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Take 2 does seem nearer the mark, but personally I did not mind the first attempt either. I just think that the green of Salamanders is quite a hard colour to paint but you look pretty close to me.

Thanks for the input, chaps! Dare I say it, I think this third attempt has cracked it as far as hitting both the FW style and the necessary 'greenness':







As you can see, the final colour isn't much different from the last one, but to me at least it does seem to have a bit more of that nebulous 'pop' to it. The trick was starting from an olive drab rather than straight green, as that them emphasised the green highlights more without necessitating going brighter. The addition of the more vivid flames, blue plasma glow and the gold details also helped with the overall look, which gives me confidence for Vulkan as he'll have more in the way of contrasting colours.

So I'm pretty happy with that, but still open to suggestions. Let me know what you think!

Yeah that looks good. I do kind of like the bright acid green pop salamanders, but that really looks more like your style with the grit and grime. You paint like me, only much better

The new guy looks loads better, I like that you are going with the FW scheme. The way you built up the green this time and the flames standing out more gives him a nice natural look.

Now for a couple of squads like this

Ta guys!

@GiraffeX: I am leaning towards doing up the rest of a spare Tactical Squad like this now I've got the colours/methods down, they're not serving any other purpose and I do like the results... Time will tell.


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Last one for today. Painted up another Salamander, but the green hasn't gone quite as well on this one (this is what I get for not writing down the exact recipe! ) On the other hand, I think the flames are possibly better on this one. We'll call it all a 'learning opportunity', because that sounds better than 'I fethed up 2/3 models'!






Tomorrow, if I get time, I'm going to come back to these three and hopefully get them all looking like the 2nd guy.

Hmm. I like them, I like duskiness, but I wonder if it doesn't need to be richer at the bottom of the colour - a thraka green wash maybe?

Got another one done today, but it's more of the same so I'll wait until I've something more to show. I had the same thought about a wash, so I've got a Waywatcher Green in the post which should go over what's already there and just make it a little greener.

Could you snap a pic on a white background? With the muted tones you are working with, I’m kinda glazing over them with the background. I don’t know if it will help getting a grasp on the mini, but I think a “clean” shot might help.

The do look good though. I might brighten up the missile trail. While you don’t need to go full OSL, it should be bright.

White was disagreeing with them and the camera, but here's a shot on blue that's actually a lot closer to what they look like, I'd thought the green on blue really wouldn't do them any favours, but it does! (apart from the missile guy in hindsight)

The new guy is on the far right.

New guy! Richer.

Is richer, or needs to be richer? Here's some more shots of just him if that helps. I still don't think he looks quite as good as the Sergeant in real life, but better than the other two.



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Is it just me, or does uploading in a post rather than via the gallery really mess up the pics?

I like him more for he is rich uploading via post is fairly poor.

Ok, here's the pics again done properly via the gallery. With my current camera as crappy as it is, the last thing I need is Dakka further rubbishifying the pics!

Much improved!

nice job man. much prefer that battle-brother look. The FW scheme really works. great job as usual careful with waywatcher glaze. it's pretty strong stuff

Those marines do look better on the blue background. I happen to prefer the brighter green look I've seen elsewhere, but that's just me. If your aim was to do a more muted look, you nailed it! They do look good!

Nice. Very true to the FW art for the Sallies, I really like the olive green over a bright green on the sallies.

EDC

"Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!"

Nice work with the sons of Nocturne

Thanks guys! I'm still not 100% happy with the look but I do wonder if part of that is 'stared at if for too long' syndrome. Between uni work and SPECTRE I probably won't get much done today, but if nothing else I'll prep the rest of the squad for painting. It's funny; while the Salamander scheme is a real pain, I can't think of the last Marine scheme that got me actually excited to go through a full Tactical Squad in short order! Could be just that in the back of my mind there's a 'need' to get this colour perfect for Vulkan, but still, it's motivational!

This was one of the squads I was planning to paint up and sell, but now I'm not sure if that'll happen as I've grown rather attached to them!

Well, what's there to say, I'm a fan.



Ok, ok, so they're not really as dark as the old ones but better than the flasy green ones.

 Meph wrote:
Well, what's there to say, I'm a fan.

Spoiler:

Ok, ok, so they're not really as dark as the old ones but better than the flasy green ones.

I not only remember when they were dark green, I remember when they were the 8th chapter of the 1st founding.

Para: Thanks for the brighter pic, Looking good!

Cheers guys!

In the interests of being a good person and enriching people's lives: go and see SPECTRE. See it now... and then possibly see it again! Best Bond movie yet.

It aint easy being green...

Sallies look good! You doing much with them, or just practising for Vulkan?

And I'm seeing Spectre in a few hours... Cant wait!

Well, mostly they're practice for the Big Guy, though I'll definitely be finished up this 10-man squad in the next week or so. The Legion will also feature as and when I pick up the HH box set (probably Christmas) as I'll probably be doing a Shattered Legions force, so very beat up Sallies, Ravens and Hands.

