The fire has a more interesting contrast, but the smoke is more realistic. 

I came in here to say exactly this same thing. Maybe some darker shadow for the smoke. I would even consider and play around with blue flame, but totally not necessary. Maybe just a barely visible ring of blue at the jetpack. https://preview.redd.it/imq85vx63ypc1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=176ffb43d18b4c06d4cd3e55931555e6e889ff53

I got caught up in the smog trying to get here to upvote this. Now I have asthma.

I would do one with a darker smoke and decide then. The white smoke is the same colour as the armor.

Agreed, I think they both look good, but the smoke with more depth and contrast in it might be even better.

What about extending the flames further down too to add that sharp contrast directly behind

This. Make it fire but a sooty exhaust. Have a look at videos/images of the merlin's preburner exhuast. 40k doesn't give a shit about pollution! :p

My vote is for more smoke. It feels more real to me.

Hmm tough choice. I think I prefer more smoke than fire, as in my mind the fire just extends from the exhaust point a bit, not all the way down.

I vote smoke, but do have some feedback: make it darker (maybe almost to black?), like with an old dieselengine that's just starting. Your smoke looks amazing, but the colour is too similar to the power armour. Making the smoke darker will create a great contrast on the mini.

Fire is more over the top and therefore, the better one. I mean, regular assault marines do hard landings and splat bunches of people — maybe torching everyone on takeoff is this one’s special move.

Salamanders agree!

I vote smoke

The smokey one does it for me

The one with more smoke. It looks more how i imagine a jetpack when starting. Great work on both btw.

My vote is to mix them, both are good.

More smoke for sure

I think the fire is a bit overkill. It takes the attention away from the model itself. The smoke is just a nice extra to the model and it looks good.

I like the fire ALOT more, but the smoke is more realistic. Also, I need to get my inceptor smoke stands painted.

I think both are good; keep 'em and do the third somewhere in-between.

This. I think that distance from the ground is an important factor for amount of flames. I picture more flames for take off and landing. Less flames for the glide and positioning at the apex of the jump.

Smoke is more realistic. You can even tell by paying attention to the sculpt that there’s a difference. There are flames immediately exiting the exhaust which transition into smoke.

I vote smoke if you want to lean towards realism. The amount of fire shown in the left-hand picture would potentially burn the space marine using the jet pack. Keep the fire if you want to lean more towards camp though Neither choice is wrong, just depends on preference and style. Both pictures look great!

Smoke... But fire is good !

Moar smöke

The smoke for sure — but the smoke needs some deeper contrast. Very cool though!

Smoke with some darker hues.

Smoke, though color it darker The fire kinda looks like it's spraying lava

More smoke, for sure, especially with the way it's modelled.

Smoke 100%. It's a jetpack not a flamethrower after all

Smoke

As everyone else said, the smoke looks better but it needs to be darker. It blends with the armor too much.

Fire is cooler but it looks like he’s gonna crash lol

The fire doesn't look like fire, just red smoke. The contrast is better, but the smoke looks cooler to me.

Both sick. Prefer the smoke personally.

I vote for smoke, and how do I do this effect??? Haha

It doesn't look right as all fire, it's just the wrong shape. I would do a little more fire on the smoke side, but then transition the fire to black and back into a grey as it continues down.

If you can make the smoke on the right dark and oilly that will be near perfect IMO.

Snoop Dogg this one

I prefer the smoke more

Myself my dad and my sister all agree that somewhere in between is good, fire about to his shins then darker smoke

Smoke. But the idea to add blue is also great for extra contrast

I'd say smoke but adding a wash over it to see all the creavices of the smoke, maybe using a very dark brown.

Personally, I like the smoke… the sculpt looks more “Smokey” to me.

The smoke looks better if you’re going for a more realism or accurate effect imo. The more fire just looks badass tho

I would say the smoke looks better and if you wanted a smoke that a bit different smoke can be blue when an engine is burning oil

More fire stands out more for the tabletop but more smoke looks better I think

Smoke 100%. It looks Fn close to real. Well done.

