Greetings and welcome back. I'm working on a couple predators for the 1st Legion this month as a run up to DreadTober when I'll likely paint up another 1st legion Contemptor (or maybe two?) Dreadnought. I have had the autocannon Predator for some time - It came in a bitz lot as a Long War Kickstarter reward if I'm remembering correctly. I knew I was going to want something with lascannon sponsons and more punch for fending of armored targets so I watched eBay until I found another resin Forge World Predator kit available (happened to come with the Conversion Beamer turret), and then the plastic rhino sprues.
Next, the whole lot had to sit and age appropriately, like a fine whiskey, until it was ready to be built and painted. That brings us to show-n-tell today. Having assembled the second Predator, I primed it to match the first and set to the task of batch painting the lot. Somewhere along the line I picked up this alternate Plasma cannon turret from eBay as well, because why not? I definitely want ALL the options for the games I'm never playing! 😂 Oh, and never mind the third eBay Predator on the way from across the pond...that one will sport a twin lascannon turret and lascannon sponsons. Remember kids, go big or go home!
I don't have a firm plan for the heraldry at this point. Its been a pretty organic process. I knew I wanted the red inset panels to the front and rear. And at some point I decided on black checkers on the front as squadron markings to tie the tanks together. From there I expect to diverge a bit to give each tank some individuality, but I'm not set on where to go with that yet. Transfers will of course be involved, but I'm looking at the paint work as well.
It doesn't help that the 1st Legion are notoriously eccentric in that regard - at least to outsiders. Their complex individual heraldry apparently makes sense to those within the chapter. I guess the good news there is one can hardly go wrong in that department when painting since there are no rigid standards. I'm thinking of bringing in some gold somewhere for the lead tank in the squadron. Otherwise, who knows?
The checkers are a form of free hand. I'm getting progressively better there with each attempt. Here, I've used a black .005 Micron pen to draw a grid for the squares. I then lightly mark the squares that are going to be black and finally went in with the black paint and a fine brush. I'm using GW Chaos black for this army. The key here is drawing a symmetrical grid first. I tend to rush that part and so not all the squares are...well...square as a result. That leads to a bit of back and forth with the red and black paint.
I've left off the heat shields on the Conversion Beamer so I can paint the main body of the weapon. I'll attach them soon once everything is painted up. The plasma cannon turret will get painted at some point along the way as well. We're already halfway through September so I don't know if I'll get these TO DONE before the end of the month (and the start of DreadTober). I'll certainly take a good crack at it!
Along the way, I made time to complete the two remaining Rhino transports I had waiting in the wings. Now the motor pool is mostly complete. I still have that plastic Spartan to assemble at some point for delivering the big boys into battle. Here, I have outfitted all the Rhinos with dozer blades and search lights. Seems prudent to let these relatively cheap units light themselves up when looking for targets, rather than risking the heavy tank killers in night fighting games (yes, those games I'll likely never play too 😅 ). Dozer blades just make sense if you want to reliably deliver your units where they need to be in the blasted wastes of the Heresy battlefields.
So, there's a little heresy hobby for your week. I'll be working on this army for a bit this fall before possible dropping out to do some holiday Aeronautica Imperialis as a palate cleanser for Squaduary and Monster March. But I get ahead of myself. There's really no way to be sure which way the hobby winds may blow...
Cheers and Happy Gaming!
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