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I'm a huge fan of Grey Knight and happy to see a new codex. One of the biggest disappointment was the release of the DreadKnight model. to me and many other 40k fans believes its a rip off Ripey's Loader, from Aliens and the Mech suit from the Matrix 3. Plus the suit doesn't fit with the Grey Knight fluff, I thought it would be at least a powerful deamon that was trapped inside either Alpha Psyker, or a Dreadnought that is or was a Psyker.....but we get this instead. So, I decide to convert my own model by using both a Trygon and Chaos Soul Grinder. It''s not finish yet, but its getting there. I hope that ya'lls enjoy.

That's certainly an interesting idea!

That looks like exactly what it is: A Soulgrinder stuck on top of a Trygon. The styles don't mesh whatsoever, and it looks hobbled together. The claw coming out under the arm is probably the worst offender here.

I'm not a huge fan of the Dreadknight either, but I can't say I like your conversion at all. Look into some of the conversions people do for Defilers into Knight Titans. They're sort of prevalent on Dakka and look far, far better.

@ Brother SRM Thanks for the encouragement, but like iit states it not finish yet and i dont like the Knight Titan. Why dont you come up with a better model, since you do commision work

I don't hate the' trapped daemon' idea at all, but yes the model's going to need a lot of new detail to make it look more like a trapped daemon under GK control. Wrap it in chains perhaps, even give it a GK 'handler' bravely riding its back? The hardest part will be reducing the niddy look of the tail. I'd also chop some of the waist away to make it better match the Dreadknight's official height.

And how will you represent the shooty weapons?

mrblacksunshine_1978 wrote:@ Brother SRM Thanks for the encouragement, but like iit states it not finish yet and i dont like the Knight Titan. Why dont you come up with a better model, since you do commision work

No need to get so 'testy'.

I like the basic idea, but the lower defiler arm doesn't gel with the rest, I think it needs to have a bulkier connection point/shoulder. Right now, it really does look like it was placed on without much thought.

But it's got promise.

I clicked on the thread and I'm sorry but I facepalmed pretty hard. You basically said you don't like the model and came up with something COMPLETELY different. It's like saying "I hate bananas, that's why I drink coffee"

@ Brother SRM Thanks for the encouragement, but like iit states it not finish yet and i dont like the Knight Titan. Why dont you come up with a better model, since you do commision work

Its in the Painting & Modeling section, so you can expect C&C for the good and the bad.
If you only want positive comments, then why show it?

I do have to agree with him though.
While it may be WiP, the concept of it really doesent seem to work all that well.
The soul grinder works as it is simply because it has the whole living mech feel to it.

You now throwing in a biological element to it on top of both of those, without mixing it in.
So it simply looks like a trygon with a soulgrinder ontop of it.
Ill also second the comment that the lower claw really does look out of place.
You might be better off having it higher up on him (maybe the sword arms shoulder?)
As it is it seems to set the balance off alot and add bulk to an otherwise thin area.



So, my full suggestions:

*Move claw up higher to fit in with the top set.
*Add in a mechanical element to the new lower section (hoses, cables, pistons etc)
*With the finishing just make sure you get a nice transition between the 2 section.
*Might be worth making the carapace sections more mechanical to help fit in more.

I think thats about it.

Update Pictures 3/28 Still WIP

You are goign to start running into some issues with that model not being able to support itself if you fill out the gun arm enough to make the proportions correct. While I applaud conversions I think that perhaps this one needs more small detail work as opposed to addition of significant mass.

Pinning will solve this issue for you.

Actually I think the best solution would be to place the entire model in acetone overnight. Should get the proportions about right.

Or you can take that comment, turn it sideways, and shove it.

Anyways, I like the concept. I just think there should be a lot more green stuff work, tubing pipes, and maybe complementary nid pieces in the bottom which have better gradiation and bring some uniformity to the model.

The stickler here is the binding on the lower portion. Fix that, add some guns, smooth the 'mis-match' out and you have a cool model.

I like the idea that you came up with for your conversion but i think the execution is done to poorly, as stated before it just looks like a soulgrinder squashed on top of a trigon.

How you have placed the cannons on the one arm looks...... wonky and unstable at best. And yes i realize your still working on it but maybe try morphing the weaponry out of its arms to show more of that trapped deamon look (and more chains or a rider as sugested by Clang) and try meshing the transition of trygon to soulgrinder where the two areas meet.

Personly i like the dread knight model, but it needs tweaking itself.

And dont bother asking me to try to make/ convert a better idea then yours, since i currently have a lack of work.

edit: scraped a coment about where the defiler arm was since i looked over the pic again and saw you mooved it to the back, looks good where it is now

I will smash that model if you ever put it on the table during one of our games! lol JK man, its a cool idea but its a little tall.

Since I don't recall seeing this specific issue mentioned, yet: While the trygon body trimmed back a bit could make a badass tail for something this size, I can't help but think it's a bit too weedy to convincingly support that massive body, let alone the gigantic hunks of steel slapped onto it.

Honestly, it's not surprising that people are calling the concept ill conceived (some more constructively than others). Just looking back at your original post, this model doesn't even resemble the visions for the model that you claimed to have, not to mention the issues of scale and composition.

At this point, I'd either cut my losses and save the parts or go balls to the wall and expand the hell out of it, having abandoned any pretense of calling it a Dreadknight. If you've got the parts to spare, I'd take the latter option, tweak the composition a bit, and make yourself an epic Greater Demon kind of unit for apocalypse, or something.

Yeah the middle part of the body where the Trygon and Soulgrinder meets, is going to be work on tomorrow. Add more greenstuff, plus putting more wiring to connect the two together. On the center of the chest, I going to add the Imperial seal, plus going to make some scrolls, that going to run all the way to the base.

oadie wrote:[...]people are calling the concept ill conceived (some more constructively than others).

Haha, that's a nice way of putting it

I suggest toning down the bulkiness where possible. Maybe mount the guns coming out the front of the body rather than on an appendage, a la obliterator style. Angle the arms so they're more of a fists at the side look than a flailing punches look (as in ready to throw an uppercut instead of a hook). I think this thing could look really cool if it was taken in a bit on the sides. Also Jackal makes good suggestions about streamlining the mechanical look.

As for fitting into the fluff... not sure how grey knights and demons could get along. I like the chains idea. Maybe escorted by a group of powerful psykers too? Or instead of a true demon it could be a manifestation of repentent sinners' souls (along the lines of a penitent engine)?

Anyway, if you like it roll with it and ignore the negative feedback. I remember my tau stealth-to-crisis project got relatively poor feedback on here and after tweaking it a little I ended up with something I personally really liked regardless.

I'm confused. You take a soulgrinder and put it on top of a trygon. How does this make it fit in a Grey Knights army?

Are you sure you aren't trying to make a Daemons army?

Personally, I think it has great potential. I don't know any grey knight fluff, but it looks like a cool model.
I think the spacing is the only problem. I think the two Defiler claws sticking out of its side make it look overbalanced, I think you should move the upper one to the same position as the lower one, on the opposite side.
Either that, or use some other sort of arm. Or remove them completely.
Other than that, keep up the good work!

You're making Matt Ward cry because HE didn't come up with the idea of having Grey Knights ally with daemons to fight the Tyranids. As has been stated, your idea of a daemonicaly possed dreadnought is sound and interesting. However, I'd think if any inquisitor saw Grey Knights fielding a soul grinder they'd order exterminatus on Titan pretty much immediatly.

And I don't know why people are hating on the Dreadknight so much. It's an awesome model, and very in character for the Tau to have somthing like that. Oh... did you say it was a MARINE mech? ...

Be careful criticizing, or else the poster will send you a scathing PM, I'm not sure what kind of comments he wants if he isn't looking for the truth.

How on earth does putting a soul grinder on top of a trygon tail with random mechanical dreadnought arms sticking out of random places sound like a dreadknight?

Maybe my acetone comment was too harsh, but I stick by it, starting all over wouldn't be a bad idea at this point. Maybe you could even explain what the rest of your grey knight army is. Are you taking daemon torsos and mounting it on raveners for your terminators? Gargoyles and Horrors as your Interceptors? Harradan and Greater daemon as your Thunderhawk? Maybe if we knew your intentions for the rest of your army, this lackluster conversion would make more sense? I doubt it, but you could try.

wileythenord wrote:Be careful criticizing, or else the poster will send you a scathing PM, I'm not sure what kind of comments he wants if he isn't looking for the truth.

