Painting with Gold Paint

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I have recently used Tamiya Gold Leaf and it looks reasonably good. However I just came across an old bottle of Testors MM brass (enamel). The MM brass actually looks more like what gold should look like to the human eye.

Incedentely the MM gold does not work at all for me.

Anyone had this experience with Tamiya against using MM brass (which may be better)?

If this is the case… can I A/B over the cured acrylic with MM brass???

2

You generally can airbrush enamels over cured arcylics and vice versa. If you have doubts and want to make doubly sure, shoot some scrap with your Tamiya Gold Leaf, let it cure, and then overspray with MM gold.

3

I use Tamiya acrylics almost exclusively but I hate their Gold leaf paint cause it doesn’t brush well and looks like crap. I use cheap Testor’s gold, brass or bronze depending on the desired shade. I had very good result with these but they are enamels. I also don’t use Tamiya white anymore cause it does a mess. I use white primer instead.

You could spray MM brass over cured acrylic but for better adhesion, you’dd better clean the surface with windex to get rid of it.

4

I have found all of the Vallejo model air metallics supurb, they do various shades of bronze,gold and silver.

5

Hi Yann, none of the Tamiya metal paints can be brushed by hand. Thier white is also like water. Although both can be airbrushed to acceptable results. The gold leaf Tamiys was airbrushed on my large solar arrays and looks decent, however the MM Brass may be brighter and more natural looking.

6

You might want to cut the gloss of the acrylic by sanding with 1000 grit or higher. Some Tamiya paint contains a silicone gloss enhancer that will ultimately cause the overlying enamel to crawl, causing the dreaded “alligator” effect.

7

Funny thing Triarius is that when airbrushed as I did, its not glossy (T Gold Leaf). Maybe satin at best , but hardly!

It (gold leaf) was airbrushed over a primer coat of MM flat sea blue (navy blue) as the other side of this particular part is finished in that color and I always like to prime with MM enamel.

Thanks