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Hey Dakka,

I'm painting up some Space Marines at the moment, of the Minotaurs Chapter to be specific. They're supposed to be bronze, but after much experimentation I couldn't find a bronze-y colour that I felt looked right, so I went with brown instead, which to me looks so much better.

The only issue I have with it is that it's quite dark, and I think it needs something extra to make it stand out a bit more.

I'm using GW Rhinox Hide, and I love the colour, so I'd rather not go any further up the spectrum, but I really just need it to "pop" a bit more before I can put down my brush!

Any suggestions?

With proper hilighting you should be able to make that "pop", that's one of the new colors so just go up 2 or 3 shades and that should do the trick. I'f you dont think that's enuff try adding a little bronze to the hilight for that extra bit of shine.

Do some dramatic edge highlights using a colour about 2 shades lighter. Getting narrow lines around the edges of the armour should really help make it pop.

You could also try a blue-green wash to give it a tarnished bronze feel.

How "fresh" do you want them to look? Vallejo sells this stuff called "Heavy Chipping" something or other. Basically how it works is you paint a portion a metallic color, let it dry, then paint this stuff over it, then let it dry, then basecoat with the brown. When you're ready (some people tell me to do all the shading and everything first) then you dip a stiff brush in a little water and the base coat comes off leaving the underlying color (in this case metallic).

It's the same idea as hairspray chipping, only with more consistent results. I like it because painting the chipping on afterward (over the base coat that is) doesn't always look realistic. Well, not when I do it anyways!

The correct spelling is "poop" ... or alternatively "turd"

Honestly strong contrast colors do well to make the brown a more striking pattern. I love minotaurs and my DIY is very similar. The browns are a Vallejo Air Med Camo Brown with a Dark brown wash. Then reclaim with a few layers of med brown, mixed w /snake bite leather and finally adding bone. But the whites/Red are what make it look cool IMO.

The correct spelling is "poop" ... or alternatively "turd"

Correct: the DIY army is nicknamed the "sh*t eagles" by my local opponents.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Highlighting has never been my strong point But what I have found is that some Chainmail (bright silver) weathering has given them the extra brightness I wanted.

As for the Turd Eagles, I'm glad someone followed the same thought track as me They look brilliant, though that's the exact reason why I didn't want to go any lighter, for fear of mockery

Brown also shades very well with a black ink (shade, it's called in the citadel paints)

Carefully apply black ink to the recesses and areas you want to be darker. They will still be brown, but darker.

The flashy look that you're going for is created not only by the highlights, but by the shadows too.