Basilisk Main Cannon Painting Question

[Jochteas]

Greetings everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on painting the main gun of the basilisk. I decided it'd be much easier to attempt separated (as seen) instead of together. Part of my problem is when i decided to pick out the paints for it, I'm a bit confounded. Firstly it's a gift for a friend, If it wasn't id probably just do something different. He wants it to look as 'realistic' as possible. Looking at it, At first I thought 'alright its a big gun, so i'll paint it like a big marine gun.' but honestly I think it would look quite boring being all lead belcher + shading. I guess I'm looking for tips on painting different parts of it different colors while keeping up with the realism. For reference the rest of the model will be done like Cadian camo because he likes that scheme quite a bit, but he wanted the main gun to be actually painted like a gun.

Any advice you could give would be most helpful. 

(Photos for reference)   

p.s. I knew the glue is a bit rough around the two bottom connecting pieces, I had to remove it because of a mishap then that caused a problem, long story short I will certainly sand it and smooth it before i base it.
 

 

[Ovidius Incertus]

By "realistic" does he mean like an artillery piece you'd see on a present or historical Earth battlefield?  If so, I'd carry whatever camo scheme you're using for the tractor portion all the way over the gun.  If you google something like 88mm cannon or Panzer or T34 or something you'll see plenty of images of real vehicles that are either monochromatic (all panzer gray, for example) or with a camo pattern that covers the vehicle from tip to tail, including covering external features like tools and stowage.

 

The pizzazz for this kind of scheme comes in the weathering stages.  I would look up some scale modeling videos on the youtubez for inspiration.  There's a lot out there to get you thinking!

Edited September 23, 2017 by Ovidius Incertus

[Arkhanist]

Real self-propelled artillery (and tanks) are painted the same as the rest of the transport, for the same reasons - to protect the metal from the elements, and camoflage the vehicle.

 

http://www.battletanks.com/images/M40_Long_Tom-1.jpg

 

As Ovidius Incertus says, the fun comes with doing the colour variation and weathering.

 

 

That all said, if you want to stick with bare steel for the barrel because that's what your friend wants, then go ahead! There's a few tips here from Duncan when painting a knight. You can save time using a metal spray or airbrush to get an easier clean and smooth coat before weathering.

 

 

And here's an example how-to of the barrel in metal, while using camo paint on the rest of the basilisk:

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WmsNytLJ3Tc/UVJ2UYiGIUI/AAAAAAAAAV0/nn8L8Zd9Wqo/s1600/2013-05-20+23.07.28.jpg

Edited September 23, 2017 by Arkhanist

[duz_]

Generally with my guard tanks I paint the long barrels the same as my main scheme with some soot/weathering on the end.

 

As Arkhanist points out its actually fairly common to do in real life.

Entirely up to you and how it fits with your scheme!