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This tutorial is the second part on how to paint Salamander Space Marines on Motorbikes (Outriders). You can find the first part, where I show how to paint the armor, in the following link.

Lets start!

Base colors

We will start by painting all the black areas of the miniature, such as shoulder pads, saw sword, wheels, etc. For this I used Model Color Black (70.950).

We will continue to paint the purity seal. For this we will use Game Color Scarlet Red (72.012) for the stamp and Game Color Bone White (72.034) for the fabric.

We will take advantage of this same Red color to paint also the dragon scales on the shoulder pad, as well as the dragon on the bike and the crest on the head.

Next, we will paint the metallic colors of the miniature. For this, I have chosen Dark Aluminum Metal Color (77.703), with which we will paint the metallic parts of the bike, as well as some details of the miniature.

To paint the Imperial Eagle symbol on the chest, I have decided to use a mixture of Gold Metal Color (77.725) and some Copper Metal Color (77.710). With this mixture we will get a reddish golden color that is great for these Salamanders.

Washes

Before starting with the lights, we will perform some quick washes to achieve some shadows and effects quickly.

We will begin by applying a Vallejo black wash (73.201) quickly on all the metallic parts that we have previously painted with Dark Aluminum.

In the chest symbol we will use Vallejo’s Sepia wash (73,200), with which we will achieve an ideal golden color for our Salamander.

To finish with the washes, we applied a general wash using Vallejo Shadow Wash (73.203) all over the red areas (dragon scales, head crest, dragon), as well as all over the purity seal. With this quick wash we will achieve greater depth and a dark red that we will use as a base to illuminate in the next phase.

Edge Highlighting

We start with the work of lights and edge highlighting. We will begin by outlining all the areas that we painted in the previous step in black. For this initial profiling, I have decided to use Model Color Neutral Gray (70.992).

Once this initial outlining has been done on all black parts, we will use Model Color White (70.951) only on the edges, borders and corners to achieve a high contrast. On the chainsword we can achieve a wear effect by marking some points.

To illuminate the metallic parts, I have used a mixture of Model Color Silver (70.997) with a little Model Color White (70.951), which we will apply on edges, borders and upper parts.

Now we start with the red colors. We start with a quick dry brush on all the red areas: scales of the shoulder pad, head, dragon…). For this we will use a flat brush and the color Model Color Flat Red (70.957) . I have opted for a dry brush as all these areas have a lot of relief and it is a fast and effective way to apply this first color. If it had not been so obvious, we would perform this step more carefully with a brush on a regular basis.

In this second step we have added some Game Color Hot Orange 72.009 to the mixture. On this occasion we only focus on the reliefs and higher areas of all these red zones.

In this process it is highly recommended to use a wet palette, as it will allow us to apply all these tones progressively, naturally and much more easily. This is really useful as it allows us to keep the paint fresh and be able to use it during long painting sessions, to increase tones in a much more efficient way and even to retouch previously applied colors. Here you can see my RedGrassGames wet palette as I applied this whole phase of reds.

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After having explained this, we finish with the final light by applying Model Color Orange Red (70.910), this time only on the edges and upper edges to create a greater contrast.

We also didn’t forget to paint the flames on one of the bike’s license plates. For this I have only used the Model Color Orange Red (70.910) and Game Color Moon Yellow (72.005) colors, making a wet blending in a fast way.

We also light up the imperial eagle on the chest using Gold Color Metal (77.725), leaving just a small dot of paint on the final corners and edges.

We will now finalize the purity seal. For the fabrics I used Game Color Bone White (72.034) and then Model Color Ivory (70.918) for the highlights.

For the purity seal itself, I have opted for a mixture of Model Color Magenta (70.945) and Game Color Octopus Pink (72.013).

Now let’s put the finishing touches to the miniature. Since we are painting a space marine from the Salamander chapter, we want to use a lava and fire base. To generate a dirty effect and even a lava reflection, I used Vallejo’s pigments Burnt Umber ( 73.110) and Dark Red Ochre (73.107). I applied them with a hard, dry brush, all over the lower areas of the miniature.

When applying pigments, a good option is to use more than one reference at the same time and in different points of the same, to create a more complete effect and with a greater number of tones.

To give a worn effect to the bike I used a small piece of sponge, dipped it in a little Vallejo Rust Texture (73.821), and applied it carefully on the bike. In this way we will achieve a fast and effective wear effect. We can also use the same product and apply it with a brush in areas where we want to be more careful.

To finish, I applied some Model Color Ice Yellow (70.858) on all these areas. This part will be done with a brush and in a very controlled way, to recreate the effects of wear and paint chipping.

Final result:

And this is as far as we have come! Below you can see the final result: