Display-Level Chitin — NMM & Wet Blending for Competition Judges

Competition judges spend seconds on most entries. They spend minutes on the ones that stop them. If you want your VoidHive Forge model to be one of those, the chitin needs to sing.

Here's how to push your chitin armour to display level using non-metallic metal (NMM) principles and wet blending.

Why NMM on Chitin?

Chitin isn't metal — but it shares one key property: it's hard, smooth, and reflective. NMM technique applied to chitin creates the impression of a surface with real depth and sheen, far more convincing under competition lighting than a simple highlight pass. The key is treating each chitin plate as a mirror, asking yourself: what would this surface reflect?

Colour Selection

For VoidHive chitin, work within a tight value range anchored to your chosen hue. A purple chitin scheme might run:

• Shadow: Naggaroth Night or similar deep purple-black
• Midtone: Xereus Purple
• Highlight: Genestealer Purple
• Specular highlight: Dechala Lilac or near-white with a purple tint
• Deepest recess: pure black

The specular highlight — the tiny, near-white spot that represents the brightest point of reflection — is what makes NMM read as hard and shiny. Don't skip it.

Wet Blending: The Technique

Wet blending requires working quickly with paint that stays open. Add a medium (Lahmian Medium or a wet palette) to extend your working time.

1. Apply your shadow tone to the lower third of the chitin plate
2. Immediately apply your midtone to the centre, overlapping the shadow edge by 2–3mm
3. While both are still wet, use a clean damp brush to blend the boundary — short, feathering strokes perpendicular to the transition
4. Work up through your highlight tones the same way, each one covering less area than the last
5. Place your specular highlight last, as a tiny dot or short stroke at the highest point of the plate

If the paint dries before you finish, don't panic — let it dry fully, then glaze over the transition with a thin mid-tone to soften any hard edges.

OSL Integration

If your model has bioluminescent elements (and on a VoidHive model, it should), integrate the OSL after your chitin blending is complete. Add thin glazes of your glow colour (teal, purple, or green) to the chitin surfaces nearest each light source. Keep it subtle — the glow should complement the NMM, not compete with it.

Edge Highlights: The Final Pass

Once your blending is done and dry, add a final edge highlight with your lightest tone on every sharp chitin edge. This is what reads at arm's length and tells the judge the model is finished to a high standard. Use a size 0 or 00 brush and keep the line consistent.

Take your time. Competition painting is not fast painting. It's deliberate painting.