Alpha Legion - which colors and step

[suxdavide]

Hello I bought the minis for an AL 30k force, I now want to change a bit from the DA I've been painting for the latest months buuuuut I'm not ver yskilled and looking for help. 
Some questions:

1) I'd love to make them the darker scheme, a friend suggested the tamiya's blue metallic so I bought it. Has anybody painted with it and has suggestions?
2) Black or White primer? Is GW's good enough?
3) Which colors for the other details? (Bolter / junctions / Pads etc)

I obviously have no airbrush thanks in advance :)

[Xenith]

Get GW leadbelcher or runefang steel.

 

Add the blue citadel tint (Kurze?) to taste.

 

You now have your own metallic blue paint.

 

GW has a video of Duncan doing exactly this.

[IronDrake28]

Do as Xenith says! If you want a really bright blue like FW have you'll need to use a lot of the blue tint but it works perfectly!

[Major_Gilbear]

Actually, you can just buy a metallic dark blue paint to begin with - Vallejo Model Air "Arctic Blue" is exactly this, and it will save you a lot of time and money compared to Xenith's suggestion. It's also much more consistent for painting an army with. Oh, and despite the paint's name, you can use a normal brush with these "air" paints. (Here's a comparison of various different brands of blue metallic paint for you: link).

 

Highlight by adding a silver to the Arctic blue (any silver of your choice).

 

Shade by mixing a little blue and black ink together (about a 50/50 ratio - Vallejo sells acrylic inks too), and carefully apply this to the recesses.

 

If you need to make the blue a bit more intense, or if you want to make it a bit green in places, thin an suitably-coloured ink with a little clean water, and apply over the whole area. Don't let this pool, and be aware that you may need a couple of layers to get the desired effect (especially if you are looking to add a green hint to the blue).

 

One last comment: try the intended scheme over different primers before you commit to the models. I have a feeling a grey primer will work better for you than black, and that white might be a bit too bright. Either way, if you do a test, and apply a couple of coats of Arctic Blue over them, you'll know what you prefer. :)

[suxdavide]

I'm not super good at mixing (never did that) so I'll probably stick to the leadbelcher + tint hoping not to use too much. What about the primer, should I primer directly silver or white or black?

[CrimsonReign]

i would say black, even when priming silver it looks better over a black primer

[Major_Gilbear]

I'm not super good at mixing (never did that) so I'll probably stick to the leadbelcher + tint hoping not to use too much.

 

That's why I suggested using a ready-made metallic blue paint; why mix your own?

 

For shades and highlights, you are still going to need to do something, whatever method/colour you go for. I have provided suggestions and ratios above to help you.

 

 

What about the primer, should I primer directly silver or white or black?

 

As I suggested, you might want to spray a few spare bases and try painting over them in your colours.

 

I think a grey will give you a nice mid-way point between giving the metal colour a good vibrancy/intensity and not showing up any areas you can't reach to paint; but the best thing to do it test it out and see what you think.

[suxdavide]

I just tried the tamiya's blue metallic and this is the output:

 

http://imgur.com/a/4PZvo

 

I like it, I just need to improve, as always, my painting and choose how to highlight.

I'll surely, once I get the ones with pads etc, paint the details in moot green, the bolter instead with Incubi Darkness.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8UYNYSO.png