Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Here's my conundrum: I'm repainting my entire Space Marine force. I stripped them down using Purple Power (so I could get rid of the stuff under my 20+ year old paint jobs... Testors Enamel Green is a bear to remove, kids.) and decided to put together a new color scheme for them.

Old scheme: Tamiya Flat Green (or as close to it as possible.) with random colors used to differentiate squads. These minis were last painted in 1991 and originally slathered with Testors enamel right out of the bottle. I couldn't strip them at the time so I painted over the minis and lost a lot of neat details. Thanks to the Purple Power I was able to get the details back in those old minis.

My new color schemes use a mix of paints from Citadel, Vallejo, and Americana (a basic acrylic series found at Michael's and Hobby Lobby). I'd have gone with a full Tamiya scheme instead of mixing brands, but the one place in town that is still known to carry them always appears closed when I call or drive over.

Original ideas for the new color scheme:

Armor Base: Castellan Green

Armor Shade: Athonian Camoshade

Armor Highlight: Deathworld Forest


Here's my problem: the Athonian Camoshade doesn't seem to work at all to shade the Castellan Green. I wound up using a "magic wash" of Americana Ebony Black mixed with dish soap and water. That seemed to work out, but I was hoping I could get a deeper green color to work instead. Is there a better Citadel wash to use to give Castellan Green a deeper feel? The black wash gives me lots of nice shading in the fiddly areas, but I was hoping to avoid making the armor look too grimy.

The Deathworld Forest seems to be working out as a good drybrush highlight.


Detail Color Scheme:

Visor/Lens color: Americana True Red with a dot of Americana Sunburst Yellow to signify "power on."

Oily Metal base for Techmarine gear: 50/50 mix of Americana Ebony Black with Americana Midnight Blue. (I was surprised how well this worked together.)

Metal bits: Vallejo Gunmetal Grey over primer, black wash for shading.

Flashy bits for officers and specialists: Vallejo Old Gold over a base of Americana Sunburst Yellow

Chapter Insignia: a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Off-White and Vallejo Buff

Leather bits: Vallejo Leather Brown, 50/50 mix of Vallejo Leather Brown & Vallejo Chocolate Brown OR 50/50 mix of the Leather Brown & Vallejo Cavalry Red for variety.

The detail scheme works out pretty nicely.

So back to the big question: is there a better green shade to use on Castellan Green than Athonian Camoshade? The Shade I'm using doesn't seem to make a deeper green.