a bit nicer than Vallejo's conventional metallics in the model or game color ranges. Metal colour is not quite up there with an alclad II polished chrome finish, but it's pretty close and they're a lot easier to work with as they're still water based acrylics (and can be brushed on up to a point). Alclad has to be handled with care due to the solvents, and is definitely airbrush only. The biggest issue with the metal color range is only a single copper and a pale gold; scale 75 and liquid gold are good alternatives for a bigger range of non-silvers, but are less easy to put through an airbrush.

[Paradogmatic]

I really like the properties of the Vallejo metal colour paints -- I did a test Custodes in the gold and then some washing / glazing to warm it up :

 

[Ch@oZ]

Thread necromany Ahoy!

Hello everyone. I've found the Vallejo metal color a true pleasure to paint with and have thereofor started looking for a leadbelcher equivalent in them. Long story short- I haven't found the perfect solution. Has anyone got 712- steel or 713-jet exhaust from the photos above?

My own finding are that Vallejo metal color magnesium is an ok leadbelcher equivalent- the shade of megnesium is blue, while leadbelcher is brown, which would not be very noticeable if not on the same surface. However- if anybody has 712 or 713 and could post a side-by0sde comparison that would be awesome.

My own investigations below:

When out of focus the differences are more apparent: