Dystopian Dilemma

I picked up most of my Dystopian Wars fleet on Monday night and this has led to my dilemma. That being what colours should I paint it?

Normally I'd just paint ships the usual battleship grey, but the amount of detail on the models is just crying out for a decent paint job. Also, looking at pictures of other fleets online, most of them have colourful paint jobs highlighting portholes and all manner of intricate detail and I just can't bring myself to not try and do the models justice.

This is where my total lack of artistic ability creates problems. I know the wooden decks will be some shade of brown and the boilers, if they are visible, will be bronze. But as for the rest I'm a bit lost. I'm finding the amount of detail on the models is a bit intimidating. My models are from the Empire of the Blazing Sun faction and look more like railway engines than ships which doesn't help. They also have all sorts of weird 'things' whose use eludes me.

Give me a unit of Napoleonic French Line infantry or Persian Immortals and I have no problem. I just go to my reference books and presto no need to think it's all set out like painting by numbers. I even have problems painting figures with well documented dress but no fixed uniform like Vikings. I know the colours they had available but I always seem to mix and match the colours badly and end up making the figures look like Viking pimps!

All this hummimg and harring over colour schemes adds ages to my painting time as well. I tend to sit with the models on my desk and run through all sorts of paint schemes in my head for days on end until I make my mind up and go for it. I've tried using colour wheels but they don't seem to help. I guess I'll just have to resign myself to starting at the models hoping inspiration strikes.