I read that some people have used regular gel colors and vodka to paint modeling chocolate and others that said it didn't work because of the fat in the chocolate. Does anyone have experience with this? I've also seen mention of cocoa butter which I don't have. I'm just making a small thing so I don't want to invest much in new materials if I can use stuff I already have. Thanks!

I watched an episode of "The Little Chocolatiers" yesterday where they did a dollhouse, and painted the chocolate. I don't know how much of a difference the modeling choco or the tempered choco would be...

but they used a sugar glaze to "varnish" furniture...and then used gold dust and vodka to highlight the fixtures on some furniture.

It worked really well.

I airbrushed the modeling chocolate on the Forklift-Retirement cake I did a few months ago (it's in my photos). I was disappointed because you are correct, the fat content in the chocolate made the paint bead up. However, I went with it and as it sat over night, it did dry enough that it didn't bleed onto the white 'hubcaps' on the wheels. If you look really close at the photo of the back wheel, you can see the tiny beads; but the pic was taken the day after I painted it; maybe if you painted a few days ahead, it just may dry all the way. HTH!

this might help https://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6061647-.html