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The new Dread knight kit is simply incredible it is far larger than i had expected and is probably the most complex model GW has ever produced. I was very happy that the model contained pretty much every possible configuration you could ever want to run as well as several options for customization and personalization of the kit. Many of the parts do not even require glue. I was in the planning stages of figuring out how I was going to magnetize the model, testing out the fixtures and mount points for the weapons revealed that they fit and lock in place nice and snug so if you are so inclined you do not have to bother with gluing the weapons the same is true with the melee weapons they have a hexagonal mount point that fits nice and snug into the arm which makes changing the dread knights load out a snap(no pun intended).

The kit did have a few cons unfortunately. The directions for the ranged weapons assembly is actually wrong, and even the model on the front of the box seems to have been inaccurately put together. The instructions have you install a belt feed in the Heavy Psycannon which is an energy weapon, and a power generator into the Gatling Psilencer which is just a extremely heavy bolt gun with psi ammo. So for those of you who want the model to actually fit the fluff or even the general concept of how the weapons are supposed to function keep this in mind when following the instructions.

This models assembly was actually quite fast despite that fact that no section of it had less than five parts, each leg from ankle to thigh is 6 pieces, the Grey knight pilot is 8 and east gun is 6+, my version of the model was 77 peices and considering GW's products in the past that is an enormous amount. The worst thing about this model was the mold lines.... I spent nearly 6-8 hours just cleaning the mold lines on the model.




Kit scores:

Detail: 10/10 A simply gorgeous model and a must have for any GW modeling enthusiast.

Contents: 8/10 Only includes 2 of the fingers part of the hand pieces which you need for each melee weapon (4 total so 2 short) variant they are too small to magnetize so in order to be able to switch them out you have to risk loosing the piece.

Complexity: 9/10 Very complex model but as long as you followed the directions the final product is gorgeous.

Quality: 8/10 Too many very noticeable mold lines and some pieces needed to be edited to fit properly.

Directions: 7/10 Well the weapon mis matches are one reason but apparently the servos that go on the back of the legs are mis labeled you actually need to switch them if you wan them to pit into the back of the waist properly.

Final Score: 8.4/10 All in all phenomenal model, a few production side issues kept it from being truly incredible, fortunately all of them issues are correctable in the building stage.



Here are several pictures of the dread Knight before I fixed the weapon delivery systems, I also included one of my tau fire warriors for scale.











You may notice that I did not attach the upper servos to the shoulders and arms, I did this because first they aren't particularly resilient and it made me paranoid it could get hooked on some thing and broken, second it made it so that it was very difficult to remove and switch out the ranged weapon options, third and final I thought that some small blue glass marbles put into the round sockets would look very cool and less avatarish.

It does look fun to assemble, although I am a little worried about seams being very visible, am I wrong here?

Good review -- thank you.

It seems there are several seams which need filling with putty -- not that that is unusual in large kits.

The engine exhausts would benefit from drilling out.

How poseable are the arms and legs? The impression I get is that they are moulded in one position.

Its undeniably an impressive model... Its just a pity the designer spazzed out when they got to the method of piloting

@winnertakesall: Yeah, the Dread knight is enormous and because of this about the only thing that can conceal it our side of special effects, would be another dread knight or a Storm Raven. It's a good thing it has toughness 6 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save eh?

@Kilkrazy: You are most welcome. Correct there are several post production things that need to be done yet before painting can begin. The arms are fairly pose able the legs on the other hand aside from cutting them up are not pose able they actually have hard mount points so you can't even toe in our out the legs.

@Flinty: ya the baby harness Terminator is a bit awkward, I just imagine it like the loader that Ripley used in Aliens and suddenly I have less issues with it, I did try building it without the Grey Knight and let me tell you with out some serious splicing it looks far worse without 'junior'.

Keep the comments coming if you all have any questions about the model or tips for it's assembly let me know, also if there is anything I can do to improve my reviews as I plan on doing several for all the new Grey knights models as I build my new army.


Also once I finish touching up the model I will be having a friend of mine paint it up to a very nice standard and will upload pics again at that time.

Very nice. However I noticed the two pistons to assist the arm movement haven't been added! I find them ugly, but I think the model benefits from them as a whole.

The Psilencer is indeed an energy weapon which fires pure psychic energy and a Psycannon fires psychically charged bolts similar to a heavy bolter. The instructions are indeed correct on this.

I didn't think about not gluing the weapons on. That's an awesome suggestion and seems like a simpler solution than magnets. My only concern would be fatigue on the plastic would eventually make them hang rather loosely or cause them to snap. Taking them on and off might also scratch paint.

It is interesting that like with the Storm Raven we are starting to see example models built and they are converted because the owner wasn't satisfied with the basic GW model.

Magnets should be easy to fit on a model of this size if you want to make the weapons interchangeable.

@NoBaconz4You: I can't stand the servos it reminds me way too much of the mechs from avatar, I plan on putting some blue glass globes in the sockets so it should accent the model and not make it look incomplete (Hopefully).

@Kasrkinlegion: Upon reviewing the codex we are both wrong they are both powered by the psi energy of the user, so the energy feed and belt feed are purely for aesthetics so I guess there is no wrong way to build them. There is no pressure on the bits so I can't imagine the plastic would fatigue they just lock in place, however removing it could very well scratch the paint so i will be sure to add dull coat on the arms a bit heavier.

@Kilkrazy: For the most part the model is fantastic, I just have a pet peeve against bits like the upper servos that seem superfluous. It is totally possible to magnetize it I just like that fact that the model fits together in such a way that there is no need.

Thank you all for the input and questions.

Heh. It has Tau Fire Warrior feet.

Conspiracy theorists: Have at that!

Well the codex does say the dread Knight may have been begotten from "ALIEN" technology *cough Tau *Cough.

Zhetsuken wrote:Well the codex does say the dread Knight may have been begotten from "ALIEN" technology *cough Tau *Cough.

I think what the Tau have going with their Battlesuits is drastically different from what we're seeing in the Dreadknight. (The only things I can recognize that are the same, are the number of toes, and the placement of the weapons.)

Besides, if it's a real copy of some other specie's technology, then look at how steam-punkish the pistons in the back of the Dread looks. (Although I guess it is pretty similiar to a regular Dreadnaught.)


Also I noticed you put two guns on the Dread (looks awesome I might add ), but in the actual rules are you able to have two on there? I've played a few game's with my friend's copy of GKs but I haven't looked at the Dreadknight's rules so I'm curious.

@grayspark: Well I think if they are implementing tau technology they are only doing so in improving their dreadnoughts designs. I agree it doesn't look particularly Tau it but I don't think it was supposed to be entirely ripped off from them only the improved mech concepts. It still looks very much like the Dark Age of technology stuff. Yes you can run two different ranged weapon options you just aren't allowed to run more than one of the same weapon.



The weapons designs make it so they clip right on tot he dread knights arms magnetizing is actually kind of pointless imo



View of the Dread Knight with no weapon options.



I bored out the exhaust and it shows the mounts where I plan on placing the blue glass orbs.



another view of the exhaust



Bored out the barrels for the Psilencer



Another shot to show the size of the Dread knight, it dwarfs the tau crisis suit.