Weathering advice - 30K Ultramarines

[Cyrox]

For my Ultramarines force I want to avoid the 40K style edge highlights and go for the normal heresy style weathered battlefield/miltary look, but I'm at a mental block as to how i should do it.

Do i go for the old sponge trick with Rhinox and Calgar Blue and leadbelcher etc, or should I go for some of the weathering seen in the latest GW heresy videos like the Dark Angels one which is muted scratch/highlights etc?

Would greatly appreciate some tips!

[sarabando]

for weathering imo you want contrast ( the effect not the paint) 

I have two ultramarine armies for heresy and they are painted in different ways, for one, i use lighter blue sponging to simulate the scratches and chipping focusing on the areas that realistically would be making contact with things that could chip them. sharp edges, knees, knuckles etc. Then i use a bright silver to pick out the biggest and sharpest edges to show where its been taken down to the bare metal (ceramite.) 

I also use rhinox hide to break up the blue for more chipping. 

 

The other thing i like to do is to wash a dirty colour into the recesses so show the build up of grime, for this i try to match it to the bases i am using to tie them into the environment.  

 

imo there are two things to remember about weathering 1. consistency - always use the same method/colours across the army 2. believability.  - look at stock photos of tanks, rusty metal, etc and see how wear happens, think about how marine armour moves and what they are doing. 

 

if youd like i can post some pictures of some of my weathers stuff when im home?

[Cyrox]

17 minutes ago, sarabando said:

if youd like i can post some pictures of some of my weathers stuff when im home?

Thanks, and yes that would be great if you could - much appreciated!

[sarabando]

2 hours ago, Cyrox said:

Thanks, and yes that would be great if you could - much appreciated!

here you go

[Chaeron]

Some great examples from @sarabando to illustrate how effective it can be! If I were to do an Ultramarine force, I'd likely take the same sort of inspiration - maybe go for a light-enough blue shade that the contrast was sufficiently dark and grimy, and that the chips/scratches would also be obvious highlights on the armour - rather than highlights in themselves. I tend to go for the sponge option personally, without trying to overdo it and thinking about where the damage would practically occur. Trying to vary this on a marine by marine basis helps too - you don't want consistency with something like this, and variety will help them look suitably battle worn. 

I'll look forward to seeing some test models!

[OttoVonAwesome]

Iv'e painted ultra's in every way imaginable, Imo the one I thought was best was the scratch highlighting technique with few scratches and dents however on a darker blue base like on my old 30k ultras using a mettallic chipping method also gave a good result but also was very sparing with it. just hitting the very edges with little dabs and dots and weathering the decals with the original blue so they look worn but not totally messed up and also using a dark brown to panel line in the areas where dirt might collect got them looking pretty dirty and battle worn but still shiny and magnificent like Ultras should be.

[Cyrox]

Thanks all for the tips and thanks @sarabando for sharing the pics - got an idea where to go now and will paint some test minis