Product Review 04 - Vallejo Liquid Gold
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2024
- For this product review, I take you through the Vallejo Liquid Gold range, the challenges and advantages of using these very interesting, alcohol based paints.
Twitter: @warhammerweekly
Gah damn it lmao, every hobby advice has been covered by this man..what a legend
THank you, happy to help as always. :)
Bought a set of Vallejo Liquid Metal paints and this video is like the holy grail.
Thank you, happy to help as always. :)
Awesome. Super helpful. I just ordered/received a package of these paints... been dying to try them. Glad I watched this before using. Thanks for these reviews- super reference.
Thanks, happy to help as always.
Thanks for the review Vince. After having a play around with some metallics, I do agree that the Liquid Gold makes any other acrylic gold look comically fake. However, I really, really struggled to blend with it; at one point, the isopropyl alcohol stripped off the primer plus the layers of water based acrylic paint, plus a layer of varnish below!
My biggest concern is that these paints aren't good through an airbrush. That means my usual method of painting is out the window, and if I do use these, then I'm going to have to commit to brush painting Dorn.
The third option is oil based metallic gold. Now, oddly enough, oil paints do thin with alcohol, and so can be mixed with the Liquid Gold on the palette. So this might be how I integrate Liquid Gold highlights over an airbrushed base coat.
Yeah, it's enough of a challenge that honestly, I switched over to Vallejo Metal Color Gold/Copper mix for most of my metallics. The extra work just wasn't worth it.
@@VinceVenturella Vince, what is your gold/copper mixture with the Metal Color? While I love the Metal Color range for everything else I struggle to get a rich gold color with it and am considering switching to this product.
I just got the Vallejo liquid gold paints and I love them. Completely changed my opinion on metallic paints. I'm never going back to shiny mustard again.
Great to hear! :)
Unreal coverage and reflectivity. I've been struggling with gold acrylic paints and now I understand why. I'm painting up some gold armored guys soon and this seems like a good choice.
Yep, they can be a pain to work with, but the results are amazing.
Another good video. Just one note on separated paint, I have had some of these in my cupboard for around 6 years, never had to use one of the golds until recently and it was completely separated like in the video, a complete lump of shiny goo under liquid brown. Managed to remix it but that was 4 steel ball bearings and 5 minutes on the vortex mixer so it is technically possible, it's quite difficult(although the mixer made it easy, really has paid for itself over the years).
Yeah, at the time, I didn't have a mixer, I think now I would be better at keeping them alive, but it really does take machine mixing.
@@VinceVenturella Certainly, I originally thought the mixer was a bit of a luxury, but it ended up being one of those things that you buy thinking you don't need it, to being something you can't(don't want to at least) do without. Similar to a clothes dryer or a dishwasher.
"This is garbage, this is amazing" bahahaha. Thanks for this vid, very informative!
Always happy to help. :)
I am in a love hate relationship with liquid gold, it is such a challenging paint but offers great results, batch painting is a pain in the butt with it. But man are the results worth the pain. I used it On my 30k ultra marines and it was totally worth it. Great review Vince. Keep it up. In the meantime I will think about what a miniature to paint for the end of month PmP.
+Aelindar Menetheus I completely agree on all points and I look forward to the submission :)
Wow, this video was an eye opener for me. Great to see the direct comparison with your gold ring.
I guess I will avoid the hassle with alcohol based colours though and stick to the bad gold colours. But who knows? The day might come when I need REAL gold effects.
Yes, I usually use the Vallejo Metal Color Gold and Copper now, it produces nearly the same effect (nearly - still better than others) while being A LOT easier to work with. There is nothing like the Liquid Gold for that true sheen.
PSA: It seems I was just able to salvage some Old Gold that started to go bad in an older-style bottle (the glob of pigment was still very sticky but not yet rubbery) by adding a bunch of pure isopropyl alcohol, 4 ball bearings, and shaking like a madman for half an hour or so. The glob went away completely although the paint still separates like crazy. Three other pots of paint in newer-style bottles (Copper, Red Gold, Rich Gold) don't have any problems at all. I was checking them and shaking them up periodically all at once for equal lengths of time, and stored them upside-down, so I think the older-style bottle is part of the problem. It's not as tight as it needs to be and its opening is too wide. The newer bottles keep better.
