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Been working on some MkIV Salamanders - more for 40k than 30k. I started showing this work in this thread https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/714192.page but I guess at this point it's better I move it to a P&M Blog. Due to Canadian weather, no varnishing has yet been done, thus the bases are not finished.

The basic concept starter, 2 squads of 5 marines (only one pictured, they're identical, really) and a MkIV Chaplain.





That brings me to the current model, the drop pod. Drop pods are miserable beasts. PITA to assemble, more surface area than almost anything else, etc, yadda yadda. I painted it with bottom and doors separate. Next time, I'll paint almost everything separate. Interior detail is almost impossible to get at once assembled, thus the minimum interior detail.



I'm still on the fence about painting the control vane's pistons metallic. I'm also considering doing the central jet's upper collar in brass. And yes (shame!) I didn't get all the wing connectors in the same direction. Pure rookie mistake!



Deathwind launcher included. I can't imagine not fielding it without this gun, so it's a permanent installation.





Decals still to come.

Great work so far! Love the chaplain. especially the cloak. Excited to see where this goes.

Good lord that's a clean and smooth painjob!

Got a Sternguard all prototyped up. Since I'm trying to use mostly MkIV marines, I decided that my Sternguard get all the fancy knobbly shoulders and shins, as well as more brass than a regular marine. I included a 'normal' marine in the pictures for comparison.



Also I added bolt pistols to the Sternguard. Technically all marines should have one, but it's hard to find a good spot to locate them (if they were properly scaled it might not be an issue, with longer legs). I decided on ankle holsters. I quibbled a lot on the color of the holster, but keeping it black worked out allright. I want to keep the palette of colors on these guys fairly small if I can.



No decals yet, I'll wait until I have a squad's worth to do the decals. Obviously these guys will get right shoulder decals.



The first squad of Sternguard will have 2 heavy flamers (forge world) and no other extra kit, probably the next 5 will have some Combi-Melta, and I might make a beat-stick sergeant, though Sternguard are pretty expensive without all the extra stuff to begin with.

Nice. I like the black greave. I've not seen that done before, and it's a pretty cool look.

 brushcommando wrote:
Nice. I like the black greave. I've not seen that done before, and it's a pretty cool look.

Mostly I did it to hide the way they cast the knobs on the curved surfaces (some of the knobs get elongated, though I'm not painting the elongated parts metallic). But I don't see any reason to not have certain parts of Salamander armor in black. IIRC some of the GW art has power fists in black. When I get around to bikes, it'll probably be more black than green.

Wow, your painting is very crisp and clean! maybe a bit of weathering would help? ofc keep it to your taste though.

 STG wrote:
Wow, your painting is very crisp and clean! maybe a bit of weathering would help? ofc keep it to your taste though.

I do prefer it clean. One thing about the background of 40K is how the imperials revere the machines they use with a religious fervor - why wouldn't they keep it clean and new as possible? Of course, one of the reasons I like keeping it clean is because I see a lot of people who don't - not to knock weathered models, but there aren't a lot of clean/sharp armies out there.

Anyway, a WIP image of my heavy flamer toting Sternguard:



I think I need more shading on the brass flamer business end. I'll probably put decals on the tank

Looking good! Loving that Chaplain!

EDC

Finally, some good weather (10 degrees Centigrade in February!) so I could get some varnishing done. In case anyone's wondering, I used Purity Seal for the first coat of varnish and hand painted on some half-diluted Pebeo Matte varnish, which is the bomb for cutting shine. I didn't put the Pebeo on the base edges, you can see the original shine of the Purity Seal compared to the much better finish on the minis themselves.

The Drop Pod is now fully assembled and has decals.



The Sternguard are done!



And I realized I haven't posted any back shots yet. Here's the back of the Sternguard.



Chaplain, also done.



And his back-side, showing off the cloak. The backpack highlights are a bit strong/messy, I'll have to clean those up later.



Two squads of Tacticals.




And all the progress to date. I started this year, so this is actually a lot of progress for me, I'm pretty slow.



That's 475 points of Salamanders! I haven't quite decided what to do next, though I have lots of options (Razorback, Centurions, Devastators, MkIV Bikers and Assault Marines, plastic Contemptor dread and Cataphracts from Betrayal at Calth). It's tempting to fill out the squads a bit more, having only 15 (non-IC) marines seems kinda weedy before taking some of the bigger point options.

very impresive for omnly a couple months! bases look great!

