Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I've been attempting to make something decent out of the two black reach dreads I own. The first one I converted into a venerable with the help of an excellent tutorial here on dakka. For the second one, well I've wanted to a do a dread with nid bits for a long time, so I figured why not? No one at my flgs is really hardcore about things being wysiwyg and even if the were I hardly run the MM/CCW combo anyway. Now I have no idea how I'm gonna rationalize his presence in a loyalist marines army -- since it's gonna end up looking kind of chaos-possessed-y -- but that's just extra opportunity for fun fluff. xD

Anyway, I just started this late last night, so not much going on yet, just figuring out a general idea, but I felt the urge to put a WIP blog up as a little extra motivation to make consistent progress.

Also, as far as critique goes, it's welcome and loved. I have a feeling though that my biggest problem right now is the general "get better." This is my first time using GS for anything other than fixing gaps and spacing issues.... so it's not likely to be pro.

But enough jibber jabber out of me.

Here's the anonymous "ranged weapon" arm. Like I said, nothing fancy yet. Just a basic concept of how I want it to look and a GS foundation to build upon.


And the CC arm. Again, just kind of a concept. I'm on the fence on whether or not I want to cut off the "fingers" or have the fleshy bits moving between/around them. Suggestions?




And just because I wish I had more than a half an hours progress to post, here's the Ven Dread. "Finished" for now because it's good enough for table play, but obviously in need of retouching later. (Still, I'm an awful painter, this is good by my standards. XP)

Nice. Should be good. Make the power fist and the claw merge together more. I think a fleshy join would look good. Sinew and stuff.

I like it. good ideas, and now you have shown me how to not waste 50$ on a metal dreadnought.
thank you.

Looks really cool.

Hey very nice idea I'll probably use it!

Thanks all for the kind words and advice!

@Grim: Yeah, I decided to keep the "fingers" and let the fleshy parts merge around it, like they're taking over. I didn't really know how to make it look muscle-y so this is definitely gonna come out looking more demon than nid. That's fine by me though, it was just the nid parts I wanted to use, had no real desire for it to appear as a "nid piece."

@Iron: Awesome! I get a lot of inspiration from the amazing things people share on this site and it's cool to know someone could actually find useful ideas to borrow from my own project.

Update: So the arms are coming along. I've built the gun arm up and added some detail and the CC arm is really starting to take shape. I think I like where this is going. Next thing to do is start playing with the body. I'm gonna be looking for ideas on how to do cracked broken armor for fleshy bits to be expanding out from. At the moment though, attaching them to the body is the only way I have of keeping the arms from laying on something that would smoosh them while they dry, so I'll be taking a break and letting them do that before I start to work on it.

Also, got an idea for the fluff rationalization. I'm theming my marines as a crusade, with lots of different obscure chapters and servants of the empire represented (a solution to my inability to make myself paint everyone with the same colors XP) so there's plenty of room for odd little additions. I'm thinking of taking a page from inquisitor and the idea of a demonhost. Maybe this is a demon that's been bound to a dreadnought. I could model a little psyker standing on the base to "control" him.

Anywho, progress pics:

Awesome

yeah looks pretty good so far!

Hey, adding a new project too distract me when work on the dread gets tedious. Just trying to put together a custom TDA Librarian. No special reason other than that I don't want to buy one. So here's what I've got so far. Complete with gauntlet style force weapon of questionable aesthetic value and poorly crafted fur cape!


Opinions on him holding the storm shield? I like it better so far than any place I've found to actually attach it to arm/hand/shoulder, just wondering if it looks natural.

The cape looks more like it in many layers and one layer has been clawed ... i still like it !

I think the shield is a but unatural , its kina like hes trying to balance it with only one finger . Perhaps making a gs rope and having the shield on it around hes back will look better , Im not sure though . You'll think of something !

As for hating to paint everything in one colour heres a quick tip for you . Start an ork army or perhaps another army . Doing varius project at a time help me alot , i have the same weakness as you I often buy special characters and more just so that i can get a break from that same old same old .

Gretar

@gretar: Yeah, I was looking at that earlier but it seemed awkward to figure out. Hearing someone else suggest it though motivates me to take a second look. I might try to hang it on the lower right side of the back and use the chain making method from whatwhat's GS tutorial.


