Greetin'z ladz!

After I read my local GW Bunker's copy of the Blood Angel codex, I knew that with the fluff of my own chapter, the Storm Hawks (or Storm Eagles, I keep going back and forth), that I had to have a Librarian Dreadnought in my army. This little blog will go through the steps I'm taking to make mine, and maybe give some other Librarian Dreadnought players some ideas on how to make theirs.

The first part required the proper kit - or kits PLURAL in this case. The Librarian Dread is a Furioso stlye Dreadnought, which means it's got 2 close combat arms. One is a force weapon, the other is a Dreadnought CCW. So, since I wanted this whole thing to be as much plastic as possible, I used the Ironclad Dread for it's arms, and the new Venerable Dread for the rest of model.

The Librarian Dread also has a Psychic Hood, so that had to be added on. I could have just gone with the existing look featured on the Venerable Dread's box art, but it didn't feel like it was a psychic hood really, even if I was to carve it up a bit, and I also felt that I was copping out a bit on such an important model to my army.

So that meant I had to (gulp) carve up my new kit. So the following pics will show some of what I did...




Automatically Appended Next Post:
So since I am not sure how to get my text to show up under each pic properly, I'll just have to do it this way...

Pic 1 (top): the psychic hood is just done from a standard marine shoulder pad, carved out on the sides. The back section of the Ven Dread's sarcophagus plate had to be carved out quite a bit to accommodate the psychic hood, as it has to sit far enough back to give room for the head. If you look, you can see I carved out too much and went too deep, but that actually worked out well later...

Pic 2 (middle): a squared off section had to be carved into the top plate of the Ven Dread to let the psychic hood sit back far enough. I made a squared off design so that it would look like it was designed to hold the hood back there.

Pic 3 (bottom): shows a head from the Dark Angel upgrade sprue, with the DA iconography filed off the forehead. The plastic tubes go down and back into the hole that was carved underneath the psychic hood.

i will be first to say that you are off to a great start! can't wait to see more!

Pic 4: shows all the parts so far, with the sarcophagus plate's arch trimmed off to allow for the psychic hood.

Pic 5: Here's the torso all assembled, with the standard power cables that run to a power armored Librarian incorporated into the Dread's design. The cables actually help fill some space left from the removal of the arch, and I think they help add to the feel of the Dread as a Librarian, since those power cables are such an integral part of the Librarian look. It also makes it a little more different from any other dreads that you may have, so that's good too!

Pic 6: this shot shows underneath the torso and sarcophagus, illustrating where the power cables end. I've puttied up the ends here (not pictured) so the cables feel like they are going back into the body of the dread and not just ending there.

kuku - thanks man! I'm adding more even now...

Okay, so the next part is a pretty big jump, since I just burned through working on the arms tonight! There's nothing too complicated here though.

Pics 7, 8, and 9: I've got the Libby Dread temporarily assembled so I can figure out a pose. For some weird reason he's actually just balancing as you see him in the pics - there's no glue or blue-tac holding him together!

I was thinking about having him be in a running position, like my Silver Skulls Dreadnought is, but after I trial swapped the Libby Dread's arms onto the Silver Skull Dread's running torso, I saw I really didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I really liked the sense that this Librarian Dread is more of a leader, and not just a weapon to go barreling at the enemy with no thoughts for the overall plan. So leaving him standing heroically, maybe charging up some crazy HAD-Do-Ken! fireball power in his massive dreadnought power fist...

The arms, as I mentioned, are both from the Ironclad dread. The Ironclad's chainfist makes a great clasp for the force weapon's blade, but the chainfist is supposed to go on the left arm. I wanted to use the Ven Dread's articulated fist on this project, and that's a left hand.

I used the Ironclad's right arm to hold the chainfist, but I carved the lower arm down as far as I could and still have the arm keep its structure intact. The force weapon's blade was going to be a bit longer than the chainfists' teeth, so I had to lose some length someplace or the right arm would feel larger than the left.

The Ironclad's left arm accepted the articulated power fist easily enough, just needed a little sanding to make sure both surfaces were flat and it needed to be held in place for a bit for the glue to dry. There's no peg or anything on the left arm for the fist to rest itself on, it's just glue on the flat surfaces.

The force weapon was cut from plastic card, and I cut a hawk-beak motif into it, similar to the ones on the wing banners on the Dread's back.

The wing banners come from the Dark Angel Ravenwing sprue, and look more eagle or hawk to me than a raven, so they are a perfect way to Bling Up the dread a bit. I plan on giving the Dread the Wings of Sanguinius power, that basically lets the psychic power-caster move as if equipped with a jump pack (to the best of my recollection), so giving him the wing banners felt pretty appropriate too.

The legplates are from the Dark Angel upgrade sprue. I plan on puttying up my Storm Hawks logo on the one legplate where the Dark Angel sword has been removed.

