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I'm getting a DI Gravis Capt for my All Marines collection (see my sig) and wanted some feedback on the color for the shoulder trim and helmet

The "standard" scheme has a blue helmet and gold shoulder trim. Which is fine, but I know UMs have some other options.
For the shoulder trim, I've seen red used often enough, so that's a good option, however the model's cape will also be red, so I'm not sure if that would be too much red.

For the head, I could do either red (although see above "too much red" comment) or white. The inside of the models cape will also be white, but more of an egg-shell white and it's also inside, so it does not dominate the surface of the model.

Any suggestions?

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The various helmet and shoulder trim colours are based in the Codex Astartes and so is especially important for Ultramarines. The shoulder trim denotes Company, while helmet colour is rank.

1st - White/Silver
2nd - Yellow/Gold
3rd - Red/Sanguinite (metallic red)
4th - Green/Adamantine (metallic green)
5th - Black/metallic black
6th - Orange/metallic orange
7th - Purple/metallic purple
8th - Grey/Steel
9th - Blue/metallic blue
10th - No colour due to being scouts.

Helmets
Normal colours - Space Marine
Red - Sergeant
White - Veteran
White and Red - Veteran Sergeant
White, Red and regular colours - Lieutenant
Any combination including regular colours - Captain and above.


Have a think about his backstory. Gold is the classic trim colour, but would signify '2nd company," while red would make him 3rd Company. I would avoid red for the helmet as this is the sergeant colour, but white would be fine as most captains come through the 1st company anyway.

Yeah, as noted above, the detailing color equals company color, so pick one and stick with it (with the exception that the gold bling is often gold just for the sake of it and doesn't necessarily mean 2nd company). Stripes on helmet are for sarges/lieutenants, 95% of UM captains I saw had plain blue helmets with no detailing (except for crest for more 'senior' captains, or white helmet of 1st company captain). What they tend to have is lots of fancy decorations and markings signifying battle honors and thick 'bar' in company color on right shoulder - go on GW site and look at their version of Gravis UM captain, should provide you with some inspiration...

3rd company is the best company.

I would keep the helmet blue. One option if you want to bling him up a bit more is a gold helm. While maybe not a classic choice, would help him stand out a bit more.

The red trim would not be too much, especially if you go with with a pale lined cape. While not the gravis captain, here is my primaris captain for the 3rd:

He has a lot more opportunities for accents on him than the gravis (braiding, tabard, crest) and I still feel that he doesn’t cross the line into too much of the accent color.

Blue pairs very well with red, gold and/or white. But even if you go with the other companies’ trim, it should still look fine.

5th (black) looks great too.

Helmet I'd do a white stripe down the middle OR do the wreath thing in white on the helmet

I found that plain blue on the Gravis head meant that it got lost in the rest of the armour, so I added a yellow stripe to my 2nd Co. captain, and a similar stripe down the left shoulder under the UM symbol (not that you can see it in this photo):

Thanx for the feedback everyone. Lots a great advise and I really appreciate the pic examples.
I'm still on the fence, but starting to lean a bit more into the "generic" standard blue helmet, gold trim.

I might do the white stripe idea on the crest of the helment, but I just think the red trim on the shoulders is too much for my taste. I want the red to be an accent color, not a secondary. And with the back of his cape being a deep red and I intent to use the UM icons with the red skull, I feel having red trim too would push it into secondary color territory, which to Nevelon's credit looks GREAT, but just isn't what I am going for.

If I was doing an UM army, having that much red would be a great way for it to stand out, but this is an update to my All Marines project, taking the place of my Loyalist Chess King (so the white strip on the helm may fit). I don't want him to look like a Crismon Fist or have so much red that he fits in with a Blood Angel

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2nd company is probably the best bet fit an All Marines collection.

Red skulls are often for sergeants though, consider a laurel

kb_lock wrote:
Red skulls are often for sergeants though, consider a laurel

Hmmm...That's true. But the laurel decal is a white skull, not the UM symbol. And it's green, so it might not show very well on the blue shoulder.
I suppose I could use the gold laurels in the BA/DA transfers and cut the skull out of the middle.

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 Galef wrote:

kb_lock wrote:
Red skulls are often for sergeants though, consider a laurel

Hmmm...That's true. But the laurel decal is a white skull, not the UM symbol. And it's green, so it might not show very well on the blue shoulder.
I suppose I could use the gold laurels in the BA/DA transfers and cut the skull out of the middle.

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If you have access/patience for bits sellers, try to find one that sells Space Marine Command Squad parts. That kit comes with an actual, sculpted laurel you can attach to things like helmets, and it works quite well. It might be wrapped up in a "accessories" bundle such as seen here: https://www.bitsandkits.co.uk/space-marines-space-marine-command-squad-c-6_1097_20_860.html?sesid=f2kmorjegtsaojrhmbnlqi9lt1


But it works really well for the laurel purposes, especially as its easier to attach than transfers. Here's one of my models as an example

White laurel is also completely fine to paint on

Got him done:


Thanx for all the suggestion!

BTW, here is my Chess board in which I use him as a King:


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Nice work. The white helmet stripe helps a lot.

Rocking chess set!

That white stripe really helps, I think. Very nice.

And I love that chess set!