Advice on Thinning Metallic Paints

[HereticalHannibal]

Any suggestions on how to thin metallic paints? I’m painting a black legion army so have a fair amount of metallic paint with all the trim work. 
 

I have a hard time getting the right consistency and then when I do get it, it seems like the paint dries really fast and thickens up again quickly. Any tips would be helpful. 
 

Currently using Retributor Armor paint and thinning with water on a regular (not wet) palette. 

[WrathOfTheLion]

I usually just place them on the wet palette and pull them out a bit to get some water from the palette as I grab some paint, works pretty well. For some like leadbelcher, I might add some water, but that works pretty well for retributor armour.

 

I haven't used a dry palette in a while, but I'd only basically put the amount you'll use quickly with a small amount of water. It won't have much stay on the dry palette, so I wouldn't get a lot of paint.

Edited May 7, 2023 by WrathOfTheLion

[HereticalHannibal]

Thanks! I read somewhere that using a wet pallette with metallic didn’t work for some reason so I never actually tried it. I’ll have to give it a go. Appreciate the input. 

[WrathOfTheLion]

20 minutes ago, HereticalHannibal said:

Thanks! I read somewhere that using a wet pallette with metallic didn’t work for some reason so I never actually tried it. I’ll have to give it a go. Appreciate the input. 

It won't work long term, as certain paints separate on it. Retributor armour doesn't really do that for me in reasonable amounts, the ones I really had trouble with separation were scale 75 metallics on the wet palette.

[Grotsmasha]

I have switched a lot / most of my paints to dropper bottles, and specifically for metallics, being able to put one small drop down at a time without having to always be opening and closing the pot has really helped out.

When painting with metallics, I usually do an initial thinning of my drop, but also, and this is a tip I recommend in general, after every three to five swipes at the paint, I'll wash and refresh the water in the brush.

Additionally, I commission paint, and have painted a few of the new Chaos plastics with the insane amount of trim and have have it much faster to spray the model in the metallic and then fill in the panels. For Black legion that would be Retributor Gold Spray, followed by two thinner coats of Black Legion contrast (two coats will give solid coverage closer to a traditional paint rather than a contrast). 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Grotsmasha

[Firedrake Cordova]

Another approach would be to add a drying retarder such as Liquitex Slow-Dri to the paint to increase drying times  

[Arkhanist]

On 5/7/2023 at 2:05 AM, HereticalHannibal said:

Thanks! I read somewhere that using a wet pallette with metallic didn’t work for some reason so I never actually tried it. I’ll have to give it a go. Appreciate the input. 

 

Depends on the metallic and the wet palette. For a homebrew palette using baking paper, overwetting (i.e. too much water) leading to rapid separation can be a significant issue with metallics, as the shiny flake drops to the bottom of the paint, so you have to keep mixing it. Some less aggressive wet palettes such as the red grass games ones, it's less of an issue. Thick metallics like GW or darkstar, you need to add additional water anyway, so a wet palette can work to your advantage as long as you don't need it to stay active for hours and hours. For very liquid metallics such as vallejo metal colour, a dry palette is basically mandatory! 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Arkhanist

[Razblood]

Add a little Vallejo glaze medium/lahmian medium to thin, glaze medium is better as it has a drying retarder in it's formula.

 

Works well to give you more work time and makes the paints less prone to clumping.

[Bilskirnir3124]

I've had very good results using a couple of drops of Army Painter Speed Paint medium thinning out Leadbelcher and Fulgurite Copper thus far. I'm using them on a wet pallet. That said, I also thinned the Fulgurite Copper with Blood Red (getting an Aquila color for my IF 3rd Company). The metallic flakes do separate somewhat, but a little mixing solves that nicely.

 

I'm sure any medium of your choice will work just as well as AP's SP Medium. I just happened to come into quite a bit of it when I got the SP Complete Set. My observations on the quality of the resulting paint is that it has good working time, and does not seem to dry near as fast as a speed paint. It has also, thus far, lasted three days on my wet pallet (I have limited painting time). They also flow quite a bit better into crevices and don't seem to obscure detail much at all.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

On 5/6/2023 at 9:05 PM, HereticalHannibal said:

Thanks! I read somewhere that using a wet pallette with metallic didn’t work for some reason so I never actually tried it. I’ll have to give it a go. Appreciate the input. 

 

It's not that it wont work, the issue is the metallic flakes may "travel" in the presence of moisture, so if you also have other paints on your wet palette you run the risk of contamination in something you don't want to have metallic. 

I've found metallic paints respond better to being in a palette that has some what of a bowl shape to it. Occasionally you'll have to stir your mixture because the flakes will settle and the paint will separate a little bit. My working time is decent. 

 

I've used all kinds of thinners but have settle on just a little bit of distilled water for acrylic paints. 

[ranulf the revenant]

I'd actually suggest trying gloss or satin varnish for thinning metallics - depending on how shiny you want your metal to be. Helps with a smooth application as well. Sometimes it's also not a bad idea if you make your metals a bit shinier than you think necessary before applying a matt varnish, so the metals still pop. I've also tried using Vallejo metal mediu. It contains a lot of micah, so it keeps your paint quite shiny. Works fairly well, but brightens up the tone quite a bit. I prefer glossy varnish(es).

Edited July 18, 2023 by ranulf the revenant