DreadTober 2023 - TO DONE

 

Greetings and welcome back.  I was able to complete my pledge of one Ballistus Dreadnought in ample time for DreadTober this year.  While a larger model, it seemed much easier than the infantry and bike models I have been painting recently. less fiddly in the details, I think.  

And here it stands in the light box after a solid coat of matte varnish.  I freely admit to doing nothing special here.  It's a straight up Dark Angels scheme, no free hand, no creative battle damage.  But I still love it!

It was a challenge to leave so much free space on this dreadnought.  I wanted to plaster it with transfers - so much space for creativity there.  But in the end I stayed utilitarian and kept things simple (relatively so for the Astartes!)

 

 

So there we have the first Dread of the 9th Fire Support Company of the Dark Angels Chapter. It's been fun to step away a bit from my usual 5th Company projects to add more models to the collection. Here's a quick shot of the Ballistus next to a 5th Company Redemptor Dreadnought.

I painted the Redemptor in June of 2022 and I'm pleased that these two match up very well side by side.  Painting recipes help a lot here. And that's a wrap on another DreadTober challenge (my 8th so far).

Best of luck to the DreadTober challengers working hard to complete their projects! There is some great work out there this year, as always.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

 

DreadTober 2023 - Week 3

 

Moving along!

Hello and welcome back.  My DreadTober 2023 project moves on, if a bit slowly, this week.  I painted the lenses, added script to the purity seals, and put a little color on the Tyranid slime on the base. I also put a little time into cleaning up the edge highlights on the armor just to neaten things up.

I took a pretty standard approach to painting in the red lenses on the targeters. After the model gets an overall coat of flat varnish, I'll go back and put some gloss varnish over the lenses to complete the effect.

Let's just stroll around the model and have a look. Here some writing on the purity seals is evident.  We get another look at the purple ick on the base too. Tyranid bits on my bases is not the standard.  But it's interesting to have something unique on the larger Dreadnought bases, I think.  My Redemptor has some Ork bits, calling back to the Battle of Piscina IV - or maybe some other battle with the Greenskins since Piscina IV was pre-primaris.

This dread was released with the Tyranids as a foe, so I felt it was cool to leave that nod on the base. And yes, I still have to get that Mechanicum icon painted...

So that's the project so far.  Very close to calling this done - I mean it could be done now even.  but that's just not how I roll.  I'll continue to tweak and perfect probably right up to the end!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

DreadTober 2023 - Week 2

Greetings and welcome to week two of DreadTober 2023.  The Ballistus Dreadnought has come along nicely this week.  Most of the details are painted and many of the highlights are done.  Transfers have also been applied.  While my DreadTober intro states this was to be a 5th Company dread, I had been planning it for the 9th heavy support company instead.  This will fit nicely with a recently completed squad of Primaris Aggressors in a fire support role.

So it was that this dreadnought became the first fire support dreadnought of the 9th company, Dark Angels chapter.

Still need to paint the Crux Mechanicus, but the engine and other bits to the rear have had some attention this week.

A little script for the left shoulder.

The front got the most attention with the sarcophagus details going down and the weapons getting some attention. Various honor markings and campaign badges were added to call this warrior out as one of the elite of the chapter. And that's where we stand at the end of week two of the challenge.  There will be no worries pulling this one in, but there is still much to do before I call it done.

Happy DreadTober!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

DreadTober 2023 - Week 1

 

It's time for DreadTober!  This year, I'm tackling the new Ballistus dreadnought from the Warhammer 40K Leviathan box set. This is a push fit model which I have glued together, except for the feet (easier painting) and the weapons which are designed with slots so they can be swiveled up and down and removed - maybe for future weapon options?!

I start with a black primer coat.  Here I've used an Army Painter black rattle can. Then I used an airbrush to spray the whole model with Proacryl Black Green, according to the paint recipe I use (see tabs above). I'm having trouble with the proacryl becoming hydrophobic over primer sometimes - not sure why exactly and it doesn't happen all the time.  but I think it's mostly when the primer is smooth and shiny like this - not gloss but satin or semi-gloss? It is easily solved by laying down several light coats with some drying time in between.  Eventually the paint sticks and covers.

I love the feet pegs on this push-fit model!  So easy to work on the base, while still using it to support the model. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with the alien/Tyranid bits. Need to pick a swarm, I guess, and go with that color scheme. Some dry brushing needs to happen here and then cleanup and weathering of the metal bits before finally painting the black rim.

The main body advanced to a point that I was able to lay down a coat of GW Nuln Oil over the whole model to shade things nicely. It looks like a lot of work for the first week, but actually came together fairly quickly in just two painting sessions of a couple hours each. 