After these guys are done, it's (hopefully) on to the Primarchs. Mortarion is up first, as a) he's probably my favourite model of the 3, b) he'll require less of a learning curve and c) a fair few Primarchs are being entered into the monthly challenge, and Vulkan's taken, so I won't double up there.

Para I am worried that PETA or somebody will target you if you do not change the thread title.

I concur about SPECTRE, go and see it now.

EDIT: updated with better/group pics!

I'm laying the blame for my lack of productivity squarely at the feet of Napoleon Bonaparte... or at the very least the essay on his I had to spend most of last week working on! But I have managed to get one more Salamander done, so here he is! I even remember to write down the recipe this time, so hopefully the next round of Sallies will be more consistent and less trial-and-error. I Tried out a scale pattern on his right leg that will definitely be refined on future models to get away from 'all flames, all the time'






And now for something that's been a little rare in here recently, actual plans towards gaming! It's been over a year since I last played 40k (more due to lack of opponents than through choice), but as/when I get this new HH set I do want to at least build into something that could be used on the tabletop. if the situation arose, using the Legiones Astartes army list. Since Forge World have yet to release Shattered Legions rules (think they're coming in the next book), I'll be using them as Salamanders so I can get Vulkan on the field.

The plan is to go for a rather veteran-heavy force, as if these guys have survived the Dropsite Massacre then they're going to have to have been rather good, and the increased number of special weapons over regular troops reflects the fact that in such a force, they're going to be handing out all the big guns they can find to anyone with 2 arms left.

Here's the list, and a few thoughts on how I intend to go about painting them. Since I have such limited time to work on these guys, I'll be doing my best to make each model and squad something special, so expect plenty of conversion, kitbashing, fluff and other fun!



Note that I almost certainly won't be starting this until Christmas, so don't expect anything straight away, just leaving it here a) as an aide memoir to myself and b) in case anyone has any particularly cool ideas they'd like to see me work into the force, from specific conversions to re-purposing whole units. I see this being a pretty major project that will last me well into next year, and I really want to make it the best I can, so I'll be doing my best not to half-arse anything, and really make it something I'll be proud to (eventually) out down on the table.


Anyway, that's enough rambling from me for one day! Any thoughts on the painting or the plan welcome! Primarchs may well arrive later, in which case expect plenty of unboxing pics!

Army list looks cool. Have absolutely no experience with 30k or the type of units. But I really like the sound of shattered legions.

The scales look awesome. If you tell me how you did them I will definitely rip them off. Though my salamanders will be the garishly coloured variety.

 Paradigm wrote:
In the interests of being a good person and enriching people's lives: go and see SPECTRE. See it now... and then possibly see it again! Best Bond movie yet.

You British people, you do love James Bond...but that's okay, because this American does too! I'm really looking forward to the movie, but I probably won't get to see it until this weekend, so no spoilers please!

As for your modelling efforts, your Salamanders look great, don't beat yourself up about them at all! And don't worry that you've slowed your painting down. One thing I learned when I was in college is that schoolwork has to come first. Business before pleasure, as they say. I hope you can find some time to get in some games of 40k, as despite what the naysayers on the internet say, the game is a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to seeing a whole army of 30k/40k stuff painted by you, it will be a visual feast for all of us (especially those Primarchs ). Best of luck buddy!

I know nothing about the state of current 40k meta, but they look.pretty

@Archer: The scales are quite simply just 'splodges' of paint on the area, then each gets a single highlight on the upper end for contrast. I tried to keep the larger ones in the centre, with smaller ones towards the edges. It'll definitely be neater and more obvious on my next Salamander.

Shattered Legions I picked as there's just so much scope for fluff and modelling. Loyalists using traitor equipment as their own is busted, characters so changed by what they saw at Istvaan that they fight in a totally different way to how they did beforehand, to stuff like being joined by the odd Loyalist from the Traitor Legions here, a cut-off squad from another Legion there, so on and so forth.

@ZS: I used to play 40k a lot, back in 5th/6th I had a gaming group that would meet most weekends. Since about the last year or so of 6th, that group drifted apart as people moved away, so I rarely got a game and thus shifted my painting focus to 'rule of cool' stuff rather than actual army-building. Once I get one more Bolter Salamander done, this will be the first legal 40k squad I've built in months! Still not 100% happy with the look, but that's what these guys are for, getting it wrong so I can get it right on a massive box of 30k plastic! I'll do my best to soldier on through the whole force, not sure what speed I'll get through them as there will be a lot of conversion and stuff going on, maybe even some sculpting efforts now and then.

@Graven: Neither do I! But I'm not really concerned about that, building lists that are effective has always been secondary to me to building cool lists with the models I want to play. Once the plastic hits the table, I'll go all out to win, but prior to that, it's all about fluff and minis! Frankly, the list above is probably pretty terrible (no transports, only about 40 guys, lots of expensive models) but what the hell, they'll die looking awesome! (hopefully)