BUILDING SALAMANDERS - IN 14 EASY STEPS

Space Marines have many different parts and therefore many potential poses, which can cause difficulty for some people. This section will attempt to show you the best way to build your Salamanders and get the best results in the easiest way possible.

  1. Wash all of the sprues with warm, soapy water.
  2. Clip out and file (and or shave with a hobby knife) all of the mould lines on the legs, both halves of the torso, shoulder pads, backpack, head, and any bitz you would like to add. Remember to keep the pairs of arms together, otherwise you will have to sort through and match them.
  3. Glue the legs onto the model's base.
  4. Glue both halves of the torso together.
  5. Glue the head and backpack onto the torso.
  6. Glue the torso to the legs.
  7. Glue the shoulder pads onto the arms.
  8. Clip out the handle of the bolter.
  9. Glue the left arm to the grip of the bolter.
  10. Now apply any bitz you would like to add to the model.
  11. Before priming, glue sand to the base of the model with PVA glue, this way the sand will already be painted black.
  12. Prime the models. Keep the body and arm separate. Spray ten (10) to twelve (12) inches away from the models.
  13. Paint the model as explained below.
  14. Glue on the bolter arm.

Salamander Conversions

Salamanders cover their armour with Salamander loincloths and cloaks. Games Workshop does not produce any Salamander bitz, so you are going to have to convert them. I can here you now: “No, not converting! I can’t work with green stuff!” Don’t let converting be a daunting task. When I started the hobby, I too was scared of conversion but some time down the line you will want to convert and you’ll need to know how and practice makes perfectas they say. I am still only a mediocre converter and most things I do don’t come out that well. You can find a complete and detailed converting tutorial on the Smoking Bolter but I will run you through the basics.

Green Stuff, also known as Kneadatite, is a strip of two part epoxy putty – half blue, half yellow – that you mix together in order to make it harden (mixing yellow and blue makes green, hence green stuff). This is what modellers use to fill gaps and make conversions. The converters best friend.

Scales are very easy and simple to make. First take green stuff and roll tiny balls. Take your modelling scalpel and push these into the surface. For working around folds just be very careful and work the putty around and over the fold. Create a surface (if needed) and let dry. Cover it with a THIN layer of GS and wait some 20 minutes for it to harden a bit.
Make a tool out of plastic (resembling a thin screwdriver) to scribe out the scales with, that fits your scale of the scales (hehe).
Then just create the patterns and leave to dry for some additional 15 minutes.
Cut away all the edges that are deformed by all the standing out and carefully remake/reopen all the by the cutting deformed scale patterns.

Loincloths are even simpler than scales. Take your green stuff and lay out a flat piece that is about the right size. If you made too much, cut it off and roll that to the side. Let your loincloth dry, over-night if necessary. Then put your scales on it as described above. Glue this to the model once it is all dry.

Shoulder Cloths. Now here is what you do with that excess green stuff. Lay it out just like the loincloth, bend it to a shoulder pad and then let it dry. Aapply scales and you have a shoulder cloth.

Cloaks. I think you have the basic idea now but here you go anyway. Take a big chunk of green stuff., lay it out flat, and then apply it to your model. Make this fairly thin as it will be just the first layer. On this layer you want to get the general shape going. Once the first layer dries apply layer number two. This layer will build upon what is already there. Then take tiny rolls of Green Stuff and flatten these into folds.

With these helpful tips I hope you get to work and start converting your Salamanders army.