Thermic Plasma Conduits
Dammit, the Plasma Conduits are… fluxing?
I’ve had the original Warhammer 40k conduits for some time, and they’ve remained under/base-coated in Citadel Leadbelcher ever since. This is the case for a lot of scenery, under/base-coated and left in a box until it’s duty calls, and it’s needed to stop people being slaughtered on a plastic battlefield. The old tubes were fairly plain, but the new Thermic Plasma Conduits really look nice. With various optional parts and details you can attach to them, you can really spruce them up.
One of the features I really like (neeerd!) about the new kit is the exposed plasma coils that run through them. Luckily for you there’s a quick and easy method to paint them up.
To paint up the coils themselves you only need three colours to get the effect below – Citadel Ahriman Blue, White (I use Vallejo) and Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade shade. First of all, give the coils a smooth coating of Ahriman Blue, then wash it using Drakenhof Nightshade. Once dry, reapply the Ahriman Blue, being sure to leave the Drakenhof Nightshade in the recesses.
Now we’re going to work on the highlights/glow effects. When doing this you can be a lot more accurate with your colours, but I used an old and battered Citadel Medium Layer Brush to paint everything but small details as it’s a quick and easy method to get them looking great on the tabletop. Mixing a little white with the Ahriman Blue I applied this across the coils in two lines, leaving a gap on either side and running down the middle where the previous layer can be seen. Adding a little more White to that mix, I applied this in a similar way to the previous layer, but leaving bits of said layer visible on either side. I repeated this process another three times to get a nice transition from Ahriman Blue to White.
Using some White I added a final thinner stripe down the centre of both bands. To finish off the glow, I did a light, White drybrush on the lighter shaded areas which appeared to add a glow to the stripes.
For the general tubing of the pipe, it was an incredibly simple process using four colours. Citadel Leadbelcher was sprayed onto the pipes, then washed with Nuln Oil. Once the Nuln Oil is dry, I used Agrax Earthshade to paint the bottom 50% of the tube, and the vertical bands that go around the narrower sections of pipe. Agrax Earthshade was also used around the top third and bottom third of any tubing that run along it, around any joins and around each rivet.
Finally Necron Compound was used to give the edges and ridges a look of chaffing and wear. This was done by dragging the brush left/right on the vertical ridges, and up/down on the horizontal ridges.
Leadbelcher Spray (overexposed) Nuln Oil Agrax Earthshade Necron Compound Drybrush
The gauges are a great little feature on the tubes. I decided to put a few colours into them just to bring them to life even though they’re only a few mil across. After painting the tubing with Citadel Fulgurite Copper, the gauge housings were painted with Citadel Retributor Armour. The face of the gauges were painted using Citadel Warboss Green, Citadel Averland Sunset and Citadel Mephiston Red. Now if you wanted to, you could shade the faces with three relevant shades, but I just used a little Citadel Seraphim Sepia. After washing the Leadbelcher areas with Nuln Oil, I used Agrax Earthshade for the copper tubing, the gauge housing and the general grime/colour of the vertical sections.
A drybrush of Citadel Sigmarite Dry paint on the Fulgurite Copper and Retributor Armour added a shine to the areas that would likely be scuffed/catch the light, while the same was done to the Leadbelcher using Necron Compound.
Leadbelcher UndercoatRetributor Armour, Fulgurite Copper Averland Sunset, Mephiston Red, Warboss Green Nuln Oil followed by Agrax Earthshade Sigmatrite and Necron Compound Drybrush Finished
The Mechanicus love a good red canister, which is lucky, because I quite enjoy painting red. I used Mephiston Red on the canister then washed with Druchii Violet. After reapplying the Mephiston Red (making sure to leave the Druchii Violet in the recesses) I added a little Citadel Fire Dragon Bright to the Mephiston and added a highlight to the top half of the canister. I then mixed a little more Fire Dragon Bright with the previous mix and did one final highlight on the top quarter (picture missing…). The final thing to do was to add some thin scratches and lines to the canister using Vallejo Model Air Chrome.
Leadbelcher spray Mephiston Red Druchii Violet Mephiston Red Mephiston Red and Fire Dragon Bright mix Vallejo Model Air Chrome
That’s it for this week, part two will be up next Sunday.
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