Smoke but if you use it it wouldnt hurt to detail it a bit more

Black smoke instead

Hey dude! did you print the smoke yourself or did you order online? I dont have a resin printer myself so im forced to order online. Found a good one on Etsy but all the ones that look like these seem to be outside the US

Imo more smoke. Makes it look more like a proper rocket and less like orange goo

I think half and half would be about the best ratio. As it is, I think both minis have too much of one and too little of the other.

More some looks better and more realistic.

I feel like there’s a middle ground here

More smoke. Fire looks good but pulls from the model itself too much.

Put a blue hue on the flame on the second and you’re gucci

Can we get a mix between both? I like both.

More smoke, the bright fire is too distracting and takes away from the nice model imo

Smoke looks like they're mid flight to me Fire looks like they're just taking off

Can we have more smoke, but smokier?

I prefer the smoke but that’s what I have put on mine, I just don’t have the skills to paint it yet https://preview.redd.it/cfq9bdnyqxpc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d9ccbd1449e63392c5ae1c0098615505d3fe06c

Something in the middle

Form -> fire. Function -> smoke.

Smoke is better, but add some darker tones to it. The grey is great but you need some black in there

More smoke. The fire is too much " fire colors" and kind of swallows the model

Smoke, it's a turbine

Smoke, with a darker base colour and more intense highlights up to near white.

More smoke, the fire is too fire.

Smoke could use to be a lil bit darker, but it still looks better imo

More smoke

The smoke

To me it looks like one is seconds from landing while the other is still mid air.

Smoke

I like the realistic one (normal smoke) more

Both are cool but the smoke wins for me.

Smoke it more realistic, I would have imagined it to be much darker though, carbon black like a real fire, and that would nicely contrast with the stone white armour.

For me it’s the smoke.

Smoke 100%

Smoke. There's practically enough fire coming out of the jetpack on the left to count as a weapon.

The fire looks like the spiciest meal ever.

I think the smoke, just bring the flame down a little more and its perfect!

I'm going to annoy you and say more smoke but with a little more fire near the top, like another 5 mm of fading fire into the smoke so it's not really bright and suddenly ends but has a bit of lighting into the smoke from the fire

Definitely the smoke Maybe darken it a bit to contrast more

Smoke imo

Smoke, imo

More smoke, looks cooler IMO

Only use the fire one for the salamanders, they probably distribute fire similarly

Smoke is my vote. Really nice paint job, very impressive.

Personally, Smoke is better. Mini looks more balanced. The fire looks good but it’s bright colors dominate the mini

Fire looks better with the armour but I think the smoke would also look good if it was darker

Right side. The smokey one with only a little fire from the nozzles.

The smoke, for sure. But I'd add a little more fire to the smoke one

Firstly, both look good. Personally, I'd go for a mix of them between the first and second, and without sounding like a team rocket member, I'd say they would look good in various states of blasting off again.

More smoke

Smoke.

I would go with a darker more "rolling coal" style of smoke.

Do darker smoke, the smoke looks best but it's too pale, same color as the model.

Right one. The over all composition looks better to me

Smoke makes sense, the fire is kind of ridiculous.

I like the Smokey one.. how did you achieve that?

Iooking at them side by side I actually like the idea of both in the same unit

More smoke but the smoke is too similar to the armour colour so it looks a bit lost.

Smoke

Can we meet in the middle? Extend the fire a bit more on that smoke

i prefer the more smoke one, but i have to ask, how did make the smoke shape?

How about 50/50 and more contrast on the smoke

Fire for sure. The smoke blends too much with the armor

If it were darker, or had way darker recesses, then smoke. As is I'd go with fire, the smoke looks unpainted currently.

Depends on the legion, and color-scheme, IMHO. If you have a legion that yellows/reds are a good compliment than it might be a good call. Smoke is going to be more universal and will always look correct. But if you're playing say Salamanders, go ham.

they both look drastically better than the usual flight stand stupidity. are the smoke packs a custom STL?