Also, it seems to me like there is a minimum volume of alcohol that is required to suspend a certain amount of this pigment, and the bottles come from the factory close to that ratio, so really it's the evaporation of alcohol from the bottle that looks to me to be the source of the globbing. I couldn't do anything to the glob in my Old Gold _before_ I added more alcohol to it, even with 2 ball bearings inside. As soon as I added the alcohol, the glob started to dissolve. Vallejo really should put an instruction on the bottle asking people to refill it periodically and shake it up, this would go a long way towards keeping them in good condition.
Very interesting.
Thanks for this vid, Vince!
My pleasure!
I wonder if you'll get a slightly different experience using ethanol instead of Isopropanol. They evaporate at different speeds and ethanol is slightly more viscous than isopropanol.
Thank you so much! This video IS gold! ...no pun intended xD
Glad you enjoyed it!
Darkstar Classic gold is a really good acrylic to use. Not as good as these but waaaaayyyy better than any other gold I have used. Very bright as well.
I tried them and found them okay, I use the Vallejo Metal Color gold and copper (3-1 ratio) and found that to be the best experience.
lovely. Thank you for sharing. :)
Can you put acrylic washes like over them or will the water content ruin it?
You certainly can, though I never recommend washing metal, it just ruins the effect. But a few controlled applications to create shade (as I show in several video) of paint, ink or shade to control the light and do your TMM in a NMM style can be good.
Here's the million dollar question, will this paint tarnish over time? Testors gold certainly does
Never had any issue with Tarnishing.
Such a great review. Thank you !
Glad it was helpful!
Revisiting this during the pandemic as isopropyl alcohol suddenly became a household essential. :P
I'll probably order some Liquid Gold soon for my Sanguinary Guard. I also have a couple of tubes of AK Abteilung 502 oil-based metallics lying around, including gold, and I've got VMC gold as well, it will be really interesting to compare them. AK also has a wax-based True Metal line, but from what I've heard it's basically impossible to paint over them using water-based acrylics, so they aren't suitable for TMM.
I've played with the True Metals a little, more experimentation is needed, but I was able to put more paint over top.
@@VinceVenturella Did you add something particular to the paint that stuck?
@@p_serdiuk Nope, just an ink
Can these be varnished or will they rust with water based clear coats?
They won't rust, but I don't varnish them as it reduces their shine too much.
This video led me to buying and trying those. It looks great! Like real metal! It's quite hard to manipulate though as you mentioned. Getting a smooth layer is quite difficult.
My major problem with it is its toxicity! I've got a light neurointoxication. And started to experience euphoria and aggressiveness. So the reason many people may opt not to use it is that damaging brain cells is not worth the result 😂
Yeah, they are challenging.if you want a good alternative, go for Vallejo Metal Color gold and copper and mix them. It's not quite as shiny (though still amazing) and traditional acrylic paints.
I just tried out the copper for my Khardron's via the airbrush. That all worked well. Howver, after doing a wash on them of jade green to create a patina look (worked great as I expected), the minis are "sticky." Not quite dried. Heck, I can rub some of the patina wash off even days late. Have you noticed this? It is looking like before doing the patina wash, I should/need to do a clear coat of some sort.
I've never seen such a thing, what were you using for the wash? It sounds like it was the patina paint that wasn't mixed or perhaps was a bad paint.
So I watched your Metal Color review and as I was shopping it I came across this liquid gold and found this video and watched beginning and was sold. Created order then watched rest and saw the separation. I’m okay with extra work for better effects. But can’t stand wasting money if a forgetful week or even months results in sludge. How often do you need to shake it to keep it from going irreversibly bad? Thanks. Live your videos.
Quite a lot. Heavy agitators also help. It's finish is unparalled - the Old Gold is lustrous and amazing, but it does go bad easily. I doubt any human has ever exhausted a bottle. That being said, it is a gorgeous paint.
hi if you're really worried about the sediment forming i recommend using either the expensive battery powered badger paint stirrer or the cheaper option of one of those coffee frothers, i bought the badger one as its likely to waste less paint and easier to clean as it has a solid disc at the base which i have ground down to fit in the normal dropper bottles for the likes of army painter paints because they seem to suffer from heavy sedimentation if left for extended periods, the difference in the paint is noticeable as it re-blends the medium with the pigment far better than just shaking does, apologies for waffling but hope this helps
So I just found this video, been painting a bit with Liquid Rich Gold and it's really nice. I left it open while painting most of the times and didn't have any issues so far - but I get the idea that the alcohol evaporates quickly and that might kill the paint. But then I just had this idea, though it might sound stupid; if the alcohol left your pot of Liquid Gold, can't you just revive it by adding alcohol directly into the pot? And then probably shake it like hell. Seems logical to me, but I'm not that into chemistry and don't really have a clue what is going on there on a molecular base.
