Ultramarines Balistus Dreadnought (Part 2)

 Continuing on from Part 1, it was time to get started on throwing some paint on this metal behemoth. First off, I primed it using Chaos Black.

Primed in Chaos Black. 

Then I basecoated all the armor plates using  Space Marine Blue, a classic color from the first painted I ever got way back around Xmas of '89. It is still the best. 

The front canopy is removable, which I just dig.

Khorne Red was used to basecoat the weapons. 

Red guns make 'em bleed!

And the base was basecoated using Applebarrel Territorial  Beige and Mechanicus Standard Grey for the rocks. 

Waiting for the next layers.

Pretty straightforward week. Next week I should get some more layers done before tackling the details. 

Ultramarines Balistus Dreadnought (Part 1)

 

Dreadtober has arrived again! And this year I am pledging to finish a Balistus Dreadnought. This one is from Leviathan, the Warhammer 40,000 10th edition starter box.  It should be a lot easier to build than his brother that I built and painted in 2024, so hopefully that part of this project will go a lot faster. 

Still on sprue.

Assembly was way easier than his counterpart, the Redemptor Dreadnought, whom I painted for the 2024 Dreadtober challenge. And I'm quite thankful for that. After adding some more rubble and grit, the assembly was done. 

Now I am waiting for the window of opportunity to open for me so I can prime the model and dive into painting. Check back next week to see how far I get.

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 5)

 Alright, this guy is now done! He is glued together and his iconography is completed. The only thing I haven't done is a sealer to protect the model from chipping, but the weather is too icky right now to attempt it. 

Done and ready to kill.

He might seem a tad bit plain, but I didn't want to go crazy with decals and icons, so I went with a "less is more" mindset, and just stuck a skull in a triangle on his leg. I suppose it's a campaign badge? 

Check out that sexy badge. 

I was unable to locate the Lion decals I bought ages ago, so I just went with a  crude hand drawn badge. This matches the rest of my Celestial Lions force who have similar iconography. My head-canon for this is that these are hand painted by the individual Trooper, and artists they are not. 

Honor thy chapter.

And that's it, another Dreadtober is wrapped up and done.  I am already thinking about next year,  and I have a lot of options to mull over. But as a final parting shot, here is Shiney compared to my pledge from last year, who is double the size of this relic from the '90s. 

"Stand back squirt, I've got this!"

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 3)

 This week I have made a bit more progress from were we left things last week. 

I used Leadbelcher over all the components that are painted black. Then I used classic Shining Gold as an edge highlight. 

After that, I paint the left should blue. This is where the chapter icons will go.  I used Stormhost Silver to highlight all the rivets and bolts. I so used is as a subtle edge highlight. 

I used Stormhost Silver to highlight the skulls and a acquilla icons that are scattered across the model. 

I am not too sure I like that result, so I might try some ideas to see if I can't visually punch some of those icons out. 

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 2)

 Welcome to the second part of this year's Dreadtober challenge. In Part 1 I spelled out the plan, and now I'm plowing ahead with it.  To start, I shook up a can of Krylon 18kt Gold Plate spray paint and took it and this hunk of metal outside and blasted away. Afterwards I used classic Chestnut ink (I am so glad I still have some of this!) and used it to darken all the joints and recesses. 

A 41st Millennium solid gold dancer. 

And then I used Abaddon Black to basecoat the areas that are going to end up a silvery metal as opposed to gold. 

Black basecoats. 

That's all the progress I made on the miniature itself, but I did almost finish his base. Just a few minor things to finish on it (the skull and bullet casings specifically) and it's done. 

The base. 

We'll see how much further I get with this next week, but so far this is rolling along well. 

Celestial Lions Boxnaught (Part 1)

 Ah, Dreadtober! My favorite reoccurring project of the year returns! 

"I'm pretty sure I'm a Blood Angel."

For this year's dreadnought I have decided to repaint this old classic. This is a 30 year old boxnaught. He may be small compared to the toys you kids have today, but this thing has the weight and heft to truly harm someone if employed in a violent manner. To be clear, this came to me second-hand and I was not the original painter of this thing. After-all, I don't play Blood Angels and I don't think I have painted one since around 1993 (for Space Crusade). And back then, they were a bit more orange.  Anyway, this guy is going to get stripped all the way down to the bare metal.... 

"...well, I was anyway."

...well, mostly. 

Next week, painting! 

Ultramarines Redemptor Dreadnought (Part 4)

 With mere hours of the year's Dreadtober challenge left, I managed to get my project completed. 

I used 'Ard Coat to apply the decals on this model. This was particularly necessary for the III icon on top the red circle. These two overlaying decals were from a decades old sheet and the red circle almost disintegrated when trying to apply it  I had to repaint it using Mephiston Red before applying the 'Ard Coat layer to get it ready for the roman numeral three.  

I didn't talk about it in the last post, but toward the end of the construction process I decided to use some of the left over bits from the Venerable Dreadnought kit (my Dreadtober project from 2021) to give this thing a bit more flare. The most prominent one being the shield with the terminator honors and skull jewelry  

On his back he has the round Adeptus Mechanicus shield on display. On the examples of painted versions of this model, I don't think I can recall ever seeing anyone paint in the palte that Ad Mech icon on in Ad Mech red. I decided to give it a shot and I think I like the way it turned out. 

The left side of the model doesn't have any decals. it just sort of happened that way!

One of the joys of this model is that the main guns can be swapped out. I see myself using the plasma gun mostly but the assault cannon one is just too cool to leave on the sprue. 

The plants on the base are an assort of grass tufts and Dumb Cane, a new thing I picked up from my local Hobbytown store by a brand called Gamers Grass 

This turned out to be a project that I was very satisfied with in the end, and I look forward to next year! 

