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Just a quick question, I've been searching the galleries for inspiration, and seen a variety of different coloured and styled bolters.
As this is the most common weapon for marines I think it can make or break some models.

Is there a set way in which they should be painted.

I used to paint it all black then just dry brush boltgun all over, now i tend to paint the metal parts boltgun metal and leave the top part black.

It depends on your army. Me personally, I paint the whole bolter boltgun metal and then paint the body either black or red. Finishing up with some highlights

For my blood angels, I paint the metallic parts metal and the casing to the bolter as black and yellow hazard markings.

For my Bolters I make the case match the armour then add writing to them usually doing the metal as silver, but sometimes mixing it up with a dark copper. Black case seems to be somewhat common and goes with a fair amount of schemes, but it does come down to your them itself.

I'm a minimalist. Black w/drybrushed silver. Details are picked out. I've never been a fan of the colored casing on bolters, always looked silly to me. I admit I just paint for the tabletop, and not competitively.

I keep it simple as well: metal parts boltgun metal, pick a color for the casing (usually black) and drybrush some silver metallic on the casing. I do paint any iconography (if any) on the gun in the same scheme as my army.

Depends on the bolter. The metal part is pretty minimalist also. Boltgun then black wash. The casing depends on who. IW have hazard lines. Minotaurs are red.

Boltgun metal, highlight/drybrush with mithril silver.

I really don't like putting colors on my guns besides maybe blacks and browns for stocks.

Boltgun metal with mithril silver highlights for metal parts. top part goes black with druchii violet wash followed by black highlights. Bird on it goes golden.


Loving it.

For my Crimson Fists I do a black casing with an Adeptus Battlegrey (or equivalent dark grey) highlight. The only parts I paint metallic are the stock, barrel, sight rail and magazine area. These are just Boltgun Metal with a Badab Black wash. The eagle, skull, or whatever other decoration is done in grey brought up to white. Here's a picture:

I might do a drybrush of Mithril Silver over the metallic parts later just to pick up some highlights and give it some texture too.

Normally with a paint brush. My fingers are too big.

Black body, gunmetal barrel/magazine/scope, red casing. Keeps most of the gun understated while providing a nice accent (along with the eyes and wax of purity seals) to the split blue/white scheme.

For my Ultramarines I chose the colours used in the Space Marine game (for lack of anything more interesting than pure Boltgun Metal) - Black basecoat, Ultramarines Blue on the casing while leaving the foregrip black, and then Boltgun Metal on the barrel, sights, grip, magazine and butt.
I might change it in the future, though. It's a bit too visually complicated. Perhaps the bog-standard black casing and Boltgun Metal details.

I think a plain old black casing with bolt gun metal parts is complementary to any colour scheme, but as some have said some models with a red casing or other colour add a little extra, personally I think for a whole army it might be a bit OTT, but for a special squad I might try red casing.

Black casing highlighted Adeptus battlegrey, boltgun metal on the metal bits, then wash the whole thing nuln oil (smooths out the Adeptus highlight a bit so I wash even the already black bits).

For the details, since it's a Space Wolf army, I do them gold, using a basecoat of Balthasar Gold (quite possibly my favourite paint from the new range), wash nuln oil then highlight shining gold.

For my Cadians, who don't have bolters but rather lasguns, I use much the same technique but since they aren't Space Wolves rather than using gold detailing I paint the Imperial Eagle symbol boltgun metal, nuln oil wash, then highlight it runefang steel. The runefang steel really makes it pop.

For my SW i paint boltguns similar to the finish on modern army rifles. I paint them black all over, and highlight with dark grey. I then add small amounts of chainmail to the tip of the barrel and the magazine to make it look weathered.

you can also paint the bolters in a contrasting color of your main color of your miniatures to attract more attention to your paintjob

color theory ftw

I normally paint my bolters silver, then do the casing yellow or black.

My Space Marine's armor colors are boltgun metal w/ dry brushed chainmail plus black shoulders and helmet. To make my gun stand out more and not to blend in with their armor, I usually paint the guns Bronze. They stand out a lot against the metal paint and I can notice them readily if I look down while playing on a table top.

(describing old paint colors, I dont know what the new names are)

I've been doing all gunmetal, or a white casing to accent the white armor. Personally I think all gunmetal looks fairly boring so I've been doing more and more color on them. It just feels right for a "holy bolter"

I'm in a similar predicament,
Armour is retribution gold with dark red (similar to gore red) shoulders. Not sure what to paint the guns for slight contrast. I think black maybe too harsh but copper maybe?

Edit: OMG old thread my bad!

I paint my Crimson Fists' bolters black on the body with metallic barrel, sight and ammo clip. The skull or Aquila is white.

Also,

Ironbreaker for the metal parts, nuln oil wash, necron compound wash. The casing I go with khorne/mephiston red, wash with crimson and edge highlight with either mephiston/evil sunz scarlet.

This is what I do for blood angels.



Black/dark reaper/fenrisian grey for black parts
Leadbelcher/nuhln oil, runefang steel for metal parts

Additional highlighting and details as necessary - in this example, some ironbreaker blended in down the center of the barrel.

black with a drybrush of metallic. i like the realistic feel. whan do you ever see red cased firearms?

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
black with a drybrush of metallic. i like the realistic feel. whan do you ever see red cased firearms?

Same places that you see tanks and armor painted bright red.. or blue... or yellow...

I do most of my guns by painting them grey (P3 Bastion Grey) washing them with a black wash (p3 armor wash) and then drybrushing them with a metallic silver for highlights.

On my Sisters of Battle I put some gold panels on the weapons of Sister Superiors and such. Those I painted a golden yellow (p3 rucksack tan) color, washed with a black wash and then drybrushed gold metallic over.

I'm old school. No matter what the overall color scheme of the army might be, my bolters always seem to end up having red casings.

Grey Knights? Red bolters.
Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children? Red bolters.
Red Scorpions? Red bolters,

Dark Grey base/medium grey highlight/black wash for the casing. The body I just paint a gunmetal with a black wash. Simple and effective.

 Talys wrote:
This is what I do for blood angels.



Black/dark reaper/fenrisian grey for black parts
Leadbelcher/nuhln oil, runefang steel for metal parts

Additional highlighting and details as necessary - in this example, some ironbreaker blended in down the center of the barrel.

This is absolutely beautiful.