Ironclad dread -- Finished. Check the Hall of Honor for pics

[JeffTibbetts]

I've finally started my Ironclad dread, based on a fun challenge put on by some blogging buddies and Twitter friends. They're calling it Dreadtober. I'm calling it a good excuse to finally build a model I've had in box for ages, and try to get it done fast so I can get back to my Loricatus Land Raider.

I knew I wanted to pose it in a full-on running position, one arm down and the other drawn back, ready for a roundhouse smash. Call it the "Hammer of Wrath" pose, if you will. I kept putting it off because it looked like so much dang work to do it right. But, thankfully, the legs weren't nearly as hard as I expected.

I'll post more progress soon, but I wanted to kick this thread off to get some feedback.

I started with a set of Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought legs I picked up off eBay, because one leg is actually posed! I think this is the first dread that doesn't have the stock static pose, right? Anyway, it saved me a lot of work on one leg. But, that knife is there for a reason...

Here's what I'm going for, basically. One leg forward, the other behind, the body tilting forward.

I had to cut and rebuild both the hip and the knee joints to get what I was after. It was a bit of a pain, but not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. Here are some more shots of different angles.

And then I also started reposing one of the shoulders. I'd been toying with different ways to do this, but I arrived at this right now. I'll be adding another ring of plasticard to the joint, which will cover some of this (including the gaping hole...).

So, it's a start anyway. My GS work looks like hell, but that's partially the hand lotion I use to keep the tools from sticking and part haste. A lot of this will be covered by armor, and I plan to go in and file down a little bit more because I was in a bit of a hurry when I was working on it. I was more concerned with getting things to fit right, and not thinking about saving time in the long term. Oh wells. Should make for a pretty intense pose by the time I'm done with him.

Thoughts? Suggestions that don't involve redoing the legs? Hit me.

EDIT: I forgot to mentinon, I still need to reconnect the hoses. I'll get that soon.

[geektom]

Hey, Jeff! Off to a good start, I think? The shoulder work is smart- looks to me like the minimum amount of cutting to still have a big impact- nice work! Are you going to be using the standard armament for an Ironclad?

[Atia]

looks pretty cool so far ^,^

 

good luck @ the Dreadtober challange^^!

[JeffTibbetts]

Hey, Jeff! Off to a good start, I think? The shoulder work is smart- looks to me like the minimum amount of cutting to still have a big impact- nice work! Are you going to be using the standard armament for an Ironclad?

Yes, magnetized. So, I'll drop magnets for the missile launchers, frag launchers, and both arms. Luckily with this dread they make it very easy to swap arms. The hard part is making the underslung weapons swappable. I haven't tackled that quite yet, but I've got a plan.

looks pretty cool so far ^,^

good luck @ the Dreadtober challange^^!

Thanks! I'm hoping I get it done in time, but it'll be a stretch.

Here are some more progress pics:

I got the legs pretty much done and glued to the body. One foot glued to the base. So now I can get a much better image of the pose. Blue tack isn't really enough to keep him up, so I have to hold it right now. The shoulders are done, however. I like the way they turned out. A little rough yet, but the concept worked pretty well, I think. I would have preferred a bit thinner plasticard, but I only had three sizes on hand and the next one down was way too thin. This gives it a pretty solid structure, and I may add to that a little more with some Liquid Greenstuff a little while later. I need to start dropping magnets in, and then I should be able to fill gaps and clean everything up.

Here are some more shots of the shoulders, but it's hard to really see what's going on. They add just enough movement to make it feel a lot more dynamic, without being silly.

So, now I know the hard work is done, I can concentrate on just building this out like I normally would. I like the conversion. The shoulders are subtly done, the legs have almost the exact pose I was envisioning. Now comes my fave part: Details, details, details.

[Biohazard]

Dreadnoughts are one of my favourite units in 40k, I have 3 still to finish. The rules aren't great yet but I still love them.

 

Onto your model. The legs look great and the work on the shoulders is really nice mate, will look awesome once you've worked your detail magic.

The pose overall though at this point isn't working for me. It looks to me like you have both the dreads left leg and left shoulder forward which just gives it a very awkward gait IMHO if you positioned his right shoulder forward i reckon it could still give you the look you're going for but look a little more natural (as natural as a running metal box could look anyway) I'll definitely be watching this with interest.