How on earth does putting a soul grinder on top of a trygon tail with random mechanical dreadnought arms sticking out of random places sound like a dreadknight?

Maybe my acetone comment was too harsh, but I stick by it, starting all over wouldn't be a bad idea at this point. Maybe you could even explain what the rest of your grey knight army is. Are you taking daemon torsos and mounting it on raveners for your terminators? Gargoyles and Horrors as your Interceptors? Harradan and Greater daemon as your Thunderhawk? Maybe if we knew your intentions for the rest of your army, this lackluster conversion would make more sense? I doubt it, but you could try.

I'd agree, I'd also refrain from (if the OP did) sending PM's to users regarding their comments unless the subject is to get additional details. When you post anything on the web, especially on a painting & modelling forum, your original intent was feedback. Whether or not you like what feedback you get is irrelevant, it's all useful (even acetone comments) to determine what people think of a conversion. As a whole I'd say most of DakkaDakka's forums/comments are a bit too positive for the sake of politeness, and that posters would glean more useful info if the critiques were a tad more realistic. (That is just my opinion)

To the OP's content, here's my view of it:

Overall
The conversion comes off poorly thought out and just "slapped what I had laying around together". This may not have been the intent, but it's an important lesson about planning conversion out fully before beginning, certainly when dealing with large ones (which can get out of hand in a hurry) and expensive ones (defiler + trygon = ~$100?) because there's a lot more detail that can go "wrong" and end up off, ruining the whole project. The original concept I think is a bit flawed, rather than a grey knight exosuit of doom, you tossed together a trygon and defiler? There are plenty of ways to convert a custom one, but this strikes me as being nothing like the original, in concept or appearance. The GK army has daemonhosts, they're in the warband section. A sized down version of this using raveners/other bits could make interesting models for daemonhosts, but probably not for a dreadknight.

Specifics
-The defiler to trygon joint is gaping, and even if greenstuffed, won't transition correctly. You're going to need to sand or file things down and sculpt a musculature that connects the two so they flow into each other. If you just add greenstuff + cables, it's still going to come off to a viewer as "he put half a defiler on have a trygon". In order for the "daemonhost" feel to work, you need it to be seamless.

-The defiler arms are oversized for this, considering looking into dread or deffdread/kan arms. 40k is all out of proportion, but this is a real case of the torso being very small compared to the size of the limbs.

-The cannon is just some tubes put together and slapped onto an arm, making the arm appear more out of proportion. Which gun are you trying to model? If it's the gatling psilencer, you need a gatling setup to make it recognizable (think minigun in appearance, you could use the punisher cannon from the Leman Russ Demolisher kit). If you're going for the heavy psycannon, it shoots a 1 shot blast template, meaning one large barrel is going to make more visual sense. Also, barrels need something behind them, firing mechanisms, breaches, etc. Just tubes make someone look and go "well that would never work!". If you want an organic feel, greenstuff some pulsing muscle structure behind it with some glowing plasma-gun esque ribbing on parts.

-Scale. If you plan on using this in game, you need to get the scale of the model roughly right. I can't tell from the photo, but it appears it may be far too tall (which is saying something). Check by measuring a dreadknight, are your height/width on this roughly the same as a dreadknight? If it is, you're good to go.
Edit: I went up and noticed you had a scale pic, it is indeed far too tall for the model you're trying to represent

All of this being said, my personal opinion I'm afraid is that you may just want to scrap this due to the (in my mind) inherent conceptual flaws that underly the whole kit and kaboodle. That, or do as an above poster said and forget about the dreadknight, and just make this some epic daemon for apoc, or a centerpiece (if finished nicely) for a display board to have your guys fighting.

My .02, take it for what it's worth!

soooo You don't like the DreadKnight, a marine on a Exosuit
Okay that is fine
as a replacement you mashed my Soul Grinder on a Trygon and call it a daemon bound to a psyker dreadnought...

How did you get that conclusion?