The answer is yes some. You can wake them back up a little, but you need 99% alcohol, there will come a point however when it just breaks down.
Well you saved me the embarrassment of using my old bottle of Green Gold. It definitely spent too much time on the shelf. Great video; definitely full of great advice.
I'm curious as to how this product reacts with varnish. Does a varnish just completely ruin it? Also, can you apply it over an acrylic Matt or Satin Varnish (eg., Liquitex, Vallejo)?
With the current pandemic hysteria, high purity IPA is pretty hard to get. For a disinfectant at home, I’ve been using Everclear in a spray bottle, which is 95% ethyl alcohol. Wonder if that would work?
Yeah, good Isopropyl is hard to come by. I have no idea if everclear works, but it's a great idea.
I plopped a stainless steel mixing ball (from Army Painter) into my pot of Liquid Gold Rich Gold. Did I just ruin my pot?
No, it's possible the alcohol actually somehow still causes it to rust over time, but realistically, the paint will probably dry out before that. I would guess you're fine, but I wouldn't use it regularly.
Damn I might have gotten a bad batch because my gold has terrible coverage I have to apply it more than twice
You might need to actively mix it up and break up some of the pigment, it tends to clump.
I love, love, love my Old Gold, but yes, using it is...challenging to say the least. It is the most beautiful gold, but I can't see myself using it on my DoK horde without losing my sanity (or what little I have left).
It's a bit crazy on an army, it's why I switched to Vallejo Metal Color gold and copper mixed.
@@VinceVenturella Are they a part of the Airbrush Metal Colour range? I really love my Magnesium and Aluminium.
Thanks for the video, informative. Can you apply a dark brown wash over it, to add contrast to the recesses?
I would avoid a wash in general, I don't like washing metals, it ruins that beautiful shine. That being said, you can certainly apply inks, shades, contrast paints or whatever into the shadows (I have other videos on my channel about doing TMM in a NMM style and you'll see what I mean). But it's always a good idea to get that contrast in there somehow.
Hope that helps.
Great overview, to avoid the evaporation issue, would it not be a good idea to decant these into dropper bottles?
It probably would honestly, because it's a big challenge for them. A glass dropper bottle with a good lid would be the best case.
For the subscribers on the east coast (US) CVS pharmacey & Walmart carry 91% & 99% isopropyl alcohol CAN be ordered online
Yep, that's what I did actually. Picked up the 99% and it's a game changer.
Great review
+IDICBeer Thank you sir, much appreciated.
I looked for the next video for liquid gold, but haven’t found it. Any chance you could link it in the description! Thanks in advance!
Which video were you looking for? This was liquid gold, were you looking for something different?
hey i'm thinking of getting these but i have a question about these alcohol paints....so i was watching a TH-cam channel called "buypainted" the guy used to post warhammer stuff but he hasn't posted anything in a great many years. He's used the alcohol met paints quite extensively. He doesn't look to be priming his models when applying the liquid gold. Do they require a primer?
Also how do the Vallejo Liquid Gold compare to the GSW pure metal pigments? I have the gsw and they're nice, are the vallejo the same, better?
Thank you again for the feedback.
The pigments are the same shine but much easier to work with. That being said, you can mix alcohol with the pigments and effectively make something similar.
If you are going to airbrush them dont use 100% isopropyl alcohol unless you want to destroy youre airbrush. You can use Tamiya x20a or laqcuer thinner/leveling thinner.
Good call.
Great review! I just bought the silver one, but I want to paint a slightly brown silver, can I add a drop of acrylic brown in there? Or any ways to achieve a slightly brown silver color? Thank you!
You don't want to mix acrylics with alcohol paints. That being said, some brown ink could be glazed over the top and that is ultimately what I would recommend.
now there is this relative new line from greenstuffworld: pure metal pigments, which can be used with an acrylic medium. do you know how these compare with the vallejo liquid metals?
Yep, in fact I have a review here - th-cam.com/video/ne_jZPlFGS4/w-d-xo.html
Is it possible to drybrush with the color?
Sure can.
In case a helpful soul sees this I shall leave a noobie question: I'm just getting into painting so yah I'm a total noob. I've watched a ton of videos but we'll see how much that prepared me for the task at hand.
