Salamanders

[Daemon2027]

Wow amazing work.

[Grizzly_bear]

This a great thread, fantastic green stuff skills

[Ashmantle]

@Vel'Cona

Thank you.

@The Hydra

Thanks.

@Grizzly_bear

Thank you.

Progress:

Currently contemplating if I'll paint the chapter badge in bronze or if I'll go with the more traditional white. Anyone want to share their opinion on the matter?

Otherwise I still have to do lots of little touch-ups and a few details, such as the script on the purity seal.

C&C welcome.

[Joe]

Love it. c:

[Vulkan454]

Great work as always Ashmantle!
Personally I'd go for white just to break up the scheme a little and add some diversity.

 

Fantastic conversions though, this epitomises Salamanders for me!

[eetdestroyer]

Awesome man. The painting is definitely holding up to the conversion quality \m/

 

I'd go with white icons too.

[goosey_j]

Just stunningly beautiful models. The sculpting work is just on another level entirely. I'm pretty sure with talent like that you could get a job at Forge World :D

[Overdrive]

Great work here,  your attention to detail on every model is remarkable.  I think bronze will tie the scheme together better than white, but I'm more partial to white.  I think it would break up the models nicely and draw attention to the excellent detail on the shoulderpad.

[Vel'Cona]

Excellent work! I love that your sculpting work is so cleanly integrated; I would swear those are sprue bits if I hadn't seen your WIP.

[Ashmantle]

@Isinfier

Thanks.

@Vulkan454

Thank you.

@eetdestroyer

Thanks.

@goosey_j

Thank you.

@Overdrive

Thanks.

@Vel'Cona

Thank you.

Progress:

The sergeant primed and ready to be painted.

At some point I actually remembered to take some paint in progress pictures.

And the finished squad:

And that completes my first (and only) vow for this years E Tenebrae Lux.

C&C welcome as always.

[GrandMagnus]

Aweeeeeesome.

[TDF]

Stunning. If feels like they were always supposed to look that way when you brought them home from the shop, rather than the reality of having to put in hours of conversion work. Well worth the effort in my opinion!

[Ashmantle]

@GrandMagnus

Thanks.

@TDF

Thank you.

I recently dug out some Terminators I started to build and convert sometime around 2008, then put them aside when I wasn't satisfied with my attempts to model the chapter badge. Back then my ambition didn't go further than converting the shields, minimaly modifying the ornamentation on the torso and adding the chapter icon on the pauldron.

At some point after the release of the Space Hulk boardgame in september 2009, I made another attempt, planning some more extensive conversions inspired by the level of detail on the Space Hulk Terminators. Sadly it didn't go much further than planning, since again I couldn't get the badges quite how I wanted them, and my ideas for the ornamentation on the rest of the models stayed rather vague....

And so I recently started again, being quite a bit more experienced, as well as having better tools and many more sources for inspiration than back when I first started working on these.

C&C welcome as always.

[GrandMagnus]

As always you sculpting is excellent, but what really caught my eye was the conversio you did to the shields. I think the regular shields are ridiculous and what you did just made them so much better.

[Ashmantle]

@GrandMagnus

Thank you. While I don't think the normal Stormshields to be ridiculous, I certainly found them lacking, especially in comparison to the sergeant's shield, which inspired the conversion.

That said, I will have to see if I can get my hands on some shields from the Deathwing Knights and convert them to resemble the shield in Ashmantle's banner.

Just a small update for now:

C&C welcome.

[Canadian_F_H]

WOW

[Grizzly_bear]

That's stupid detail at that scale lol fantastic

[That Guy Matt]

Great green stuff work.

[Brother Pheidias]

and so, all apprehensions of wether the painting could live up to the sculpting have been dispelled. Gorgeous work, cousin!

[God-Potato of Mankind]

I feel like I have betrayed my Legion by not seeing this thread earlier. Stunning Drakes brother.The greenstuff detailing is great, seriously great. 

Feed me more, I must have my inspiration!

[BlueBelly1863]

Ashmantle, this stuff is INCREDIBLE. Can't wait to get after making my own Salamanders force. Any tips for how you use GS? Is there a simple way to get the look of scales? 

[Stoneheart]

I feel like I have betrayed my Legion by not seeing this thread earlier. Stunning Drakes brother.The greenstuff detailing is great, seriously great. 

Feed me more, I must have my inspiration!

 

I'd like to reiterate this message, your greenstuff detailing is masterful. Truly you possess the genius of the Primarch brother ;) 

 

Also, I approve of the green you use! 

[Ashmantle]

@Canadian_F_H

Thanks.

@Grizzly_bear

Thank you. Seeing the detail you paint on your Scythes, I'll have to give that compliment right back.

@Asamodai

Thanks.

@Brother Pheidias

Thank you.

@The God-Potato of Mankind

Thank you. I blame the thread's title, it isn't really grabbing one's attention. I'll see what I can do about feeding you all some more inspiration.

@Soneheart

Thank you. Your own 2nd Company is nothing to sneeze at either.

@BlueBelly1863

Thank you.I hope you'll share them with us once you get around to build them. I'm looking forward to see your Salamanders. As for tips:

Don't try to do everything in one go.

Work in small steps, you can always add more green stuff or take some away.

Proper tools, such as the clay shapers, make getting the desired results a lot easier.

Keep your tools surface moist, so the green stuff doesn't stick to them.

You may have to experiment with the yellow to blue ratio you use quite a bit, to see which works best for you. That may also vary depending on what you want to build.

Regarding the scales, that depends on what look you're after. The easiest way is probably getting some Instand Mold, and making a copy of some existing bit.

What I do is this:

Roll out a tube of green stuff, this makes it fairly easy to get multiple small portions of green stuff of roughly the same size.

Cut of a small portion depending on the size of the individual scales.

Push it into a roughly oval shape, than define the surface texture, i usualy build a ridge along the long middle axis. Repeat as often as necessary.

The first row I built consists of slightly bigger scales than the rest which would build a ridge on the salamander hide. Note that in this example the scales are arrayed a bit loosely, though they could easily be even more apart, or closer together, depending on personal preference. They also all share the same general sense of direction.

If you put them closer together you get something like this:

You could also let them overlap:

I hope this helped, if not just say so and I'll see if I can make a clearer version.

And now a bit of progress on the Terminators:

Still needs some cleaning up, especially the last one.

C&C welcome as always.

[SickSix]

Good lord. I am out of superlatives.

 

Dude...

[Noctem Cultor]

Always amazed by the detail you put into you work.