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I'm toying with the idea of zenithal lighting on my Sons of Orar, having recently invested in an airbrush and compressor. I've not used it at all yet so no idea if it's any good (it's not a branded AB and only cost £12).

I've done a little google-fu and have found good info on silver zenithal lighting though nothing on red, I'm looking for hints and tips on which specific shades of red to use (hopefully ending up with a blood angels shade). The rub? That'd be the white helmets and shoulder pads - I'll have to paint these separately, off the miniature, though how can I then tie that in with the appearance of the rest of the mini?

Any recommendations on specific colours to use? I can already hear you shouting "VALLEJO!" you know Specifically which colour names though would be really helpful!

Another question that's just come to mind - as squad markings are the knee caps, would ZH even be the right technique? I imagine that if I put all this effort in to ZH and then blobbed on some white knee pads it'd look a little odd?

A good zenithal red progression:

Vallejo German Red-brown primer.
Vallejo Flat red
Vallejo Amarantha Red
The above plus a little light tan colour, up to around a 'peach' sort of shade.

Then glaze back with a deep red (Baal red works), before edge highlights with the peach colour again.

Cheers WD, will that give a good light red?

It's pretty much what I used on these BA:



I do paint over the zenithal pass with a few glazes to reinforce the effect and do edge highlights. Same colour mixes, just applied again by brush.

Before the glaze it can look a bit pinkish. Also be aware that airbrushed coats can often be dusty in finish, this makes them look lighter than they will appear after varnishing.

Holy crap, they look awesome dude!

Do you varnish the whole model once done, or just focus on some areas?

Generally I'll spray the whole model matt, then by hand regloss certain areas (metals, gems, eyes). If a model is going to be mostly glossy, I'll leave it off the base until it's varnished if possible.