Anyway I'm looking at painting a miniature of a dude covered in gold paint(not a warhammer miniature). So naturally said dude has to be golden(somewhat) so I've been wondering what gold should I buy for the task(with maybe a layer to highlight it). I like the results from the Liquid Gold but it does sound that it's really hard to use. So I was wondering how does the Citadel Retributor Armor compare to it? I seem to like the Retributor gold as seen in videos and citadel have a ready layer for highliting. Maybe even I can get some reikland flesh(or aggrax earthshade) shade on top and have it look great for a golden painted body. But how well does that compare to just a proper layer of Vallejo Liquid Gold?
So retributor is fine, but if you could I would actually recommend, Vallejo Metal Color Copper and Gold (not model or Game, but Metal Color). (here is a sample of the paint I am talking about - www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Copper-Metal-Color-Paint/dp/B012A94P6S/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=vallejo+metal+color&qid=1587344168&sr=8-1)
Mix 2 Copper with 3 gold, and you can get something rich and wonderful.
Thanks for the video. Any way to darken liquid silver by mixing black ink? I mean the base color. Not by shading.
Unfortunately not, mixing in acrylic paints to the alcohol will cause some negative results. Vallejo Metal Color is your better bet (earlier review and what I mostly use now, especially for steel) as tht can be mixed with black inks.
@@VinceVenturella Thank you. I always find your videos most helpful.
Hi, do you know how this interact with non (water based) acrylic paints? In particular, how do they work on top of Tamiya XF or lacquer based paints? Will applying them by brush peel up previous layers of these paints?
So I can honestly say I've never put them on anything other than acrylic paints. I would think as long as the layers underneath were varnished, there wouldn't be an issue.
@@VinceVenturella Thanks, I really appreciate your videos. I've learned a lot, especially the color series.
I recently bought these Gold and White Gold paints. And Gold is very disappointing, it is just brown water with a few gold particles, which does not color anything.... White Gold was great.
That means the gold was old and fully separated. That is the challenge with them, certainly that is not how the product is supposed to work, I suspect you have a big gold ball of pigment in the bottom of the bottle that has congealed. This was always the problems with these, they are incredibly fickle and will just die very easily. It’s why I moved away from them.
you have to put on outcast and shake it like a polaroid picture !!!!!!!! lool thats awesome :) ps i hate how good these look on a model as im at wars with these little f****** and im loosing !!!!!
+plastic sturgeon It does look amazing, it's tough to use, but the final product is worth it IMHO.
so i went back to this video because im about to paint my abyssal dwarf mantic models and i was thinking of using the liquid red gold on them. my plans were to spray in black then airbrush brown, then hopefully airbrush in the red gold color to get all the spikey plated armor. how do these work from an airbrush? im worried theyll dry too quickly and leave that fuzzy effect and ruin detail (possible irrational fear)
Under no circumstances should you ever put thee through an airbrush. They will kill your airbrush faster than you taking the needle out and snapping it in two. These dry in seconds and will just make a big hard glob coating the inside of your airbrush forever. The Liquid gold is great, but it's brush only. If you wanted that hue and wanted to airbrush, use the Vallejo Metal Color Copper, it's actually the same tone and works like magic through an airbrush.
Vince Venturella thanks Vince!
Can i varnish these liquid metalls ?
You can, but I wouldn't recommend it, as I don't recommend every varnishing metals, it just ruins them as it disrupts their natural shine.
Lmao, "you better put on some outkast"
Glad you enjoyed. :)
Good review but to much work for my test. I will keep using Retributor Armor.
+Victor Ques (Neojarlaxe) It is a lot of work, and I think that ironically, Retributor is the second best out there for coverage and tone, but in the end, it just still doesn't look gold to me, so I am willing to deal with it. That being said, I totally get what you mean. :)
Maybe I missed it in the video, but is 70% iso alcohol fine to use with this? I heard it could rust my paint if i use that
I would stuck to 91% or above Isopropyl.
@@VinceVenturella got it. Thank you!!!
Are these the metallics you mention all the time?
No, these are good, but it's Product Review #1, it's the Vallejo Metal Color is the line.
@@VinceVenturella thanks I put some on order. The gold is hard to find.
How does the alcohol effect plastic and resin models?
Never had any negative effect.
Great video! Stupid question maybe but, would you consider using this range with an airbrush?
+Santiago Hors Fraile I have never tried and honestly, no, I think it would just wreck the airbrush instantly. The alcohol evaporates so fast, and this stuff leaves a solid layer, that is why it's coverage is so good. Just trying to use a medicine dropper to get it from the pot wrecks the dropper almost instantly. My advice, don't do it.
