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ok so this will be my first army well first finished project so be nice. i have assembled 3 salamanders and have dry brushed them with snot green and have done a little detailed work. i really have not gotten far but this is my first army post so im kind of excited. the pictures i have added kind of s-ck so im sorry about that leave any comments or advice hope you like

Good job m8 they will look good when you get a little detail work on them. Keep at it and they will turn out great

thanks man im still new at this so they dont look quight as good as id like

Dont worry about it mate its the same for all gamers no one is instantly brilliant it takes alot of practice and patience. You will find as you paint more you will pick up lots of tips and you will soon have the minis the way you want them to look. Dont let anyone say your way is the wrong way, whatever works for you is best. Cant wait to see more pics as ya progress in this awsome hobby. Take it easy bud

Looking good man. Look at nice salamander pics on the web and see what you like and try to copy it.
Oh and do post more pics as you progress!

here is my veteran Sargent done i like the way it looks but ill probably keep touching him up a bit

Nice. Even from the first pics i can see you are picking more detail out already. Well Done M8 keep at it

Looks good TEP, a couple of things, I notice on the veteran sgt left elbow is a tab from when you have cut him from the sprue, whilst on the gun there is a mold line.

After you have glued your guy together but before you undercoat him go over the model with a sharp modelling knife or a needle file and just remove these, this will help you paint the areas more smoothly without the lines pushing your bristles places you don't want them to go.

The other thing I would say is to test different methods for painting your guys, you said you've drybrushed three, the next one try painting the entire model green and then picking out the details and another in a different method, this way you should find a style of painting that suits you.

Lastly don't be afraid to experiment, over in the states is a product called simple green, alot guys swear by it. What it does is allow you to strip any test model your unhappy with and start again, so you will never waste a model trying something new.

thanks for the advice lennysmash i had not even noticed the pice on the gun thanks for the advice i am waiting for more stuff to come in then hopefully i can have more pix also dose anyone know an army list or were i can find one for salamanders

i think Salamanders use a vanilla marine list. Check out this for more fluff(story) on them though.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Salamanders

Good to see you painting friend. Salamanders look very cool when you get a bunch of them together all painted.

Try and find some inspiration online. There are lots of Salamander mini's floating around. I got stacks of pics Iv found on the web. They help a lot. CMON.com is pretty good for that.

Just remember, you will get a good looking model if you do 3 things.
1. Preparation. As said by Lenysmash, clean up the mold lines, fill in any gaps with green stuff. You get use to this and its pretty quick.
2. Dont put the paint on too think. Better to do 2 or 3 coats then one big thick coat.
3. Keep the painting clean and tidy. For example, if you paint the eyes red then try not to get that red on the armour.

Good stuff.

Salamanders use the Space marine codex mate so all the rule for normal marines apply until you add in the special character Forgefather Vulcan Hestan and then you get the chapter tactics he brings which are, he master crafts all the thunder hammers in your army also all your flamer and melta weapons count as twin linked (including Multi-Meltas, Heavy Flamers and i think inferno cannons count to) so you wanna base your salamanders on this tactic.....plenty of Thunder hammers, Flamers and Meltas FTW!!!

got 6 done now still gotta do the basees any ideas


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sorry dont have time to put the pix all on now i will later tho

I still see those tabs and lines chap You models really do look so much better without them. As far as the painting goes its a vast improvement, much cleaner on some of the models.

ok here are the pix i tryed to put on earlier i know there are still the tab marks on them but i don't have a file yet and my knife dose not seem to quite do a good enough job so im definitely investing in a file glad for the positive feedback im getting ad the advice if you guys see anything i should change or work on please mention it.

for your first army, things are looking very nice. Just getting down the fundamentals of painting and paying close attention to what various colors do when you use themhow they react with others, different positions and ways to hold your brush to get different results....these are the things you should be picking up on with your first batch of Marines. One great technique for someone primiarily drybrushing their army and who wants to add effortless detail is this: Take your primary color (snot green) and maybe mix 2 parts snot green and 1 part black, drybrush your model in that color. Next take just snott green and drybrush over the last coat once it is dry. When you drybrush the pure snot green, be sure to do it in a loose and careless fashion, the goal here is to leave about 35% of the last color behind (cracks and creases, shadowed areas around armor to add depth.) Finally you could mix 2 (or 3) parts snot green and 1 part either bleached bone, goblin green, or camo green, and do a final really light drybrush over the entire model. This color will catch the edges of the armor and all the details to really add depth. It is a very simple way to create a professional result on your models. If you like, experiment with that concept, adding more highlights as you see fit. The whole process will take you no more than about 30 min. per mini. Good luck and have fun!

