Thank you so much for your advice! You pretty much nailed everything I had concerns about. IRT the gold, I've been using the Army Painter Speedpaint Metallics, but I have an issue where the paint starts to separate after a couple of minutes, regardless of being on a dry palate or wet palate. When I try to mix it back up it's not the same tone/consistency as when it's fresh out of the bottle. Have you guys experienced this as well and come up with solutions?