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Ok, so I caved in and bought the new Devastator kit (those crenelated leg greaves got me right in the nostalgia), and aim to replace my metal lascannons with nice new plastic ones.
Now, when I got to the coils on the barrel, I decided I wanted to do them something other than blue (since I'm using blue for plasma effects), but a quick search online indicates most people just paint it silver (or sometimes brass), which made me wonder what got me doing it in the first place (the marine below was painted approx 10 years ago). I just assumed it was some sort of glowy-coil thing, as it doesn't need a recoil compensator on a laser weapon.

So should I stop painting it as if it glows? If not, what colour can I use to keep it distinct from plasma (I've currently place-holdered bright green for Grav weapons, incase I ever use any). I'm currently thinking purple? Maybe yellow?
(Please excuse the bad paint job on the old marine)

I've seen quite a few green ones on tanks over the weekend. Looked good with silver.

I go for black personally.

It's not very imaginative, but i'm totally past caring!

Personally, I think glowing coils adds an extra layer of detail, which is good. I don't think there is any right or wrong, it depends on what you think looks best, and what you have time to paint. I also don't think the glow necessarily needs to be a different colour for different weapons. The weapons are easily distinguishable by their shape. If you want to colour code them too then fair enough, but it sounds a little bit "rainbow warriors". I think I'd just pick one colour that looked good with my scheme, and go with that on all weapons, keeping a nice tight consistent style. But that's just me...

Maybe go with a 'hot metal' glow - like they are heat dissipators?

mockingbirduk wrote:
Maybe go with a 'hot metal' glow - like they are heat dissipators?

I've not had any luck trying that effect in the past, any tips?

@ Smacks, you're probably right that it doesn't need to be a different colour, but I get finicky about weird things.

I'm going to paint up the 4 I have on my desk in different colours, then I'll post them here and get some opinions.

What I do for the heat look is, copper then a watered down purple wash on the tips and a black wash working its way back/down.

Personally I usually do them copper, as i think they look a lot like heat dissapators, but it really doesn't matter, paint them as you like!

 SirDonlad wrote:
I go for black personally.

I actually keep my lascannons black too, though it's more a conscious decision than a time-saver. In my mind, the las weapons just don't have glowy coils. If I did make them glow, I think I would go pale blue. Green for grav, blue for plasma -- per the studio artwork.

Mine: