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i've always seen these great mini's with the glare of the power sword against the armour, and the plasma energy glare on models, how is this achieved? i'm convinced its either many many levels of intricate drybrushing or some type of air brush.

please let me know if you have any tips pics of help thanks again

The technique is called Object-Source Lighting - OSL for short.

It's covered in detail in many many places, but to be brief; no it's generally not drybrushed. Airbrush is sometimes used, but best effect is normally by hand.

The first trick is to remember that light emitted goes in a straight line, and doesn't go through stuff. It's the 'shadowing' of the light on the object that makes the effect work; don't just paint everything near the lightsource brighter and expect it to look right.
The second is to remember that light can only make things lighter; if your 'light' colour is too strong, you can end up actually darkening the painted effect, which looks dirty and wrong. Be VERY subtle and build up the effect gently. It takes time.

This is a good example. With OSL, it's tempting to use a darker colour as you go further from the light, THIS IS WRONG, unless your 'lit' surface is black to start with. On the blue and red this would have the effect of darkening the surface, so I didn't do it. Instead I've highlighted the blue and red by adding the pinking light highlight into the mix and doing glazes to build it up, avoiding areas that are 'in shadow',

thats good advice, and a beautiful model, now would i just do it slowly with a standard brush thats watered down? then glaze over to spread the color?

thanks again for the help!

Yup. Glaze medium will help in avoiding chalky tide marks. You need VERY LITTLE load on the brush, many layers. Each layer dries very fast (if it's thinly applied enough).

wow thank you! so happy!

i'll give this a try on my sanguinary guard and death co today, i'm nervous about the wings though, and this technique is applied last correct?

Yes, you do it last. It's very time-consuming to do right, though, so be prepared to spend many minutes squinting!