Blood Angels Contemptor WIP

[Bradley Powers]

Per my vow in the Unforgiven painting contest:

 

I, Bradley Powers, answer the challenge of the Unforgiven and vow to complete 1 Blood Angels Contemptor Dreadnought from Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition of total value 230 points on or before August 15. Success will bring eternal glory to the Blood Angels and failure will doom me to bear the sign of damnation until the year-end.

 

I will be assembling and painting a Contemptor dreadnought. In fact, I've nearly completed assembly. Here are some work in progress pictures from assembly:

 

Here's the dread with the legs and body assembled. Every single joint there is pinned, which took forever but was definitely worth it. Despite the fact he is being held fairly upright, I intend to have him in an aggressive running stance when pinned to a base.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13349248/My%20Dread/dread1.JPG

 

A different angle on the same stage of assembly.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13349248/My%20Dread/dread2.JPG

 

Here's the idea I have for his base. I'm going to paint up that fallen marine in Death Company colors, with blood spilling out of his chest. In essence, the dreadnought will be rushing forward to avenge his fallen brother.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13349248/My%20Dread/dread3.JPG

 

Some more work, using poster tack to preliminarily pose the arms.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13349248/My%20Dread/dread4.JPG

 

The final assembly*

 

*Note that I reserve the right to change him at any point :D

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13349248/My%20Dread/dread5.JPG

 

 

I have a new airbrush, to replace my 9 year old one coming in the mail this week, and I'll get on to paint, weathering, and basing! Best of luck fellow Sons of Sanguinius!

[Talnox]

looks fantastic

[Bradley Powers]

Why thank you! Any recommendations? Do you like the basing idea I posted?

[Bradley Powers]

Ok! New airbrush came in today, (only two weeks after I was told it'd arrive :angry: ) and I was super excited to start painting the dreadnought. I spent a couple of hours on him, getting down a solid black primer coat (Vallejo Model Air Black Primer) followed by working on his base coat and zenithal highlighting. To start, I sprayed about 4 transparent coats of VMA (Vallejo Model Air) Fire Red thinned with Vallejo Thinner 1:1. Then I did 2 more thin coats with the same color from about 45 degrees above horizontal on the model. Next, 3 coats of VMA Italian Red, again at about 45 degrees. Lastly, I did 2 very light coats of VMA Scarlet Red from directly above the model. I may or may not regret the Scarlet now that I'm looking at it under more natural light, it's looking somewhat orangeish. I might go back with a coat of Italian Red, or maybe a red wash...

 

Without further adieu, Mr. Dread himself:

 

 

(Apologies for the picture, taken with my iPhone as the camera is out of commission for a while)

 

So, any thoughts?

[Captain Semper]

I think it's awesome! Movement is something that the old style Dreadnought was deprived from - but the Contemptor? And this one looks like a maniak too - excellent! keep it up mate! :angry:

 

 

Btw what livery would the downed marine display?

[Bradley Powers]

I'm thinking the downed marine will be a Death Company marine.

 

This guy is basically intended to be used as either a DC dread or Furioso. In a campaign at my local gaming club, he is in fact my very own special character, Ancient Zendrenael. He is an HQ, and basically acts as a Chaplain to nearby units. Thanks for the compliments, I was going for lots of movement, and making him look a little crazy... Taken by the black rage I suppose.

[KaiserTJ1860]

Loving the overal composition of the Dread avec downed marine. Just a quick question, how large are the contemptor heads in comparison to the normal marines? I was thinking about getting one but wanted to be able to swap out heads to indicate a librarian/chaplain/ordinary furioso.

 

Didnt mean to merely threadjack. Is a very dynamic pose, fitting for a doomed marine

[The Holy Heretic]

Very nice posing, looking forward to see the end result :P

[Bradley Powers]

Loving the overal composition of the Dread avec downed marine. Just a quick question, how large are the contemptor heads in comparison to the normal marines? I was thinking about getting one but wanted to be able to swap out heads to indicate a librarian/chaplain/ordinary furioso.

 

Didnt mean to merely threadjack. Is a very dynamic pose, fitting for a doomed marine

 

Thanks for the compliment, I'm working on getting the DC marine put together correctly so it looks awesome. The Contemptor heads are a little larger in diameter, but the bottom quarter is cut off. I think with some work you might be able to pull it off.

 

@The Holy Heretic: Thank you, I'm looking forward to it too! I'll be working on it a bit today.

[Bradley Powers]

I apologize in advance, I'm getting ready to drop 6 HUMONGOUS pictures...

 

I did much painting today, 2 black saltires on his leg and shoulder, did a purple fade on his blood talons, metallic details, and a basecoat on detail stuff. I might be doing some freehand at some point...

 

I also did a drybrush step on his base.

 

Here goes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you guys think?

[Captain Semper]

:D

 

I think this is super nice! Purple claws are EPIC!!! Very neat work with the black "X" all around. I love the idea you went for an "inverted" pattern of overall red with black X... And the two color head? You sir have talent!!!

 

Now I know I'm walking on thin ice here but could you consider hazard stripes in the round part of the fist/claw base? ;)

 

Keep it up - it's inspiring stuff!

[Bradley Powers]

:D

 

I think this is super nice! Purple claws are EPIC!!! Very neat work with the black "X" all around. I love the idea you went for an "inverted" pattern of overall red with black X... And the two color head? You sir have talent!!!

 

Why thank you sir, it's always nice to be complimented after much hard work. I'm a huge fan of how the purple claws came out. I did that initial coat with the airbrush, and now I'm going back with a couple of purple glazes I made and intensifying the colors while smoothing the blend somewhat. I'm also really liking the inverted DC colors. Black is very... interesting, and really easy to make very flat. I've gotten really good at painting red, so I decided to stick with it. Sadly, the pictures don't show it well, but I did zenithal highlighting on this dude, which I'm very pleased with.

 

Thanks again for the compliments.

 

Now I know I'm walking on thin ice here but could you consider hazard stripes in the round part of the fist/claw base? ;)

 

You're not on thin ice at all. I definitely could do that, although I'm worried it would get a bit busy. I did add a yellow Company marking to his right knee, and the yellow and black looks really good. I'll ponder the hazard stripes some more. Perhaps they would work well somewhere with less going on. Maybe somewhere on his back? Hmmmm.

 

Keep it up - it's inspiring stuff!

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Time for more pics!

 

I did some more on this guy, adding a squad marking to his knee, glazing his talons a bit, and going over stuff with washes (particularly his metal bits). He's coming together!

 

Here's a shot of his head out of the body.

 

As I said, I worked a bit on his talons.

 

I added a knee marking, which I'm pretty pleased with. I'll add some sort of symbol freehanded on there. Suggestions?

 

Last but not least, I went over him with washes in many places. Note the metal around his joints, the aquila on his chest, and the winged drop on his knee. Also, the purity seals got a wash to make the paper look aged.