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Hey all, haven't posted anything in a while so I put up the two Honour Guard I have finished recently. First attempt at OSL too, makes me wish I had an airbrush (and the knowledge to use it!). The guy on the right is my Chapter Champion with a counts as Thunder Hammer.

The process is slow and I have 8 to go including a Salamanders Marneus Calgar, but I will post them all in a group shot once complete.

Is your Chapter Champion's power fist his counts-as thunder hammer?

I really like your lava effects! I think you've got a very good grasp of the principles of light, which is necessary for good OSL. I'm actually going to refer people who screw up OSL to these pictures, in the future. Seriously. Good work.

Your shading and detailing work is second to none. Faces are exceptionally hard to do, and you've even managed to work glow-shading into the eyes (which is even harder than pupils/irises, something us Salamander players can usually skip ) You clearly chose the hard option, and I commend you for taking the extra effort. (You even managed to paint the aquila service stud well enough so that I can see what it is! Great job!) From the chains to the belts to the purity seals, you have an amazing attention to the minutia.

Did you make the Salamanders badge on the beakie guy's shoulder yourself? I only ask because I notice that's it's raised, which means (I assume) that it sticks out from the shoulderpad. I also noticed that it lacks fangs, which makes it a little less fearsome in my opinion. Although, if we're putting all the cards on the table, it's a billion times better than any I can do. (I've tried.)

I did have someone once try to claim in a tournament that my honour guard wasn't WYSIWYG because, in his opinion, I hadn't modelled artificer armor well enough. You also appear to be using regular power armored marines that you've dolled up (and nicely, too!) so I just thought I would toss out a friendly warning that such tosspots exist.

Not sure how I feel about the white helmet. I have never seen Salamanders do the white-helmet-for-veterans thing before. Not saying I don't like it, only that I'm on the fence about it.

The guy on the right and the guy on the left don't seem to match when it comes to the shade of green on their armor. (Discounting OSL.) From what little I can see on the guy on the right, his looks a tad darker than the guy on the left, whose armor is a little brighter than I am used to. I think it's the difference of a tiny amount, though, and if it looks good on the tabletop, then rock on.

On a personal note, I prefer my Salamanders mutant black as opposed to African black, but that's a matter of taste. As long as you like the skin tone, that's all that matters.

For all that, they are a boat load better than mine! Great work!

That is beautiful.

I have to say I am jealous of your green. I also have to say I like how you did the skin and the eyes, even if it doesn't go with the fluff, I think yours is better. Great OSL as well.

Very nice indeed, great OSL.

Thanks for the reply and compliments too.

Yes, the PF will count as the TH, which I know will make some people's head explode but my local group of 40kers lack motivation in the modelling side so it will fly with them at least (eg. Ork Wagons without wheels and half the chasis missing). Our last game had so many proxies I couldnt help but laugh, especially my rogue trader necrons counts-as Warp Spiders and Hero Quest Orcs as Ork Boyz.

I have tried in the past to do OSL but failed so miserably I dumped it in the simple green. I must of leveled up since then lol. I will mention there are some posts recently trying OSL who I think should be working on more basic techniques before moving on to OSL (not that their attempt was bad), but I don't think I can say it without appearing snobby. This is essentially why I avoided OSL and stuck to the basics to get more experience first.

The Salamander badge on the beak marine is from the FW Salamanders Brass Etchings sprue. You Simply bend them around the shoulder pad and glue on. I think they look great, wish I did this a lot earlier.

"I did have someone once try to claim in a tournament that my honour guard wasn't WYSIWYG because, in his opinion, I hadn't modelled artificer armor well enough."
These guys are from the Veterans box sets you get from GW direct order only which I thought would be the most detailed Power Armour guys you could get to represent Honour Guard for Codex Marines. That guy sounds like a major tool, I doubt many people would have agreed with him. As I mentioned earlier, my games tend to include models missing arms, legs, wheels, weapons, heads, or sometimes even the model itself lol, so I think I am in the clear with them at least.

Yes I noticed the differences in colour, I went one shade lighter with the beak guy and the guy on the right got a lot more of the orange/green mix I made for the very faint reflection of the lava.

The white helmet is something I knew wasn't done by Salamanders but I liked the look when I saw them on Loricatus Aurora's Veterans, who was also nice enough to explain how he got the bright greens. Yeah, the Salamanders green shouldn't be this bright but I tend to change a lot of things simply for Aesthetics.


"On a personal note, I prefer my Salamanders mutant black as opposed to African black, but that's a matter of taste. As long as you like the skin tone, that's all that matters."
I acutally like both takes on the skin tones, the Grey/black is very hard to do though as the look is so unnatural, while the brown is much easier and imo has nicer tones to work with.

Perfect white and gold, very inspiring!

Fantastic Green and a crisp White, loving your lighting as well.

That is amazing. Great work.

I will second (or third or fourth or whatever...) that your lighting is incredible. GREAT job with that. I don't think I could do that even with my airbrush. I will also be referring back to these pictures for OSL in the future.

Nice. the bases complete the model exellent.

Oh man. This is brilliant. I love the vibrant colours and the OSL effect.