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normally i dont have a problem with these things but ive come across a weapon which is really difficult to paint,

its the humble melta that comes with the karshkin metal minis, but the problem is what colour would the nozzle be after an extended period of time in the field?

from what i know the melta weapon uses intense heat created by a small nuclear reaction which easily chews through the thickest of tank armour which would in my opinion cause a huge amount of stress on the nozzle of this weapon, but because of the heat i really doubt it would leave any scoring, so here is the question, after prolonged use in the field what distortion of the nozzle be? would it pale, darken? start having fracture lines, stained metal?

I use a black wash at the very end of the nozzle. And a orangey custom wash leading back from that a bit.

I paint mine metal, then drybrush orange and red for a rusty look, and drybrush the end with black. I have some secret weapon weathering powders that I'm going to try next for a more realistic look.

This image shows the stages of metal as it gets hotter. On the right we have normal steel. As we go left it changes colors from yellow to red to purple to blue, back to normal and then to black and finally red hot which goes from dark red all the way up to bright orange.

I personally go for the middle colors.

That's a really useful reference pic, saving that.

That's the kind of thing I was going to use, thanks.
I've been looking at motorbike exhaust pipes for ideas.
ship funnels have the same effect, so there's examples there, too.

When the meltagun is "cold", I paint it metal with blue shades (asumen blue glaze for exemple) and black on the end of the nozzle to simulate the soot, quite like on the center of Aerethan's image.

When hot, I paint them from metal with blue shades, but I add glazes of red, orange, yellow and pure white.

See an exemple here, if it can help : http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/358566-Special%20Weapons%20_%20Ultramarines%2002.html?m=2

I did a similar thought to you and researched Turbo car manifolds they get extreme temperatures and are great for colour choice! this is a dev I did a while ago as an experiment on trying the technique, it worked o.k imo but i probably could have taken it further. hope it helps some!

Clumpski wrote:normally i dont have a problem with these things but ive come across a weapon which is really difficult to paint,

its the humble melta that comes with the karshkin metal minis, but the problem is what colour would the nozzle be after an extended period of time in the field?

from what i know the melta weapon uses intense heat created by a small nuclear reaction which easily chews through the thickest of tank armour which would in my opinion cause a huge amount of stress on the nozzle of this weapon, but because of the heat i really doubt it would leave any scoring, so here is the question, after prolonged use in the field what distortion of the nozzle be? would it pale, darken? start having fracture lines, stained metal?

Spoiler:

for the nozzles for the flamers its pretty much a washed version of balthasar gold which suits the flamer, for the plasma guns its bolt gun (with stress lines emanating from the barrel) and for the G-Launchers it s also boltgun with a bit of scorching around the barrel

Logically, the only way Plasma and Melta guns can work is by using modulated energy fields to funnel the superheated plasma or hard radiation without it damaging the material of the weapon.

So I'd assume there'd be some heat damage on the barrel from bleedoff, but nothing from 'direct contact'

Aerethan wrote:This image shows the stages of metal as it gets hotter. On the right we have normal steel. As we go left it changes colors from yellow to red to purple to blue, back to normal and then to black and finally red hot which goes from dark red all the way up to bright orange.

I personally go for the middle colors.

+1 Exalt! That's a really handy reference picture.

I usually like to drybrush Bestial Brown from the tip to midway down the barrel, and then drybrush Chaos Black 1/4 down the barrel - I aim for the brown-to-black carbonised effect you find on exhaust pipes.

I always do mine Tin Bitz..but that is an aesthetic choice.

I just put some burning on with black, more cause I don't have the paint available and don't want to spend $15 for heating effects on a scant few special weapons

For Meltas, Plasmas, Lascannons, exhausts, and flamers I generally Stipple tin bits (don't remember what the new color is for it), then add a hint of brown, and then a small hint of orange to make it look like it was super heated