The pursuit of individuality…

I’m always on the lookout for the non-conventional. It’s the same when it comes to the hobby. So one evening when I was perusing the Book of Faces I came across images of beautiful hot rods and other custom cars. Several of these bespoke vehicles had, what I’ve always called them, chameleon paint jobs, basically two tone colour shift pearlescence to their paint job (if that mouth full can be called basic). And I said to myself; “Self, I would love to paint my Stormraven like that!” so began (and continues) my search of individuality.

So far here is what I’ve found (purely research online and at craft shops):

Iridescent/Pearlescent mediums: This does not give me the “colour shift” effect that I’m looking for, but it is an acceptable compromise. As it’s slightly whitish I feel it would alter/tint the colour of the paint that it is added to. I will need to get some and experiment with it to see how much it would alter the colours, but unfortunately I have only seen this brand in my local craft shop and it’s not cheap. A cheaper alternative is pearlescent white acrylic paint, it’s about a quarter of the price but the added white pigment will definitely tint my colours.

Auto Paint: I’ve ruled this one out as too expensive and possibly not conducive to retaining detail on 28mm models. Also I can imagine that it would eat plastic.

Pearlescent Pigment: I’ve only seen these on the internet and they range from Pigments for cake decorating and figure nail art to automotive paint and plastic moulding colorants. Traditionally they are a dry powder that is added to a substrate or medium. I think these would have the best chance of working for me, but would definitely need to be applied with an air brush. This is definitely an avenue I will be perusing in the near future when other items have been cleared of my hobby table.

So in short this in not a new idea, but it is an uncommon one. I definitely will be looking at painting my Stormraven in some form of pearlescence but I will need to delve deeper into my research and conduct a few experiments before I settle on an approach that I’m confident will give me the best results. morsla from WargamerAU suggested this blog by Meg Maples that concerns this very same topic and it looks rather interesting!

Until next time if anyone has any ideas on achieving this look, please let me know so I can try it out!