Annihilation/CC Barge Done!

After magnetizing and converting the Barge, it was ready for painting. The Barge was the first vehicle I painted, and as such, it was the first time I encountered certain Necron themes that are not present on infantry. Namely the wings and the tail of the barge.

The wings and the tail are stylistically present on all Necron vehicles: large plates, laid over a curving and narrowing shape, with a visible space between them that opens up the layer underneath. Sometimes these plates have electrical circuit-like lines inlaid.

It was straightforward to paint the these plates with gray-blue gradients. However, the circuits and the space between the plates was a problem for me. I tried a few things on the lower side of a wing:

Having these circuits in black stood out too much, and besides, black lines over blue was not present thematically anywhere. The burning red between lines didn't look either at all, even though I was sure I should have looked great. It just didn't.

I tried various other approaches. As I previously painted Warrior shoulder plates gray with blue close to the edges, I tried doing the same thing on these plates, with entirely blue lines between. It just didn't work.

I stopped taking pictures, but I also tried inverting the gradient on these plates: to be blue center, gray towards the edges, with entirely gray space between the plates. After an outline of Ulthuan Grey (a very pale gray color, just off white) I got to something I was happy with:

As for the black and red parts, they were straightforward, even though it took a lot of time to get all the gradients right (these pics are from before I completed the blue parts):

With that, completing the Barge and the Annihilation Barge specifically was easy. To complete the Catacomb Command Barge I needed to paint the Overlord too. There is nothing notable to say about this, here is the end result:

And, with that, the Barge was done!