Metallic Paint Comparison pt. 2

I did a super shady metallic paint comparison a while ago, it was not so hot. With my new box of PRO Acryl Metallic paints from Monument Hobbies I thought it might be time to revisit this topic.

This time I used black construction paper. It wasn't as robust as I would have liked, but it was better than anything else I had. Maybe part 3 will be on 1" black primed plastic squares...

Color:

Left to right

Top: PRO dark silver, gun metal x-10, PRO silver, PRO bronze, PRO rich gold, PRO bright gold, PRO light bronze.

Middle: Blackened Steel, Ironbreaker, Chrome silver x-11, Screaming bell, Gehenna's gold, Mazuma Gold, PRO metallic medium

Bottom: Leadbelcher, Runefang steel, flat aluminum xf-16, PRO copper, Retributor armour, Auric armor gold, PRO white gold

Let's look at smaller portions, Silvers.

Here are the silver and chrome. Tamiya's gun metal x-10 is really black, blacker than the paper. PRO dark silver is much more slate and is quite close to Reaper's blackened steel, while leadbelcher has some brown/tan undertones. Ironbreaker is somehow a mid-tone. The PRO bright silver has a blue tinge, while the other Tamiya's are really bright and very silver, especially x-11. (If you look carefully you can see where I spilled a drop of x-11 on the PRO silver, x-11 is brighter and whiter).

Golds and Copper.

Screaming bell is a favorite, but next to the PRO copper it is quite red and dark. The PRO copper will be awesome for lazy highlights on Screaming Bell. PRO rich gold is close to Auric armor gold, just a bit darker. The PRO bronze is on its own, and I'm excited to use it. Obviously the PRO medium doesn't fit in this section, but I didn't realize at the time just how white it was (mixing the PRO medium with Liquitex inks makes for cool metallic colors, future post). Under flat light (see below) the color variation becomes more obvious. The PRO light bronze and white gold are different. I'll do a side by side in the future. 

Coverage:

The Dalerr and Rowney Mazuma Gold has the worst coverage of all the paints, while the PRO line covers like a GW Base. Tamiya paints had good coverage, but they are alcohol based paints dry really fast and are hard to work with. Most Reaper paints that I have cover like a GW layer, but the blackened steel is more like a base.  The GW metallics have poor flow characteristics (glue) and require care when applying (thinning). The PRO paints flow the way a painter would want them to, very nice.

 

Conclusion:

I like my new paints. They complement my current metallic paint collection and expand the color spectrum. They flow well and require zero prep work to apply. The flake is fine and I like them for all places where I would use metallic paint, and because of the fine flow, you can also use them where normal GW metallic paint would let you down (small tricky spots where the un-thinned is too gooey and the thinned is too runny).

 

That's about it.

HMP