Krios battle tank

After finishing the Dreadtober challenge I really felt reinvigorated to paint. It was such a relief for the brain to just paint something and not to have to worry about how to build it (as with Opus). As I have a huge pile of grey shame in my cupboard I immediately went to the local hobby store and splurged on some new models. In this case it was a bit unintentional as I was looking for some other models and just happened to run across a Mechanicum heavy support force. I remember when these first came out and I though they were great deal and I was really keen to get one. But when I were to place the order it was gone from the GW website. So I left it at that. But now that I hade the chance I grabbed it and ran for the checkout and I think I really got it for a good price considering the content.

So the first model I wanted to paint was the Krios battle tank. I am not to keen on the wheels on the sides, but otherwise I think it is an interesting model with all the exposed internal mechanisms. I will see if I add the wheels or if I replace them with something else. Another thing I was not super excited about with the design was the blunderbuss look of the main battle cannon. There are however other option in the box that make some interesting weapons, but I really wanted a traditional type of cannon. So I decided to do some minor modifications an combined all three guns from the kit into one. I also decide to add as much physical armour as the kit allows. The Mechnicum generally does not go for amour as they use energy shields instead but I like the aesthetics with the front armour covering parts of the tracks. I also did some modifications to the front shield so that the front shield projector is visible. All in all I am happy with the build and it is only the side wheels that I have not decided upon yet.

As usual I decided to break the model down into subassemblies for easier painting. One thing that I believe is essential to these tanks is to leave the outer side of the tracks of, so that the internal parts are accessible for painting. It will be interesting to see how these take shape. So far I have only painted Titans and Knights in the Northern Ghosts scheme, so lets see what their tanks look like.

Dreadtober done

I am done! I was not sure if I would make it this year as i managed to fumble the start and I had one week away on a work trip. But the model was such fun to paint that even if it meant long sessions I kept pushing and had to actively stop myself to go to bed several times.

Over all I am happy with the result, but if I had to do it again I would hold back on the red stripes and make the checkered field a bit smaller. In the end, the pre heresy colour schemes are quite limited and a lot of the legions tend to have the same base colour (especially when they need to be figure painted) and it is only the detailing and iconograph that set them apart, and it is very easy to slide from one to the other. It would have helped if it would have been a legion specific miniature, but as it is a generic one this matters more. I tried to add some first legion flavour by adding the shields and a sensor helmet with wings. In the end I had to skip the wings on the helmet as it ruined the balance of the model in a non pleasing way. But I still think it sort of reads as a Dark Angels dreadnought and not a Blood Angel.

I am, as always, surprised how the colour tones change during the painting process. The "blacks" are very blue in the beginning but as soon at contrasting paints are put down it turns darker. Adding the brown orange rust in the corners further change the over all appearance of the black, from a cold blue to a warm black. As I usually pain the models in subassemblies it is not until I do the final assembly that I get the full picture of the composition and how the colours influence each other. Over all I am happy with this years contribution.

Dreadtober 05

What to do?

In my original plan for the Deredeo I planed to use a winged helmet to tie it in more with the Dark Angels, but I think it put to much visible weight into the front of the dreadnought, making it look like a hunchback.  

So I painted up the spare head and the armour ring for the cowling and tried it out and that makes it more streamlined and visually it does not steal as much attention from the missile launchers on the back but I lose one connection to the first legion.

I am not really sure how to proceed here.

Dreadtober 04

I finally got some solid time with the Deredeo this week. Wifey was away on a work trip so I got as much time in the hobby room as I liked. As I already got most of the base work done, all I needed was to rough it up a bit. But that is sadly what takes the most time, as it is pure brushwork to put in all the rust and damage.

Over all I think I got this sort of right. I am however starting to second-guess the discission to use a winged helmet. I will paint up a plain one to and see if that looks better.

There is still some details left to do such as the missile tips, som minor lights and the base. Then I need to assemble all the individual pieces and go over the model and clean up anything that does not look good around the joints. But over all I am pretty sure I can finish the model in time.

DreadTober 03

Last week I did not get much done as I was away with work. So I tried to get something going this weekend but it was mostly filled with family time and necessary work in the garden. But I did get a few hours painting in.

First was the missile launchers on the back. I decided to give them bone white cowlings to break a bit with the black and red (which started to look suspiciously like a death company dread). I also give them some black stripes and two red Dark Angels icons to break up the surfaces. I might add something to the sides also as they look a bit pale. I also will add some sponge chipping and rust to the paint to give it a worn look.

The torso also got some red stripes to better align it with the legs. Then I stared to add the base colour to the guns and helmet.  I still think it is a bit to much of colour, but we will see what it looks like when everything is finally assembled.

DreadTober 02

Well.. that was a quickie. Since my time during the coming weeks will be somewhat limited I decided to push a head this weekend to get as much done as I could for the coming week.

After the initial base I laid down at the end of last week I finished up the base colours with a light drybrush on the black and some extra browns and oranges on the steel to get the saturated rust colours. Then I added some freehand iconography on the legs. And, I realized that there is a thing called to much. In the end all the white and read colour fields overpowered the black base, and the legs look to colour full, almost a bit like harlequin legs (I guess that is one drawback of doing to many subassemblies, you do not get the balance as easily). But at that point it was to late and I had to commit and work with what I had done. So I added some sponge shipping and another layer of rust that also extended to the armour panels.

I also started on the base, which is basically just some shattered concrete/marble thing. I think I will add some black and yellow chevrons to it to make the ground more interesting. But we will se.

Once I got all the detail done I assembled the legs. I will give it a bit of a lean bak pose as it is tracking some airborne threat. I hope it will look god in the end.

DreadTober 01

I missed the kick off!!!  I do not know how it happened, but I am a week late with my DreadTober build. I must have miscalculated the days and just missed that the first weekend was only a few days into October.

Well, this week has been all about getting things up to speed. I am building a Deredeo Dreadnought for the first legion/Dark angels. I have done few first legion dreads before so this is not that much new territory. I will use the same colour palett that I have used before so the paint jobb will be basically the same. However I am trying out a new technique, sponging, for the armour. So that will be interesting.

The first thing was to bet the model built. And you never know with GW kits how complicated they will be, and the Drededeo kit is complex. It is four sprues with a lot of small parts that needs to be cleaned and assembled. That took me two full evenings after work to get sorted. The build is basically out of the box but with some Dark angel things added, so nothing to fancy.

Once everything was assembled I gave it a quick base spray and started with the first layers. I did the metal parts in my usual way with a black base and some brown and orange watered down colours to give the appearance of rust. Then I dry brushed on some metallics. Then it was on to the armour with a sponge going from blue grey to light grey. This will all get a coat of wases before another round of dry brushing and we will se how that turns out.

A hectic week with some speed painting. Hopefully I will get some time in this weekend and have a new update pretty soon.