Vallejo Liquid Metals, has anyone mastered them?

[GTTechnics]

I'm a big fan of the alcohol based Vallejo Liquid Metal line of paints finish, but I'm having a lot of trouble controlling them. I can't use my nice brushes (because they'll be ruined), and the alcohol solvent makes the paint behave strangely. While I can get by fine, techniques like edge highlighting and blending aren't really an option. I also need to go back and cover up mistakes. I'm starting to question whether I should persevere and learn to master these paints or if it isn't worth the headaches. Looking around, I rarely hear of top level painters using these. My question is, does anyone here feel that they have mastered the subtleties of this paint enough to get display level results? or have the upper level painters abandoned them in general in favor of acrylic metallics? On a side note, I know NMM is popular, but I'm more focused on real metallics here. Thanks.

 

[ElderMind]

I'm not a top-level painter, and I don't know what they use, but...

I gave the alcohol metallics a try, since the Model Color metallics kind of suck; but found the same issues you describe. I also prefer real metallics to NMM.

I'm sold on the Vallejo Model Air metallics. Have you tried them?

 

[GTTechnics]

I have VMA steel and gold. For some reason my gold has a bunch of hard chunks in it, but the steel works well. I actually don't mind the VGC metals either, but unfortunately, nothing else in my experience has a finish like these alcohol based paints.

Part of the problem with these liquid golds is that it seems that I can't use anything with them without knocking down the finish to acrylic levels. If I put any varnish on, they dull, so I have to put them on last. This is compounded by the fact that they can get messy. If I make a mistake I can't fix it by mopping up the mistake, as mopping with alcohol will ruin the model. So if I have metal next to a nice gradient it can really cause headaches. If I use a wash over them the finish also gets heavily affected.

 

[Ordo Septenarius]

I have VMA steel and gold. For some reason my gold has a bunch of hard chunks in it, but the steel works well. I actually don't mind the VGC metals either, but unfortunately, nothing else in my experience has a finish like these alcohol based paints.

Part of the problem with these liquid golds is that it seems that I can't use anything with them without knocking down the finish to acrylic levels. If I put any varnish on, they dull, so I have to put them on last. This is compounded by the fact that they can get messy. If I make a mistake I can't fix it by mopping up the mistake, as mopping with alcohol will ruin the model. So if I have metal next to a nice gradient it can really cause headaches. If I use a wash over them the finish also gets heavily affected.

I've had no problems with them; I tend to do the shading afterward, but it did take some time to find out the thinning ratio. Also, there are several different types of isopropyl alcohol available to thin. I prefer the lower (80%-ish) one to the one in the 90%s.

http://mordheimpdx.blogspot.com/2013/08/shading-metallic-gold.html

Hope that helps.

 

[GTTechnics]

I've had no problems with them; I tend to do the shading afterward, but it did take some time to find out the thinning ratio. Also, there are several different types of isopropyl alcohol available to thin. I prefer the lower (80%-ish) one to the one in the 90%s.

http://mordheimpdx.blogspot.com/2013/08/shading-metallic-gold.html

Hope that helps.

Have you noticed a significant drop in the finish? I ask because I've found that just a wash knocks the metallic effect down to close to acrylic levels. Because of that, I've been forced to just build up layers of different liquid golds for highlighting to maintain the finish. Perhaps I'm trying to hard to chase the out of the bottle look of these paints.

 

[RuneBrush]

Have you noticed a significant drop in the finish? I ask because I've found that just a wash knocks the metallic effect down to close to acrylic levels. Because of that, I've been forced to just build up layers of different liquid golds for highlighting to maintain the finish. Perhaps I'm trying to hard to chase the out of the bottle look of these paints.

What washes are you using and do you thin them? GW washes are designed to flatten and then you layer up for a highlight.

 

[GTTechnics]

What washes are you using and do you thin them? GW washes are designed to flatten and then you layer up for a highlight.

When I did this I believe I made my own wash using a mix of Vallejo sepia ink, glaze medium, and water with liquitex flow aid. Typically I oil wash most things, but the required varnish also affects the liquid metal finish.