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afternoon all,

I have seen many many ,many ways to paint lightning effects but I can't find anywhere or anyone that has actually modelled lightning...I am thinking about adding some to a little project idea I have had and I was thinking about maybe fishing line but I don't know if it would be strong enough...

I guess that my question here is does anyone out have any experience with it or do you know any pictures i can use for reference points or am I doing something blind in this idea?

also please be aware that this is my first post so be gentle

Welcome !!!

There are tons of pictures out there - most of the the time affects like this are either done on powerweapons or necron vehicles.

Maybe take a look at some grey knight galleries, as there are a lot of pics of those types of affects there.

Also, a small amount of googling for images with the phrase "painting lightning effects" returned this...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/05/hobby-painting-on-lightning-weapon.html

Here on dakka, there is a painting and modeling tutorial forum, a quick search there got back these;
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/415028.page#5193523

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/363654.page

check those out, then maybe you tube!

Have fun and best of luck!

First off, welcome to dakka.,

I have seen people use wire for it and its been ok. I have seen others use clear plastic rods (using heat to bend them) and others use two part epoxy and let it dry in weird shapes on parchment papers.

I would recommend doing a search in the dakka gallery for Lightning and see what pops up.

Good luck.

I also am thinking about this, but haven't seen it done anywhere. I want to model my own weirdboy for my ork army (because otherwise I have to order from G-dubs online (no GW stores within 50 miles of here, I think)), and I want lightning to be modeled shooting out of his eyes/ears/brain/whatever. I'm tempted to try using thin ropes of green stuff that I let cure part way then bend or cut into interesting shapes.

davethepak wrote:
Welcome !!!

There are tons of pictures out there - most of the the time affects like this are either done on powerweapons or necron vehicles.

Maybe take a look at some grey knight galleries, as there are a lot of pics of those types of affects there.

Also, a small amount of googling for images with the phrase "painting lightning effects" returned this...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/05/hobby-painting-on-lightning-weapon.html

Here on dakka, there is a painting and modeling tutorial forum, a quick search there got back these;
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/415028.page#5193523

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/363654.page

check those out, then maybe you tube!

Have fun and best of luck!

Thanks for the response....I have looked ant all of these options and while the input is appreciated I am looking at making physical lightning rather than painting it on a surface...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 darefsky wrote:
First off, welcome to dakka.,

I have seen people use wire for it and its been ok. I have seen others use clear plastic rods (using heat to bend them) and others use two part epoxy and let it dry in weird shapes on parchment papers.

I would recommend doing a search in the dakka gallery for Lightning and see what pops up.

Good luck.

Thanks for the input. wire/plastic rods are certainly an option ...they would be stronger than the fishing line I have thought of...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Axelman wrote:
I also am thinking about this, but haven't seen it done anywhere. I want to model my own weirdboy for my ork army (because otherwise I have to order from G-dubs online (no GW stores within 50 miles of here, I think)), and I want lightning to be modeled shooting out of his eyes/ears/brain/whatever. I'm tempted to try using thin ropes of green stuff that I let cure part way then bend or cut into interesting shapes.

I'll keep this thread posted with what I find and any attempts I make so we'll see how things turn out....From what i'm seeing so far i think i might try a small test each with wire, fishing line, clay and plastic and see how they go....I am aiming for a ball ligtning effect to encompass an entire model so if it'll stand up to that scale should be good for a weirdboyz eyez

So... I have come with an idea for doing this...Bicycle Gear cables are made of of a multi-strand wire which is bendable and stable. I have yet to try modelling with it but I have a little left from an old cable so I'm going to give that a go once I have my current paint queue lowered a bit. I'll post progress and outcome here as and when I get the time to try it.