So, next steps:

more Bling! I want to add a book to him someplace, seems fitting that he would have one strapped to him. I'm thinking it would be best as a low banner on top of him. The book I have is a bit too big for his arm, though maybe making a smaller one for the arms would be good too. I have some scrolls from the Terminator sets that will be hanging from various places on the chassis as well. I might add a tabard cloth to his legs as well.

fixing - I have to re-putty one of the psychic hood head connections (I struggled to get that head into the sarcophagus - make sure you put your Dread's helmet in first, not last, like I did!) that popped off. Also have to clean up the force weapon bladess join to the rest of the weapon, and add some filigree work to the sides of the blade itself.

battle damage - not too much, but I don't want him pristine either - this guy has to look like he's been around a while!

So I'll try to post some more in a couple days...

Cool model, and a great take on the concept!

Wow, that looks awesome. Can't wait for more.

I may have to borrow this idea as I've been thinking of ways to do a Librarian Dread. And my base was combining the new ven kit with the Iron Clad, and I just happened to have ordered one of each last week! Very good work so far, can't wait to see how this turns out.

The rules are awesome, but this model outshines them.

Way to start, it looks promising.

Really nice conversion and kudos on the Nick-Nack avatar too!

LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!!

you've gone and made me buy 2 dreadnoughts now - just to make a kickass librarian dreadnought.

and i don't even collect space marines. argh!

Vlad

Very nice mate. The new ven dread is such a fine kit too.

If a Terminator armoured Librarian wasen't enough.. nooo, GW HAD to make a Dreadnought Librarian.. Next up will probably be a Dreadnought Chaplain.. no wait, FW did one of those.. hey, perhaps there will be an Apocalypse formation consisting of only Dreadnoughts and Termies!

Nice take on the Dreadnought Librarian, though.. I like the pose, as if he was considering what to do next..
"Ahh, let's see.. Zapping the enemy, or smoke 'em up close.."

FerrumIgnatus wrote:If a Terminator armoured Librarian wasen't enough.. nooo, GW HAD to make a Dreadnought Librarian.. Next up will probably be a Dreadnought Chaplain.. no wait, FW did one of those.. hey, perhaps there will be an Apocalypse formation consisting of only Dreadnoughts and Termies!

There already is. There's a first company Datasheet in Reload.

There's also the Ancients Assault Force in IA: Apoc. 1 Techmarine and 4+ Dreads that give your army Flank March.

Very nice so far, you can definitely distinguish it from a regular Dread (or Ven Dread).

I doubt I'll be using any Librarian Dreads in my BA (don't like the idea behind it, to be honest), but this is a great idea for anyone planning to add them.

Now I just need to figure out how to add a Venerable Dreadnought kit into my BA... (don't think regular Venerables exist in the Codex?). Maybe I'll just use it as a normal Dread.

Commissar - Thanks, it's going to be interesting to see exactly where this goes.

Tim the Biovore - I'll try to update this tonight. Still playing with the pose some as well...

Thanatos - Borrow away! That's what this is here for. I figure I've gleaned so many great ideas from Dakka and online forums in general that I would give backa tiny bit - if not with something good then at least with a step by step of how NOT to do something so everyone can avoid my mistakes...

Sanctjud - Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing how one performs on the tabletop.

filbert - Thank you sir. I am not sure that's Herve Villachez as Nick-Nack or not - I saw him in some whacked-out video and his scene cracked me up, so I had to make him my avatar...

Vlad - I think you may have a problem with plastic crack addiction... Should we all start an intervention? Making a Libby Dread without an army to go along with it... that's a sure sign you need help.

Migs - thanks! Yeah, I was really impressed with the kit. So many parts extra it's staggering. I plan on using several bitz from that kit just to make my other unfinished Dreads a bit more different from each other.

Ferrum - Cool, I wanted to have it feel like there was some thought going on in that psychic little head of his.

Platuan - I'll have to look into that.

Neith - great, that's what I wanted to hear. As long as players at least get an inkling that this Dread is something a bit different than just a Venerable Dread then I've done my job. I do think that BA armies can have Venerable Dreads, they count as an Elites choice. Regular Dreads count as Heavy Support.

That's really good- I especially like the pose. It's dynamic, but without looking ridiculous (personally I think dreadnoughts can easily be made ridiculous when posed with the close combat weapon/fist, but I think you pulled it off very well)

Dread looks rather cool.

Lovely stuff, he really looks ace. I like the fairly striped down look he has right now, though agreed that a book someplace - left shoulder armor? - would be appropriate.

- Salvage

all types of awesome.

using the shoulder pad as a base for the psychic hood is a really good idea

GrimTeef wrote:Vlad - I think you may have a problem with plastic crack addiction... Should we all start an intervention? Making a Libby Dread without an army to go along with it... that's a sure sign you need help.

