DreadTober 2020 - TO DONE

 

Congratulations to all of me fellow DreadTober-teers.  Another challenge has drawn to a close.  Special thanks to Marc for curating this great challenge. I wrap DreadTober 2020 with a few shots from the light box...

And now with the Storm Cannon...

I couldn't resist taking a family shot; something I started when I finished the Legion Contemptor for DreadTober 2019.  The Deredeo was NOT a DreadTober project, just for the record.

1s Legion Dreadnought Family Photo Shoot

This project gets the first big stamp o' DONE for the 2020/21 season!

til next year,

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

DreadTober 2020: At the finish line!

 

The Leviathan has reached completion! The base is painted, and other miscellaneous details seen to.

It was amusing to glue down a real piece of stone...base it black, then basically repaint it as it was. 😂

I'm pretty excited with my results on this project.

The feet got some light dry brushing to tie them to the base.  In the final end-of-challenge photos, some weathering powders will add even more realism here.  

The exhaust stacks got some shading and black dry brushing to make them...well...more smoky! The missile rack got completed as well.  I almost forgot about it; it had been stuck to my metal brush holder so I wouldn't lose it (magnets), ironically.

Some final details completed on the Grav arm (mainly the red cabling at the back).  But let's not forget the auto cannon arm...

So there it stands.  A large project (esp. with the extra optional bits), but doable for the month.  I hope it adds inspiration to others who might be thinking about painting this beast up.  It is a solid model, with great details.  Well worth it.

Best wishes for my fellow DreadToberteers; I hope we all complete on time.  More importantly, I hope everyone enjoyed the challenge and the change to "gather" as a community and support one another.

One more final show case post will close out the challenge for me.  Then we're back to painting Primaris marines, as I try to complete the Indomitus marines in Dark Angels colors by the end of 2020.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy gaming!    

DreadTober 2020: Week 4 progress - Into the home stretch

 

Well, we're into the last week of DreadTober and it's time to get the remaining "things" done.

The dread is pretty far along.  I have the base to complete, but before getting into that I decided to tackle the transfers. I'm using  the recently released Dark Angels transfer sheet for Horus Heresy from Forge World.  It's got quite a lot on it. 

I decided this Dread is a member of the Stormwing (one of the orders of the Hexagrammaton) and a Terran veteran who has served the Emperor since the wars for Unity back on Terra.  I had to avoid some of the many neat symbols for now as I have absolutely no idea what they represent; and I'm a stickler for cleaving to the lore.   But I was able to discern some of what is there from the most recent Black book.

There are lots of cools stuff like this ancient symbol of the Legion on the sheet.

A red Lion symbol declares allegiance to the Primarch Lion'el Johnson, and the wings on the left shoulder reflect allegiance to the Dark Angels Legion using iconography from before the Lion was rediscovered and made Primarch over the First Legion.

The stylized number '1' on the left leg further celebrates membership among the Emperor's Dark Angels. 

So with that bit of frippery out of the way, I can get on with the project.   Should be little trouble bringing this in on time.  The base will go quickly, hopefully leaving me time to refine the highlights and look to any other details that have gone missed up to this point.

See you all at the finish line.

And stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

DreadTober 2020: Week 4 progress - Seeing red...

 

Welcome to week 4 of DreadTober.  I'm definitely slowing down with less hobby time than I expected, so far.  But no matter...the project carries forward and I'll surely complete it, even if I go right up to the end..

I decided it was time to get the red checkers on.  I took Siph's suggestion for a shoulder and then balanced that with the claw arm.  I have white checkers on other units, but hadn't used the red checkers yet.  I like it!

I also put time into the grav weapon arm.  Base colors are on and some shading with GW Nuln Oil, but highlights are still coming.  The checkers on the curves of the shoulder proved a most interesting challenge. I definitely should have drawn things out better first.  But it all worked out in the end.

I like the red checkers breaking up the otherwise black armor. Not much else to say from behind right now.

The snippy claw is lookin' snazzy sporting its new livery.  I look forward to the decal phase. I'm especially interested to look at the new Forge World sheet and choosing a Hexagrammaton this brute will fall in with.  Being an ancient hero of the Legion, he'll also have older Host affiliations to pay homage to. I'll go back to my previous completed models to add some more Legion decals now that we have them.

So the project carries on a piece.  Next week the base will be completed and he'll be mounted permanently to it.  In the meant time, there's lots of little things to get done. I'm excited to get paint on this great model.

Congrats to those who have completed their DreadTober challenges already.  Woohoo!

And best wishes to those still painting.  Let's keep on keepin' on!

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

DreadTober 2020: Week 3 progress - We're stuck in, boyz!

 

Greetings.  We're drawing to the close of week three (ok, week two if you didn't count the 1st-3rd as week one...still not sure what to do there...) and making decent progress. I got the rest of the metal "skeleton" of the dread based and shaded.

