Chrome Test

After seeing Tesoe's shiny chrome stuff, I wanted to try it for myself. So I ordered some Molotow Liquid Chrome markers. Early experiments showed that the chrome they put down was shiny but delicate and did not take varnish well. However, again Tesoe pointed me in the right direction: Alclad Aqua Gloss varnish. So I ordered some and waited...

... for something like two months, at which point I gave up and ordered some more. Eventually it arrived, and I tried airbrushing it on. Thing is, airbrushing is new to me, so I wasn't very confident. Well, point it is took AGES, but I finally got a couple of models chromed and varnished.

The photos don't look like much, and in real life the chrome is not really super smooth and reflective, but the models certainly look brighter and shinier than any other metallic models I've ever done, and I think that's coming through in the photos.

The models were painted as normal (metal paints and black wash) then I went over the raised areas with the chrome pens. This way I maintained the dark shading, but next time I might try applying the varnish directly onto a glossy black primer, I'm hoping that way it will come out a bit smoother as the chrome is a bit rough on these two (although that might be the varnish...). After leaving the chrome to dry for several days (or months in the case of the second guy... I got a little busy...) I airbrushed the varnish on.

The bases aren't great; I was going for a standard tarmac road sort of thing, but I don't think it came through all that well. Also the eye glow looks very poor; the chrome is so bright that it was hard to make the eyes look bright. Well, these were just quick test models anyway so I didn't put too much effort into it, I'll try harder with the next ones.

The models themselves are Terminator Genisys miniatures from River Horse. I reposed them slightly by simply bending the plastic; I turned the standing model's head to the side a bit, while the crawler had his head bent to look up and to the side (and I think his arms and spine were bent a bit to make him look like he was trying to lift himself up a bit).

The Aqua Gloss varnish is... pretty much completely invisible when you airbrush it on, so it's pretty much impossible to tell how much you've put (unless you put too much...), and it's pretty much completely invisible when dry (it doesn't seem to change the finish at all really, so glossy surfaces stay glossy and matt stay matt); seeing as this was literally my first attempt at using an airbrush, I was getting no feedback and had no idea how much I was putting on (or even how much I needed to put on for a good protective coat). I mean, the chrome looks OK, but maybe it could have looked better? Plus the bases look a bit funny in the photos and I'm not sure if that's the varnish or not. Well, I guess there's a learning curve for anything new after all.