The paint is a bit over exposed by the desk lamp here.  You can still see the contrast between the metal structure of the dread and the armor panels over that. Some detail work will pick out different metals and provide more visual interest to the monochromatic silver shown here.

So that's week one in the bag! I gave myself a head start clearly by having a fully assembled and based model to start with. It's a little outside the spirit of the original DreadTober, where week one was meant for assembly.  However, I prefer to spend the month painting. :)

Now head over to dreadtober.blogspot.com and check out the rest of the DreadTober projects!

 Cheers and Happy Painting!
 

Ravenwing Chaplain and ATV WIP - TO DONE

 

Well, the lacquer is on and the brushes are down.  Over the weekend I finished up enough to call these models done for September. I've said this before, but it's easy to obsess with these models given the details and really lavish the love on them.  I have many, many projects to go though, with new models coming out all the time, and time running out to ever complete them all.  So these lads will hit the display case with their brethren to make way for DreadTober. 

This is my favorite of the bike/ATV models by far.  Lots of detail and very easy to bring into the Ravenwing as though it had always been designed for it. I'm super happy with the results here.  It's a pretty stock paint job, to be sure, but I like how it turned out.

This Chaplain is now a favorite among my Dark Angels characters.

Now the Mario cart/ATV has not been a favorite out there and I was not impressed when it first came out.  But after getting passed the initial impression, I have learned to accept it as a basic replacement to the attack bike, which honestly was an odd duck too.

After putting some paint in it, I even came to enjoy the model, if I'm being honest.  There is something quintessentially 40K about these crazy war machines and over-the-top weapons. I dunno; I guess I just like it!  What I don't like is how the wood glue grabbed such a firm hold on the top of the large base that it warped it as it dried.  I didn't notice until the next day when it has fully dried and the worst already don.  

It's a minor thing and doesn't show from this side. next time I'll thin the glue down some rather than baste in on undiluted. I typically don't water the glue down and forgot that this warping can be a thing.  Another bummer was forgetting to use more decal solvent on the vehicle number transfers.  I think I did them last and forgot to finish the whole process...the solvent reduces the film around the image so you get that painted on look.  Here, you can still see the whole square of the decal film around the number '2' on each side of the ATV. If you compare with the Indomitus campaign badge on the front of the ATV, (above), you'll see the difference. Not film visible around the badge, or the Ravenwing icons on the shoulders, etc.

I didn't notice until the lacquer was on and there was no option to reduce the film further. Ah well. :)\

The first TO DONE of the season, so that's something.

Check back later in the week if you like stompy dreadnoughts! I'm planning to paint the new Ballistus dreadnought from Leviathan in Dark Angels 9th Company colors. Another year, another DREADTOBER!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbeanch [October] - Leviathan Marines!

 

Welcome to another On the Workbench post.  For this month, I needed to have the Ballistus Dreadnought  assembled and ready DreadTober 2023. This dread goes together very easily and was fun to work on.  Coming from the 2nd ed. era of WH40K, I definitely love the modern Primaris take on the classic metal fire support dreadnought. Come back throughout DreadTober to see how this model progresses TO DONE.

The Leviathan box Apothecary Biologis got assembled and based.  This will be a fun character to paint, for certain.

The Leviathan Captain in Terminator Armor will be a fine Master for the Dark Angels.  These push-fit models make painting as sub-assemblies pretty easy.  I am gluing things, but it's nice to leave bits off to making painting in the tight areas easier.

The Leviathan Librarian in Terminator armor is another case-in-point for the sub-assemblies.

Yay, another Lieutenant!! :)

I never bothered with Sternguard Veterans for the Dark Angels, but their primaris-sized cousins are pretty cool, so why not?? I think these days I've just gone with the flow, trying not to over think things.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the Leviathan box Terminators.  Finally some decent sized Deathwing terminators for my growing Primaris force...are these Primaris marines in Terminator armor or not? I think GW has been careful not to go there, but I have to read more in the book(s). They don't call them Primaris Terminators...so maybe the first born just got bigger pants? 😂 Honestly it doesn't matter a bit - It is just cool to get some decent sized terminators.  Maybe a new resized Deathwing Knights kit will come out way over time...

So that's what's been on the workbench recently. No Infernus marines yet, but they'll get built soon enough, if for no other reason than to fill out the basic Leviathan box list. Once assembled, these models don't give away much if anything from their easy-to-build heritage.  Sure, they are mono-pose which stands out when you try to field them en mass.  But on their own, they look excellent.

It's DreadTober for the remainder of the month, so check back frequently to join in the fun!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!