Salamanders Legion part 1

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I haven't really been feeling inspired to paint. That has recently changed. I just got a copy of Betrayal At Calth for a commission I'm doing and I've decided to make a Salamanders army for Horus Heresy (30K). Originally last year I had it in mind to create an Iron Warriors army for 30k, but I didn't have the money to spend on such a thing so I gave up on it. Since Betrayal at Calth came a long it became a lot cheaper to build a Legion army. I decided to go with the Salamander Legion for a couple of practical reasons and a few fluff reasons. The practical reasons are: Gunmetal is more difficult to work with through an airbrush than green and the Salamanders have better rules than the Iron Warriors. The fluff reasons are that I like how unique the Salamanders' philosophy as a Legion is, they are actually interested in protecting the citizens of the Empire and I respect self sacrifice above all else and they have plenty of that. I am going back and forth on what to get for the legion, but luckily the Betrayal at Calth has enough for almost 2000pts. The first thing in the box that I've painted is the Contemptor dreadnought. It was pretty quick and easy. The army's look is going to be that of a Legion at war, dirty and battered. It isn't necessarily going to be during or after the Dropsite Massacre, but it will look as though it could be. The Salamanders Legion is divided into seven "realms" each named for a major city on Nocturne. The army will be a part of the Skarokk "realm", which is the seventh realm, thus the VII on the dreadnoughts left shoulder. I tried to do the "heated metal" look on the Kheres Assault cannon, but failed to really pull it off. I just couldn't get the metallic effect in the colored area, but over all I am still happy how the model turned out and it looks good on the table. I'll probably be getting a few more dreadnoughts. I feel like of all the Legions the Salamanders would have one of the highest numbers of dreadnoughts.

Next up will be a Praetor and some Firedrakes that I made from the Cataphractii terminators that came in the box.