Salamanders Command Squad

Here's another squad in my series of squads that accompany heroes. This time it's a squad of Salamanders to go with my Salamanders Captain. There are two regular metal marines (with the flamer and bolter), a metal apothecary, a kitbashed sergeant, and a rescued banner bearer, who has lost some detail in my slightly botched attempt to strip it of its paint. 

My favourite part was painting the banner, which came out rather nicely. I painted the flames first, using some paintings of fire for reference, and then painted the dragon over the top.

 

 

Here they are with Captain Paeco Grenzistus

 

Iron Snakes squad

After painting a selection of space marine captains from different chapters, and realising I had various random space marine models that had no home, I decided it would be quite nice to paint a squad of five marines to go with each captain. After starting the project, I realised this could be expanded to other factions, and I'm also planning similar little groups for Chaos and possibly other factions. 

The backbone of this squad is the classic second edition monopose marine, and these models are just as cool today as they were when they were released! I really like the missile launcher model in particular. The sergeant is a kitbash of parts from my bitz box.

 

Here they are, with Captain Asmotrus Thamos.

 

Fancy man with a cape

He is a very fancy man with a cape! This is Berius, Shield Captain of the Adeptus Custodes. A very nice model, with plenty of fun details. The guardian spear is a really beautiful weapon, and it was great to finally paint one. I do enjoy flowing fabric, so of course that was my favourite part of this model. I also did a sub-assembly, which you will know is quite rare for me. I left the cape off so i could paint the inside (and the rear of the armour) properly. It was a bit difficult to attach, and I had to remove paint from certain areas to get it to stick. How do people do this all the time? It must be a nightmare to assemble all your models this way.

Flight support

Nazdesda Elda is the apprentice to Devon, the pilot. You can see her here, carrying a flight helmet and a medical kit, since she is also a trained medic. The model is from Artel "W" models. A very nice model, with a clear nod to Han Solo, with the belt and holstered pistol!

The Wings of Vrayax are coming along nicely, and I should have some more updates for them soon!

Waiting in the wings

I'm afraid I don't have anything to post this week, as I have been working on my music recently and doing a lot of other things (like protesting). I have, however done some building and spraying, so I have quite a lot on my painting shelf now. So many choices, when I finally sit down and paint! What can you spot?

Legio Custodes Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought

In order to provide my Custodes Knight with some company in battle, I have painted up this Legio Custodes Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought. That's a long name, so let's give him an actual name. Meet Sentiren Gestus, Guardian of the Imperium.

The model took a while to figure out when building, but I got there in the end. I also discovered recently that I was using bad superglue, and it's not normal to hold something for half an hour to discovered that it still hasn't dried and the model has fallen apart, and I now have some decent superglue to hold resin models together. This this dreadnought hasn't fallen to pieces yet! Hooray!

I used the same gold technique as on the edges of Horus's armour, mixing white with Retributor Armour, albeit on a larger scaled than on Horus. The sword, as you can see, uses a slightly more perfected version of the technique used on the recent space marine captain.

Now to paint some actual Custodians!

Kneel before the Warmaster!

So what to write about Horus, Warmaster of Chaos? Everyone knows who he is and how important a model this is. So let's get straight to my experience of painting him:

I started with the base, as I always do, and that was painted mostly with layers of drybrushing and washing. For example. the purple bit of the rock was drybrushed grey but has a purple wash over it.

Next, I painted the black armour, gently blending from black, mixed with a little purple, up to light grey or white. For help with this, I took some photos of the undercoated model under a strong downward light to work out where the shadows would be.

Then it was the cloak, which I did in my normal style, but perhaps with a little more care and attention!

I left the head separate, which is one of my first attempts at sub-assembly. I'm not a fan of sub-assembly in general, but I thought his head would be hard to paint when fitted to the model. I definitely spent a lot more time on the head than on any previous model, so I hope it was worth it! For a long time, I really neglected painting faces. I'm assuming it's because I'm autistic that I don't really focus on faces (autistic people tend not to like too much eye contact). It was only when I read that 'the face is the focal point of a model,' that I realised what I was doing, and now I make a special effort to paint faces well. I actually disagreed with that statement about focal point for a long time, because for me, it's not the focal point of the model! I tend to glance around the model and take it in as a whole, so I had to sort of adjust my way of thinking to think of the face as the focal point.  Hopefully the focus on faces is apparent in my latest models, although I still think I'm much better at painting cloaks and rocks than I am at faces!

Finally I painted the details such as armour trim, weapons and such. The gold trim was painted with retributor armour, gradually mixed with more and more white for highlights.

This model feels like a zenith in my painting hobby, and I'm really proud of it. Time to find a little wooden plinth so that he stands out in my cabinet!