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Here is a Veteran done with the body from Space Marine Command squad and a head from Space Marine Vanguard Veteran Squad.

Critiques are welcome, I would like to know how to improve.

Done with paintbrush.

Thank you all.

And a picture of the back.
The plan is for this to be for the 2nd company command squad.

Oof, you've chosen a hard chapter to paint. Celebrants have a gradual color transition from red (top) to yellow (bottom). The yellow fists are sort of ruining the effect, and you need to employ more orange.

Switch to orange fists/forearms with only yellow highlights at the tips. Don't use gold on the shoulders or chest, use black for the chest eagle details, it will stand out far better. Gold gets lost on a mini that has a lot of yellow and orange (the gold vents are good, not so sure about gold joints - again, black here is probably the best choice. Use this pic for reference, it's probably the best/easiest option: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/9/97/Celebrants_Astartes.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20150825184435

O Man, I know how hard they are but they were the only chapter that really caught my eye.

I hear you about the hands. I wasn't sure which ref picture to go off of. There's the one you linked and 2 others floating around.
One has the arms all red, which I didn't like at all.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/7/7b/Celebrants_Armor2.png/revision/latest?cb=20150103223029&format=original

the other looks like they could start at yellow below the wrist joint but I could be mistaken.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/6/6e/Celebrants_MKVI_Variant.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120127191018

Which ref pic is canon?
I might try one with orange further down on the hands. Thank you for that insight.

I agree that the black looks better and pops, I needed him to stand out as part of the command squad for the second company. The ref pic you cited has the company denoted by the kneecap, or whatever it's called, But yellow on yellow won't denote anything so I put yellow/gold on the shoulder rims. I know it kind of kills the yellow on the bottom red on top thing but that codex compliance is what I'm going for.

I think I thought since they were codex compliant the 2 company Command Squad would have gold. The other guys in the squad have more black! So they will look more like you are describing. Would you omit the gold for the command squad, also?

I promise the joints aren't gold. I would agree that that would look bad. They are grey with nuln oil wash. I probably just posted a picture in poor lighting. Forgive me for that.

If you want a colour that might stand out for command squads and the like, try a Silver, the light will stand out a little more and contrast a bit with the otherwise Black markings.

First off, I don't think there are any, truly, canonical paint schemes for the more obscure chapters. There are descriptions, but there's going to be variation in application by company, armor model, timeline, etcetera. So you could call all three images canonical and not be wrong, because the Celebrant scheme isn't firmly nailed down like the Black Templars or Ultramarines. You get to make stuff up if you like.

That said, my opinion is that the yellow on the forearms/fists ruins the color transition that runs up the model. At best, the forearms should be orange with some yellow highlights on the hands, so if the marine is standing at parade rest, he appears to have a smooth color transition.

As to veteran markings, I'm not sure what 'codex compliance' actually is, as it seems to vary from chapter to chapter. Ultramarines use white helmets on veterans, for example, and they're as codex compliant as it gets. But white helmets will look terrible on Celebrants. Gold on the shoulder guards is probably fine, especially if you dial back the yellow on the arms and keep the chest decoration black.

Veteran designation can be extremely simple, though. Crimson Fists allow veterans to have both fists in red (as opposed to just one fist for regular marines). Veterans don't have to be super shiny.

I really, really recommend you look into getting an airbrush if you're going to build a full army of these guys. Especially for doing vehicles, it would save you a ton of headaches. Gradual paint transitions can be done by hand, but they're not fun. For rank and file marines you can easily get away with minimal color transitions (yellow stops at knees, orange stops at waist) because across the table it's not obvious. On larger surfaces, though, it starts to look bad unless you do it intentionally (deliberate banding).

Of course an airbrush is a big investment but I speak from personal experience that I wish I had bought one far, far earlier than I actually did. Just for priming and basecoating, they are a godsend.

Ok so I found this picture (not my work) as well and I can see that the hands are yellow but Lester kept the legs yellow up to the pelvis. (Sorry that the photo is huge) And I can see that the effect is not disturbed.

Maybe I should try one with red/orange hands and one with yellow up to the pelvis.

I hear you about getting an airbrush and compressor, that just isn't in the cards right now.

So if I get the yellow higher on the legs I might be able to keep the hands yellow and keep the effect. Or the hands need to go orange.

I was just thinking that the champion and standard bearer have their hands over their heads; if they are anything but red will that also ruin the effect?

Taking into account what you suggested John I worked the hands a little different on another model.

Is the effect served better?

I think that worked out better, yes. It might be better if the orange was stronger, but overall it's definitely an improvement IMO. The color gradient on the power fist looks a lot nicer than just a big yellow power fist!

Lester's video on painting Celebrants is really good and contains a few tricks you don't see in most other videos. I think, though, that even he overpowers the orange with the yellow - but I have Dutch ancestry so I'm biased towards orange anyways.