I've been going to group therapy - it's been helping a lot, however, I seem to wake up with an empty wallet the morning after I'm paid...

i blame dakka and it's threads of temptation!

Vlad

I think this is pretty much made of awesome !

However I would have looved to see a dreadnaught staff that was held in the hand, I think that would have had great potential. either way it's still awesome, good job.

Looking forward to more from you my good sir.

Thats awsome!

Rutteger1- I've changed the pose a slight bit, facing him the other way because of the wind direction that's apparent on the model now. Hopefully the pose still works as well.

Tainted - thanks man!

Boss Salvage - He's getting more blinged up, but not too much more. I wanted to emphasize the wind of psychic forces that he is summoning, so most of his extra accessorizing accentuates that. Thoughts? I've made a small book for his left shoulder, hopefully that will dry and go on there in a few days.

Shotgun - thanks! I'm trying for all 31 flavors of Awesome on this one. The psychic hood from the shoulder plate wasn't my idea, I must admit - I learned that from here, I think. Was that Migsula's doing? I can't recall now.

Vlad -glad you're getting the help you need. Have someone watch your wallet though. It's like leaving your car keys at the door of a party...

Wolf - Thanks! I'm not sure of a staff for him - I wouldn't think that Dreadnoughts, even Librarians with articulated power fists, would really be able to handle a weapon in that hand too easily. I'd thought about it too, like putting a force axe in there, but it felt a little too "Warmachine" (not that that is a bad thing, just not the feel I wanted).

Master Llyons - thanks!

Now on to new pics.

You can see I've added some extra things to him - scroll cases, the tabard/loincloth some scrolls on the right shoulder, as well as some banners and purity seals. I wanted him to feel like to was standing on the edge of the rise, channeling his power with the wind rushing in to him. Hopefully it gives him some movement without actually having him running or leaping anyplace.

I've added my chapter symbol on the leg plate, as well as trimming and moving the papers of the purity seal to reinforce the wind direction.

The last pic should show a close up of the force weapon's filigree work. It's still drying, so I hope to clean it up once it cures.

I'll be adding a small book to his left shoulder, as well as the smoke launchers and searchlight. I don't think I'll be adding a banner since that would ruin the winged silhouette that he has now.

Just a little more work and I'd say he'll be ready for paint pretty soon.

Thoughts?

He looks sweet

wow a Librarian Dreadnought ....looks sweet
LOL that would be amazing....! an ALL DREADNOUGHT ARMY!!!! >:]
well it would be posible correct? you have the FW Chap. dread, and now a Librarian Dreadnought, so then you would just use regular dreads to be the troops!
that would be one EPIC army...or at least an apoc. battle formation.....

I really like the detailing on the weapon, very interested to see how you paint that up.

inspiring

Very niced detailing, it's really brining the model to life! With a pose like that, have you considered trying to add a crackling ball of energy to his power fist? A bit like Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars tends to do?

Well I'm inspired!

Karl - Thanks!

WarPetrie - yeah, you almost can run a whole Dread army with the Blood Angels codex. Just need a single HQ infantry model, then 25 Death Company in order to access the 5 Death Company Dreads for your Troops choices. Then you can fill in your Elite and Heavy Support choices with different flavors of Dreadnought. You wouldn't be able to claim objectives, but it would be a fun army to play!

Crimson - Thanks, I'm considering painting it like my Master Librarian model in the gallery. Like a turquoise color with bronze or gold filigree work.

1-i - thanks!

Commissar - that's not a bad idea... I wonder if I could pull it off convincingly enough. Lightning isa tough element to show in sculpture... I was thinking of having his hand glowing from within, though, so it might work. Might have to do a computer paint-over on a pic and see how it looks.

Nurglitch - thanks! Now get cracking with that inspiration!

Okay, got some more work done on him. Doesn't look like much, but every bling counts. Finished the filigree on his force weapon's other side. Also put the small tome on his left shoulder and tied it down. Hopefully that looks convincing enough. I also added another Chapter badge onto his left sarcophagus front plate, but I don't have a good shot of that right now. Then I added the searchlight and smoke launchers.

Also in this new pic you can see the force weapon arm has a bit of wire and putty filling the hole - I thought his pose would look more dynamic if this arm wasn't so staticly straight up and down. When the putty in the hole dries I plan on sticking the wire into the dread's shoulder and posing it around a bit, then filling the gap with some cabling and such. Should prove more dramatic that the way he was previously.

Thoughts? Thanks for all your comments so far, they keep me going!

More books and scrolls

or a card catalog in its leg armor, that would be rich

That's awesome can't wait to see more

I feel the book really adds to the librarian feel, no way to crit that. Is the book his 'rank badge'? I know in the old SM codices, each librarian class had a differrent symbol: hood, book, horned skull, etc...