 

Ps you're right in thinking the Space Wolf dread is the first of the plastic kits to have posed legs

[WarriorFish]

Very good progress, I like the minor change to the arm as any more would look off. I thought about a similar knee change many moons back when assembling Dreads, glad to see it's not too difficult especially as I have the skill to give it a go now :) I don't think I'd change it too much though, as the kit isn't suitable for something too dynamic.

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks for the feedback! I tried it all kinds of ways, and frankly right shoulder forward looked really goofy. I'm going for something akin to a shield bash, using his weight to crash into the enemy. Shoulder into the charge, as it were. It looks a bit goofy, but honestly it looks a little goofy no matter what, being a dread and all. I get a much better sense of weight and movement this way. Maybe some of it's the photo, as well.

I could get a bit longwinded about the way dreads run, since the upper body basically stays in the same position while the hips and legs rotate underneath them. Suffice to say they look really strange when they run, and don't swing their trunk and arms the way a person does. What it all boils down to for me is just when I was posing it in my hand and trying out different looks, this one worked the best.

I pored over a bunch of footage from the Space Marine DLC pack, Dreadnought Assault, when I was concepting this project. Watching that really helps make sense of dread movement and running in particular.

Very good progress, I like the minor change to the arm as any more would look off. I thought about a similar knee change many moons back when assembling Dreads, glad to see it's not too difficult especially as I have the skill to give it a go now I don't think I'd change it too much though, as the kit isn't suitable for something too dynamic.

Agreed! Anything more would be a bit weird, and require you to 'break' the basic design concept.

[Biohazard]

And what you thinks best is always the path t follow. I've always built chaos dread and never used the standard sarcophagi, mine have always had a more head like part at the front so I've always went for a slightly different take where they move a little more like humans. I totally see where you're coming from though and fully believe you'll make it work. Like I say will be watching this closely. I haven't seen the Dreadnought Assault dlc so will have to check that out

[JeffTibbetts]

And what you thinks best is always the path t follow. I've always built chaos dread and never used the standard sarcophagi, mine have always had a more head like part at the front so I've always went for a slightly different take where they move a little more like humans. I totally see where you're coming from though and fully believe you'll make it work. Like I say will be watching this closely. I haven't seen the Dreadnought Assault dlc so will have to check that out

 

I bought it back in the day, but never found a single active game. I studied a bunch of YouTube vids, though. That game was stellar for making space marines move and fight the way I imagine they would, and their dread was just as clunky and brutally effective and I wanted it to be as well. 

[Biohazard]

I was the same, bought the dlc but could never get a game. Never thought to check YouTube actually, although I often watch the Dawn of War cinematics.

[JeffTibbetts]

Yeah, it's worth watching a few games just to give a little insight into what might be one of the strangest walker concepts ever produced. I personally like dreads, but I sometimes wonder who thought that was the best design for a big stompy mech? They're just so awkward. Maybe they literally looked at mausoleums, and then popped stubby little legs under them and slapped a big gun on each side. How bizarre? 

[Disruptor_fe404]

Today I learned that there's a dreadnought kit out there with posed legs...

 

Watching this thread now. Was going to mention that the front of the arms would have less clearance because of the way you've changed the joint, but it looks like you've accounted for it already!

 

Most important question though: Eagle Eyes dreadnought, or other?

[JeffTibbetts]

Eagle Eyes, of course. My one and only Astartes love. My affection for the Raven Guard is akin to thinking my in-laws are pretty cool for producing such a fine specimen.

[JeffTibbetts]

Okay. A little more work done. I've got the legs glued and the underslung weapons magnetized. Now you can see the pose without my hand in the way. Have a look.

You may have noticed the magnet nipples as well? Those are for the frag launchers. I assembled the Hunter Killer missiles but I haven't magnetized them yet. The weapons are magnetized under the arm itself and also where the cable attaches. It makes it much more stable and solid. I've got all three arms (right arm with CC, left arm with hammer and left arm with chainfist) magnetized already. I still have to do the two heavy flamers. Right now there's enough clearance with the hoses, but I want to bend the long hoses anyway to get a better sense of movement. Trying to decide if it's worth messing with a hot salt dip or just bending them by hand. I don't want a very drastic curve, just enough to get a sense of centrifugal force pushing them to the outside.

I got the thigh cables to stretch over to where they need to be, but they still need a little cleaning up.

I've also been blocking out the detail for the bottom of the raised foot. I plan to add a bit of texture and even some anchor piston things like the actual Ironclad feet have on them.

I really dig these Space Wolf feet, even though I have no clue why they look the way they do. To me, those are perfect bird feet.