I think with so much going on from the waist up, something needs to be done to bulk up the lower body and tail. A layer of shaped armor plates (that resemble the defiler parts) would go a long way to unifying the whole thing.

wileythenord wrote:Be careful criticizing, or else the poster will send you a scathing PM, I'm not sure what kind of comments he wants if he isn't looking for the truth.

There's a difference between constructive criticism and being a useless troll. I try to keep my nose out of threads where I can't be helpful, perhaps you should do the same next time.

Well done you decided that a dreadkngith shoudl be oh i don't know somethign a preschool kid smashed together. nice work there on wasting so much of your time making nothing. What is wrong with the Dreadkngiht model? Its not been made by a toddler? Its a model with so much detail on i just can't wait o paint mine up. Its massive the sword is not as big as my nemisis force weapon buts its big enough. I don't see how you can say i don't like that model so i will make something competely different that my 1 year old son could make in 2 minutes.
I think the new dreadknight model is good i see no problems with it. Well done for doing... well what did you do?

Brother SRM wrote:That looks like exactly what it is: A Soulgrinder stuck on top of a Trygon. The styles don't mesh whatsoever, and it looks hobbled together. The claw coming out under the arm is probably the worst offender here.

I'm not a huge fan of the Dreadknight either, but I can't say I like your conversion at all. Look into some of the conversions people do for Defilers into Knight Titans. They're sort of prevalent on Dakka and look far, far better.

True. Even if most of the comments here are a little harsh, there's definitely room for improvement. I'm finding the whole concept a little too different to be considered a dreadknight anyway.

Personally, I would start with the venerable dread kit + the dreadknight. From a few early sketches you could decide if you needed any other kits.

Bit simple, but I think a taller dreadnought with a modified sarcophagus and arms wouldn't be a bad place to start.

not a fan of it having the tail

Soooooooo, you spilled some superglue into your bits box and this is what came out?

In the end, it's your stuff so you do what you want.

I get the impression that you came up with something you thought was really cool and wanted to share with the community. Fine. Expecting praise for work that's arguably worse than the norm probably wasn't the most realistic thing in the world. Sending PM's to people who post criticism in your thread is just silly and won't win you many friends.

On the P&M forums we criticize stuff. It's why most people post here. Serious hobbiests want the flaws in their work pointed out so they can make corrections and end up with the project being better when done. If this isn't what you want, you'd should probably reconsider making P&M threads.

Breotan wrote:In the end, it's your stuff so you do what you want.

I get the impression that you came up with something you thought was really cool and wanted to share with the community. Fine. Expecting praise for work that's arguably worse than the norm probably wasn't the most realistic thing in the world. Sending PM's to people who post criticism in your thread is just silly and won't win you many friends.

On the P&M forums we criticize stuff. It's why most people post here. Serious hobbiests want the flaws in their work pointed out so they can make corrections and end up with the project being better when done. If this isn't what you want, you'd should probably reconsider making P&M threads.

First the Grey Knight does work will Daeomic Weapons, they also use Daemon Host, which are Alpha Psyker that Daemon has taking over. Now if I PM someone because of thier Stupid comment is up to me and the adult way of handling instead of posted it on this site. Serious hobbiest comments I dont mind, but when you put something stupid like add some acetone, your going to get a PM say WTF your problem. It still a WIP, I'm planning to do more work on it.


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wileythenord wrote:Be careful criticizing, or else the poster will send you a scathing PM, I'm not sure what kind of comments he wants if he isn't looking for the truth.

How on earth does putting a soul grinder on top of a trygon tail with random mechanical dreadnought arms sticking out of random places sound like a dreadknight?

Maybe my acetone comment was too harsh, but I stick by it, starting all over wouldn't be a bad idea at this point. Maybe you could even explain what the rest of your grey knight army is. Are you taking daemon torsos and mounting it on raveners for your terminators? Gargoyles and Horrors as your Interceptors? Harradan and Greater daemon as your Thunderhawk? Maybe if we knew your intentions for the rest of your army, this lackluster conversion would make more sense? I doubt it, but you could try.

What I want are SEROIUS HOBBYIST ADULT COMMENTS, NOT ONE LINE PUNCH. Grow up