As for the glowing orb: I've seen eldar minis where the player went either for a small ball (painted black with lightning over it), ligthning made from wire, and transparant balls with lightning painted on top; hope that helps!

great work, keep it up!

How about greenstuffing some lightning (with a thin paperclip skeleton) to represent some psychic powers around the hood, blade and fist?

Perhaps even add another small book above the horned skull on its left armour plate as well?

i like it exept the skull 0n his right shoulder looks like it has 2 crossoints for ears 0_o

Papaskittels wrote:i like it exept the skull 0n his right shoulder looks like it has 2 crossoints for ears 0_o

thats the librarians "logo"

They are probably french

Hey again all. Managed to get some more work done on the Libby Dread, and I think he's pretty much set as far as the conversion goes.

I got a little sick of seeing the same plastic dread base on all my dreads, so I decide to customize this one a bit more than normal. I used the base of my Storm Hawks Librarian as inspiration, so there would be a more cohesive theme to the leadership models in the army. Hopefully it works as well as I hope it will when painted!

Here's the final pics of the conversion. He'll be going under the brush pretty soon. I want to get some more work done on my Ork Lootas, but when I tire of them I'll be painting this guy and updating the blog here as well.

Enough blabberin', on to the pics...

Cool looks good
when you paint it would the whole modle be blue like reg libarians? or would you have the knee pads and sholders or somethin like that blue?

looking good; I like the flow of all the pennants, it really adds some movement to the model.

Top notch work. The Dread has been one of my favorite marine models and you have definitely raised it to a new level.

Looking really good i like how you have all the banners and such all flowing the same direction i can just imagine this chap (do you call a dread a chap?) standing on some rocky out crop surveying the battle to come.

The only thing is i get the impression that there should be something in the power fist/hand

He looks epic, I want one sooo bad now

coming along very nicely, cant wait to see some paint hit it.

Excellent work! Allow me to ask, does he not have any ballistic weapons?

Very cool! Love the pose!

Oi again...

WarPetie - I'm thinking that he's going to be my regular chapter color (kinda shadow grey) with some white and the shoulders as the regal blue color for Librarians.

Commissar - thanks, I wanted it to feel like there was some movement there, even though he's clearly standing still.

cuscus - thanks man, I love the Dread models as well. All flavors.

TaintedMess - I've put the new pic below, he's got the (Star Wars) Emperor's Lightning Powers thing going on. Thoughts?

Karl - get crackin'! You've got one way to make a Librarian Dread outlined right here!

Hits - once this last question gets answered, he'll get hit with some paint...

Million - that's a dang good question, one I couldn't remember from the Blood Angels codex. I think he might have a Storm Bolter on the power fist hand, but I'm not gluing that on until I'm positive.

'Eadbreaka - thanks!

One more unpainted pic for your perusal. I've added wire to the fist that will represent the dread flexing his psychic abilites. Not sure on how it feels or looks yet. With some source lighting on the fist and the arcs of energy, it might look pretty decent. Be a pain to paint that way, though.

So, thoughts on the lightning? Yea or Nay?

Wow again. On the lightning, perhaps a wee bit too eccentric.

Actually I think The electric lines could be a tad bit thicker and have a few little bolts of electricity comint out of the main ones. I have to say it looks superb already though.

Looks like a nice start maybe provided its not to complicated you could have it as ball lightning just above his hand not really sure how you could model it perhaps a glass bead/marble in the shade of lightning you want with the wire shaped to support it?

Yes, a definate yes. Because if Librarians are all they are cracked up to be, power wise, then electricity would only right.

I think I would just go with OSL and skip the lightning/wire. OSL is pretty easy to pull off.

Also, I got to say that you totally outstripped my expectations, not because I expected less of you, but because I just didn't think the Librarian Dread could look this interesting.

I have got to get thinking about how I want to do one up.

I think the lightning is a good idea but it will only work if properly painted, otherwise I fear it will be a major fail to the model.

The wavy thingy on the sword arm looks out of place , but other than that good job o_o

Yea, any way to make more of a fire like motif on the sword arm? Wavy is Eldarish.

Lightning most definitely YEA, especially if you add some OSL to it it could really make it stand out, however bulking up the bottom of the bolts with a little greenstuff and a few 'lightning veins' trailing across the fist might really make it pop.

The fist pose is ace. I would say don't just stick with the wires. GS it so it looks like electrical fire. Great work so far!

~DG

+1 For the lightning! I like what you did with the wire, if you get the source light(n)ing right it should look pretty cool. From this angle, it really looks like he's focusing on his fist and on the lightning.

Holy gak this is awesome, damn your blowing my mind on how awesome this conversion is, and the ideas are freaking amazing as well. I really will love seeing how this will turn out when it is finally finished!

I do believe that if you can paint the lightning on the hand the right way, maybe a glow effect, that you will pull it off without equal.

1-i wrote:I think the lightning is a good idea but it will only work if properly painted, otherwise I fear it will be a major fail to the model.

