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 Littletower wrote:
First of all, what can somebody not love about the chopping up of a model like this to turn it into something else, and all explained in such detail?

The reworking of the back exhaust is crisply great. How would the be called: retro-retro-fitting?

Foot/feet coming along nicely. Maybe reinforcing the double toe look before the cast, though? Or are you planning on doing that on the casts and not on the master?

Thanks LT.
I don't know what it should be called, I just work here...
I see this as an earlier stage in the corruption of a chaos dreadnought to a helbrute. Think of it as a regression...

Any double toe look to the original is due, only to how it was made from two pieces of sprue stuck together, and not carving.
The plan is to work on the casts to get one I like the look of and then cast that to get a pair (hence, keeping it symmetrical).
The master will be kept as a master for if I ever need to make any more dreadnought feet.

Here's a look at to toe work and possible option of claws (made from spare putty, ages ago).

The claws here are only placed on, they will be moulded on to the toes as if sprouting from (or welded to) the toes.
I'm liking the toe look, so I think that will stay, now to decide upon added details...

What do we think of the claws?
Would one or two, on the occasional toe, work. Maybe some larger than others to show them growing?
Would this on every toe be too much?

As an alternative, I could do surface detail like on the armour plates, and not have the claws.
I do plan more details to show some creeping wires/cables about the model and feet, so they won't be completely bare in the end...

I like the claws myself. Maybe the 2 on the front and 1 on the sides, with a cockspur on the back?

Good work.

Well you know me and my love of asymmetric builds....gonna say I'd like to see them on an occasional toe, and the different sizes to show growth is a nice idea

Looking awesome dr H
Personally i say random claws it aint a space marine dread were everything looks all neat and well placed
It gives the dread the half man/creature half machine look a bit more also
Keep up the good work
Regards
Mark

Thanks chaps. Good thoughts, one and all. I'll work at a combination of the above... that is, emphasize the importance of the front pair and add some chaotic growing claws about the place...

Claws add something to it I think.

Great progress, will enjoy seeing the next step forward as always! As has been said, the detail you go into is brilliant and makes your blog very unique.

That's exactly want I meant by "reinforcing" the toe look: the split is clear now, differentiating the two nicely.

As for the claws, sprouting more than welded on (progressing mutation), maybe in different lengths to show growth, and even asymmetrically placed: two in one, none on another, and so.

I don't think the toes are your fault so much as the usual GW design flaw of everything is rounded.....except the squared toes. It's a flaw that's on so many of the models like the dreadnought where the upper half of the standard dreads are all angular then you get to the waistline and everything becomes circular. The chaos one is kind of opposite as everything is rounded and organic while the toes are all squared off. Otherwise I think your doing a great job. The color of the casket as it is is perfect for some chaos goodness. Makes me think of a deamonic volcanic glass mirror that their soul is trapped in. And when they get close enough to their enemy they can see their reflection inside and be drawn into it for 10,000 years of suffering as well.

Thanks Shas.

Casey's Law wrote:Great progress, will enjoy seeing the next step forward as always!

I see what you did there...

As has been said, the detail you go into is brilliant and makes your blog very unique.

Thanks. I enjoy seeing and reading about the stages of other peoples work and how the final result is produced. So that's how I broadcast as well.

LT; Thanks. Yarp, see below.

Theophony wrote:I don't think the toes are your fault so much as the usual GW design flaw of everything is rounded.....except the squared toes. It's a flaw that's on so many of the models like the dreadnought where the upper half of the standard dreads are all angular then you get to the waistline and everything becomes circular. The chaos one is kind of opposite as everything is rounded and organic while the toes are all squared off. Otherwise I think your doing a great job.

I see what you mean, Theo.
Thanks. Hopefully my squared off toes tie in with my squared off upper body, and looks good once finished.

The color of the casket as it is is perfect for some chaos goodness. Makes me think of a deamonic volcanic glass mirror that their soul is trapped in. And when they get close enough to their enemy they can see their reflection inside and be drawn into it for 10,000 years of suffering as well.

The colour is just the colour of the plasticard I used for that. All the other pieces of plasticard I have are white.
But... that is a good idea. I could leave that space blank and paint it up in a gloss black. I've been wondering what details to add there, but that might be a nice change... Thoughts people?

I now have feet, in the most plural of ways... and they have claws in an ordered and yet, disordered way (as is my way... )...

They still need tidying up once the putty sets.
You will see that I've added the spiky bits to the trim along the top of the toes so that they match the rest of the armour trim (you will also see that I've added this to the sarcophagus so it all matches), and I've tried to make it look like the claws have developed from these spiky decoration pieces.

I'm going to call these feet done (barring any final tweaks as the model progresses) and move on with the build, as time is ticking and the more it ticks the less I get paid.

Next time you see him, he should be standing on his own and have some base work done so that the pose can be fixed. Then... arms...

Aw man I wish I was funny enough to have made that joke on purpose. Looking forward to seeing it pull together and I can see it'll take paint really well.

I'd have let you take credit for it, Casey.

It stands....

Not a lot to explain here, Attached feet, attached to base...

I've thrown some primer at it to tone down the white so that you can make out the details and I can check that the joins are smooth.
You will notice that I've switched which foot is raised. As I don't have the luxury of changing the legs as much as I'd like, the pose is stuck. But that didn't mean I had to keep it leaning over quite so much. The hatch extending from the side of the base is useful for keeping the outer claws of the feet safe from being damaged (as they would overhang the plain base).

Now we come to the "face" of the beast. What to do?
Go with Theo's idea of a flat, reflective, black hole of extreme nastiness.

Or Detail it like a classic dreadnought; eye slit (as if the occupant would actually look out to see where it's going ) and a few embellishments.

Or chaos it up a bit, with some moulded details like on the original armour plates (screaming faces etc.), could find a use for the original head as one of these.

Or a combination of details with the reflective black effect, as if it's a proper horror-show stretching daemon surface thing.

Or something else?

At least now I can start on the arms...

The black, reflective surface would be a really interesting contrast with the gribbly details across the rest of it....perhaps a few specks of white to suggest the emptiness of space, with several layers of lacquer to get a deep finish to it?

On the other hand, a motley collection of screaming faces is always going to appeal to me

Tricky choice....

No need to thank me for the help......


Raising the alternate foot was a good move, changes the profile subtly


On further reflection, not sure if the screaming faces from the warp idea really fits in with the concept of moving it back towards a more dread-like state though...think it's just my personal bias that's making me consider that.



On a more practical note, I've just grabbed myself some Oyamaru for some casting fun. I got the multi coloured block pack - am I right in thinking that once warmed up I can mix two or more block together to get a larger casting area?

So far the machine looks brutal!

 monkeytroll wrote:
The black, reflective surface would be a really interesting contrast with the gribbly details across the rest of it....perhaps a few specks of white to suggest the emptiness of space, with several layers of lacquer to get a deep finish to it?

Yeah, I'm also thinking a slight fade to a dark dark grey at the outside to emphasize the black hole look...

On the other hand, a motley collection of screaming faces is always going to appeal to me

Tricky choice....

No need to thank me for the help......

Thank you Monkey.
It is a tough decision though with so many options and a blank slate.

Raising the alternate foot was a good move, changes the profile subtly

Ta.

On further reflection, not sure if the screaming faces from the warp idea really fits in with the concept of moving it back towards a more dread-like state though...think it's just my personal bias that's making me consider that.

Yeah, there is that. But it is still a possessed machine... So could be argued either way.

On a more practical note, I've just grabbed myself some Oyamaru for some casting fun. I got the multi coloured block pack - am I right in thinking that once warmed up I can mix two or more block together to get a larger casting area?

