Thrusters Engage!

I was asked how I paint my Jet Packs so I figured I'd just make up a quick Tutorial. It's super simple and can be done very quickly, as with anything the longer you put into it the better it will look. But if you are painting up a bunch of table quality Assaulties this might be for you. I usually go for the blue/white hot look like the thrusters have been fired up recently but now isn't on full burn. You can go with the full thruster assembly (above) or just the thrusters (below), all depending on what you like the most.

1) For the first step I paint the JP thrusters white.

2) Now I use a blue wash in the recesses. It's all about surface tension, you want a really watered down mix. I typically use the GW Asurmen blue and water it down even more, I don't know what the new color is called sry.

3) You want to keep the edges inside of the thruster white. Move the blue around inside keeping it even and adding more blue as needed. Don't go overboard and make sure you keep the paint thin.

4) Basically you just keep adding layers of blue. Once you are happy with the shade you paint white on all the high edges. Thin the white down and only hit the edges. You can dry brush it if you like, if you do, dry brush outward away from the thruster.

That's pretty much it, you just keep working on the color till you're happy with it. I originally started working on a metal Vanguard Vet but released the inside of the thrusters were very rough. It made the process much harder, you might want to clear the inside of the thrusters with a Semi/Gloss to increase the surface tension and allow the paint to run off the edges and sink into the recesses.

I hope this helps and makes sense .. 

Here are a few of the pics from the Vanguard Vet ... I had to paint it more than let it run into the cracks itself.