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I'm looking to make a Space Marine Chapter using the colors and patterns of the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. They have my favorite uniforms by far, and I feel that an orange space marine army would look impressive, and also be something not many people have seen.

So, pretty much what my question is, is when painting an army orange..Should I base with Skull white or Chaos Black?

I always undercoat black, although I'm sure you'll find plenty of people will push you towards white, especially in the instance. Looking at older models that I did basecoat white makes me want to strip the paint and redo them.

Either way, I would base color with Foundation Macharius Solar Orange because it has good opacity, and then paint the black tiger stripes onto that.

Judicious highlighting with the old Fiery Orange would have been my next suggestion, but you might try adding a little yellow or white to Blazing Orange?

I too have thought of doing this (and may partially do it for one of the clans in my DIY chapter. and have put some thought into it.

If it were me.... i would leave of the helmet and shoulder pads prime them white then prime the rest black. That way the parts with the most orange will be easier to paint.

I'd say White. After that, lay down some Orange Foundation Paint, and then do your Shading/Highlighting from there, using your chosen method and colours.

Orange is so bright I'm going to push you towards white.

Orange over black will take more coats than orange over white. So over white saves you time (less coats) and also means you don't gunk up the detail with too much paint.

Depending on what you want for your end result: White undercoat will make the orange seem a lot brighter and cleaner. Black will inevitably make the orange much darker, I use black under my bright colours because I want them to look darker and grimier. So if you want to make them pristine, out of the dealership looking marines, use white. For worn in, 3 previous owner marines, go for black and build up with successive coats of orange.

OK, I have a completely radical idea here, and is very unconventional (below). Before I go into that I have a quick opinion: The whole idea of a black undercoat, to me is crazy unless you are painting lots of metallic tones on top. White is by far a better choice for brightness. But you must pay extra attention to shadows and recesses, because if you have white flecks sticking through it'll be more obvious than black dots. Consider inking or (gasp)dipping.

BUT my suggestion is to find a spray on MATTE Orange Base as the primer. That way you'd be able to coat on black stripes with ease. I know it sounds unusual, but if you are painting a large army, that'd be my suggestion. Try it on a model you wouldn't use anyway (like an ork or something) and see what you think. I suspect it will be much much much easier.

Dr.G

I should add this: Try to find an orange that you can easily color match in acrylic for touch up.

By all means, if you can find an aerosol orange spray then go for it.

But in my view, that's all the more reason to prime black. If you then spray the orange from slightly above the centre of the model, your shading is pretty much done.

GW's Spray Gun would be adequate for this.