Ultramarines Redemptor Dreadnought (Part 3)

 

WIP continues.

Progress on this metal hulk continues. Well, he's a plastic model of a metal hulk anyway. Regardless of all that, he is now blue! With the Dreadtober deadline for my stated project fast approaching I set about trying to achieve my month-end goal.  

The basecoats.

The basecoats were easy and quick. This is primarily because there were really just two colors, Space Marine Blue and Delta Ceramcoat Metallic Pewter (I prefer this over Leadbelcher, but that would suffice if I had to resort to it). 

First stage mid-coats.

Macrage Blue was the next layer added to the blue followed by Ultramarines Blue and edge highlighted with Fenrisian Grey. 

"Guve me details or give me death!"

Getting down to the wire as the days of the month dwindle down to hours. It's mostly the minor details and the big guns that I need to knock out before the final stage of decal application. But can I make that deadline?  With the real-life obstacles before me, my spare time is going to be (and for too much of this month it's already been) sparse and fleeting, but we'll see what I can do! 

Ultramarines Redemptor Dreadnought (Part 2)

 And finally, a progress update:

Forgive my tardiness on this update. I found the construction of this Remdemptor Dreadnought to be a tedious affair. And, much to my chagrin and annoyance, I made multiple mishaps along the way that set me back a bit as well. 

    

The biggest one, and the one I can't figure out how to overcome, is that somehow the bottom door cover doesn't go far enough up so that the top door will set into the groove on the lower door. I haven't been able to figure how I screwed this up, so I moved on. I feel that it gives the semblance of an underbite on this thing which amuses me. 

And yes,, I am keeping this in sub-assemblies for easier painting. 

I love that the guns are interchangeable. A concept I hope the GW design team allows on more kits. 

The left arm was the biggest challenge. I kept making mistakes in assembly and had to tear it apart a few time to get it right. It's not correct as the joint that connects into the should is upside down. I couldn't fix that with damaging the model so I used a piece of sprue to make a stud for the armor plate to attach to.  Desperate necessity for the win I suppose...

I didn't want to spend too much time on the base but I didn't want into be plain either. I cut up a few pieces of sprue to use as rubble chunks and tossed on a few skulls before gluing down some grit. It's subtle but it works. 

And finally, I primed this brute. He is far from done but I celebrated getting to this stage! 

And now, let's get painting! 

Ultramarines Redemptor Dreadnought (Part 1)

 I love this annual event (Dreadtober) as I usually get a really cool model built and completed for one of my factions. Two years ago I did an original Rogue Trader-era Space Marine Dreadnought (Furibundus). This year I will be revisiting that  theme by doing a modern-era Redemptor Dreadnought.  I will probably be following the same painting steps used for the Furibundus,  although it has considerably more detail, so I will likely be using more colors in addition to the Ultramarines scheme.

Redemptor in three sprues. 

Why I chose this Dreadnought is simply because it came with the final issues of Imperium Magazine and I thought it would make for a good endcap for the year considering how many Primaris Ultramarines I painted while I was recovering from my heart event earlier in the year. 

I haven't decided how I'm going to equip this guy yet, but these in depth profiles from the magazine are giving me some ideas...

Inspirational load-out guide. 

These magazines always have these small charts that are fun for rolling up little details about your specific models. They also have record sheets to track stuff like opponents defeated, etc. 

Battle Record charts.

I couldn't resist doing it for this post. So, rolling on the table my guy's name is Brother Allister and the fate that got  him interned into a  Dreadnought sarcophagus was that he was struck by a plasma blast. -Ouch!

Another reason I valued this magazine was the indepth and expanded assembly instructions that contain. This should be quite handy really soon! 

A Snippet of the assembly  guide

With the plastic piled up and clippers in hand, it's time to get Dreadtober 2024 going!!! 

Ready to build. 

What are you going to build and paint? Leave your pledge on the dreadtober blog page once you have it figured out. 

Deathwatch Dreadnought (Part 3)

 With just a little bit of spare time to focus on this thing, I have finished my 2023 Dreadtober project! 

Finished, yay!

The stripe on his leg was done using Mephiston Red straight from the bottle. Two straight swipes and the effect was achieved. The green light is green simply for a bit of contrast. The base color is Caliban Green with a dash of Moot Green and final dot of white. 

Show me your right side.

Ultimately I decided to put the word BURN on his leg scroll. Seemed simple and direct, you know, like his multi-melta. 

Show me your left side! 

And here he is embracing the Emperor's Light of an October morning sun, with a devoted determination to continue the long vigil and bring the xenos scum, wherever they might lurk, to heel. With melting heat. 

"Shhh, I'm hunt'n xenos scum."

I got to give a shot out to the all of this year's Dreadtober participants for doing some stellar work. Truly inspiring stuff. 

Deathwatch Dreadnought (Part 2)

 Since last week I got a bit more work done on this clunky relic of the past. 

Early basecoats.

Quite a bit actually. My Deathwatch scheme is simple, I use a dark grey topped with a lighter one on the edges with a little white on the corners for the final highlight. 

The mid-coats.

For the gold areas I used my old and trusty Ral Partha Copper Metallic. On the icons I applied a mid-coat of Retributor Gold. These two colors work well together which is amusing considering their age gap. The melta gun is going to go in a slightly different direction but it used that same base color.

Progress continues...

The last thing I managed to do (up to this point) is paint the scroll work on his leg and the purity seal on the main gun. I still haven't chosen what I will write on that leg scroll yet. 

He is mostly completed now, let's see if I can knock it out before month's end.