Looted Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought

Ok then I’ve not really posted much up until now but in an effort to embrace the new and updated site I thought I would take a few pics and share what I’m working on. I haven’t played 40k in an age but a few friends are getting back into it and with the new Ork codex on the horizon I thought it was time to give a bit of love to my green skins. Although in this case there won’t be much skin and it should end up being red and blue so that it’s fast and lucky.

I’ve had the idea for this for some time now as I really like the look of the Primaris Contemptor dread but I can’t bring myself to paint marines at the moment. So why not loot it. The plan is to keep the basic form but give it a couple of weapons on each are so that it works with the current rules. It also needs to have lots of armour so that it can soak up any damage and keep going. Beyond that I’m making it up as I go along.

It was only when I was watching the Weekender this morning that I decided to add the project to the site so the pictures start part way through but I’d only built one arm at that time so it should cover most of the build. The magnetised bits are mainly there to make it easier to paint and will probably get glued in place once everything is finished.

So here we have the first pictures with the gun arm just about finished and some additional plates added to the body.

Then we have the close combat arm completed along with the engine. I’ve also got most of the bolts added at this stage so most of the upper body is complete. I still need to think of what to do with the front as it’s not got enough armour yet but I haven’t decided if I’m going plane or fancy yet.

Day three of this project and I’ve mainly been working on the legs so that I can work out how it will stand on the base. Nothing special with the legs just adding lots of extra armour and chipping up the bits that weren’t covered by the extra armour. Each of the plats has just been made from plasticard but before I stick them to the model I use a model knife to chip up the edges and give them some battle damage. By doing each one before I add it to the model it makes things a bit random which I think fits with the Ork feel. The nuts are all made from miliput using a mould, I think it came from Green Stuff world but I’ll check that for a later update. I think I’m about 90% complete on the build now with all the major parts done, although the base still needs to be sorted. Back to work tomorrow so progress will slow down for a bit but I’m going to try and keep things going during the week.

I’ve got a few more pictures but I’m having problems uploading them so will go with the legs for now and try again later with the others.

These are the pictures I couldn’t upload earlier.

Back to work today so I’ve not had much time to work on the dread but I’ve added some fuel tanks for the flamer on the close combat arms along with some cables to link it to the flamer. It’s only a small detail and it’s easy to do but I think it makes a big difference. Still need to add a few bolts to the fixing points but I’m off to the gym tonight, trying to trim down a bit of gamer build.

Something a bit boring but essential to a model and that is the base. I wanted something that worked with the feel of the model but that was reasonably easy to do. So it’s just some textured plasticard that is set at different heights to give a bit of interest and then I’ve added what I’m hoping looks like a girder that has fallen off a wall or ceiling. The dread will get glued to this eventually but for now I’ve added a magnet so that I take things apart for painting.

I’ve only got a few detail bits to finish off now so I’m hoping to have that finished for Friday and then I can start painting this weekend. Fingers crossed.

Ok then ladies and gentlemen I’ve decided to call it a day for the build now. I could go on adding gubbins forever but if I do that I will never get round to painting it. So it’s time for it to head off to the paint shop for a lick of paint. That might take a while as the more I look at it the more I keep finding to paint but to give you and idea of what I’m looking at doing is going for a red and blue (fast and lucky) colour scheme that will fit in with my existing orks. The original redemptor parts will be blue, as to my orky mind that was the original colour of the dread the grots disabled so they could create this creation. The red is just because I like it and I want it to go faster.

I plan to keep updating the project with the painting as I go along and will probably try to get an update out each day, assuming I make any progress.

I didn’t think that I would get the painting started until tomorrow (Saturday) but managed to fit in enough time to get about 90% of the base completed. I’m not planning on going to grungy and wanted to sneak in a couple of little bits to tie in with the Imperial theme of the Redemptor and this is what I’ve decided on. I’ll do some final highlights and a bit more weathering once the model is actually on the base but I don’t think there will be many changes. Plus starting with the base keeps the mojo flowing so I’m hoping to make some progress on the legs tomorrow. Fingers crossed I’ll have another update for you tomorrow and if things go well and I remember I’ll try and do a couple showing the different steps along the way.

I’m hoping to do a few updates today hence the part one. In line with how I’ve painted my existing Orks I’ve started off here by painting everything in what I hope is a grimy metallic and then I’m going to add the colour over the top of this. To get to this stage I started off priming everything with Vallejo black surface primer applied with an airbursh. I’m glad I did it this way as three are that many fiddly bits I had to keep going back to bits that I’d missed. Next up I simply dry brushed everything with the darkest metallic I had which in case was a Scale 75 black, then over this I dry brushed a lighter metallic. To grim this up I gave it watered down wash of Secret Weapon Baby Poo, which is a wash I really like before darkening things down with Nuln Oil.

Next up I’m going to start with the legs adding colour and detail before working up to the body then the arms. Or at least that’s the plan.

The first section to get any colour has been the legs and I’ll work up from there. I’ve gone with a base colour and then given it one highlight so far. I’ve also started to pick out some of the detail but I want to get the body and arms on before I finish things up as I want to know which bits will be in shadow before doing the final highlights. Weathering will also get done when everything is complete.

I know that painting the body would take me longer than I planned but this really has taken me a lot longer that I planned. I’ve been plugging away at this today right up to the point where I took my dad to the pub for father’s day. So a couple of pints later I’ve got the body mostly finished and ready to share. There are a few details that still need working on but with the same approach as the legs I’m going to get the rest of the build finished before I go back and pick out these details.

Nearly there with the driver now in place. I painted him on his own and there is quite a lot of him that isn’t visible now that he’s in place but I’m sure weave all done this before. Especially if you’ve ever painted the inside of a Land Raider. The bulk of the work on the close combat arm is now also complete. I think it’s just going to be a case of going back over things looking for the details that I know I’ve missed once it’s all complete.

Last piece to get completed will be the ranged weapon arm but I’m not sure if that will be tomorrow or Wednesday, all depends on how bad the trains are tomorrow. Northern Rail on a strike day, still can’t realistically be worse than Northern Rail on a normal day.

The last major piece to be completed has been this ranged combat arm. A nice multi barrel big shoota with an underslung drill for when it gets up close and personal. The colour scheme is the same as the rest of the model and now that bit is done I can go back over everything to pick out the bits that’ I’ve missed before some final weathering and getting the whole thing varnished so that it can be used in game without the worry of chipping the paint off. The varnish will also help knock back some of the shine hopefully giving it more of a traditional orky feel.

The finishing touches are now done with all the details, that I can find, completed and weathering done. I’ve not gone to heavy on the weathering, partly because I don’t really know how to get that really worn look and partly because I want this to fit in with the rest of the my existing Orks. Having said that I think it still has a nice Orky feel.

There are a few close up’s of some of the detail but I’d be here forever if I tried to get everything in.

Hope you all like it and I’m already planning the next one. An Orky medium Bomber kitbash based on a standard Ork flyer. Just made wider and longer to fit the bombs and Gatling gun. Once I get going I’ll share it with you here.