Hi,
Iv done this before on my rune priest. I found that the material used depends on the extremities of the lightning. I had mine firing from the rune priests staff and wrapping around a cultist. Sorry no pictures :( if you have it this way where both ends of the lightning are attached, you can use thinner/ smaller wire and green stuff in some places ( the parts of the lightning attached to the cultist). However! If the ends of the lightning are free and not attached then a wider wire is needed. If using green stuff for this part i recommend a coating of super glue once it has dried just to give it a bit more rigidity.

Above all else just have a play around. I tried a few different wire sizes and thickness together just to give it a more random look. Also sharp right angles rather than curves look better on lightning have a look at images of lightning on google to get a general idea of the patterns and shapes fork lightning takes.

Hope this helps.

I've seen wire used a few times, but none of them were even remotely convincing. In each case, overly thick wire was used and the bends appeared to have been made by hand pressure, alone, resulting in soft curves. I can understand the desire for rigidity when it comes to storage, transport, and play, but I just don't think solid builds ever look right. Pretty much anything you use will be at least somewhat fragile - personally, I'd go for looks and worry about proper care and feeding later.

To me, that means using very fine wire. 22g, even, is pretty thick compared to a 28mm (well, sort of...) model. If you can find 26g (sometimes available alongside 22g - both usually sold at craft stores as floral wire), that might be a better base for thicker bolts, with even smaller gauges (fine beading wire, copper wrappings stripped from electric motors, etc.) branching off at forks (twist them together and splay the loose ends). It'll be incredibly fragile, but look about as good as I can imagine the effect getting.

Grab some pliers (or a vice) with nice, sharp edges to the jaws for making bends, regardless of what thickness(es) you decide to use. Sharp bends are the order of the day, and for that you'll need a hard form, more than just leverage. For thin wire, grip it firmly and pull the loose end taut, then swing it down to your desired angle. The wire should be malleable enough for the tension to set a sharp curve without any additional work. For thicker and/or harder wire, burnishing or hammering over a hard edge may give better results. By deforming the metal, you can get surprisingly sharp bends in thicker gauges; they just take a bit more force to get there.

hoping to make some progress on this project next week ....once my main army is painted ready for our invasion trip....I have a farseer I can use but hopefully there should be some progress with the flashy seer shortly.....the plan so far is to model the strands of cycle cable around an inflated balloon so I get a nice even shape and then pop the balloon to get the seer inside the sphere.....think I'll have the base of lightening ball touching the main base so it has a good mounting point and i can support it using arcing blots from the main ball which should help with stability.....

If you want to create a directed lightning bolt i think multiple wires twisted around each other might work. It should be stable enough in the center due to the twist and you can branch them out step by step. The outer wires will probably be a bit instable depending on what wire you use.

Something like this:


Just keep in mind what oadie already said for getting the wire bent. And if you use stronger wire (steel wire?) you probably need some machine to drill the wire together. You won't be able to do it properly by hand if the wire is a bit sturdier. Mount the wire bundle somewhere save and clamp the other end into a drill to twist it into shape.
As a finishing touch you just need to cover in the wire to get rid of the twisting shape. Maybe cover it in layers of glue, clay or other putty.

Thanks for the update (and sorry for the late reply....been busy building a tourney list/army) love the look of the twisted wire and I'm thinking something similar to this to make the supporting sections of the cage but for now it's on the back burner as I've got other stuff (non 40k realted ) which takes priority....I'll keep this updated with any progress I can make in the meantime though...

I used stretched out and distorted paper clips. Worked perfectly.

Here would be my recommendation.

1.Look at some some pictures of models get your idea of color you want. Once you have that, look at real-life pictures of lightning and what it does lighting wise to the sky, look at the variations of lightning strikes, look at pictures of those lightning globes you can touch.

2. On a piece of paper, using paint or a crayon or something. Try some different ideas, forking patterns, pathways ect.

3. Add color to your drawing, similar to what you saw actual lightning to to the clouds in the sky. Add dark and lighting effects.

4. Once you are satisfied with your grasp on the concept try it on a model.