Have you looked at some of his painted stuff? I think he definitely can pull it off.


I vote yea...most definitely.

A solid YEA on the lightning from me! But why limit it to only the power fist? Why not go berzerk and do lightning on the hood and power weapon too? DO IT, I say! It's a "Bossnought", for crying out loud! The Libbydread NEEDS to stand out from the rest of armoured fighting tin cans with Zzap and Dakka guns!

Really cool and interesting idea. Model looks great!

As for the lighting, paint it up and see i guess. But i'm for any sort of experimentation

For the wire, maybe use something thinner? Or paint an energy pattern on the force weapon perhaps?

maybe use same effect of wire coming off the wings at the back? after all powerfists are meant to be covered in lightning, but to show he's a librarian more of the dread should have lightning arcing off it.

As for painting, I'll leave that to people who've been doing it a lot longer. I'm a modeller lol

Just thought i might suggest this for an alternative way to show the lighting... well not really lighting but more energy


something outta the Aus WD (Iss 332). Not sure how its done but it looks alright

Oh I LIKE! btw what chapter is that?

Hey there Grimmy! I have 3 thoughts for you:

1: Should the hood project forward a little farther? It seems like most libby's have their hoods push over the middle to front of their skulls. I don't really know though, and that looks fine if I don't think of it.

2: I think the left arm might want to rotate back a little so that the blade or "hand", whatever is the center of mass, is directly below the shoulder instead of projected forward a little. That should make it look more at rest than slightly extended.

3: I think you should go with more of a blue eldritch flame sneaking out of his left hand, like he is gently holding a source of such power as he considers the situation. Just a few tongues of flame sneaking out between his fingers and up would really look nice I think.

Now that that is out of the way, AWESOME model. Kind of makes me want to drop what I am working on and build that Thunderhammer/Stormshield Ironclad dread I was knocking around. DAMN YOU!

Can't wait to see some paint on this bad boy.

Frodo wrote:Lightning most definitely YEA, especially if you add some OSL to it it could really make it stand out, however bulking up the bottom of the bolts with a little greenstuff and a few 'lightning veins' trailing across the fist might really make it pop.

I like the idea of the lightning veins across the fist. I think the wire needs more acute angles than it has now

Wow, thank you all for weighing in on this. While I was painting my Lootas last night i kept glancing over at the dread here, trying to figure out what to do about him.

Seems that more folks would like to see the power being demonstrated, so I'll go with that for now. I think that I'll just drill the small holes into the power fist, so if I don't like where the conversion is going I can just putty them back up and call it quits on the idea.

I'd like to get more angles and small arcs and offshoots off the lightning wires, I'll have to see how possible that is with Magic Sculp. The wires are pretty thin as they are, so I'm not sure how well it will work. I'll have to put a thin coat of super glue on the wire, just to make sure that the paint has something to stick to...

Wehrkind - thanks for the crit! I can look at making the hood come farther forward, that might be a possibility. By his left arm with blade do you mean the force weapon arm on his right? The reason it sticks forward as it does is because it's rather large, and it can't really point down any further without contacting the ground. Flames might be a way to go, and would look cool, but for a chapter called the Storm Hawks with a lightning bolt in their badge, I thought arcing power might be more appropriate.

Here's a thought I had the other day, and Jake's fine picture post prompted me to post it. Since my chapter has a somewhat tribal and animal and ancestor worship thing going on with it, maybe show the psychic power in a way relating to that, like in the pic below... ?

Thoughts?

If you can pull off the eagle lightning, it would look really cool. But dont have the eagle be too big.

The rest of the dread looks fantastic.

Hehe yea sorry, left/right is a little rough for me before the second 16 oz.s of coffee in the morning I see what you mean about the sword, and there probably isn't a good way around it without cutting down the wrist a little to shorten the entire arm.

I dig the lightning hawk thing too pretty well. I didn't realize the Storm Hawks' badge had the lightning bolt (though it sounds obvious now!) so that does make some sense, though how to pull off "smoldering" lightning? I dunno. Maybe hit the lightning theme with the sword, changing the shape? I could also see just doing some arcing discharge between his fingers to show the latent power.

I prefer the random crackle of lightning instead of something that looks to be an eagle.

Must say I like the lightning Hawk if you can pull it off i think it would look ace.

Great conversion work on a great kit. I recently put one together myself, really really sweet kit.

I REALLY love the sense of motion and wind that you've achieved with the hanging detail and cloth.

+1 for the psyk hawk

I happened to stumble on into this thread and all I can say is wow!

The Lightning effect can go both ways though, so be careful with it.

All in all, a very good and stunning model!

The psychic hawk looks better then the lightning IMO. The dread's focus on his 'casting' hand merits something special, and this seems quite suitable.

