Using Nail Polish on my Skinks

[Glockta]

Hey all,

I used nail polish for the colour change effect, it goes from purple to green to gold on my Terradons.


On my Bastiladon it goes from Brown to Gold (change was hard to capture with lighting at time of photo)


I also painted some skinks, no nail polish.

 

[Aginor]

Nice idea!
I also did some tests with my wife's acrylic nail colors. Haven't found the perfect thing yet but there are loads of special effect colors that could be used.

 

[Glockta]

Regarding all the pigments in nail polish, I know right, who would of thought there was more money in women's beauty products than in model paints.So much to choose from and some crazy effects on offer in nail polish.

 

[Aginor]

Can you post a real close up photo of the surfaces?
I wonder how thick the paint is.

And I am also curious: did you base coat before the nail paint? Or only prime? Black primer I guess?

 

[Glockta]

So I mixed the paint (lacquer based,) about 70/30 with nail polish thinner, the acetone in the thinner will eat acrylic paint so there is no need to base coat. Both paints i used are 'ultracrome', the Bastiladon was about 2 coats, but the Terradons was about 5-6 coats. I was going to use an airbrush for the task (would need 50/50 mix) but I didn't want to stuff around masking or cleaning, so I just applied the paint with a brush.




I learned painted with lacquer is very different than painting with acrylic, its harder to get an even coat, you have to push the paint around, if you have large flat surfaces (like the wings) it will take time to get complete coverage, or you can use an airbrush with a 0.5 needle, but have alot of thinner on hand for the cleaning.
Due to the thick application of the paint I wouldn't use nail polish on highly detailed components, but for carapaces, shields etc I think its great, the 'popping' of the colour change turned out better than I had expected, I think I want to do a tyranid army next.