Hey,

One of the things I'm constantly fighting with is getting the right color for freshly exposed steel on my armor models. I'm looking for that blueish, dark grey, faintly shining color, that is seen on steel surfaces that are constantly rubbed or freshly exposed and haven't built up rust.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I use graphite from a #2 pencile.

Thanks Donald! This is what I fall back to, as well but I was hopping there are acrylics to do that, too... Any ideas?

I would suggest Tamiya Metallic Grey. You can add a little Flat Aluminum to it, if you are looking for machined steel.

I mix my own. I start with Vallejo natural steel over a dark grey or black base and add black brown to deepen the tone. You can add reds or blues to change the hue as needed. I keep applying thinned layers that have less and less tint and the final layer will be pure natural steel. Right-click and then click on the pic to get a bigger image.

Kimmo

Thank you everybody! I will give these ideas a try!

@Kimmo: That's exactly the kind of effect I'm looking for.