So I thought about it for a bit and decided to pull out some of my old neglected Space Marine kit and make use of it. I have an old Land Speeder Typhoon (the version with the metal missile launchers). I was never happy with the metal parts and so I figured I'd swap in some parts from Betrayal at Calth to make the pilot and gunner MkIV marines. I also just outfitted it with a Multi-Melta - no Typhoon missiles, just cheap fast anti-tank Land Speeder goodness. Sadly the old kit doesn't come with the bottom mounting parts to add a Heavy Flamer, so this guy can't pull double duty. Ah well.



The nice thing about Betrayal at Calth is there are a few spare heads, torsos and shoulder pads to use, meaning I won't short myself on parts to build all 30 potential marines from the set. The marine torsos aren't glued in yet, as I figured I'd save myself the trouble of painting them in place. One comment on the old kit is that it didn't fit together super well - I had to putty several locations - which was a slight annoyance. As well, the old and new plastic didn't bond as easily (the old plastic bonded well to itself, but not to the new stuff). One of the problems of using older model kits, I guess.

Ok, so the land speeder is done. This model was a heap of frustration for me. It was an older cast and had a lot of problems because of it - ill fitting, raised edges in places, and putting it together with a mixture of old plastic and the newer Betrayal at Calth MkIV marines didn't work tremendously well. The forward antenna section fell off the model -twice- despite being glued in place with plastic cement, and finally I resorted to superglue and prayers to keep it on.

I hate to say this, but the Drop Pod was a lot easier to deal with, especially when it came to highlighting. I really hope the newer (current) land speeder kits are better to work with. Towards the end of painting this I was in "Screw-it-just-get-it-done" mode. I may go back and tweak it a bit once my rage wears off, maybe the gun rail needs a different color.

It looks gorgeous and well worth the work! and i've had a lot of problems with my land speeder too, it really is a model that likes to just not work right and fall apart if you glance at it sidelong.

Well, I've been taking a bit of a break, and frankly stalled out on my Centurions when news of 8th edition dropped (not sure if Grav Cannons are going to be worth it). But based on the information I have, I've been building up my infantry. I managed to get a hold of a 2nd Betrayal at Calth box so no shortage of marines!


Up front, 5 more Sternguard veterans (just bolters). second and third rows will fill out my 2 tactical squads to 10 man strength, including Multi-Meltas (split fire hooray!), and in the back, 2 Devastator squads of 5 marines, one with Missile Launchers and one with Heavy Bolters. Mostly I chose these weapons for versatility. I'm sure a lascannon squad would be nastier, but I'm pretty sure I can get good use from these weapons no matter what the opponent, and it'll probably be cheaper on points if I have to make hard decisions.

I thought about trying to model the Devastator Sargents with a Signum, but for now I'll use bog standard sargents with Combi-Flamers. If/when I expand to carry more Tactical squads, I'll revisit the idea of more appropriately customized Dev Sargents.



I just want to mention here how much bending Forge World resin SUCKS. It took me 20 minutes of trying to get this close and I'll still have to putty in the gap at the gun. I mean, the Mediant Pattern Multi-Meltas look great and all, but what a serious PITA. For those wondering, I used the hot water method. Water from a boiling kettle (tap water wasn't hot enough) into a bowl, immerse, bend, repeat, cry, curse, repeat...oh, and you have to TWIST that cable too, not just bend it.

My 2nd multimelta only took 5 minutes (yay experience) to get just as close - better fit at the gun, worse fit at the backpack. The cable is pinned at both ends and the gun is pinned at the wrist as well. Pins are pretty much required IMO.

Devastators, yippee!





I had a serious panic when I varnished these miniatures, as the Purity Seal frosted up on me really badly (probably due to heat + humidity). Thankfully the brush on matte varnish mostly cured it (97% gone). They still need basing.

I kept these guys pretty basic with a lot of black on the guns. This worked better for the heavy bolters than the missile launchers, as the black shoulders and backpack of the Salamanders tends to blob in with the missile launchers. More brass on the launchers probably would have helped, but I'm okay with it.

Eventually I'll have Lascannon Devastators as well, but I wanted to prioritize volume of fire over anti armor, at least for now.

Theres something about heavy bolters that i just love, underslung looks awesome!

 STG wrote:
Theres something about heavy bolters that i just love, underslung looks awesome!

The great part is without the ammo belt, they're easier to paint!