Power axe painting advice/opinion sought

[Brother Desultor]

Hi folks,

Since coming back to the hobby earlier this year after an absence of almost 19 years, I've been an avid reader of this forum. The depth of creativity and skill of many members has left me in awe and a little envious to be honest.

For the past few months I've been rebuilding my model collection as well as replacing all my hobby tools and paints - and trying to polish (and rediscover) old rusty painting and hobby skills. I've finally kit bashed something I am happy with and have almost finished painting it. However I am now stumped as to how to paint the power axe. The photos below show my creation - a Night Lord Atramentar simply known as "The Executioner". The dilemma I have now is how to effectively paint his axe - do I make it a focal point of the model, or do I keep it subdued as per the rest of the paint.

As you can see from the state of the axe blade, I've tried unsuccessfully a couple of times to paint something suitable and I doubt I can safely scrape any more attempts off. So, whatever I do, this is to be the final effort. I've tried a flat black with sharp edge highlighting and also a magma type effect.

Now I ask the creative minds that dwell on this forum for ideas.

Thanks for looking and for any suggestions.

[Quixus]

Maybe this (espeically the recipe for red power weapons) can help. You could also leave the power weapon "off" as you did with the lightning claw.

 

Here is another one.

[Brother Desultor]

Thanks for the suggestions.