Back to the Dread

Begun GS work on the body but finding myself unsatisfied and pulling it all off to start over several times so nothing I feel worth posting yet.

Meanwhile though I've begun painting the CC arm. For the armor I went with a dark brown and a subtle red highlight. I've been meaning to try that combination for a while and I think the slight glow it gives it is perfect for this model. The wire-y bits are just black dry-brushed with a light blue-grey (which is quickly becoming my favorite color for wire-y bits.) The flash just has a purple-with-a-little-black base right now. I plan to build it up to a light purplish-pink I think.

It was just not a good day for getting good camera shots apparently... My apologies for these. XP

Hmm, maybe you should make the legs of the dread a bit longer and more organic as well?

Seconded.

I think that fleshy mass on the CCW needs a more detailed paint scheme or at least a wash.

Oh yeah, the purple is just a base for the flesh parts, it's got a long way to go.

I like the idea of the elongating the legs. I had wanted to add some organic bits to them but the space would be a little cramped... but dropping them down and really building some thick fleshy legs down there could look really cool. Thanks for the tip!

I suggest making it dark purple > dark purple with a little dot of white > another dot of white etc etc. undil your at pure white , then just wash it with purple That 'outta blend it a little , if you always go higher and higher

Gretar

Did some more painting on the CC flesh. Was kind of experimental, but I liked the outcome. I'll probably end up sticking with this for the rest of the model. Added a layer of light purple over the dark one, dry-brushed that with a light blue and then did some selective highlighting in white, then applied a dark purple/red wash over the whole thing.

Didn't have good light source available when I took this so I lightened it up in GIMP to give a better idea of the actual color. Included the original image below though for more accurate representation of the contrast on the highlights.




The bubbly parts that look almost black here were actually a dark blue highlighted with a lighter blue. I wanted to see how the was worked applied to them as well but it just made them far to dark. Thinking a green or yellow might be more stand out against the purple/pink anyway.

I love the ccw arm conversion. Very characterful, and (from the looks of it) entirely lethal. Your adaptations really have taken it from 'nid to chaos.

@tin: Thanks man.

Just a quick update because I haven't posted lately. No pictures because my camera is at home and I need to find one I can borrow that will take decent macro shots.

Gun arm is all painted up like the CC arm. Thinking that although I like the red highlights it's gonna need something more noticable, looks to flat from a distance. Got the body mostly done with GS work, moving on to the legs. Malika had the great idea of giving it some elongated demon legs. I've thought about it and I definitely don't want to do "full legs" because I think it will give it a "demon wearing a dreadnought as armor" look and that's not what I'm going for, want to keep it a dread that's corrupted by possession.

I have, however, been thinking that the sheer length of the nid parts makes the dread look just a little awkward in proportions. If I can use some possession fleshy bits to add a just a little length to the dread legs without making them look too "full" I think I it'll solve that problem.

In other news the librarian is almost done. Cleaned up the force weapon a bit so it looks less gakky (still not superb, but okay for now) and he's all painted up. Still working on finding a way to incorporate the shield.

Hopefully pictures soon!

Well I've been MIA for a while due to a phenomenon we like to call final exams...

But that's all done for now so here I am with actual tangible (if meager) progress to share.

Without further ado...


Here's how the paint jobs looking for the fleshy bits on the shooty arm. It's getting a little more defined. I'm digging the green.




And here's the beginning of GS work on the body. I keep finding myself tempted to go nuts but I want to keep it kind of minimal. Playing with that idea of adding just a little height to the legs.





And I've actually made more progress on what I called my "side project" earlier. So here's what's been happening with the librarian. I don't remember what inspired the crazy symbols but I think I like the feral look. Maybe he's a visiting rune priest (that is what the wolves call 'em right?) who knows.







(Yeah, I know... my freehanding need lots of work.)

I like the guy in the term-ower armor????

Looking great!

LordBoJangles wrote:I like the guy in the term-ower armor????

Haha. Yeah, kind of ambiguous isn't he. XP I bastardized a black reach termi and a devestator, I'm pretty short on bits. Figured it would give him enough bulky-ness for me to be able to say "he's in terminator armour" and my opponent wouldn't have trouble remembering it.

Awesome work.