For the next post in our How To series we’ll be showing you some simple steps for painting power weapons that provide excellent results. Lets get started!

Paints used:



Army Painter Matt White

Vallejo Model Air Light Sea Blue

Citadel Macragge Blue Air

Vallejo Game Air Black



Equipment used:



H&S Evolution AL Plus Airbrush

Windsor and Newton Series 7 Size 0 Brush

Tamiya 6mm Masking Tape



Techniques used:



We’ll be using an airbrush for this tutorial running at 25 Psi. We’re aiming for a smooth colour gradient here which will require some good trigger control. This may be daunting at first but after some practice it will become much easier. While it’s possible to achieve a similar result with a brush it would be a lot more time consuming to achieve a smooth finish so I wouldn’t recommend it.



1. After undercoating with primer basecoat the blade with Army Painter Matt White. Make sure to thin the paint and apply multiple coats as you want a smooth base to work from.



2. Using masking tape cover half of the sword along the center line.



3. Starting from the hilt and working upwards airbrush a layer of Model Air Light Sea Blue. Make sure to leave an area of white at the tip of the blade and ease up on the air flow towards this area to apply a lighter amount of paint and blend the two colours together.



4. Again starting from the hilt airbrush a layer of Macragge Blue Air to around half way up the blade.



5. Airbrush a layer of Game Air Black focusing only on the area closest to the hilt.



6. After the previous steps are complete you can remove the masking tape and you’ll have something like this. If at this stage you realise you’ve gone a bit too high up the blade with the blue you can re-layer with some white from the top down.



7. Mask off the painted side of the blade. If there’s a curved section like in the example cover this completely as we can fill it in easily later with a brush.



8. You now want to repeat steps 3-5 but with the gradient in the opposite direction. White at the hilt and black towards the tip of the sword.

9. Using Game Air Black fill in any curved areas that were masked off previously.



10. The final step is to pull it all together by edge highlighting the sword with Army Painter Matt White. The center line will require a steady hand and good brush control but you can cheat the outer edges by lightly running the side of your brush along them.

With that the power weapon’s finished. All that’s left to do is pick out the other details, attach it to your model and you’re ready to carve up your enemies!



Did you find this tutorial helpful? Will you be using it yourself? Let us know in the comments.

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