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So I wanted to try and do a heat stressed gun barrel (Railgun).

Purple wash, then Seriphem Sepia over top that to dull down the purple.

Thoughts? Advice?

Looks good and follows the same kind of technique as the FW Masterclass book.

Looks pretty good, if a tad stark. Softening the purple-sepia transition would make things look a bit more natural, but it's a perfectly passable effect.

If you want to take it to the next level, you'll need smoother transitions and more colors. Few, if any, would make so niggling a point, but purple is usually a pretty narrow temperature band, when heating metal. Blues cover a much broader temperature range above, and yellow-browns below. A purple to sepia transition is a natural one, but also very specific. Blended blue to sepia, with a thin purple transition, is probably the most recognizable representation of heat discoloration on metal.

For reference, here's a temperature guide and a real-world example, if you want to try pushing the effect further:

I've had good luck with From the Warp's tutorial.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.ca/2011/09/how-to-paint-heat-stained-gun-barrels.html

Awesome comments, thanks!

I was liking the progress on how it was looking, especially toward the distal end of the barrel.

I was not liking the stark purple in the middle...but needed confirmation of my thoughts, and affirmation that I was at least on the right track

I had been looking for some guides/examples using the Greater Google...but not much was coming up, so thank you for that info!!

Going to give this another go this weekend

 oadie wrote:

The from the warp tut is pretty nice.
Just to add that the exhaust picture above looks like someone has just forced that on by running a torch around it ( or done a hack job inside the can). Normally you might see it at either end of the pipe but it shouldnt start in the middle like that.

The placement on the part is admittedly odd, but it does show a central band of intense heat with discoloration radiating outward therefrom, which is what the OP was shooting for. Most examples (appropriate for exhausts, traditional gun barrels, etc.) are as you describe, but the railgun's "barrel" is a bit of an odd case.

Not quite the quality picture I want, but in person, it's a MUCH smoother transition between silver/blue silver/purple/brown/yellowish metal.

When the HH is all done, I will be sure to get really good pictures of this. Quite happy with it!

Thanks for the great advice everybody!

I have been using watered down purple, then blue, orange, and yellow over silver applied in bands with some overlap. A black wash or some black weathering powder can dial it back if you go too far.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/532976-.html?m=2

that looks pretty good, despite it being on a cold weapon lol. Railguns (atleast the general idea of them, not sure exactly if Tau are different than standard) use magnet rails to fire things - no heat.

Then again, regardless it still adds a cool image and makes it more unique compared to the others you might find.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
that looks pretty good, despite it being on a cold weapon lol. Railguns (atleast the general idea of them, not sure exactly if Tau are different than standard) use magnet rails to fire things - no heat.

Then again, regardless it still adds a cool image and makes it more unique compared to the others you might find.

Railguns produce a ton of heat. Friction between the projectile and rails, or from the arcing from the rails to the projectile. It's part of why railguns aren't currently in real use, you have to replace the rails every couple of shots because they've warped.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
that looks pretty good, despite it being on a cold weapon lol. Railguns (atleast the general idea of them, not sure exactly if Tau are different than standard) use magnet rails to fire things - no heat.

Then again, regardless it still adds a cool image and makes it more unique compared to the others you might find.

Heat? What heat?

 Vineheart01 wrote:
that looks pretty good, despite it being on a cold weapon lol. Railguns (atleast the general idea of them, not sure exactly if Tau are different than standard) use magnet rails to fire things - no heat.

Then again, regardless it still adds a cool image and makes it more unique compared to the others you might find.

you realize that we have the technology in principle to make railguns work right? And they'll work. Once. Then the power and friction released causes everything to melt and fuse together. Rail guns are a bit of a pain that way.

d'ope! beaten to the punch already.