Barok the Chaos Dreadnought

By Anthony Karl Erdelji

Every once in a while I get the urge to work on something special. Something besides a normal trooper or character. I wanted to do a third dreadnought, but what could make him special? Then I had the idea of a dreadnought-scorpion type of thing. After going through my bits box and through all the miniature catalogs I have, this is what I came up with. Take a deep breath, hold on tight, and here we go.

To make this a bit simpler, well take this piece by piece. After getting all my bits together I decided to start with the hardest part, the legs. I took the dreadnought's torso and cut off the legs. I got three pairs of the front legs to the Epic Hierophant and cut the legs off of the body. At the joints, I cut almost all the way through, enough to bend and spread the legs out. I then pinned each leg to the dreadnought's torso. The pins had to be very deep to support the weight of the rest of the model. After adjusting the legs so they all touched the ground they were glued in place with 5 minute epoxy and when dry, the gaps were covered up with Magic Sculpt. While the putty was still soft, a piece of wire was poked into each leg joint and at the base. This made it easier to glue in the wiring in later. After drying, a Chaos terminator head was glued to the crotch. Don't ask me why, but it looked cool!

Torso

 The body was originally from a Dark Angel Dreadnought so I had to file away all of the feathers and icons. I also sanded down the sarcophagus. In place of it is an Armorcast skull. The bottom jaw is actually another skull chopped in half, and sanded to look like a bottom jaw. The face was then glued to a piece on balsa wood and then glued to the sarcophagus. Magic Sculpt was added around the skull to blend it into the surrounding area. The havoc missile launcher is really two Dreadnought missile launchers. Both had the eagle sanded off. The left one went on easily, but the right one took a little more filing to get it even with the top of the body. I cut off the two "sensors" or what ever they are that stick out underneath the body. These were replaced with a pair of Slann palanquin throne horns. the standard pole was cut in half and a chaos icon was glued onto the pole. Before the body was glued to the leg assembly, I need to add a washer to the bottom so the arms would clear the legs. A normal rubber or metal washer would of worked, but I had an Ultima Online pin in my bits box, so I snipped off the "U" and slipped the "O" over the peg and glued the torso to this. See everything has a use! A Chaos Dreadnought power plant was glued onto his back.

Left Arm

I started with a Dreadnought power fist arm. I filled in the gaps on the back of the arm left from the molding process with Magic Sculpt. The power fist was left off and the nub that it goes onto was cut off. I pinned a chaos dreadnought thunder hammer in its place. For some added flare, I pinned the spike from Orion's spear to the front of the hammer.

Right Arm

 This was originally a Dreadnought lascannon arm. The gap on the back of this arm was also filled in with Magic Sculpt. I started by cutting off the entire lascannon section and the coolant lines. I next took two space marine heavy bolters and cut the backs flat. With one bolter, I cut off the clip and sanded the bottom flat. This one was glued onto the top of the other bolter and both were pinned where the lascannon was. An Armorcast skull was glued to the side of the arm.

Left Assault Claw

 This claw is simply a Ork dreadnought power claw with two lighting arc generators from a Skaven Doomwheel that were chopped up and glued around the end of the claw.

Right Devastator Claw

 This is another Ork Dreadnought power claw. I started by pinning two scythes from a Chaos bike to the sides of the claw. Four Ork boltas were glued to the scythes. I then took a Eldar Dreadnought scatter laser, filed the round mounting joint flat and pinned it to the top of the claw.

Before attaching the arms, I painted the inside of the Dreadnought black. The power claws were glued and double pinned to avoid accidental rotation. We are now half way through! Hooray!!!! Lets move onto the painting.

After washing and primering the model with Citadel white primer, I started by painting the entire body with Ral Partha Black. When dry, I started highlighting by drybrushing with RP Drow Flesh. Next a mix of Drow Flesh and Dark Gray was drybrushed on the model. Then straight Dark Gray was drybrushed onto the very edges and the face only. I took these steps a little farther on the face by continually adding Gray to the Dark Gray, but instead of drybrushing, they were blended in for a smoother look. Gray was used for the final highlights. The power claws where then added to the top.

The power claws, thunder hammer, assault launcher, havoc missiles, and some other assorted pieces were painted with RP Dark Red. They were then given a Black Wash. Then drybrushed repeatedly with Dark Red with a little more Red added each time. If this sounds familiar, I'm using the same technique I used on my Bloodthirster.

All of the wiring was painted in two ways: Some were painted Red, shaded with Magic Wand Red Wash, and highlighted with Red and Yellow. The rest were painted with Polly Cockatrice Yellow/Green, shaded with a Citadel Green Wash, and highlighted with the same Green and White. I was not planning on painting the legs any color but Black, but they looked a bit too plain, so I used the same Green coloring technique on the undersides of the legs. Polly S Gold was used as trim around the model and on every bolt and pin.

 All of the skulls and horns, except the palanquin horns, were painted with RP Ivory. they were then given a Citadel Flesh Wash. After drying, there were highlighted with Ivory and White. For a more detailed effect, the palanquin horns were painted with RP Chocolate Brown at the base. Ivory was continually added as I moved up to the tips of the horns. All of the other areas on the model are obvious as to was color they were painted so I won't go into anymore details.

At this stage, I felt something was missing, so I decided to add another set of arms (Yes! Another set!). I was planning to pin on the Hierophant Razor Claw arms underneath the torso, but I'm going to finish the rest of the model first so I can seal it to avoid rubbing off all of the painting that was done. So we'll hold off on that for a moment.

Now, I wanted to add some wear and tear to this beast. For the scrapped paint effect on the claws, power pack, and barrels of the twin heavy bolters, I took my Polly S Oxidized Aluminum and RP Black onto my brush, and with a stabbing motion, I applied this to the said areas. You want a kind of uneven blotchy effect. This was followed with straight Oxidized Aluminum applied in the same stabbing motion. You want to leave a thin strip of the first coat between the rest of the red paint and your highlight. Polly S Stainless Steel was painted onto the edges. For some rust, I took some Magic Wand Rust Wash any applied it to just a few areas with the same stabbing technique. Just a little will do, any extra Rust was wiped off. Remember that rust only appears on bare metal that doesn't see too much use, so keep it near the bases of the blades and areas like that. After I applied the rust on the exhaust of the power plant, while it was still wet I mixed in some thinned down Black for a burnt carbon effect.

The entire model was sprayed with Testors semi-gloss. When dry, I pinned and glued on the Razor Claws. It was difficult working the pin vice around the area without scratching off all the paint. This is a perfect example why its so important to plan out every step when working on a project of this magnitude. I also apply a few Chaos decals to the model at this stage. When they were dry the entire model was sealed with Floquil Flat. All done!

Well there you have it. All together this project took about 100 hours and contains about $100 in bits! I was tempted to put the entire thing on a base for more stability, but it would make it almost impossible to use in a game. If the legs start to come loose, I can always add a base later. Now with I all done, I am quite pleased at the results. Having a centerpiece like this for an army really gives you something to be proud of. Why not have a go at it yourself?