Vallejo Metal Color Acrylic Paint, Realistic Finish for Airbrush, 32 ml, Ideal for Model Making, Grey

Finding good quality metallics in acrylics for miniature and model painting is no easy task. There are a fair few out there that claim to be metallic, but they're not quite right. I mean, to be fair, they all have a carrier medium, some thin pigment colour and very fine alloy dust or similar. The trick here is getting all of it in a good mix. I have tried a variety of different paints and none of them are satisfactory. Gunmetal, steel, iron etc all pretty much look the same and one is left trying to fix that by mixing in other pigment to bring it down to the colour you want. I have (I think) all of the Vallejo metallics now, and they are the first paint I reach for when I want to paint metal surfaces. The primer colour used also affects how the metallic looks in the end, and these in particular rely heavily on good basing colours. You can easily achieve a variety of effects with these paints just by varying the primer colour, and dry brushing areas in a lighter or contrasting colour. The other thing with these paints, the d it applies to all of the Vallejo metal colours, is the need for patience. Mixing these is an exercise in frustration. While the bottles come with bearings inside to facilitate mixing, they will require a great deal of shaking to mix thoroughly. I can't shake these myself, as my hands don't work well enough to hold the bottle and it will launch on a random trajectory across the room. My answer to that is to use a medical agitator to mix these. The advantage is that I don't have to shake the bottle for 20 minutes plus, and I don't have to worry about it becoming ballistic. Even so, it can still take several minutes to mix this thoroughly. This also cannot be decanted into a dish or paint tray as the paint separates very quickly and requires regular shaking to keep it mixed. In fact, if you do decant a small amount, you can watch it separate, it's that quick The lid has a small cap that fits over the nozzle, and after mixing the paint, there is always a small amount in this cap. I find it less wasteful to use the paint caught in the lid rather than dripping even small amounts onto a palette. It also means I don't waste as much paint. Once you get past the onerous task of mixing this paint, and regularly mixing during use., the application is quite simple. I most cases (except chrome) I have found that the paint is quite thin, so requires several coats to build up a good cover. This is not so bad as it sounds, as you can paint thin layers over the parts you want to be metal, and gradually build up the effect and the colour. This is where careful preparation really comes in. Painting layers over the surfaces you want, and having them carefully prepared, will result in a beautiful and surprisingly realistic surface. I highly recommend this and the other metallic colour paints in the range, you will not regret having them. But, patience, thorough mixing and preparation are essential to a good finish. Once done, I suggest you also purchase the metallic varnish that Vallejo produce. It complements these colours perfectly and protects them from wearing off and spoiling the effect you have worked so hard to achieve. The varnish also adds that little bit of shine that metals have and makes them stand out from ordinary colours. Hard work to use, but well worth it for the end result.

Together with Duraluminium color and inks that solved all my metal needs. It has insane coverage and it flows very, very easily. Was great both through an airbrush just slightly diluted and with a brush. Top dog.

Amazing product. great coverage

excellent coverage and shoots out of a 2mm nozzle straight out of the bottle with no thinning, clogging, or tip dry. however the shade is nowhere near as dark as i was expecting or wanted from a "gunmetal" colour; this is almost identical to the "steel" shade from this metal colour product line and only marginally darker than "magnesium"

Picture shows comparison with brushed finish inner panel and airbrushed outer panel, lighting makes airbrush seem very light second picture more representative either way really clean finish easy to achieve, no smell and simple to flush and clean airbrush

We used it for a school project (robot from boxes) and we painted with brushes. We are very happy with our robot, lovely colour, it was easy to apply and dried fast

This stuff is amazing! Goes on a dream with both the airbrush and paintbrush. Went back and bought the other colours in the range too.

Nice paint. I use it for my gundam models. Would recommend to use with airbrush. Using brush can leave brush marks.

Great paint to dry brush necrons or iron warriors. Creates a great base shadow layer. Goes on super smooth with minimal thinning. Runs perfectly through air bottle.

Très bon produit gamme très complète, pouvoir couvrant variable car la dilution varie selon la Metal Color. Je recommande ce produi

Ich nutze die Farbe zum Airbrushen, es gibt für mich keine Alternative. Ich mache Cosplay, dies gibt den schönen metal look auf Foam. Ich würde keine anderen benutzen. Nur gute Erfahrungen

Probably the best looking dark metal paint on the market.

My most used paint, glad its in a larger container.