Yep. You can cut it up, stick it back together or stick as many sticks together for larger moulds. Once stuck together, they are one piece; warming them up again won't separate them.

On that note, if you are making a two-part mould, make sure the first half is fully cooled before adding the second half, or they will stick together and you will have to cut them apart. On the other hand, you can completely wrap something up in a large blob of the stuff and just cut it in half to make a 2-part mould.

And at the end, you can always re-heat and stick all the pieces you have cut off back together again and start over with a new mould.

For example; the mould I made for the feet, I wanted a flat bottom of the cast. But when I made the mould I pushed the Oyumaru up and around the edges of the original piece. Then I just cut away the Oyumaru that was above the piece to give a flat "top" of the mould that gave me a level to get the flat bottom of the cast. (and stuck the cut off back on to the rest of the Oyumaru)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 shasolenzabi wrote:
So far the machine looks brutal!

Thanks Shas.

Thanks for the advice - that's exactly what I was hoping I could do with it.

Yeah, just play about with it. That's all I do; "I wonder if I could do x?" Give it a go, if it works, great. If not, no loss as it's reusable.

I'm currently looking at the arms of the Chaos Dread' and deciding what I want to do and how I will do it. Thoughts will filter through here as I come to them.

At the moment, looking at the left arm (as it's mostly intact), the options will be attached at the wrist, but will also have customised armour plates for the forearm:
The power fist keeps it's original plate,

The thunder-hammer will have a plate that can also be used for the power fist's combi-bolter / flamer attachments.

The missile launcher will have a unique plate, possibly with more missiles or some kind of related details.

The power scourge will also get some kind of unique plate. But I'm stuck on how to make the tentacles in a gaming-friendly way. I'm tempted to buy the original bits off ebay and adapt them for my purpose.

The right arm will be more work as it needs to be completely re-built before I can even get on to the weapon options.

Here's progress on the left arm.

I filled the end of the arm with milliput and then stuck a piece of plasticard over the end where it will meet the hands/weapons.
I added the plastic as I wanted a surface that I could get perfectly flat to aid with the magnetisation (sanding a surface of part putty and part plastic doesn't always work well as the two materials "sand" differently).

I also did the same with the power fist as that is ready to go and will be a useful test of the magnetisation.
You can also see that the armour plate covers the join nicely.

Speaking of armour plates you can see the start of the replacement plates for each arm. moulded and cast from the original so that they all fit the arm. Much more work to do on them...

Progress continues...

...and the magnet is in and works well.


Why is one round and one square-ish you ask?
The round one is a magnet (that came out of a box that didn't need it any more) and was large enough, but not too large to fit here.
The square one is a piece of metal and not a magnet. I think it would be a waste to use 2 magnets for this (as nearly everyone else seems to do?) as the fist weighs nothing and this set up can hold ~15g (judged by playing buckaroo with lumps of Oyumaru) before falling off.

You may also ask why is the magnet off centre?
This means that if this proves to not be enough to hold the other weapons, I can add another magnet (if they just fall off. I can also add a magnet to the attachment half also), or I can add a peg (if the attachment tends to spin round under it's own weight around the axis of the magnet).

So, the body of the model is now back to where I started with it. before I started chopping bits off. Everything from here on is moving forward with the model.

I don't always use two magnets either, I have a bunch of old BB pellets that attach nicely. Looking good Dr. H.

Your logical, scientific approach and execution is a joy to watch. All solid work so far.

Thanks Theo. I'm using some scrap metal (from my "metal bits" pot) that is the same thickness as the piece of plastic I stuck on the hand. That way, I just cut a suitable hole in the plastic and stuck in the metal, job done.

Thanks Casey. That's the way I approach anything. Think it through before any cutting (this was all planned before I cut the original model up). It can slow things down a bit at times, for example...

...I'm working on the thunder hammer for him. This may require a few attempts to get "right". I know what I'm aiming for, but attempt number 1 is not quite there. Stay tuned...