Then it was time to get the head glued in and start edge highlighting the black armor. The highlighting is time consuming, but I'm getting the hang of it as I continue to manage projects that require edge highlights. 😆  practice makes better...

I got the Storm Cannon painted up; or at least well underway. I'm pretty excited about where I got it to so far.  If you get past the fact that it looks to carry about 5s of ammo for full auto, it's a mean looking weapon.

Looking good even from behind.  Gearing has received a little brass work (behind the knees, elbows, etc.).  Armor highlights all around.

I also got the snippy claw painted a bit further with armor highlights, metal elbow and some copper tubing. Moving right along...

So that's where I stand firmly in the middle of the month, and the challenge. Great progress and I can see where I should end up.  At some point there will be a big splash of color as I paint on some more 1st legion heraldry, probably in the form of red/black checkers. I continue to waffle on what areas I want to put the heraldry on, which is why I haven't painted it on yet.

Best wishes to the field of DreadToberteers. I love seeing all the great progress on so many different projects.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

DreadTober 2020: Week 2 progress - The painting has begun!

 

Plowing through the second week of October, it was time to get some paint on the Leviathan.  A heavy base coat of Vallejo Surface Primer Black was sprayed on with the airbrush.  I then sat down to paint trim and get on with the project.

You can follow my recipes in the tabs above for all the specifics.  Here the trim and metal claw bits received some Vallejo Oily Steel and a shade of Nuln Oil.

Looking suitably clampy, I think. * snick! *

I wanted to get some color on the model as I look to where I'm going to put other heraldry. I want to put on some red/black checkers to continue practicing simple freehand. So, to balance the over all look, I don't want too much red on one side, etc.

The raised details on this model are well done and paint up quite easily. I've shaded these details with Nuln Oil and then brought some white highlights back in, so far.

While working on the main body, I also painted up the head.  I'd like to get this mounted in the body so I can glue down the top plate before getting to serious with the painting up there. Here, I experimented with a little white as the final highlight, shaded with GW Casandora Yellow. This approach seems to help the inner eye glow effect looks a bit more...well...inner.

So there he stands at the end of week two (or a long week one, depending on how you look at the calendar this month).  It's a big model, but no worse that the mini-titans I've been painting recently. I'm appreciating the sharp casting on this model, it's been a joy to paint so far.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming! 

DreadTober 2020: Week 1 progress - build complete

 

Coming through a (short) week one in October, I have finished the build for DreadTober 2020. I assembled the three arm options and magnetized them at the upper arm. The shoulders of the dreadnought are pinned and glued to the body.  I spaced on taking pictures, but it's a pretty clear approach once you are looking at the parts.  Each arm weapon comes with it's own upper arm piece to glue into the shoulder which comes with the main kit.  So of the three arms, I only used two of the upper arm pieces.  These are permanently attached to the shoulders.

I used 5mm x 2mm magnets that I bought on a lark along with 5mm x 1mm magnets that I picked up for Adeptus Titanicus titans.  A 3/16" drill bit matches perfectly and I drilled out 2mm deep holes in the center of the upper arm sockets and the matching sockets in the weapons themselves.  Easy Peasy.

It's worth discussing my compromise with the claw arm.  You can see that the claw has a cable running from the lower arm to the back of the shoulder.  Leviathan arm weapon kits come with a plate for each shoulder. The kit for the claw comes with a plate that accepts this cable. In order to not lock myself in to a left arm claw, I did not glue this cable into the shoulder plate when I attached the plate to the back of the shoulder.

When the claw arm is attached the cable fits into the plate without glue and sits snugly - well with a little heating of the cable to seat it a bit better than the picture above shows.  If I remove the arm and attach a different weapon, there is a minor visual issue since the back of the shoulder has the plate with the socket, but nothing plugged in.  

Left arm with Grav-Flux Bombard (note empty socket at back of shoulder)

I decided this was so minor I couldn't care less in a game.  I will display the model with the claw so all looks as intended. I feel this is better than leaving the cable off and using the other plate shown on the right arm. And I didn't see this issue worth going the extra distance to magnetize the shoulder plates (though I considered it) for a full swap. 

With the weapons complete, I moved on to finish the base so everything can be primed for week two. A little wood glue with some mixed railroad ballast later and I was done. The ballast matches my other Dark Angels bases and ties this model to the larger force, despite the large chunk of bluestone. I also glued down a random orc skull, just for fun.

So we're all set to get painting now.  I won't bore you with priming pictures, but you can imagine that I'll get started with a coat of Vallejo Surface Primer Black laid down with an airbrush for a nice smooth finish. Oh, and I forgot to wash the resin before assembly in all the excitement (rookie mistake), so the model will get a good scrub too, prior to priming.

DreadTober 2020 is off to a good start and soon the paint will start flyin'.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!