Thoughts and comments?

[Disruptor_fe404]

You're really selling me on the Space Wolf Venerable, those are cool legs.

 

I don't need more dreadnoughts, damn it!

[JeffTibbetts]

You're really selling me on the Space Wolf Venerable, those are cool legs.

 

I don't need more dreadnoughts, damn it!

 

Psh. I just bought the legs off eBay. The forward leg is nice, but I'm digging the feet, myself. 

[JeffTibbetts]

Hey all! Lots of progress. I'll hop right in with the Ironcladding of the feet. On the Ironclad feet, there are these cool piston anchor things. I wanted to use the Space Wolf feet, but I liked this little detail so I decided to see if I could reproduce it.

I started by drilling a little space for them, then used three different sizes of plastic rod to create the shape.

And I also detailed the bottom of the foot that would be raised.

I guess I took this pic before I cleaned it up and added a little texture to the bottom plates, for gripping. This foot's pistons are in the stowed position, with the spike up inside the tubes. You'll notice the bottom rings aren't centered very well, because I wasn't going to add the bottom piece. When I did get to it, they looked better moved in just slightly. The aquila is from the banner pole on the dread, filed down flat on one side.

Here's what it looks like with primer. You can see the texture lines scored into the plasticard now.

The pistons on the other foot are deployed, leaving a hole in the top of the tube instead. These are really hard to see right now. Sorry.

And I'll also drop some pics of the whole thing as it is right now. You can see I've added some things to add a sense of direction to the movement, like turning the spotlight and streaming purity seal and pennant. I can't get over the fact that the spotlight looks like a Tau head. I guess I have Tau on the mind.

I'll toss in one last pic, showing that I've primed the three main arms. I don't think I'll be using the frag launchers, missiles, or Hurricane bolter anytime soon, so I'm not bothering to paint them quite yet. This might be silly, but I really want to get it done before the end of the month.

Thoughts? I'll do a little mold line cleanup before I add the base paint layer.

[Crizza]

I really like that thing :)
But, if your dreadnought is in the act of swatting an enemy aside, shouldn't the upper body have turned into the swing?

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks. And yeah, if he were swatting. In my head, he's shouldering into a Hammer of Wrath charge. That or his right arm is coming in for a roundhouse punch. Or both. :P 

[JeffTibbetts]

I've got some base paint down on this guy for reals. A couple thin coats of Waaagh! Flesh for a good, strong green base:

I then added Agrax washes where needed to add some depth. Once that dried I laid down some very thinned-down Abaddon Black just to start blocking things out. I got a bit bored with that, so I did a little bronze real quick for fun. I dropped the first bronze base, then washed it with Coelia Greenshade to start.

Nothing very fancy to start, but I'm excited because this will be the first vehicle I've painted since switching colors. Note the scouts in the background with my old colors. Much brighter green.

I'm trying to put off doing the metal, since there's just so much of it on this guy. It'll be hard to get around all the nooks and crannies, but I can't really complain because I could have painted in sub assemblies if I wanted to make my life easier. I was just so excited to get his pose right, I couldn't help myself! I really, really, should have at least left the shins off.

[Dosjetka]

I'm liking the more muted green. The pose of the Dreadnought though... Yeah, not a fan.

[JeffTibbetts]

Haha! Thanks for your honesty. :D

 

Can I ask why or what you might suggest I do differently next time? He's pretty well set right now since he's glued, but I may do others in the future.

 

I'll be the first to admit it's not terribly easy to convey the sort of movement want it to, but I also maintain it's better than stock.

[Dosjetka]

The leg pose is fine (though almost too dynamic), but the arms bother me. It looks like he's going for the pot of honey before anyone else gets to it.

 

Actually, what I think bothers me is that you're trying to make the Dreadnought as poseable as a Contemptor. And because the Contemptor has a basic humanoïd structure, it works. This Dreadnought, however, doesn't have that same structure and articulation.

 

Not sure if I'm being any more clear than before?

[JeffTibbetts]

Ah, yeah that makes good sense. Unfortunately I just can't do much with the arms. They're so long, and the under slung weapons' tubes make it worse, that I don't have much choice at all. They're not fixed at any rate, but there's only a little range of motion. Posing at the elbows looked nigh impossible with this kit. It basically has the proportions of a gorilla.

[Jolemai]

No bird's nest complete with eggs? /unsubscribe.

 

(Seriously though, looking forward to the end result!)