Personally i would recommend using translucent or clear perspex rather than wires - i think it would be more effective looking, though it is harder to work with.

looks awesome though!

Vlad

Yay! i contributed to an idea =D

Though in saying that you took what i posted and made it 10 times better.

If you could even make a psychic hawk id be impressed. Only way you could do it that i can think of is to find a mini model of a hawk and blend into in some extra lighting.

Thats only what i think though. Im sure that you could think of a much better way to do it

Very wicked dread, I like.

Very inspiring, Thank you for sharing I was hoping somone would share some ideas on what a Librarian Dread would look like.

I might have to start up blood angels now just for the dreds!

Awesome - love the lightning effect!

I prefer the 'random' version, but I can definitely see why you'd want to go with the 'eagle' version...

And I have faith in you so I'll say, WHEN you pull it off, it will be fantastic!

Hey all! Thanks again for your comments and critiques. I've taken some advice and made modifications and additions to the Dread, so take a look at the pics and let me know what you think.

I expanded the size of the psychic hood, and it does look much better and more fitting this way. You can see how it was constructed from the pics, I think, but if anyone has any questions please ask and I'll do my best to describe what's going on there.

I also added more filigree pschic crystal-whatever effects that most force weapons have on them to the force weapon arm, should be a fun thing to paint, maybe I'll make them glowing, or maybe paint them gold, not sure yet.

I bulked up and changed the standard rocky dread base as well, as I don't want ALL my dreads to have the same base! I think this helps that 'standing on a wind swept cliff' feel a bit more.

Added as well is the sculpted psychic hawk power, still not sure I like it or not. Might have to paint it up separately and plug it in later to see. One way or another the power fist is getting a inner source light treatment, same as the force weapon, so if I really don't like the psychic hawk effect I can easily remove it and it would look fine.

I will likely be sending a couple of these pics to the GW site, and see if they like the look of this Librarian Dread. Be interesting to see what they do!

So, last call on his conversion - any thoughts on this before he goes to paint?

For a moment i thought it looked like a face hugger leaping in the air >.<
and the middle area even have the insertion tube out and ready!

Ah just saw the lightening phoenix , adding a few more forks coming from the finger like the concept drawing would be better?

One word. EPIC

I like it a lot; these small modifications you made upped the level on an already great model. I like the hawk, but looking at what you did with the wire, a Zeus-like spear of lightning might work out just as well if you decdide to scratch the hawk idea. Maybe you could change the beak a bit to have that curved 'bird-of-prey' look??

GrimTeef wrote:

I will likely be sending a couple of these pics to the GW site, and see if they like the look of this Librarian Dread. Be interesting to see what they do!

So, last call on his conversion - any thoughts on this before he goes to paint?

Dude, don't go to GW, go to FW!

Really nice job, I think the only thing that bugs me is the fist, the GW sculpt just doesnt look articulated enough. The thumb looks like it has no lateral movement traversing the palm, its just kinda lumped on. To improve on their job, maybe add a little detail in the palm of the fist?

Good job!

I like the dread a lot, but the energy effect is so-so, for a moment I thought he was holding a balloon.

I liked the first iteration of the lightning... this one looks like a facehugger . Having said that, the entire model is FLIPPING AWESOME and I want 8.

On looking at this again after a nights sleep, I think I'm removing the psychic effect from the power fist. It just draws attention away from the focal points that really make this dread a librarian dread - the psychic hood and the force weapon. So I'm scrapping that idea.

I'll just reposition the power fist arm so it's down at rest. This should help his headlong into the wind pose, as well as reinforcing the focal points.

Hopefully I'll have some paint on this shortly.

I liked the plainer wire iteration of the lightning

Looking forward to seeing it painted

I agree with jshbchnn. The plain wire work looked cool (picturing it painted as lightning). I know that balance is hard to get though, as far as highlighting the bits that are more important to the model.
It's looking great, all the same. I can't wait to see it with some paint.

This is a really inspiration and amazing project from start to finish. I am especially interested (as are many) in how your "psychic effects" turn out. I've been kicking around ideas for something similar for my ork weird boy... but have had my plate too full to experiment. Really looking forward to seeing how things paint up.

Absolutely love the implied motion in your figure... really makes it come alive.

I am very interested in seeing the totally finished and painted model.
It looks great unpainted and can't wait to see it painted up.

You modeling skills are great.....very inspired by this.

Rick

Please don't go back to the random lightning! You obviously have talent as a sculptor and I think the bird looks great as a starting point. If you put as much effort into the details it should be a really unique effect.

Keep the eagle lightning - it's a great concept. I'd just say move the eagle closer to the fist - at the moment, it looks like he's got an eagle attached to him, when you want it to look like it's being conjured right there....

I agree with Ian. The eagle is a characterful touch, but it looks like he is holding a balloon eagle on a string right now, maybe rotate the palm so that it faces up and bring the eagle a bit lower.

