Base Colour Spray Paints - Advice wanted

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

I am looking at doing some quick and nasty painting of some figures to just get things onto the table.  The main feature of the figures is mail and helmets.
The plan is to use spray paint to get the armour painted quickly, then probably block in colours and then a wash, possibly with a highlight.
GW Leadbelcher spray seems to be in short supply.
The reports of Army Painter metallic sprays are not encouraging.
Vallejo make some metallic sprays and I can readily get hold of Tamiya spray paints.

Has anyone had experience with these?  Any recommendations of one over the other?

Cheers

[OSHIROmodels]

Humbrol do a couple of sprays and I use their aluminium one fairly regularly on terrain. Just one thing to know, it does dry fairly mat (and needs a very good shake beforehand) but a coat of gloss varnish would be good for armour.

[Major_Gilbear]

I used the Army Painter metallics, and I personally thought they were miles better than their other colours in terms of how thin and smooth the paint was, and how well it went on. They smell more strongly though, and they took much longer to dry (although I leave sprayed models overnight anyway, but still...). One more thing I should mention; I put a spray primer of Halford's grey on all my models first (again, dried overnight for a full cure).

Generally though, I would recommend looking at automotive sprays for metallics - they are specially designed to be tough, to go on thinly and adhere well, and to stick equally well to metal/plastic/putty, and are normally very good value compared to miniature paints/sprays. Some will be glossier than others though, especially as most car sprays are designed to be used in the following order: primer > 1-2 coats of the colour spray > clear coat. Obviously, for miniatures, that can be a bit thick, so I just do: primer > 1 coat of colour, and then use regular mini paints on top.

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks for the replies.  I might have to experiment.