@ Element206 thanks for the advice but that kind of brakedown realy helps me understand what to try im stoked to give it a go... hay what is a good way to get beter pix mine all come out blurry and smallish

Oh, very good constructive criticism. I am working on my first army as well, and using a similar scheme, but for chaos marines. I think I got some very good tips here. Also, Emperor, try using Macro mode on your camera. Bright lighting and not flash will show more details as well. You'd be amazed at how much better a photo can look with the right lighting. A bright background would probably help too. I am new to minis but played with cameras a lot, especially close up photos, and those are the best tips I can give for up close shots on a digital camera. Most do not have the right lenses for close up photography, but do have a macro mode that will lock the zoom and focus in, so you can move the camera to the correct range and just snap it when the screen looks nice and clear.

@Munga thanks for the camera help that is one thing i have no idea about... let me know when you have pix up on your army i will love to see them

Way too embarrassed for photos at this point. I think I covered up a lot of the tiny details trying to get a super bright shade of green on the shoulders and shins. Also, I am very sloppy. Got green all over the trim. Gonna have to paint over that. I'm just glad this is chaos and a bit of a sloppy look will work with my marines.

Lennysmash wrote:I still see those tabs and lines chap

can i still file the tabs off without dammaging the minni also one of my mariens eyes got messed up (to much red) and every time i try to fix it it just gets worse what can i do for that

Look good m8!

It'll be a royal pain to repaint the area where you shaved plastic off. IMO they look pretty good anyway. We're still newbies, and mistakes will be made. Just learn from it. Just like me learning that scorpion green is a pain in the butt when applied to a dark base coat.


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Oh, and when I learnt that I should keep my water cup on the left side of the desk, because I am right handed and will reflexively drink from a cup that's on the right hand side.

@Emperor, I don't usually use a file after there is any paint on the model. I would use a sharp knife. You said earlier that your blade is not very good, seriously get a new blade and keep a few extra aswell. Not only will it give you a closer cut with less effort but it will also stop some very nasty accidents.

As for any areas uncovered when you remove tabs just paint them up as you would anyway, base coat black, base colour and hightlight as appropriate. The other thing you could do is black followed by some boltgun metal to represent chipped armour. look forward to seeing what you come up with.

to remove the flash/mold lines and other imperfections from my Marines I used a hobby (x-acto) knife with the standard blade and a emory nail file. Again, using the hobby knife in the right way just takes practice and preference. I use the hobby knife for just about everything. Instead of trying to cut the mold line of try this: take your hobby knife and place it at a 90 degree angle to the line you want to remove (try it on the bottom part of the leg, it will probably be easiest). Apply a small amount of pressure and drag the knife (keeping it 90 degrees, or right around there) down the mold line. Continue doing this until it blends right into the model. If your doing it right, it will give you a very clean result and the model will appear as if it was never in a mold

One other thing I wanted to mention in reference to my original post. Remember that the key to good drybrushing is less paint on your brush, the less the better. You can always add more and keep drybrushing if you want a brighter or more defined result, but you can remove the paint if you apply to thick. So be sure to wipe all the excess of on a paper towel, then run the bristles back and forth on the towel maybe 10-15 times.

Cant wait to see more pics!


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I forgot to mention that the emory board is basically used to attach parts....so i file with this wherever I want a good adhesion with the glue. For example i file the bottom of the boots, the joints where the arms connect, the top of the shoulders, the joint where the backpack connects....all of these are hidden once the Marine is completed and if you make a rough surface your glue will work better for you and make the model much more durable!

Indeed, some very nice constructive criticism here. Heed it well, brother, and you shall have an army no enemy of the Emperor would dare stand against.... at least in looks.

Almost anything I could say to help you out has already been said before. However, I have to say that drybrushing isn't a very effective primary method of painting Marines. Drybrushing is wonderful at highlighting textured and detailed surfaces with ease. However, such surfaces are rare on Power Armor. What I would do, if you still wish to drybrush, would be to lay down your basecoat and - without overdoing it - lightly drybrush a lighter color on, focusing mostly on the edges of the armor.

For instance: if I were painting a Salamander, I would paint the armor with my basecoat; I would use a 1:1 mix of Orkhide Shade and Snot Green. Then I would drybrush the model with Snot Green, focusing on all the raised edges that would catch light. If I were feeling up to it, maybe I would even use Scorpion Green to drybrush on a final highlight to make it really stand out.

Finally, I would also highly recommend a very fine brush. It really helps you "stay in the lines" and have a very neat and tidy look to your models, and that is half the battle won.

@romeo.lima i hear what you are saying but i have a problem with my hands shaking when trying to do detailed work like that with a fine brush

also i was wondering if there is a trick to mixing paint i know what 1:2 or 1:1 means but how do you judge it is it all eyeball.

also im going to give the layering a shot on my next group of moddels (at work till wednesday) so we will see how it turns out i am a bit intimidated by the task but all the advice points that way

thanks to everyone who has posted keep it comming and more (hopefully bettor) pix are on the way

Any ratios are rough - just used for ease of remembering. However, you can measure them out by taking X number of brushfuls of the first colour and Y number of brushfuls of the second colour - use the same size brush for both.

Just go with what looks right.

You may find that using mixing pots helps consistency throughout your army and speeds up your painting by removing the repetitive remixing for every painting session.

If your hands are shaking, try this: use a surface that you can comfortably rest your elbows on, preferably so that the model is near eye level. Rest your wrists against each other; this will steady the shaking. Breathe steadily and use your fingers to make small, controlled strokes for detail.

Yeah, having an old abused desk is great for painting. Sometimes I don't even bother throwing down newspaper. Also, I am using a very fine brush, it's just a matter of.. well, skill and talent. The really stupid thing about this is that I often paint with oil paints, and I can work fine on a canvas.Also, you've never really made a mess until you make a mess with oils. Water based? Haha. I can scrape this stuff off of the desk with my fingernail thanks to the laminated veneer that covers the terrible particle board. I just get nervous about the minis and overdo it. Upon reexamination, I really didn't do too bad. Turns out that the green was so watered down (I was doing about 4 coats of it to get to look really bright and not obscure detail) that even where I did splash a little is impossible to see once it dried. May take some photos once I get the trim done. Also, I still recommend a set of small files. I used a small flat file for removing the majority of mold lines from the larger flat surfaces, like arms, shoulders and legs, and used it to rough up the mating surfaces before gluing as well. In the set I got, I also got a very thin, small, round file. If you need to save money, hit the clearance aisle at the local arts and crafts store. I managed to find an entire model railroad tool kit for 20 bucks, marked down from 60. It is comparable to the massively expensive toolset on the GW website, containing all the same stuff, but at a slightly lower grade for handles and such. If you use hobby town, be aware that they have HUGE coupons on their website. Their tools can be overpriced, but the supplies are pretty reasonable. Now if only they stocked citadel stuff... Michaels is pretty much a hellish store, full of only flowers and vases and other various interior decorating garbage that people stick together with hot glue. Another good place for tools is Harbor Freight. Their tools are low quality metal, but seem to work just great on little plastic models. Just don't pick them for everyday use, as they are cheaply made. I am fortunate enough to have a friend that just started playing as well, and we're able to show each other what we have learned. I see a lot of great info sharing on this forum, though, and will be lurking a good bit. There's some really great guides on this site, but people do seem to skimp on simply telling you to base coat, preferring to talk about way more difficult topics like shading that aren't too useful to use newbs. Washes are great for making the models feel less plastic, and more gritty, and can really draw out the small details on the models. I also found that the citadel foundation paints make great base coats. I have only done one Khorne berserker with mechrite red, but it beats my failed attempt at getting blood red to cover properly by miles. Now if only I could get the guts to put together that rhino. Oh, and as far as cleanup goes, I'm still swearing by Pink Soap. You can get a small bottle of it at a craft store for about 2 bucks, and it goes a LONG way. It removed the acrylics from my brushes with ease, but that was not very amazing after having it strip oil based paints from my brushes and hands. It even gets the paint out of ferules with a low amount of work. It is very good for making brushes return to their original shape. Just rub a tiny bit in after washing the brush, reshape the bristles, and let it dry. No brush last forever, though, and I cannot fathom spending the amount of money on a brush for modeling that I have for oil paints, especially since it seems so abusive. I use an old cup to let the brushes dry, points facing skyward. Do not lay them on their side as water in the ferule will cause the bristles to rot. Hmm, can't think of any other info at the moment, but I'm sure something will pop up.


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Haha, wow that was a long post. Hope there's some stuff in there that others can use, though.