”The Red Talons are coming!”

“So they came; on the chariot of flame and thunder. The Red Talons, Iron Judges, the Peace Keepers, the Red Tide of Justice. Foe; be vary!”

I just finished painting the tactical squad and the scout squad for the Red Talons army. I have yet to finish the Razorback but I have it basecoated and ready for details. I need to practice some armour painting on some scrap pieces as I have never painted that large a flat area. The dual colour scheme is giving me hard times as one or the other main colours will be required to be hand painted for basecoat.

Here’s some pictures of the finished models.

The Executioner Osiron (The Captain) is in fact a Chapter Champion, but substitutes as a captain until I can figure out good wargear for the real Captain.

The Executioner is a grim fellow

Some details on the base: some unfortunate Tau warrior.

This is a former 4th Company Assault Squad Sergeant (the green stripe on the shoulder panel). Currently he's the Chapter Champion.

The Relic Blade is trickling with plasma energy. Also can be used as a Plasma pistol if needed.

The servo skull and the Iron halo provide some indication from the status of the marine.

The Sergeant of "The Red Tyrants", the 3rd Squad of the 2nd Company, Iron-brother Lurcas, is converted from Assault on the Black Reach sergeant model. The backpack is scratch-built to go with the Red Talon techy theme.

The face on this model is particularly menacing and grim.

Free hand banner. I still require some practice in making the imagery look good.

The servo arm is a simple conversion using plastic tube and guitar wire. The cutter counts as Plasma pistol if required. Notice also the exhaust vents on the backpack .

Other look of the backpack and the servo wiring in the groin area.

Seniors in the 3rd Tactical Squad of 2nd Company, Brother Sarsa (the Comm-link) and Brother "Smokey" Samuro, are the second in command after Lurcas. Smokey is one of the oldest Brothers in the 2nd Company and he's waiting his big breakthrough to be promoted. Brother Sarsa is a former 2nd Squad Sergeant and extremely calculative.

Brother Sarsa checking the location of enemy units from an auspex. The radio transmitter is used to contact support aircrafts and Thunderhawks in the atmosphere.

Some details from the shoulder pad writings and indirect lighting from the screen.

Sarsa is known to gather squad history using scribe skulls.

Smokey has bionic lungs after getting a bioplasma to the chest. He has a knack for Rarsanian biobacco products.

The archaic bolter was built by Techmarine Scundis when Samuro saved the Techmarine from Tyranid horde. 

The cigarette is just simple piece of wire painted to look match.

Smokey also has a helmet on his belt.

The specialists in the 3rd Squad of the 2nd Company, Brother Ishri (meltagun), Brother "Boom" Railas, Brother "Bull" Surus, and Brother Vardis. These are the backbone of the squad and they all have hundreds of years of experience of fighting.

Brother Railas has been specialized in grenades and has a plentiful supply of explosives. 

He lost hos left arm in a plasma explosion. The arm is from Forge World character kit.

Brother Ishri is a former 8th Assault Squad member and carries the role of meltagunner  to 3rd Squad.

Paintings on the helmet describe the heroic actions in Dolsene.

The spare meltacanister is there to enable long field service.

Bull is a strapping lad that has no problem of toting the heavy plasma cannon. This is my first indirect lighting attempt.

The glowing effect seems partially a mess but these photographs make the effect more... err... effective.

Here shows the irritating shining effect of the Seraphim Sepia.

Shoulder pad markings. Bull also has bone horns on the backpack cut from a cyrrobull in rural village in Dolsene.

Brother Vardis is an eager close combat brother. He's also a former 8th Squad marine but considerably younger than others. He's sometimes referred as the Young blood by the elder Brothers.

Simple conversion with assault marine legs. The stubble was a successful attempt using watered down Eshin Grey to give the 5 a'clock shadow.

Here shows the updated Red Talons chapter marking.

The remaining marines of the 3rd Squad, Brother Merch, Brother Reshe and Brother Trese, are simple conversions from Assault on the Black Reach marines. Some minor wires has been added.

Brother Merch

Brother Reshe

Brother Trese

The Sergeant of "The Brood Maimers", the 1st Scout Squad of the 10th Company, Iron-Brother Pherra, is combination of Space Marine Servitor and a Space Marine Scout. The resin models were cut in half to create a bionic legion of scouts.

Brother Pherra is a veteran of many battles.

Face was burnt by a traitor flamer in Lorn V in 400.M39.

The Combi-flamer is a Forge World piece. The shoulder pad was painted free hand.

If needed, the Sergeant may be upgraded to have Melta bomb.

The rest of the 1st Scout Squad of the 10th Company, Brother Yriss, Brother Marchi, Brother Russ, Brother Lerous, and Brother "Iron Hand" Marthas. All these Scouts are just about to be anointed to become fully fledged Space Marines. New shiny armours and finely crafted bionics await.

Brother Yriss is a former 2nd Squad "oldie". He has his only functioning eye on a position in the 9th Company .

Here shows Scout icon used by the Red Talons - a white circle.

The bionic leg is not best for sneaking on a metal surface. Luckily it is rubber padded.

Basic Scout gear is carried by the troops.

Brother "Iron Hand" Marthas uses a modified missile launcher for increased accuracy.

Confirmed tank kills are marked on the side of the weapon.

Iron Hand has managed to knock a hole in Necron Monolith and received an Imperial Honour for it.

Iron Hand is known throughout the 10th Company for his high end bionic arm.

Brother Marchi is a former sniper of the 3rd Scout Squad.

He has a sanctified bolter and Marksman honours.

His biological brother Brother Lerous is in the same squad as he.

Brother Lerous suffered a lasbolt hit to the chest tearing his second heart and right hand to pieces. 

His bolter has a "Bulldog" grip enabling him to shoot it like a pistol.

Like the Scouts before, this one is also made from Servitor pieces.

Brother Russ has suffered less severely in battles. His hand was however bitten off by a Ork Nob in Chosin.

The bolter is a conversion from a Chaos Space Marine bolter. The claw is from Vindicator's shell lift.

In what I succeeded in painting:

• I managed to apply the layers in so that it creates a good-looking armour. The combination of washes and layer paints provided good shading and good-enough highlights for the armours.
• The face on the Tactical Marines was quite successful and the stubble on the face is giving character for the models.
• The cloth on the Scouts’ pants proved to be good looking as I changed the colour scheme at the very end. The green gives some contrast and is subtle enough for against the red and black.
• The bases proved to be good-looking and the scorched grass gives a punch to the finish. The underhive-kinda look is great and helps to tie in with the scenery I’m about to build for the army. 

What I would do differently:

• I would do the Scouts’ faces again if I had the time as they are too shiny and odd-looking.
• The leather on the pouches, shoes, etc. isn’t looking realistic. I need to figure out a way to make a colour scheme for the leathery parts without them looking too shiny.
• The Seraphim Sepia wash was a HUGE mistake. It made the red armour look shiny in the first models. I dropped it with the last 4 figures and they looked better.
• I also must get proper plastic tubes for the bases as the ones I used aren’t reacting to my plastic glue and they aren’t sticking to the base that well.