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Recently picked up a Furioso Dreadnought to use some Blood Talons in my army. IMO, Blood Talons are monstrous looking weapons, so the only appropriate paint scheme for a Dread with Talons is Death Company.

Everything I've painted up until now, save my Dante (pics later) has been a custom paint scheme, and no vehicles. I wanted to moe on to something canonical for the vehicle, so Death Company seemed like a good choice. I wanted to go with a beat up, rugged, battered look.

Overall, I'm pleased, but not wowed. I've got some sloppiness, and there are a few places the paint is on a bit too thick for me. Some places came out great, others, not so much.

It was almost my first attempt at decaling. It's funny to see the progress of the decals. The lower leg was the first I did, and the worst. The left shoulder is the second, and the second worst, and the right shoulder is the best, and in my opinion, flawless. Everything else, including the caution striping, is hand painted.

I used to play 40k back in the mid 90s, and dropped it until this past spring. I came back mainly for the painting, but the game too is a blast. If I honestly evaluate my skills right now, I feel I have brush chops, but lack the discipline to really go for it correctly. My order of operations for painting is off, and could use more planning. I actually cause stray brush strokes because of improper brush discipline, my washes can be sloppy and heavyhanded, and i don't keep my paints properly thinned all the time. I use a hand painted matte finish, and I really need to move on to a spray finish I think. The hand painting of matte can really cause stroke issues.

Feedback please. I'm confident in the model's relative quality, but I want to get better and better and better, and that takes feedback.

nicely done!

I really liked the touch on the dread's left leg parchment/purity seal.

I'm not a fan of the dread's right hand talon being open so wide, but I really enjoyed the pics!

kuromahou wrote:Feedback please. I'm confident in the model's relative quality, but I want to get better and better and better, and that takes feedback.

I think its a great start, but since you're trying to get better I'd recommend staying away from the decals. You'll do a lot better if you learn to do the same stuff freehand.

The most important thing with painting is patience, you've really got to take your time and not rush. If you really want to learn to paint then try following some of the great tutorials to be found, my favourite article (probably ever) was Darren Latham's non metallic gold sanguinor, which is a great read if you can find it online.

With the decals in place you can just paint over them, if you don't trust your freehand skills.

I wouldn't paint over the decals as this will add to the overall look of thickness to the paint job. By the look of the hazard paint on the flamer you have a steady hand so just practise on the chapter markings. A quick and easy way of painting them is break them down to their component lines and work out from there. There are some excellent tutorials out there.

Personally I don't like the open power claw and I think the blood on it ( I assume it's blood) only detracts from the overall paint job. If you do want to add blood effects then these can be better achieved using pva or other liquid substances that dry hard.

But the main thing I would say is thin the paint and take your time. You can get away with quicker paint jobs on rank and file but heroes, tanks and dreads should have a lot more time on spent on them.

HTH Flippa

Oh did I mention thin the paints?

Thanks for the excellent feedback.

Thinning the paint is definitely something I'm working on. I'm slowly transitioning to Vallejo paints; I find they're extremely smooth, they're cheaper, and since they're in droppers, you can thin them easier/more readily use a wet palette. But since I have money spent on GW paint, I'll use them. They sure do thicken up quick, though.

Removed from the model, I'm not happy with the blood talons in general, and the open claw didn't help. A Blood Talon Dread looks like it has really long fingernails. It's just not that intimidating to me. I agree with most all the feedback regarding the claws.

I do have a steady hand, now it's really about controlling the medium.

Just sort of a nitpicky FYI the decal on the left shoulder is a ravenwing icon.
Overall I have to echo a couple others the open claw seems too open. The blue in the targeting...thingy on the right side is flat and looks odd.
The hazard stripes are very well done and overall it's a good looking model that you can set aside and come back to after you've finished the rest of your army.

not to shabby

Flippa wrote:I wouldn't paint over the decals as this will add to the overall look of thickness to the paint job. By the look of the hazard paint on the flamer you have a steady hand so just practise on the chapter markings. A quick and easy way of painting them is break them down to their component lines and work out from there. There are some excellent tutorials out there.

Personally I don't like the open power claw and I think the blood on it ( I assume it's blood) only detracts from the overall paint job. If you do want to add blood effects then these can be better achieved using pva or other liquid substances that dry hard.

But the main thing I would say is thin the paint and take your time. You can get away with quicker paint jobs on rank and file but heroes, tanks and dreads should have a lot more time on spent on them.

HTH Flippa

Oh did I mention thin the paints?

It's cool in area's. Love the parchment on the leg too! There are techniques to laying decals and painting over them to make them blend better and get rid of that horrible gloss effect but I haven't found the book it was in...

If you just want a battle ready model, use some more drybrushing and fine lining. If you want to make a showcase piece, I'd practice on a lesser model with less detail first.

I really like the spread claw, but the "gore" distracts.

Lovely models the dc dreads, I'm painting one myself atm. The gore on the talons was an idea I was toying with, but now having seen in action will probably avoid.

Feedback: for sensors, etc a blob of gloss varnish over the lens works wonders, the black is a little too shiny for my tastes but regardless looks awesome. I may be mistaken but I don't think you drilled the barrels on the guns, imho that adds immensely to a finished appearance. I absolutely LOVE the claws positioning. Good work dude!

Mechanized Space Corps wrote:Lovely models the dc dreads, I'm painting one myself atm. The gore on the talons was an idea I was toying with, but now having seen in action will probably avoid.

Feedback: for sensors, etc a blob of gloss varnish over the lens works wonders, the black is a little too shiny for my tastes but regardless looks awesome. I may be mistaken but I don't think you drilled the barrels on the guns, imho that adds immensely to a finished appearance. I absolutely LOVE the claws positioning. Good work dude!

I think I need to take different photos. I'm not convinced these are doing the model justice at this point. I used a direct light, I need to take some with sunlight.

I agree: the gore doesn't work. I'm glad I tried it on this model, and learned first hand. I won't be doing it again, or ever feel the urge to. I'm also glad I saved you making the same mistake.

There are blobs of gloss varnish on the sensors! That's why I'm concerned about the photos. I'm looking at the model now, and they look like lenses to be sure. so crazy.

The shine of the black really doesn't exist in real life. These photos are exaggerating it. The red x on his chest, however, does look like junk and is poor painting imo. I'll have to get some new photos for sure.

Thank you though for the feedback, and good luck with yours!