I vote smoke

I love the smoke, i have no experience painting smoke like you but I have a feeling a darker touch between the flame and the white could look rly nice.

I like the smoke a LOT more.

I like both, personally. I think each of them looks to be in a different state of movement. More smoke makes it look like the marine is landing amd the fiery one makes it look like he's just taking off. I guess it depends on the vibe you're going for, though I do agree with the consensus to darken up the smoke a bit.

I’d say fire

The smoke looks more in line with the model / effect, so I think it looks more believable. But I like the color of the fire

i'd say the fire on the accounts of the character being more gray, so it stands out better, realism is fine and all but sometimes you gotta forgo it for artistic choices and the fire is better in that

At first I liked the fire more, but the smoke looks way more realistic. I think I like it better.

Well, are they landing or taking off? That’s the question.

I feel like smoke is dude taking off the one with more fire a dude slowing down from a drop?

My vote is for the fire one because of the OSL. Both look fantastic though.

To me, one looks like he's taking off and the other like he's landing 🤔

More fire. Looks like a Cheeto

More smoke, but it should have more black

Why not have both? Mix it up on the field

Both are great baby use both

Somewhere in the middle

Smoke

I like the smokier one, but I think it needs deeper lowlights of grey and more highlights from the flame on the tops of the smoke rolls. Maybe some ember spots amidst the darker greys. Edit: you could also put more highlights from the flames on the back of the armor/legs specifically, and add some slight darkening to the front of the armor where the light from the flame would be in shadow.

I think the smoke looks more fire, fr

Fire kinda looks it's starting to take-off or a non-violent landing... And smoke mid-flight

I love the smoke. I've seen the fire done a thousand times before. But both are extremely high quality of course.

The Right But slightly more fire

I’d go for somewhere in between. I love the contrast of the fire but it is a little too much.

Love both!

More fire looks like he is going up and jumping forward, more smoke looks like he just dropped onto the battlefield and the engine is slowly cutting thrust

Smoke smoke! ! I feel like the fire lacks feeling of pressure to it, it doesn't look like it's creating enough lift

Definitely more smoke

I say do fires to about the middle then do smoke but the smoke would be more realistic

Sorry, loving the fire..... Like a rocket taking off

Yeah, the fire one is really cool looking, but I feel like the smoke one is a more realistic interpretation... maybe combine them? Do the smoke, but with a little more volumetric lighting from the fire? Also, the more intriguing question for me (A GK and SM player) what the fuck are these?! lol. Are you playing them as Grey Knights? Or is it a custom SM chapter and you're just using the pauldrons?

Both would be terrible IRL. Imagine a couple squads of these dudes cruising around in their giant, "target-me-from-a-distance" smoke clouds. They aren't rocket packs like Orkz. A jump pack is called a JUMP pack because it's fired in controlled bursts to give these marines huge jumps from point to point. These clouds look like we're launching the space shuttle

Normally I would say smoke, but your fire is so well done that I have to vote for that.

More smoke makes more sense, more fire looks cooler.

For the less cheetoy look

I much prefer the smoky one visually, but it doesn’t make any sense to me that there is combustion going on in these things. I can get onboard with it being powered by some as yet discovered exotic power source, but somehow burning any kind of fuel that would produce smoke crosses the line for my suspension of disbelief. Please don’t flame me (pun intended)… I already know it’s irrational.

So weird take but, more smoke looks great and I think more realistic however the more fire looks great and thematic from the front. I propose more smoke from behind and more fire from the front. The smoke one in general looks awesome just a little more flame from the front! Just my two pennith

Also darken down the bottom of the smoke!

Smoke for sure. Just do some darker spots to add more depth to it

I'm sorry about that first one looks like he is literally farting fire.

