Dark Angels Redemptor Dreanought WIP - Part 1

 

Greetings and welcome to another Dark Angels WIP.  I decided to put together a Redemptor Dreadnought to support my recently completed group of Primaris Dark Angels. Regular readers likely already see that I have a soft spot for Dreadnoughts and other walking war machines.

 A simple stock build was followed with the application of a few Dark Angels icons. The only magnetization I did was the connection for the main arm weapons.  It was hard not to since the kit provides two complete arms and has already been designed to allow the parts to friction fit without magnets.  I used 2mm x 3mm rod magnets here because the friction fit wasn't tight enough to keep the plasma arm from falling out.  You can see the small magnet set in the mounting post on the Gatling canon arm if you zoom in, above.

A little gentle persuasion (and copious amounts of plastic cement) allowed me to form the DA chapter icon over the rounded shoulder armor so it sits flush to the curves.  You can see a signs of stress in the icon from the bending and gluing, but after paint this isn't noticeable at all.  Nothing cracked, at least.

 A skull from a Forge World Dark Angels icon pack went on the opposite shoulder along with a winged angel symbol on the right side of the sarcophagus. A smattering of other plastic purity seals, icons and scrolls finished the look.

Next I tried out some zenith highlighting using the new primers from Monument hobbies.  I started with the green primer (which is more of an army olive drab), than sprayed white down from above.  I still don't see that this adds much, but I'm hoping there is a subtle difference that shows, even if my old eyes don't get it. 👴

Here is what the dreadnought looked like after a healthy coat of Pro Acryl Black Green (a reasonable substitute for GW Caliban Green).

I'm sure the top surfaces are lighter than the underneath surfaces in some way, but I'm not sure it is worth the time and clean up for the white zenith coat.  But hey, at least I know the machines is good and primed. 😂 I likely need to use a lighter hand with the base coat to really appreciate the pre-highlighting. I'll keep working at it from time to time.  So far I have only tried it with this dark green and black. Both are dark with solid coverage that doesn't show much underneath.  Liekly, I need to use a thinned down base coat?  Anyway - I got to where I'm used to regardless, so the project goes on.

Next will be shading with GW Nuln Oil, followed by the edge highlights and then the usual detail painting for the rest.  Check back towards the end of the week to see more progress. Blue-Tac is holding the torso and legs together, and the arms still have some articulation so the pose will shift as I complete painting and glue everything to set the final pose.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!