Quote:
Originally Posted by ET2SN
OK, I'm not sure about this one- yet. 
https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/
You'll want to check out their paint, specifically their chrome finish paints. 
They have stuff like chrome, mirror chrome, gold tones, copper, etc.
For both airbrush and regular brush painting.
This paint is alcohol based acrylic, but unlike chrome inks like Molotow, this stuff will cure and be as durable as regular acrylic paints.
Unless you've already tried it (and PLEASE sing out if you have!), you're probably thinking the same as me. "No way! It sounds too good to be true!" 
GSW is located in Spain, so shipping for most of us might be a bear BUT their prices are very tempting. A bottle (think the small squeeze bottles like AK uses) of brush-on mirror chrome runs about $4 (US).
Its also available on EBay if you're nervous about ordering direct.
IF this works as advertised, it would be a game changer. 
-Model cars and trucks. Everything from realistic mirrors and wheels to chrome ... well, anything. 
-Aircraft. Landing gear struts, landing and nav lights, etc.
-Armor. Hydraulic cylinders, headlight buckets, etc.
-Figures (pay attention, Eich!). Remember they also have polished brass and bronze. You can also "cool down" the chrome effect by over-coating with gloss or matte clear.
So, I'm going to place an order just to play around with this stuff. A gloss black undercoat might work best but I'm interested to see what this stuff does over gloss, satin matte, and even full matte colors like white or gray. |
I guess its time to update this post.
To be honest, I intended to order some of this paint to try it out but I got busy on other stuff and time started to slide.
I have a couple of projects on the bench where I need to add some bright metal finishes and figured that now would be a good time to get some of this stuff on order to see how it works.
I didn't order direct from GSW but from a supplier on EBay. What I got was GSW's
Chrome Metal Paints set. This set contains six different metal colors in 17 ml "eyedropper" plastic bottles. Think Vallejo acrylics and you'll know exactly how this stuff is packaged. Each bottle contains a ball bearing shaker which is a nice touch.
In the set you'll find:
- Chrome Metal (2454). A slightly deeper (more mellow) chrome than electroplated kit chrome.
- Tin Plate Chrome Metal (3693). This one is interesting. I was expecting something close to Tamiya's Titanium Gold but its more like a 50/50 mix of chrome silver and gold. If you build car and racing bike kits, you'll want this on your shelf.
- Gold Chrome Metal (3691). A slightly darker/mellower gold than most model paints but quite shiny.
- Antique Gold Chrome (3692). A darker shade than the gold above.
- Bronze Chrome (3690). A darker shade of bronze than I expected. Its more like polished antique bronze but it is quite shiny. Ship and Sub modelers may want to check this one out.
- Copper Chrome (3694). Continuing the theme, a darker tone of copper. Like old house wiring.
So, how does it lay down? For my first trial of this stuff, I wanted to torture it a bit.
I used a soft small chisel brush and painted it over bare white and black plastic and white resin. I'm not bothering with primer because I want to see how sturdy it is when dry. I'm also not using an airbrush because most of these chrome paints work better when thick and everyone who has an airbrush mixes their stuff differently.
One result that surprised me was background color.
The silver chrome looks better over white plastic than black plastic.
I'm thinking this will be true for all of the colors in the set.
The paint is really easy to work with. It is alcohol-based acrylic so don't expect any major revelations or nasty surprises. Brush cleanup was normal. I just cleaned my brush under warm tap water and the bristles came out clean with no dyes or clumps of paint. Drying time is pretty standard for acrylics. I gave it 45 minutes and it was "touch dry", I'm guessing 6 hours for full cure time. It is fairly sturdy although I have already tried a buffing test with a cotton swab (bud) and the finish matted down like I thought (this stuff is not meant to be polished, rather you get one shot to get that bright, shiny finish).
Brush painting- Its acrylic, no magic or high tech wizardry. It lays down nicely until the paint starts to gel and you wind up with some heavy brush marks. One thing I'd like to try is adding a couple drops of Tamiya Acrylic Retarder to see if it makes the flow better and levels the paint before it sets.
Air brushing- You're on your own, I didn't buy this stuff to shoot it in a fine mist. If I had to guess, you won't get a mirror finish if you shoot it, unless you really flood it on. What you
should get is a nice polished metal look but don't expect a mirror finish. Knocking this stuff down with thinner probably won't help.
Standouts- Hands down, the Silver Chrome.
This stuff is the bomb for painting headlight and tail light reflector buckets as long as they're small. Anything bigger than 1-2 cm and things will start to get wavy. This is also a good way to repair "kit chrome" if the cut-off nib is showing. The Tinplate Chrome should be a good stand-in for Tamiya Titanium Gold so if you're building anything "racing" or a motorcycle, you'll want to check it out. The Bronze Chrome shows a lot of promise for ship models if you want a "just out of the shipyard" look. I want to try painting some screws with it and maybe try a white or green/brown weathering wash after the bronze fully cures.
The price point is also pretty good however, GSW needs better distribution. The full set of paints might be over-kill but I wanted to look at the full range. GSW also sells single bottles.
It should be noted that these paints look better (IMO) over a gloss white under coat. This wasn't what I expected so I tried painting some clear plastic with the Silver Chrome to see what was going on below the finished surface. The bottom layer was either a very dark gray or metallic black.
So, its recommended because it does what it says.