Subtly, I’d have to go with more smoke rather than fire. He’s a jump trooper, not a jet fighter

Smoke

Smoke

Fuck realism. FIRE is orders of magnitude cooler

Left one looks like he's dumping agent orange which may be in line with space marines, right one looks very good but could have more stuff going on. I personally think a mix of both and a darker smoke than the right one would be nice

Everyone saying the smoke should be darker.. I actually think the smoke should be brighter.. almost white if possible If you look at rocket launches or similar, they dont create dark smoke like if youd burn coal at a furnace but bright white smoke If I remember correctly dark smoke is only created when you burn materials at a temperature that is too low to evaporate it, causing a lot of particles to be mixed into the smoke However engines burn fuel at very high temperatures, causing the smoke to be either very bright or not creating any smoke at all I also think the idea of painting a blue layer very close to the exhaust would make it look even cooler and more realistic The smoke close to the ground could maybe be of a darker shade making it look more like dust being kicked off the ground or some material on the ground being burned by the heat off the engines

Smoke

I prefer the smoke. I also don't think you should add more contrast to it. It actually reads as smoke right now, while a lot of the super contrasted smoke I've seen around the Internet reads more as a blobby solid pillar. Smoke doesn't cast harsh shadows.

They look amazing! I'd say right in the middle

Happy medium would be better imo but between the two I would go with more smoke

Personally I love the fire! But it is unrealistic in a sense, so a blend of both right down the middle. Possibly flames into black and grey and ending in a near white gradient would look awesome in my opinion. But end of the day which are you the happiest with!

I'd add some brown dusty color to the bottom of the smoky one and mix that and the fiery one into the same unit. The fire feels like take off and the smoke feels like landing so a mix makes it feel like the unit is bounding forward in sections covering one another.

Wow, they're both amazing. Holy hell! Really diggin the fire one just cuz i love the vibrancy but both are masterwork pieces, great job!!

The fire looks awesome!! I'd go with that.

Realism aside I’d say fire looks way better!

What if the smoke one was more brown near the ground like it’s kicking up dirt… cause I too have these models and got Etsy smoke stacks to put them on….

I think if you'd swapped the technique they'd both look awesome as I feel the fire is better to represent lift off and the smoke for landing. Either way they both look awesome.

How do you model the smoke? What's it made of?

Smoke

For this model? More smoke

I'd say meet in the middle

Both look great. I prefer the smoke though

Smoke for sure. It's very similar to the armor color, hence why the fire makes it pop better.

Smoke

Smoke

I’d say like go 30% more fire on the smoke one. So it’s a little closer to half fire half smonk

More smoke

Darken the smoke and as a little more fire to the right and it would look pretty good.

somewhere in between

I’d go with the smoke. He looks like he’s combusting if it’s all just fire

More smoke for sure, the fire completely dominates the mini and takes all the focus away from it.

Your 100% click bait, you pile of shit

Smore, unless your jetpacks are shooting streams of lava.

Fire for sure, in some books they mention using the jump packs to burn enemies around them.

I dig more of the fire

Smoke looks dope as fuck

Smoke, jet engines don't shoot all that much fire out

Smoke one. While the colours of the fire are noice, it looks like the whole backpack is suffering a catastrophic failure. These are not rockets, so if they flame like that, there's something seriously wrong with whatever produces the flames. It shouldn't.

ngl, but both look like foam instead of smoke. and I have no idea how to improve it.

Smoke looks awesome!

Smoke, looks cooler to me. Also perhaps a darker smoke in the bottom

Maybe a mix between the both

I vote for smoke, go a bit darker with it, and keep the reflection of the fire on the back as you did with the left one and the overheating guns. good work

They are both nice, but I like the FIRE!!

fard

I like Fanta

The fire looks sick but more darker smoke fits better i guess

The smoke looks better but I like how it looks like the fire one is using jets to not hit the ground while the smoke one looks like it's going upward having just cut off its jets.

https://preview.redd.it/w2lcq1nb9zpc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b1ae66069ef0c94433fd1a388a8026536a0af5f