Hammer-time...

Here's the first 2 attempts at a Dreadnought-sized Thunder hammer.

Slightly dusty Terminator for scale.
When I first stuck (blu-tack) the hammer in the Dread's hand, I thought it was maybe a bit short. Then I stood it up as in the pictures and realised that a 15ft hammer is probably enough.

Also, of note, I will be making a hand to hold it roughly where it is in the bottom pictures (although slightly more drawn back).

The first hammer is on the left. I wanted to try and have a ball for the central part of the head and used a suitable bead for the size. However, attaching this to the top of the handle (no prizes for guessing where this came from) proved less than solid. So I had to add putty just to hold it in place and didn't end up with an aesthetically pleasing result, and it may still not be very durable.

The second hammer head is all made from plastic (except the piece of spring) and has a "pin" that goes through the handle so that it is a solid construction. Also, not having to use much putty means that it is lighter than the first hammer, which is important for the magnet consideration (heavy weight at end of long lever). There is no putty in this one yet, but I will be using some for gaps and some details.

I think I prefer the pick on the first hammer though, so I'll swap those over.

Now to detail...

Great scale, mate. Keep it coming.

 Casey's Law wrote:
Great scale, mate. Keep it coming.

Thanks Casey.
The scale originally stemmed from the tube I picked for the handle.

The first tube I tried (from a soap dispenser) was just too thick for him to realistically hold, and the second (also from a pen) was exactly the same thickness as the handle on that Terminator. I thought; "that won't do", so I managed to find one that is roughly 50% thicker and so I kept with that scale and made it roughly 50% longer than the Terminator's hammer (it's probably more, I didn't measure it or anything).
Then, as I said, I still thought is was too short until I stood it up next to the Terminator...

All looking amazing, doing a really nice job on this, it will end up looking very dramatic. Hammer looks great.

It is probably far to late in the day, but for the "face", I always fancied putting a "spiritual" face behind glass on a dread. Think I saw it on one of the terrible sequels to Robocop, but imagine a OSL green light on a screaming face behind a plexiglas screen. Kinda like the soul of the guy in the dread. Think I might have to have a go, but if anyone can pull that idea off it is you Doc.

 Camkierhi wrote:
All looking amazing, doing a really nice job on this, it will end up looking very dramatic. Hammer looks great.

Thanks Cam.
It's taking much longer than I expected. It's amazing how long even little jobs take when you actually come to time them... and it all adds up.

Hammer has had some more details added (still some more to add):

Chaos-ed it up a bit. May still add an eye to it, and it still needs some wires/cables and the handle detail (which I'll do once the hand is on as it will take up much of the space).
The rivets you see holding the rings on are actual pegs that pass all the way through the handle and do hold the rings in place (see insert).

I'm currently working on the hand and I'll have something to show of it soon-ish.

It is probably far to late in the day, but for the "face", I always fancied putting a "spiritual" face behind glass on a dread. Think I saw it on one of the terrible sequels to Robocop, but imagine a OSL green light on a screaming face behind a plexiglas screen. Kinda like the soul of the guy in the dread. Think I might have to have a go, but if anyone can pull that idea off it is you Doc.

Not too late as I've not touched it yet and still considering options.
I have thought about a Cain-like face (which I believe is what you are referring to).
Painting on something like that would save time on the modelling (being absent), painting may be tricky to get the 3D effect... but when have I stood back from something tricky...?!
Still plenty of time to decide and to collect more ideas...

Hammer looks absolutely brutal! BRUTAL!!!!

Maybe cover the sarcophagus in loads of eyes, staring in all directions?

Or, if you go for having the face behind the screen, you could try to magnetise it, and have a replacement one for when it gets wrecked, where a rocket has blown a hole in the sarcophagus, and the spirit inside is escaping.

Nice, is he going to be holding it by the handle as the hand looks a little too open as supplied? The upright looked like a better fit to my eye.