Deathwatch Dreadnought (Part 1)

Is it Dreadtober time again? Indeed it is.  I decided this time around to finish up this Deathwatch Dreadnought. With GW discontinuing the model earlier this year I felt that this was the time to honor one of mine with a paint job. This is one of those classic "boxnoughts" that I think came in the 5th edition starter set (Blackreach). I acquired this in a lot along with a group of Space Marine Bikers and another, older, boxnought in metal. That one will require it's paint to be stripped off before I can do anything with it. But this one as you can see...

...is ready to go. I believe it was intended for a Blood Angels army, thus the blood red shoulders. I gritted up the base, leaving the single skull, and proceeded to get this one going.

I painted over the red and basecoated the base and skull. Actually I painted the skull using Corax White with the intention of using Skeleton Horde Contrast Paint over it. I opted not  to add any other debris to the base as the notion of a single, lonely, skull on such a large base is kind of amusing, and oddly striking. 

Ok, that's it for week one, not much progress I know, but this was ment as a 'kick-off' post. Check out part two next week to see how far I get.