@@VinceVenturella you can put it through and airbrush fine. I just did and have seen bohun do it as well. Works great
Just used an airbrush and AKs brush cleaner cleared everything out like new.
i’ve noticed that once it dries, your skin can still remove the paint. Have you experienced this? Should i seal it w a varnish to keep it intact?
I've never had the issue. All the liquid gold i've used has been pretty tough. It could be the undercoat or primer, it might not be adhering as strong as it could.
I have had this problem with liquid gold and liquid silver. It’s always happened to me within the first hour of applying it though, so I guess I’d say just wait longer before touching it
Kinda late now, but what does actually cause them to go bad? Standing still for too long? Or standing still while not properly closed?
Kinda want to try them out, but also scared it might be bad from the get go...
Also, can I wash them? And do I need to seal them right away with varnish before doing anything else with them?
I think it's just sitting still and separating. I know some people love them and my reviews are always my experiences, so you could have others, but I would recommend a good paint shaker.
Well, as long as they let me open it in store before buying to see it's not one huge glob of dried paint I should be fine ;)
Tell me tho, can you wash those? Are they as resistant as acrylic paints after they dry? Or do they require special treatment?
They should take a wash without issue. I never had a problem with their durability, so you should be good there.
Oh, thats good to know, I could swear somebody say 'you merely touch them and they come right off', maybe I got something mixed up...
One last thing - do you think they are worth the efford when compared to vallejo metal color? I wanna paint some Stormcasts and as funny as it sounds Im wondering if the effect wont be a bit... TOO realistic for them.
Almost a necessity for Custodes.
It does make them gleam.
Hi Vince, Given how good Scale 75s golds are having these Liquid paints is still a must?
I am generally not a fan of Scale 75's golds to be honest. (If they work for you, that's fine, to each their own, but I have never found a perfect gold). The Liquid Gold produces a sheen like nothing else, but it's hard to work with. My actual preference now is vallejo Metal Color gold and copper, which I mix to get the gold I want.
Thank you very much! I already have Vallejo Old Gold, I only lack the silver one thou, maybe If I can use any acrylic silver if thinned down? We will see. Thanks for helping out, your channel is awesome.
@@VinceVenturella can you do a video comparing your mix to these?
Could you use these in an airbrush? And if you use an airbrush how can you best clean it after using these paints?
I wouldn't recommend the Liquid Gold through the airbrush, you can use them, but you have to clean it rather quickly with 99% isopropyl alcohol.
@@VinceVenturella thank you so much!!
Cleaned just fine with AKs cleaner.
I wonder if an ultrasonic cleaner might help keeping it from clumping up inside the bottle, and help with cleaning the brushes afterwards.
I haven't tried it on the brushes, I am afraid it would destroy the glue. But I have found that A) Putting a non-ferrous metal agitator in the bottle goes a long way and B) you can use the cleaner (with just some water) and it does the job.
how do you shade /bright this paints?
So I just happen to have a tutorial on that here - th-cam.com/video/Oeci9W3URkA/w-d-xo.html
i've seen some display painters use the golden fluid acrylics - Does anyone know how they compare? They're quite expensive
I haven't given them a try yet, but I will have to put them on the list as I am still searching for the perfect gold.
Thanks Vince, love your channel. I've made a wishlist of metal colour paints based off your review for base transitions for armour and weapons - Steel, dark aluminium and silver. Would you recommend any better options for the transition?
That is the exact 3 I would recommend.
Hmm, so it's basically the same as Tamiya.
Hey Vince I just got my set of VLM one of the colors I got “red gold wasn’t able to be shaken back to being well mixed, so I used a stick and stirred it but all the pigment was separated and in bottom however when I broke it up and came back to it I can’t find the chunks anymore? Did it re-activate ? Is the paint ok? Is that an advantage to Alcohol paint? When pigment separated they will re-dissolve in alcohol paint ? It seems to be the case here but I could just be unable to find the 1/2 inch chuck that I initially pulled up on my stir stick..... any knowledge on this matter would be helpful thank you
I have had it happen a few times. Sometimes you can get lucky and get it remixed yes. I would do some tests and have some 90%+ iso alcohol ready for some mixes and see how it works.
I was planning on underpainting in Armypainter Leather brown first... -is this pointless? Shall I just stick with GW Corax white(grey)? I'm unsure...
Vallejo Liquid Gold is almost completely opaque, so undershading doesn't really matter, unlike most other gold paints. It will cover anything you have underneath and be the same shade.
Thanks Vince! :)
Don’t put that stuff on your skin.
I tend to avoid painting on my skin at all. :)