Hey guys. I have a problem I uncovered after starting legion several months ago. I hate painting dudes in white armor. This is problematic for me because the factions that have the dudes in white armor are my favorites. And with the CW era closing in (supposedly, anyway) my men in white will eventually double..

So without further ado: Has anyone used Citadel's Apothecary White contrast paint on stormtroopers/clone troopers? I'd love to hear any experiences. I'm not sure if I'm sold on the idea of contrast paints yet, but shading is what seems to take the longest on these white minis. Any other tips on proper shading for storms/clones would also be greatly appreciated.

Its Ok. The uneven nature of contrast means that although the white suits stormtroopers the paint inherently doesnt suit armour when used as advertised. If rather than covering the whole model you use it to pinshade it looks quite nice, at that point though you arent really getting much benefit compared to traditional techniques.

On 10/11/2019 at 8:15 PM, spears said:

Its Ok. The uneven nature of contrast means that although the white suits stormtroopers the paint inherently doesnt suit armour when used as advertised. If rather than covering the whole model you use it to pinshade it looks quite nice, at that point though you arent really getting much benefit compared to traditional techniques.

I'd still take it over nuln oil to do a white job it a heartbeat for base->wash->highlight.

For stormies though I've found a hardware store satin white to be the goto for a base coat over corax or the contrast bases.

That Apothecary White just isn't white. At all.

For me, the easiest and most efficient method of painting huge batches of dudes in white armor is to zenithal, starting with a mid-grey and cutting out the black step, and then going pretty heavy on the white pass. Go back and hit the black spots and highlight here and there - and you've got your shading done.

On 10/12/2019 at 6:07 AM, OuterPop said:

That Apothecary White just isn't white. At all.

It’s funny, it looks gray for sure in the lot. But I used it in Bossk’s chest plate over a white primer and it cam out looking very white. I’m not sure if it need to be mixed well or if it needs a more textured surface so the gray pigments can settle or what.

In any case I would agree it would be easier to highlight and more subtle than nuln oil. Is it better than any other thinned gray applied to the panel lines? Tough to say.

This looks fantastic!

I tried it on a commando team just for fun - and it was absolutely horrible. I'm sure it was just fighting against the zenithal undershading.

Thanks for this! I might not throw it away now

I had good luck with it on stormtroopers. Mechanus grey and corax white zenithal base. 50:50 apothecary white : contrast medium base coat. Hightlight with Ghost Grey (vallejo game) and minimal spot highlights with White Scar. The black is just pure contrast, no medium. I think the first pic only has minor ghost grey highlights. Maybe not at all.