How would you simulate the effect of a “glowing” color, without resorting to the use of LED’s, etc., ie; glowing eyes, gemstones, magical swords? Mainly sci-fi/fantasy subjects.
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Neon paint, I would think.
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Agreed. I think Green Stuff World sells neon paint…or you might have to deviate and go to the art store for neon paints. Amazon might sell neon paint.
https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/187-fluorescent-acrylic-paints
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I would say be careful with Neon paint. I have used Scale 75 FX and GSW’s varieties and neither paint very well at all. Scale 75 also started doing an Artists Scale Color neon range- I have only tested the red which seems to be okay. The GSW ones spray quite nicely but need thinned. If you want a brighter color like Neon you could also use inks- mixed with a similar color paint they greatly increase the intensity which helps when painting certain bright colors.
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You may need to try Non Metallic Metal technique:
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Yes- a tricky technique but definitely worth a try as it can create some wonderful effects.
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While painting swords and blades with shades of greys, whites, greens, and blues is interesting (and a tip I can certainly use, and beats using silver, or chrome paint), it isn’t exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to paint Star Wars light sabers (in scale; NOT 1:1) - they glow with an inner light - usually red, or green. I tried clear color green over a section of stretched clear styrene sprue, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the result. I shall try the neon paint and see how it works.
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I just tried a quick test dipping a shiny pin in tamiya clear and the results aren’t bad. Here are a couple of old GW figures where I remember using the method years ago (the dust might give that away).
The figure on the left has the blue over chrome/bright silver on the sphere in his staff and the right hand figure has red over chrome on the gems. The two pins in front are the test and the glowing effect is much more pronounced in person.
The challenge with the light sabre is it’s round “blade” so shading/blending from one angle won’t work from another point of view. I’m sure you already knew that. There are some pretty talented people who paint the glow from the sword/lantern/lava and what have you directly onto the figure but that’s well beyond my level.
Search “painting glow effect on miniatures” if you want to go down that rabbit hole.
I hope you hit on a solution you’re happy with. Good luck.
Cheers,
Colin
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There was an article in FSM a couple of years ago about how to paint light sabre effects. Give me a while and I’ll see if I can dig out the magazine and see what it says.
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Very good of you! 
I appreciate that! 
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I’ve tried the clear color over Molotow Chrome (and I thought I was so clever I thought that up on my own! 
). As you’ve shown, it works well on gemstones, etc., but not quite enough “glow”.
BTW; I think that effect would look great on something like Ironman’s armoured suit!
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Radium works wonders.
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I was about to rush out to an art supply store to purchase neon paint, but I searched Youtube videos first. Apparently the effect only works under a UV light. Meh…
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Yeah…Right! 
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Check out YouTube videos on “object source lighting” for miniatures, there are tons out there and they do some very clever stuff in that hobby.
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Happy to help.
It’s from the November 2018 issue of FSM.
It wasn’t as comprehensive as I remembered and features a small scale gaming figure, mostly consists of a white base and blue wash. Seems to be quite effective for the scale.
Anyway, if it’s of help here it is. I just snapped the part about painting the light sabre, rather than the whole figure painting.
If you’d like the full article I can get some better photos and pm them over.
Stephen
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It might not be what you are looking for, but the first thing that came to my mind is glazing. Using very thinned paint, building up layers slowly, and shifting the color to make it look more dynamic.
Here is a pic of a shield and beam saber that I glazed layers on, going back and forth until I liked the look.
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The main difference between what I want to do and the provided examples is that sword blades are flat (sort of), and the shaft of a light saber is rod-shaped, or round in section. The sword blade has definite edges (two of them) to lighten; the light-saber has no edges. If I were to apply the same technique to a light-saber as with a sword blade ( dark center with a light glow on the edges) it would only work from one viewing angle. From any other angle it would appear either completely a dark color, or white.
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Buying bottles of gloss might also work. Vallejo and MicroSol makes gloss coat in a bottle. That will give the lightsaber, gems, jewels, and metals a sheen and shine that paints cannot.
You might also try bright florescent mylar or party stickers to wrap around your piece and see if that works.
Some modelers paint a basecoat of chrome or silver and then add transparent paint colors over that to achieve that “Candyshell paint” look.
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This website has some great tutorials.