Is Blue Shield visible?

[Weirdo]

I was just given a Quasimodo mini for my birthday, and now I'm wondering: Is there any visual element to the Blue Shield that could be painted onto the mini? The name puts me in the mind of a blue glow coming from the recesses of the armor, but I was wondering if anything else was out there.

And yes, I know "It's my mini, whatever I want to do is fine." That doesn't need to be said.

[JadeHellbringer]

Well, it's your mini, so whatever you want to do...

Nah, I kinda like the idea to a blue 'shimmer' effect. Nothing crazy, probably very faint, but it would look kind of cool to add a very, very light metallic blue drybrush to show the effect.

[Sartris]

TO seems to indicate it's a magnetic field, which obviously would be invisible. I think any visual effect would kick in (and spectacularly so) when the field reacts to the PPC fire

But invisible is boring... so dealer's choice?

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It interacts with dust and other particles in the air, so there ought to be some level of visual cue.

[Colt Ward]

A blue tracery circle on the base with more dirt/material outside that blue circle?  Maybe a few lonely strands from a cotton ball painted/dyed blue standing off the mech like a tesla globe effect?



I will admit, mine is boring though I adjusted the arm . . . I may have to revisit the arm since I am not satisfied and its just primer'd.

[Pat Payne]

I was just given a Quasimodo mini for my birthday, and now I'm wondering: Is there any visual element to the Blue Shield that could be painted onto the mini? The name puts me in the mind of a blue glow coming from the recesses of the armor, but I was wondering if anything else was out there.

And yes, I know "It's my mini, whatever I want to do is fine." That doesn't need to be said.

Have you considered doing perhaps some faint highlights in blue interference paint? I've started using it for my PPC effects and it can give a very nice glowing effect.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Seems like there’d be no reason to call it *blue* shield if there wasn’t some sort of visible blueness to it.

[sadlerbw]

Go do a google image search for 'Corona Discharge' and maybe that will give you some ideas. Now, that effect is technically from an electrical field, and not a magnetic field, but why be picky? The general idea is that, when you get an electric field that is strong enough to ionize air, but not quite strong enough to cause an arc to ground, you get this sort of purple glow coming off the conductor.

I'm not 100% sure how you would paint this since the effect is usually in the air AROUND whatever is generating the electric field, not on the surface. Maybe edge-highlight the panels in a bright purple? From the wiki article on this effect: "Corona discharge usually forms at highly curved regions on electrodes, such as sharp corners, projecting points, edges of metal surfaces, or small diameter wires" I'm thinking dry-brushing wouldn't really look right, but edge highlighting might. Maybe a very light coat of a gloss purple?

Or, stick the mini on a nice, thick insulator and run about 100kV to it. That should get it glowing nicely.

[Hythos]

Seems like there’d be no reason to call it *blue* shield if there wasn’t some sort of visible blueness to it.

The color-reference was from PPC's being "Blue" through various fluffs...

[Hythos]

I'm not 100% sure how you would paint this since the effect is usually in the air AROUND whatever is generating the electric field, not on the surface. Maybe edge-highlight the panels in a bright purple? From the wiki article on this effect: "Corona discharge usually forms at highly curved regions on electrodes, such as sharp corners, projecting points, edges of metal surfaces, or small diameter wires" I'm thinking dry-brushing wouldn't really look right, but edge highlighting might. Maybe a very light coat of a gloss purple?

It'd be interesting to try using some superglue / clear acrylic build-up, then use something of a thinned-down metallic color (blue, or silver), which would deposit on top of the acrylic layer, giving a kind of shimmering appearance.

[Maingunnery]

There is an alternative, you can use putty to create a ppc blast and then have half of the blast frail apart in such a way as to suggest the shape of the Blue shield.

[JadedFalcon]

Use glitter.

I imagine it's just like flocking, and you might be able to get it in blue.

[Kidd]

(Not serious idea) Imagine if you could get a clear plastic ball or bauble, and put the mini in it, like a hamsterball, then paint/flock a very nice "PPC impact" on the ball, it would look awesomely stupid. Or stupidly awesome. Iunno :D

Actually the Blue Shield PFD equipment probably looks more like a degaussing coil than a bog-standard scifi bubble shield. So, more practically, maybe paint glowy electric blue lines on the limbs and torso? Bonus points for glow in the dark paint.

[wolfspider]

Maybe create a stencil (something like this) to put over parts of the model to simulate being hit

[Colt Ward]

(Not serious idea) Imagine if you could get a clear plastic ball or bauble, and put the mini in it, like a hamsterball, then paint/flock a very nice "PPC impact" on the ball, it would look awesomely stupid. Or stupidly awesome. Iunno :D

Actually the Blue Shield PFD equipment probably looks more like a degaussing coil than a bog-standard scifi bubble shield. So, more practically, maybe paint glowy electric blue lines on the limbs and torso? Bonus points for glow in the dark paint.

Not hamsterball . . . might be good for one of those acrylic clear Christmas decorations where you can put stuff in.

[cray]

TO seems to indicate it's a magnetic field, which obviously would be invisible. I think any visual effect would kick in (and spectacularly so) when the field reacts to the PPC fire

But invisible is boring... so dealer's choice?

Beat me to it.

[Sartris]

I got a science question right?  :o

miracles happen every day, kids

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Lasers ought to be invisible, too, right?  But we've still got the bright blue and red beams.

[Bedwyr]

Lasers ought to be invisible, too, right?  But we've still got the bright blue and red beams.

Yeah, it's a visual artistic flourish to help communicate what's happening to the player/viewer. I think the Blue Shield could be similar. I like those patterned triangle effects wolfspider is showing. The combination of the pattern and the light-source painting will do a good job of drawing the viewer's eye to the localized effect. The pattern has to be strong or else people will interpret it as just the light from incoming fire. That way you get a decent compromise between physical reality and human perception.

[Tyler Jorgensson]

I'd get a small blue plastic bubble sorta like a hamster ball and glue it around the mech...

[Sartris]

Lasers ought to be invisible, too, right?  But we've still got the bright blue and red beams.

i remember a conversation here once where it was determined atmospheric composition would determine the color of beams, if any

[Charistoph]

i remember a conversation here once where it was determined atmospheric composition would determine the color of beams, if any

And it's not like a colored, non-lethal laser couldn't be complementing it for aiming purposes, either.

[Sartris]

let's be clear - i'm maximum uninterested in enforcing hard sci-fi here. the reality is pretty boring so, as i suggested in my original reply, rule of cool is the way to go.