Lightsaber damage

[Cloud Warrior]

No not a broken blade but how to paint the damage a blade can cause.

I bought some clone buckets from a member and plan to use them at the base of Asajj Ventress. I want a few to look like decapitations and to have some marks to show the fight was not totally one sided.

As the movies and cartoons are made for most audiences we don't really see what a lightsaber can do to armour as they tend to be of scene deaths. Lets say the buckets are made from vibrosteel (cant remember the correct name, lightsaber proof material) so they could take a hit or two to the helmet. What would it look like ?.

Would it be a black line, red/orange scorch, black smoke blaster style ?

 

[Cloud Warrior]

Not painted yet so would still love peoples opinions on this.

I know its over done but I was thinking of a little story to justify the display to myself along the lines of ..."An elite unit equipped and trained for Sith capture. Encountered a now unchained Ventress and felt her uncontrolled wrath".

As its only the buckets I wanted to first paint then a universal theme to match them up as a unit, paint little extras on each to identify each member and then try to add the battle damage paints.

I'm thinking a little dirt/dust,sun bleaching, red clone blood and possibly a trace of Ventress blood (what colour would hers be?) and then some actual battle damage. A few lightsabre strikes would be nice but I cant commit to a look as I have not seen any to use as reference.
We need a adult rated Star Wars (no porn, while I would like to see a few female characters myself thats another story) A load of gore and some token galactic swears would be nice.

 

[mark7612]

Since no one else has chimed ill toss my two cents in for what it is worth.

Check out the weathering section on this website

https://codyscoop.com/ht-building.html

Scroll down to the weathering section.
If you are going for a fresh slice look remember that the lightsaber is basically a super hot laser. In the movies the cuts are straight and clean (no apparent bubbling of the metal, except for the scene in episode 1 when the blade was held on the door to melt it). I would paint the center of the cut a bright yellow then orange around that followed by black or charcoal gray singe marks to give it the look of glowing hot.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cloud Warrior]

Thanks Mark (talking to a lot of Marks on here and also one myself . Yey us !).
I am very new to the idea of weathering and that site has proved a informative read.

I was thinking a hot melted look may be the way to go, but as I had read a few SW books after Jedi I was sure there is a material in the universe that can take a sabre beating.
As these buckets where cheap due to slight defects I may even cut one to show a clean slice through the visor or something.

 

[mark7612]

Sounds like a good idea. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Good Luck!

 

[Darksider]

If memory serves its a long straight line that gets thinner at the ends. initially its a hot white-yellow color in the center with black edges that gradually fade out. But it cools quickly leaving a solid black slash with a smoldering outline keeping the same black fade. eventually the whole thing would blacken completely.

So i guess how fresh the cut is would determine what it looks like.

Have you ever played the force unleashed? If you have it or know someone who does take a look at what happens when you slash at the walls. i tried to look up some pictures but they are ridiculously hard to find. good luck.

 

[Cloud Warrior]

Thanks all. Yeah played Force Unleashed and that did give me my strongest idea that most people would think of. I was just curious if others thought a more resistant clone armour would have different effects.

Got a clamp and magnifying glass device on its way from a friend to help hold the bucket in place so I hope to get someone sorted soon ish. Not expecting anything good looking as my skills are ...well not skills at all.

Also have just a crappy 3.2 phone camera with no flash so any pictures would make it look worse.