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I recently broke down and got ahold of a Start Collecting:Space Marines pack and wanted them done up in the legion I like: Salamanders.
I'm not to familiar with hobby paint so what brands/shades of green are good for Salamanders? I'm wanting a more solid true green look, not light/faded and not too deep/Dark Angels. I know GW suggests Citadel brand Caliban and Warpstone glow. From looking around I've also seen Beil-Tan and Moot greens mentioned.

I also picked up a can up a can of Armoury black primer, but from what I've read this company product sucks balls.
I'm thinking about talking to the store owner about returning and upgrading to one of the other brand we have. One of which is Army Painter, that I get that in black or change to a green shade of primer. How would a green primer change my paint choices and layering?

Try prime one model only and see for yourself if the primer is worthy. Honestly I've never heard of this brand.

I think you can use almost any darker green, you don't have to follow the meta.

It seems warpstone glow with some washes and then a highlight of moot green on the armor edges is your typical scheme for most salamanders I see online.

Caliban green is the color of Dark Angels, so I suggest its recommended as a base coat if anything.

They Army Painter primer I mentioned comes in a dark green, almost a dead ringer for Caliban Green and is literally called Angels Green. If I cant find a cheap thin coating black primer I'm thinking of using that and just applying Warpstone Glow.

Salamanders are one of those Legions/Chapters where the colour varies immensely. That said, it is generally accepted that the colour is somewhat of an Emerald Green, although the very earliest RT fluff gave them a colour almost as dark as the current Dark Angels. For example:



This seems to be a lot heavier on the moot green. For my taste, it's far too cartoony - almost a lime green as opposed to the generally accepted Emerald Green.








These are all taken from either FW or GW's websites - even they can't make their minds up.

Personally, the way I paint my green is as follows:

1. Prime: Grey
2. Basecoat green areas: Caliban Green
3. Paint raised green areas: Warpstone Glow (Leave Caliban green in the recesses)
4. 1st Highlight edges: 50:50 Warpstone Glow/Moot Green
5. 2nd Extreme Highlight edges: Moot Green

I suppose you could use a wash to shade, instead of my method, but basecoating with Caliban Green does have the added benefit of helping to tone down the green and keep it more akin to Emerald Green. Similarly, you could prime them with Caliban Green spray and save yourself the trouble of basecoating, but bear in mind that one can of Caliban Green Spray costs the same as nearly 5 pots of the same paint and isn't nearly as versatile in it's uses. That said, for vehicles, this may be a boon as it will allow you to get a perfectly smooth base in exactly the colour you need with no brush marks.

I love Moot Green, I think it would be great for highlights for Salamanders.

 Warpig1815 wrote:


1. Prime: Grey
2. Basecoat green areas: Caliban Green
3. Paint raised green areas: Warpstone Glow (Leave Caliban green in the recesses)
4. 1st Highlight edges: 50:50 Warpstone Glow/Moot Green
5. 2nd Extreme Highlight edges: Moot Green
.

This is a Dark Angel color scheme.

The problem with the Salamander color scheme is you have to use a layer paint (Warpstone Glow) as a basecoat and that SUCKS. It takes a million layers and fixing a mistake also takes a lot of layering.

I painted one. Just one. Then gave up LOL.

Mdlbuildr wrote:


This is a Dark Angel color scheme.

This, says it isn't:



I painted this exactly as I just explained it. Basecoat Caliban Green, Layer with Warpstone glow (2-3 Coats), highlight 50:50 WG:MG, 2nd highlight Moot Green. But hey, that's just my view on things - take it or leave it.

Thanks for the input!

Army Painter spray paints are, in a word, amazing. I have used them for years painting my Blood Angels, specifically the Dragon Red shade, and it is exceptional. The cans are a little high for spray paint but if you are careful with spraying one can will base coat quite literally an entire army.

http://admin.thearmypainter.com/files/products/ProductImages_2015/Sprays/CP3014_Greenskin_1280x128015.png

I would recommend that color for your Power Armor base color and then use a good layer or two of thinned Warpstone Glow over the entire mini, covering the primer, then use Nuln Oil to fill in the recesses and around any studs and creases or crevices in the armor, etc. to darken/shade said recesses and crevices. Finally, go over the model with Moot Green highlights. You can do a 50/50 Warpstone Glow/Moot Green mix and a final highlight of Moot if you wish, try a few things and see what you like.

Regardless of what you do, the Army Painter base coat will really help maximize your painting time in my opinion and get you a great solid coat of color to work up from with minimal effort.

This photo is one of my Blood Angels with a coat of Dragon Red, followed by two thinned coats of Mephiston Red over the top of that, with Nuln Oil in the recesses.



Good stuff.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

 Warpig1815 wrote:

Mdlbuildr wrote:


This is a Dark Angel color scheme.

This, says it isn't:



I painted this exactly as I just explained it. Basecoat Caliban Green, Layer with Warpstone glow (2-3 Coats), highlight 50:50 WG:MG, 2nd highlight Moot Green. But hey, that's just my view on things - take it or leave it.

LOL, easy there. I'm a visual learner so the picture helped me visualize what you were talking about.