There's something to be said about being able to put a fully painted army on the table. If you're a metal addict like me then you probably have piles of unpainted miniatures lying around. There's probably a drawer, or a shelf, or a box under the bed that contains numerous armies and other projects that cry out to be painted. Unfortunately, if you're like me, you also don't have the time to paint, to model, to just complete all of your projects. Sure, you could do it if painting was all you did, but we have lives and that tends to keep us from getting too much done in short order.

The BrushThralls have already written two articles on the subject of speed painting. The first was basics including better use of brushes, paints, and colors. The second article hit upon washes and using primer colors as base coats. This third installment will cover speed painting using metallic paints. Not just how to paint metals quickly, but how to use metallic paints to paint models quickly and achieve a better than tabletop standard to boot.

Conceptualization

Let's assume this is true: Models painted heavily with metallic paints go faster and take less effort to look good than models painted with conventional color. The theory is that painting models predominately with metal colors will allow for fast completion of the models, because metals don't take a long time to apply and they don't take a lot to look good.

The concept behind this technique is to paint a model with a lot of metallic paint, wash the model, pick out some details, finish the base, and be done. Bam! Just like that.

There are a lot of ways to create effects with metallic paints that take very little time. The easiest trick, and essential for speedy completion, is washes. Washes, in this case, are thinned out paints and inks that are liberally applied over the surface of the model. Washes will accomplish two things: first, they will flow into recesses and give quick definition between lines on the model, and second, they will change the color tone of the base color.

There are different ways to create washes. The easiest is to simply dilute paint with water, but it can grow more complex based on desired effect. This article will touch on using a few basic wash mixes, and is easiest to define them here:

Metal Wash

This is going to be a complex mixture that is the staple of making metals look good quickly. Typically I mix it on the fly, but I did take the time to figure out about what quantities of the ingredients go into the solution. I recommend mixing up a batch in a small storage container, or even an empty (and clean) paint bottle.

•      9mL VGC or VMC Glaze Medium
•     1mL GW Blue Ink
•     1mL GW Brown Ink
•     1 drop VGC Beasty Brown

Ink Wash

Typically you can wash surfaces with ink by simply diluting the ink with water. For this article, we want to cut the mixture with Future Floor Finish in addition to water. The Future Floor Finish breaks the surface tension of the water and ink and allows for the mixture to easily flow into recesses without pooling on large surfaces. Mix in a small storage container so that it can be used repeatedly.

•   8mL Future Floor Finish
•    8mL water (tap, room temperature is fine)
•    1mL GW Black Ink

Paint Wash

For the purpose of this article, all paint washes will be done with Golden Acrylic brand Fluid Acrylic paints, or GAFA. GAFA has a good pigment density and thins well with water, without having the paint easily breakdown. These will be straight out of the bottle and diluted with pure tap water. Quantity used is based on quantity required.

Now that the wash mixtures are established, it's time for an example.