Rotate the fist so the palm is uppermost and flat and use the sculpted eagle lightning but reshape it slightly so its more angular (splaying the fingers out if possible would add to the look of control). That'll perfect your idea IMO.

Really nice idea , well impressed

This is really excellent. I can't wait to see how you paint it... I think some lighting would be amazing.

jshbchnn wrote:I liked the plainer wire iteration of the lightning

I agree

Hey, thanks for the new comments, all. I had thought this would have fallen off the first page into forum thread oblivion by now...

I have started painting this, it's about 40% finished right now. I have a lot left to do. I'll try to get some pics up soon to show progress.

I'm still not sure at all about the psychic eagle construct... maybe it is just that it has to be closer down to the hand so that it doesn't have a balloon look to it. Also, as someone mentioned, maybe adding a few more arcs of lightning to it will remove that feeling as well.

I still have the psychic eagle, though it's completely unpainted at the moment... I also have already painted a lot of the Dread's power fist, so I'm not sure how doing some of the psychic power object source lighting will look... I think it will depend on how the psychic eagle itself looks first.

In any case, i'll have some pics up soon, hopefully by Monday.

Thanks for keeping the interest alive!

GrimTeef wrote: Also, as someone mentioned, maybe adding a few more arcs of lightning to it will remove that feeling as well.

That sounds like it would work great. Go for it!

I don't have any insight as to how you would do it, but it seems to me that something that joined the eagle and the power fist together, or made clear the eagle originating from the power fist... might solve the "balloon effect". More than just the tendrils... would have to show an energy source emanating from the glove in various directions... some of which were forming into the shape of the eagle.

Just a thought.

Like an Iron Man palm blaster?

Not exactly... more like a nimbus of energy enveloping both the fist and bird... or energy radiating from multiple parts of the fist (palm and fingers) coalescing into the bird.

As I've said before... I have no idea how you'd pull it off... I'm certainly not that good of a modeler. But if one was to figure something out... man. It's such a brilliant idea (the original one... not mine), love to see it come together.

Okay, I really went and put both feet into the whole psychic-hawk-construct-thing, as you can see from the painted pics below. I think that adding the extra electrical arcs to the construct really help, and don't make it look like a balloon or a Aliens facehugger anymore! It's all glued in there now, so taking it off would do more damage than anything else at this point, so it's here to stay...

The paint job is not finished, still a ways to go yet. Final stages of highlighting on the blue armor parts still needs to be done, as well as lots of work to do on the bare metal sections. The eyes, purity seal details, bright object source lighting on the power fist and some on the shoulder area... yeah, like I said, lots to go.

But this is the basic color scheme and how he'll look in general. The real trick is going to that object source lighting. That will really bring the thing together, I'm hoping, and make it look like energy and not possessed noodles...

Thoughts? Comments?

That is excellent. You have really captured the idea of what a Librarian dread should look and act like. He doesn't seem focused on the battle, but seems intently focused on building up psychic energy. Well done, and I can't wait to see how you finish it off.

Even in the beginning stages of painting this looks incredible I would love to see how the rest of your army looks your modeling is superb too keep up the great work.

Love it, and the psychic hawk looks real good; glad you put it back in there! Maybe the blade and the hawk should be the same colour to maintain balance across the model? or do you want to draw the eye to one side in particular?

Hello, mcfly! Sorry, had to say that. Thanks for the comment, I did want him to look like he has something else on his mind besides just the immediate enemy. Glad you think it works.

WingsOfCadia - thanks. The rest of my army pics are up in the dakka gallery, if you want to see them.

Commissar - yeah, seemed more people at least wanted to see some psychic activity, if not the hawk itself, but the hawk is iconic to my chapter and I did want to see if I could make it work, so in it went. I actually have started painting the force weapon and the psychic construct power, and they do indeed have the same color - a bright electric blue-teal color. I figured a balance would be the best way to go.

I thought about starting Blood Angels
And the I thought I shouldn't
And now I think I should

In other words, AWESOME! The magical powers in his left hand makes him look even more awesome!
And very good painting too.

Awesome model. Easily one of the best dreads I've seen on dakka.

Nice Dread

Even with the painting you've managed so far it looks really ace once you paint the little details and do the lighting effect i think it will really come alive.

AWSOME!

Looks freakin' badass.

I've got no constructive criticism to add at this point in the painting process. What you've done so far looks very crisp and nice and I'm looking forward to the final highlighting and the OSL.

Can't wait to see that awesome hawk painted. Really liking this, great job.

Very impressive indeed. Agree with comments about matching colour of hawk with blade... maybe a bit lighter than the blade infact... actually... leave it as is but maybe add a watered blue wash so it just makes certain areas a light blue?

What thickness plasticard did you use for the force weapon?

Murray - y'know, I'm not entirely sure. It was a pretty thick piece as far as plasticard goes though.

