Painting silver with a bronze basecoat?

[Rhoderic]

I've heard (possibly here on LAF, can't remember) that one of the techniques in Kevin Dallimore's book is to paint silver (by which I mean all "grey metallics", not just the material silver in particular) with a bronze basecoat (ie. a "yellow/brown metallic"), layering the silver paint on top and leaving the bronze showing in the recesses as with normal shading. Does anyone have experience with this? Maybe even some pictures of what the finished effect looks like? I've heard the contrast really makes the silver "pop".

Of course I realize I could just try this myself to see what it looks like, and I mean to in the next few days, but I'd like to hear other people's thoughts/tips as well.

[Argonor]

I think it sounds like the GW method of painting rusty metal...?

Tin Bits/Brown/dark bronze with white metals over tend to look ancient/oxidated IMHO... (Look at the armour on their Troll):

http://uk.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.uk?do=Individual&code=99111499030&orignav=16

But with a 'cleaner' paintjob, It may work...?

[Westfalia Chris]

I wouldn´t use "pure bronze/gold" for the basecoat, but a mixture of a brass shade and black or black grey works very well for that method. I occasionally use it (read, when I think of it) instead of a pure black grey (usually VMC "German Grey) base for "silver metallics" since it gives a warmer finish than the black/grey variety.

So, my approach for this is: Basecoat in mix of VGC "Brassy Brass" and VMC "German Grey" or VMC "Black". Next layer, add some darker metal (I usually take RAC "Iron") to the mix, followed by a mixed layer of RAC "Iron" and RAC "Silver", with a final highlight of pure RAC "Silver".

Manufacturer codes: VGC= Vallejo Game Color, VMC= Vallejo Model Color, RAC= Revell Aqua Color.

[Rhoderic]

I think it sounds like the GW method of painting rusty metal...?

Tin Bits/Brown/dark bronze with white metals over tend to look ancient/oxidated IMHO... (Look at the armour on their Troll):

http://uk.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.uk?do=Individual&code=99111499030&orignav=16

But with a 'cleaner' paintjob, It may work...?

Hmm... that's not exactly the same thing that I'm talking about. I know of drybrushing silver over bronze or brass to create a rusty look and I might even have used it on occasion back in my 40K days (Orks). The technique I'm talking about, as I've understood it, isn't really to make the metal look rusty, but to create an interesting shading effect on nice, shiny metallics. In retrospect I suppose the distinction isn't a very large one. I think of it like this: Whereas the technique used on that troll is intended to make the metal look old and worn (perhaps "rusty" isn't the right word to use here, as something that gets used a lot doesn't really get rusty), the technique I'm thinking of is intended to make silver metallics look all shiny and burnished by making it "pop" in contrast to the shading. It's more of a neat layering technique.