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Hey guys!

Apologies for the picture quality; these guys are nowhere near finished (still on base coats) and the lighting in my flat is crap.



I'm just debating what colour to make my plasma guns. I quite like orange, as it's not seen often, but my 'prime' clothing colour is red on these =I= Stormtroopers and therefore it might look a bit monotone (need some yellow streaks perhaps, but I've no yellow :3). Or, additionally (and it looks horribly dark 'cos it's just Caliban Green) there's green.

My colour scheme is black armour, red cloth and green eyes/lights. It might be that green would go with the 'tertiary' colour of the models, I'm not sure.

These guys will eventually work with Vostroyans who will probably go for the plasma colour I don't choose for the =I= force, so I ought also consider what plasma colour goes well with Vostroys

Would appreciate any opinions!

You're about an hour off finishing both of those models, I'd say do that first then make your decision or add a poll to this thread.
Personally I'd go with green as it'll contrast better against the dark model if you decide to do any osl.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
You're about an hour off finishing both of those models, I'd say do that first then make your decision or add a poll to this thread.
Personally I'd go with green as it'll contrast better against the dark model if you decide to do any osl.

Alas I'm batch painting 8 of them so it's probably more than an hour :p

I wanted to make my decision so I can start my washes. But gaaawsh if that camera shot isn't showing all the areas I've gone and missed.

I really can't choose myself; the green is so subdued at the moment that it isn't giving a fair comparison. But I think the red/orange definitely looks too monotone; though maybe with some yellow streaks in there it'd look more vibrant.

As for OSL - no way am I that skilled :p

I was having the same debate when I painted my IG stormtroopers (that's what they were called when I painted them!). The overall colour scheme of the army was mid grey fatigues with dark grey armour plating. I started (out of habit) with a basecoat of dark angels green, but once I started highlighing I quickly switched to turquoise, and really liked the result.

I'll see what I can do about providing some pics to see what you think.

+[Edit}+

worked it all out.



I hope this might be helpful, otherwise I vote for green. (I feel red/orange is more appropriate for heat weapons, e.g. flame/melta)

OO

 Henners91 wrote:

Alas I'm batch painting 8 of them so it's probably more than an hour :p
As for OSL - no way am I that skilled :p

Then stop batch painting for an hour and finish those two plasma gunners.
Once that's done then you can have a proper look at things.
Basic tabletop OSL ain't that hard at all, Just get the drybrush out and have at it.

OntaOhta wrote:
I was having the same debate when I painted my IG stormtroopers (that's what they were called when I painted them!). The overall colour scheme of the army was mid grey fatigues with dark grey armour plating. I started (out of habit) with a basecoat of dark angels green, but once I started highlighing I quickly switched to turquoise, and really liked the result.

I'll see what I can do about providing some pics to see what you think.

Spoiler:

+[Edit}+

worked it all out.

I hope this might be helpful, otherwise I vote for green. (I feel red/orange is more appropriate for heat weapons, e.g. flame/melta)

OO

Thanks for the pictures! Found them quite useful as you're sporting a similar colour combo to myself. I also note that your guns roughly match the colour of your guys' visors; it kind of goes in line with my 'orthodox' thinking that an army tends to have two primary colours and a tertiary 'trim;' perhaps green optics/lenses/plasma sinks will serve me well because my army has a basic red/black/green vibe going for it.

@Alex I'll paint up a plasma, sure, just hope I remain motivated to finish everything else (I batch paint not because it's efficient but more because, when I finish one model, I get that rush of achievement and then cba to finish the others). If OSL is as easy as you make it out to be perhaps I could apply a glow at least to the weapon itself... Thanks for the advice

Here's a very simple example of some tabletop osl on some dipped Skaven that I did.
Just wash the area with a very watered down mid tone, Snot Green in this case.
Then do a light drybrush/highlight, Vallejo Livery Green.
Edit: Try clicking on the pic for a better look at it, compression is funny.

I think orange and red would look hotter than green, and it's quite unusual. But I can see either working.

What i do is this;
Select the colour you want and mix with white and get an even covering. Then use a fluorescent version of the colour you are using. This gives a better 'glowing' effect and you can even tone it down with smoke but it will still retain that power effect.

I'd go green, as it contrasts with the red of the armour.

I agree that orange looks too close to the red elements of the armour.

Green is a bit Necron. Have you thought of using a slightly pale blue? It's fairly traditional (Cherenkov radiation) and will contrast well with all the other colours in your current scheme.