Uncovering What’s Under That Paint.

The 2nd Batch

5 models at a time seems a good number to work on, so time for the second batch.

Stripped the paint of 2 x Space Marine Strike Force Mk VII marines and 3 x Mk VII Marines with separate torso & legs. I first painted these as Space Marines pretending to be Harlequins but soon decided it wasn’t that cool, despite being equipped lightening claws too.  Anyway this was back in the early 90's and my first attempt at stripping with acetone. Guess what, I melted some of the arms and didn’t have any spares.  So a mate and I moulded up a couple from what I hadn’t melted and cast them in metal.  An addition of a RTB01 flamer and hand gave me a special weapon. 

Mk VII Marines | Tabs say GW 1990 on the 2 piece ones

Taking these back to bare metal was a good opportunity to sand out the mould lines and clean up stuff I never really noticed first time around.

Painting Recipe

I want to try and keep these as close as possible to the early paint scheme when Salamander Green and Salamander Black were a thing.  Thankfully GW produced the How to Paint Space Marines guide with a step by step guide to Salamanders.  

I want these to be as close to the original Salamander Green which was very dark. So the miniatures were undercoated black and were base coated with an air brush in Vallejo’s Dark Green with Angel Green and Flat Green highlighting. The shoulder pads, backpacks and weapons are Vallejo Black and Dark Grey.  

Airbrushed Base Coat Green

Brush on Black and Dark Grey

Completed and Ready to Rumble

The squad and chapter markings are hand painted (hence the variations) with whites , red and yellows.  The basic colours are in the picture below. 

Basic Colour Pallet less White.

The Strike Force Marines have two pouches on their waists whilst the two part Space Marines are unadorned.  

With the other five Strike Force Marines these will make another tactical squad.  

Next up is a Mk VI one piece metal Tactical Squad.