Painting a mirrored surface...

barnacle111 · Post by **barnacle111** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:55 pm

A very interesting question was brought up on the new dreadball forums that has not been answered. I thought someone here may have a technique...
How do you paint a surface to look like a mirror. Not a stationary mirror, but on a face mask so could be reflecting anything/nothing. Any ideas?

Buggrit · Post by **Buggrit** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:30 pm

Maybe a black/white or yellow NMM to represent the ground/lights

the solitaire · Post by **the solitaire** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:48 pm

A high contrast SENMM would certainly do the trick. Something similar to the airbrush techniques used to represent chrome surfaces

barnacle111 · Post by **barnacle111** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:34 pm

Senmm?

Don__Vito · Post by **Don__Vito** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:51 pm

Sky/Earth Non Metallic Metal

barnacle111 · Post by **barnacle111** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 11:45 am

Ok, so I've seen details about nmm, but sky earth versions? What are they?

spubbbba · Post by **spubbbba** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:57 pm

You can use the techniques for painting chrome surfaces but that may not work so well on models that are supposed to be indoors.

To get an actual mirrored surface you’d either need metal models and would polish the surface before giving it several coats of gloss varnish. Painting it silver with varnish may work too.

Or you could even chrome the area, but not sure if a model is big enough to do that or would survive the process.

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 7:01 pm

in the past I have gone with silver as a base, then a slight metallic green on the bottom edge and metallic blue on the top edge to look metallic.. a couple of white lines going // on the sides to simulate light reflections, a few coats of gloss varnish.. ought to be good enough for an area 2mm x 4mm..

the best meal I ever managed was on my Snotling apo who has a huge cleaver.. my wife actually asked me why I had replaced his sword with a real razor blade..

that was just done using thin layers of gunmetal and silver until I was happy..

barnacle111 · Post by **barnacle111** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 8:40 pm

Cheers guys, some food for thought... Now to pull out an old figure and give these a go. Norse, have you got pics?

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:50 pm

no, I checked my photobucket account, but it seems I never did take a pic.. I still have the mini, so if I can be arsed (don't go holding your breath on that!

) then I'll see what I can do..

barnacle111 · Post by **barnacle111** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:51 pm

I'll let you know when I start to turn blue and hypoxic....

yggdrasil · Post by **yggdrasil** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:54 pm

Norse wrote:the best meal I ever managed...

barnacle111 wrote:Cheers guys, some food for thought...

Great, now I'm hungry.

velvet mark · Post by **velvet mark** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:41 am

yggdrasil wrote:
Norse wrote:the best meal I ever managed...

barnacle111 wrote:Cheers guys, some food for thought...
Great, now I'm hungry.

Hehehehe, awesome mate:D

Norse wrote:in the past I have gone with silver as a base, then a slight metallic green on the bottom edge and metallic blue on the top edge to look metallic.. a couple of white lines going // on the sides to simulate light reflections, a few coats of gloss varnish.. ought to be good enough for an area 2mm x 4mm..

the best meal I ever managed was on my Snotling apo who has a huge cleaver.. my wife actually asked me why I had replaced his sword with a real razor blade.. that was just done using thin layers of gunmetal and silver until I was happy..

Yeah I think the green and blue would work amazingly well for blood bowl SENMM, depending on your pitch colour of course. (alot of the examples given when internet serached are brown and blue).Definately post some pics if you can get round to it Norse, its always a pleasure viewing your minis. (plus to get the wife commenting on it is awesome - you are living the dream chief! I get a questioning look followed by an suggestion/order to put up shelves (for some chistmas decorations))

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:09 pm

lol, nice typo above..

yeah, my missus mostly humours me - usual response is "that's nice dear" as I show her a nurgle deamon with it's guts spilling out..

maybe it's because the kids were really young at the time and she thought I was actually sticking scalpel blades onto (effectively) toys..

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 3:28 pm

OK, flattery gets you everywhere it seems..

so, I didn't have time to set up my light box, but below are quick snaps of the razor blade snotling as well as a sniper I painted for 40K around 15 years ago - his visor, though not mirrored, is probably the best light reflecting paint job I have ever done.. I have done the blue/silver/gold effect on visors before, but I can't seem to find any in my collection - maybe I did it for GorkaMorka when I worked for GW??

anyhoo, enjoy...

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