OKAY! I am (almost) finished with paint! I stopped here at the 'showroom floor finish' stage, just because I wanted to take some shots of it in a pristine state before I hit it with some dust and grime and battle damaged paint. Who knows, that part may not happen for a bit, since I want to get the rest of this army finished, which means painting some new tactical and assault squad marines.

Thoughts on the pics?

Wow very nice painting! it suits your conversion nicely ^_^

Epic win, nicely done!

Very well done, a great finish to a great conversion!

wow. great! i love the details!

great work! thanks for posting

This is one of the most glorious dreadnaught conversions ever made.

great gob mate. simply Awesome!

NIceeee


Automatically Appended Next Post:
is that plasicard tubes at the star ;s?

i dont know
i think you ruined it with the paint

probally best to throw it out, or better yet recycle
in fact I very involved with a recyling center so you should just send it my way and ill take proper care of it for you.

1-i wrote:i dont know
i think you ruined it with the paint

Troll sense is tingling ...

I think it looks great, the OSL is really good. Not over the top so the whole thing is bathed in colour but just enough to show that is glowing and as I read previously, not like "possessed noodles".

I would leave it at that for a Librarian dread. I mean it would definatly get into some battle, but I think if you dirtied it up too much youd end up covering alot of the beautiful details youve spent time on

~Toxic

A true pleasure to watch this project unfold

Glorious is a good choice of word. I guess it could use a teeny-tiny bit of grime and damage (especially on those big flat spaces on the shoulder areas), but its pretty freakin' awesome as-is.


If you don't think you'll post an update for a while (if ever) would you mind if I swapped out your pic attachments with links to the pics in the gallery to help people vote on 'em?

Fantastic model, excellent work!

Great!

Marines aren't my thing at all but this is a fantastic mini.

Perhaps my humor was misinterpited.

the intent of the joke was to get the amazing model sent to me so that I can keep it for myself.


To convey my thoughts in another way,
That model is sick, like pandemic pig flu sick.

Awesome work here.

Please let me know when you're accepting commissions to build another!

WarPetrie - thanks! I tried to take my time on the paint, but I was getting sick of working on him!

MajorTom - thank you sir!

Commissar - thanks much!

Tarachnor - thank you for reading and commenting!

Shuma - high praise! thank you.

Flying Pooo - thanks very much.

Scar - plasticard tubes at the star 's? I'm afraid I miss your meaning on that.

1-i - damn. I guess I have to start over from scratch. Since I don't want to waste this, I just guess I'll send it on to you and begin again...

Toxic - thanks. The OSL worried me in doing it, but it came out okay. I think OSL can be overdone, but I wanted to keep this muted a bit since I pictured the Dread being in daylight, so the OSL wouldn't be so overpowering. In the dark, it would have likely dominated more of the figure. And there will be only a bit of damage and dust, nothing too huge.

Kensei81 - thanks! It was a fun project to do, and I appreciate you and everyone watching and chiming in.

Yak - yeah, he'll get a little dinged up - I was just sick of working on him for the moment and I won't be touching him again til Monday at the earliest, so I figured I'd post nearly finished pics.
Feel free to swap the pics out for voting, I never think of doing that! My bad. I'll see if I can't do that for the next finished project.

Xenith - thank you!

Evilgnome - thanks much.

Alpharius - thanks man. If you decide you're serious about building you one, drop me a line! Haven't done a lot of commission work though.

Been waiting to see this thing finished. Fantastic Job, I love it!

Wow, sharp inspiring work.

Okie doke,

The above pics now link directly to the gallery, so click on em if you'd like to vote.

I really need to edit more :| Where do you get the plasticard tubes at the start.

That is 4 kinds of awesome. It'll certainly draw some attention on the table.

Great job on it.

i am, in awe!

Super awesome! My only criticism is whatever he's summoning in his hand there - I assume it's a spell of some sort but it kinda looks like he's summoning a little faerie or phoenix or something.

I'm glad you stuck with the lighting eagle (or whatever you want to call it), it looks amazing.

Fantastic! An exceptional model.

Amazing. I second Shuma's comment, this is the most glorious dreadnought conversion ever.

Thats super! well done

I only have one complaint the background washes out the Psybird so my eyes can not see the shading but top notch job there.

Brilliant!

The ethereal fairy looks incredible - good job with the source lighting. Wonderful miniature dude.

It looks really good, but I still cant decide what I think of the eagle.

Wow....if I fought you, I would try and kill every other figure you bring to the table, then reluctantly kill the dread...it's soo cool. Can't wait to see if you make more awesome conversions like this. Great job.

nice work

Full'o'win.

Love it, still can't help but this he's holding a facehugger though.

Amazing work - love it

Looks absolutely brilliant

It ended up looking like g fatastic job for you. How long did it take??

Holy christ, now THAT is an amazing conversion!