Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm pretty much looking to get as close as possible to the shade of blue that Captain Titus and his fellow marines wear in the game.

As you can see in these pictures, it's a bit paler and lighter than your typical GW Ultramarines.




I'm thinking that maybe The Fang , Russ Grey , and Fenrisian Grey built up respectively might be a good place to start, but I'm worried that they would just end up looking like Space Wolves.

I'm mostly looking to work with GW's paint range since I've always liked those paints, and I'm planning to place an order soon for some other stuff as well and would like to keep everything bundled together. However if there's a color that you know of from another paint range and you're like " oh my god this is what he needs " feel free to let me know.

What do you guys think?

It might work if you follow those three colors up with a Guilliman blue glaze

I think you're on the right track. Maybe edge highlight w/ admistrantium grey or whatever the spelling is.

Yeah I was wondering about glazes and also washes. Drakenhof Nightshade I think would be a bit too dark to attempt using on this color scheme, but I'm pretty reliant on washes so I don't know what to do about that. I'll have to look into the Guilliman Blue glaze though, never used them before but if they work as they say they do then that could probably help give it that little extra kick of blue.

if properly highlighted you could probably get away with inking the crevices in nuln oil.

+1 for using some really thinned out nuln oil. Nice tip VH.

Try this on a test model. Macragge blue base, draken blue wash, dry brush macragge blue, and finish with a heavy somewhat dry brush of Calgar blue

Sadly the exact blue you see in the game depends on your monitor or television screen, game settings too ; hdr lighting effects, gamma correction, brightness and contrast settings.
Theyre all slightly different.
The tips form the other guys look sound for painting ultramarines though.

maybe use Altdorf Guard blue instead of The Fang, its a bit less gray-ish

Yeah it's really damn hard to tell. I'm trying to compare colors side by side to get an idea of how they might look, but I just won't really know for sure until I'm using them on the actual model, and I don't want to spend a bunch of money on some paint I may end up not using. Too bad there's no way to just get samples.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I might give this a try actually. Thinking back to my first post, the grey colors will probably turn up too grey in real life, and I should try to stick with blues, but not the traditional deeper blues that are commonly used for Ultramarines.



I realized I have a pot of Alaitoc Blue sitting here that I haven't used much of and I decided to paint some of it out on a blank surface, and I really like how it came out for a starting point. I wouldn't need to go far from there, just a little bit of shading and lighter layering and then some highlights.

Basically it would go: Prime Black or White ( not sure about which one yet ), base with Alaitoc Blue, wash with either Nuln Oil or Drakenhof Nightshade, then work up my layers with Alaitoc Blue again and then Hoeth Blue, highlighting with Fenrisian Gray and then a super fine highlight of Blue Horror.

This is how I would paint them though, my techniques and applications, so hopefully the colors will work out for me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In case they turn out to be too light then I'll just pull it back a step and use a darker color before the Alaitoc Blue and end my highlights a little bit darker than Blue Horror. But we'll just have to see. I feel pretty good about these colors though.

I'd definitely go with a wash to bring the colors together and not a glaze. Glazes, even when thinned, can severely alter the color of a model. Sir Bubbles, that suggestion is a good one, I think. Buy a few used or snap-fit Space Marines and do some test schemes.

Yeah I'll definitely try this out on some snap-fits, or one of the many dozens of old models I got lying around before I commit to anything.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I decided to give it a go with what paints I have currently. I based the model with a coat of Caledor Sky ( ever so slightly darker than Alaitoc Blue ) and once that was done, I gave a heavy wash of Drakenhof Nightshade. After that I went back to the Caledor sky, re-applying several thin coats and then eventually transitioning to Alaitoc Blue. There wasn't a whole lot of difference between these colors, but the Alaitoc Blue was a tiny bit lighter, and more importantly, a little bit greyer. I stopped here since I didn't have any lighter blue/grey colors and would rather wait until I can get something that's a step up from the previous color. The model is certainly light, but I'd like to go at least one more step before I start highlighting. So probably Hoeth Blue or at least a 50/50 mixture of Hoeth Blue and Alaitoc Blue.

So basically, Black Primer > Caledor Sky > Alaitoc Blue

It didn't produce perfect results but it got pretty close, and with a little more lightening, some highlighting, a bit of weathering and the rest of the detail work filled in, they should be more or less right where I want them.

I would post a pic, but it was just a quick and sloppy practice piece on an old snap fit guy so it's not really worth showing. If I get some stuff ordered soon then built and painted up I may post another thread showing my work.

Johnnytorrance wrote:
Try this on a test model. Macragge blue base, draken blue wash, dry brush macragge blue, and finish with a heavy somewhat dry brush of Calgar blue

That would be really, really blue, instead of the fairly grey look they have in-game. Also, drybrushing power armor looks amateurish at best, downright ugly at worst. Smooth surfaces aren't good for drybrushing. I think the scheme in the OP would do well, especially with a blue glaze.

Just a consideration but that looks more like weathering to me than a different color. Recently I have been experimenting with a fading effect on tanks by using oil paints. Essentially applying a little bit of paint directly to the model probably white and light blue in this case. Then taking a damp brush with mineral spirits and gradually removing it. In the end it creates a sort of lighter sheen over the model and you can vary it by applying more mineral spirits. I think it would achieve the effect above. only difference is it is on a small model with lots of crevices which could be tricky.