Primaris Impulsor Part 2 – Painting The Exterior

While weathering models is probably my favorite part of the building process, I do enjoy when there are plenty of details to paint. Happily, Games Workshop loads their Warhammer 40K model kits with more than enough detail to keep anyone happy. This Primaris Impulsor is no exception.

I’d already painted the interior sections of the model in part 1 of this series. With the model fully assembled, this second part of the video series will examine painting the exterior, as well as detailing it.

Primaris Impulsor – Finding A Recipe For Green

In the Warhammer world, there are many Space Marine factions. Two that feature green armor are the Dark Angels and Salamanders. I wanted this miniature to be in the Salamander colors. Many of the “formulas” I’d seen on the internet for their armor was quite a vivid green – almost like Kermit the Frog.

Happily, I found my solution in an old Warhammer TV Tip of the Day featuring Duncan Rhodes. He demonstrated a method for painting Salamanders armor that was distinct from the Dark Angels colors, but not quite so bright.

I used the progression of colors that he suggested, relying quite heavily on heavy drybrushing with large makeup brushes to get the job done.

Of course, there are also plenty of details to paint in, so this video details each one, including methods for shading and highlighting the parts on the model to achieve a 40K look.

The process was finished off with a few decals.

This model is great fun to build, and offers many hours of painting fun. While I stuck to a mostly canon/box art look for the details, a more ambitious modeler could really add a lot of color, variety, and texture to this model – all before ever starting the weathering process.

Be sure and check out part 3 for that – more fun on the way!