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I'm trying to have a go at creating my own space marine chapter and i think I'd like to settle on a relatively dark (defo not blood) but very full red as the main colour, I will dabble with a secondary colour for the helmets, maybe a turquoise as I'm putting a very East Asian influence into this project.
I'm gonna have a go at making bells, chinese coins and some other parts to decorate my marines weapons and also going for sashimono type banners for at least every unit leader but getting a solid deep red technique is key to this whole thing I think.

So peeps any suggestions on decent ways to get a nice solid red? Was toying with a dark brown basecoat and if i can help it only use blood red as part of highlight mixes but this really is the very early stages.

Thanks in advance for any replies and advise Dakkites

get some mechrite red down and then take it from there.hope that helps.

Have you considered starting with a purple base color? Or maybe basing them in a medium/dark red and then washing with a dark purple?

I have tried washin blue over a lighter red at one point just to see how it goes and i thought it looked ok, tho i realise that washin over space marines can be tricky as they can look very blotchy but I think I'll try purple wash in the recesses over a medium red, and base it with mechrite of course
cheers guys - I'll have to post some pics up of my progress maybe when I do so

what about a secondary - was thinking a turquoise or blue but maybe working from a green influence

Mechrite Red basecoat, Red Gore layered over that, Blood Red for the highlights and Gryphonne Sepia for shading. Looks ace.

Go blue for secondary. Anything green will look too much like Christmas.

That would make for a cool festive project lol

Will defo try the blue but might make it a little lighter to avoid making them too much like BA devvies

A quick way i painted up some of my khorne stuff was by painting the bits i want red in Mechnite red making sure not to leave any of the undercoat showing, wash with watered down baal red, wash with very slightly watered down delvan mud then give it another wash with baal red but this time don't water it down. Should give a nice deep smooth red very fast. After that highlight with either a 1:1 mix of VMC Brown rose and Blood red or simply blood red.

Hope that helps.

Mix in a bit of green (mixing complementary colour) to the blood red to deepen the colour for the basecoat. Highlight up to blood red, but keep the highlights specular. Shade by glazing with asurmen blue or an equivalent making the shadow colour cooler than the basetone for depth.

Damn so many different techniques, glad i've gotta box of marines i wont need to try these out on. thats wat i love about forums like this i'd been stuck for the better part of a week thinking of something different and in less than an hour really i've got enough ideas to keep my week off at work ticking over

many, many thanks everyone

lol thats if you can get any time to paint without your son crying lol

Wow, that sounds like you have quite a project in the works. I think a deep red with an ice blue helmet would definately have a unique look to it, but not bad. I would suggest basecoating with mechrite red to start with. It doesnt matter what tone you want to work with, when it comes to red they all have trouble coating effectively. After the foundation has been laid though, I would suggest starting with red gore as a primary color then adding some dark flesh into the mix until you like the tone. That should give you a nice dark red....but it wont be a bold deep red if thats what your looking for.

I primed my models brown, basecoated with Mechrite Red, then another layer of Red Gore.

Thats a nice tone on the Baal Pred. What is your technique for the dirt on the treads? Eventually I will be doing the same thing to mine.

Element206 wrote:Thats a nice tone on the Baal Pred. What is your technique for the dirt on the treads? Eventually I will be doing the same thing to mine.

i second that

The red on that pred is really cool. i followed what you said and used scorched brown for the base before using the mechrite. with the red gore I may try a mix with skull white for a highlight but I also washed the model with gryphonne sepia all over then leviathan purple in all the joints and recesses. when i get the highlight colour and the secondary colour for the helmet/right shoulder I'll get a picture up


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Ok its piccy time. i'm still working on the other colours and I still think I'll go for a lighter blue but as it stands I really like the red

I will probably also make the right shoulder pad the same colour as the helmet (as they will all be studded when I start this chapter properly)

And the bronzey colour for the aquila and other small details may also change

Thoughts?

OK I've done a couple more guys and changed the blue I'm pretty much all set with the basic colour scheme






I still need to work out a chapter symbol and I may try and get some small pieces of decor modelled to hang off of bolters and such but it's a big step in the right direction

Thanks to everyone who posted on here I am really grateful