The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Prot]

From what I can see it looks amazing. There is no way I'd tackle a project like that! My hat's off to you. 

 

I'm always envious of people that can take a model to that next level in the conversion phase. But that said it just might be the scope of the project that is 'grinding you down', perhaps?

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you, Prot. This means a lot coming from you, considering your exceptional painting skills.

 

And you're right not to take on a project like this - it is a bit overwhelming. I miscalculated the time I'll need for this badly. Having said that, despite the tone of some of my posts, in the long run, I'm an optimist with a short memory - I don't dwell too long on 'bad' things: as such, I will soon forget the trauma of this project and simply enjoy a cool model. Oh, and the life lesson I've mentioned before - I hope I won't get involved in new projects of similar magnitude,.

 

The absolutely great news is that I should be able to finish the model over the next two hobby sessions. The bad news is that I probably will need to take a 4/5-day break from 40k.

 

Here are some photos of the upper part of the model. The shoulder guards are almost ready and so is the hull/torso:

 

Front view:

 

Hull-weapons (this section of the model is most butchered, but I hope that paint will cover most of it up):

 

Side views:

 

 

With the way I dealt with the imaginary arm movement and the chunky bit (inspired by the design of the Contemptor/Leviathan), I'm not sure if I'll manage to squeeze a chain in there; I'll do a mock up later.

 

And the parts I'm most proud of: greebles on the back:

 

 

 

And a view of the hull from the bottom:

 

There isn't too much on the to-do list, too; just some minor details, rivets and some green stuff work.

 

I'd very much like to share the finished model with you, but it probably won't happen before the second part of the next week. I should, however, post a last update before posting an overview of the finished conversion.

[Prot]

So close. You gotta push through it. Your attention to detail is one thing but your execution seems to keep up with your ideas. I’d love to see this painted. 
 

I understand the need for a break and I think you’ve got a good attitude about it. You can come back refreshed and motivated. 

[Brother Christopher]

It's done! I'm still postponing the most stressful, final decision as to how to pose him ;) I'll decide once he's painted.

 

 

 

More photos in the spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[StratoKhan]

Hello friend, this is amazing work! It really restores the older Castraferrum look to the Redemptor. The model looks so much better with the sarcophagus exposed, plus all the work you put in shows as the lines and panels that you've added are really nice and crisp. The legs are also quite fancy, but they still fit the overall look of the model.

 

Huge win tbh. love it!

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

Thanks for the side-by-side images of all your work compared to the original! It's amazing!

[Brother Carpenter]

Looking good.

[Brother Christopher]

On 11/2/2022 at 3:54 PM, StratoKhan said:

Hello friend, this is amazing work! It really restores the older Castraferrum look to the Redemptor. The model looks so much better with the sarcophagus exposed, plus all the work you put in shows as the lines and panels that you've added are really nice and crisp. The legs are also quite fancy, but they still fit the overall look of the model.

 

Huge win tbh. love it!

 

Thanks for the feedback. It's interesting that you feel that way, regarding the resemblance of my conversion to the Castraferrum Dreadnought. I set out with the intention to bring the old box-nought aesthetic to the Redemptor in mind, but I feel I failed in doing so.

 

People who did the conversions below were more successful in that regard:

 

Spoiler

 

 

I regret that I haven't' paid enough attention to the Redemptor before working on it. Instead, I skipped the conceptual phase and dived straight into implementing a fuzzy set of ideas of what I want to change to the parts of the model without any actual thought into how these will work together. The result is pretty cool, but more akin to a Leviathan/Contemptor than a Castraferrum pattern dread.

 

In the end, if I may say so, I think I managed to upgrade the model, especially, by bringing it closer to my understanding of the "40K aesthetic," with less roundness and more useless stuff (greebles, detailed greaves, etc.)

 

Regardless, thank you for the positive feedback. It's cool that some of my initial goals were retained in the 'final product,' despite that I feel I went in another direction.

 

On 11/3/2022 at 10:19 AM, SWORD BROTHER RYAN said:

Thanks for the side-by-side images of all your work compared to the original! It's amazing!

 

Thanks, mate! I thought that people might enjoy this kind of thing. I know that, as a forum lurker, I'd very much like to see such a comparison.

 

I can only say that I'm glad you've taken the time to look at the photos and drop a comment.

 

23 hours ago, Brother Carpenter said:

Looking good.

 

Thanks! I hope to get it painted soon :)

 

***

Speaking of painting, the model is undercoated and - to my huge relief - the paint hid most of the 'mess.' I'm surprised how well and smooth 95% of the model looks. The only problems I noticed are some scratches on the side of the sarcophagus, small notches on one 'shoulder guard' and an uneven edge/surface on the other. Nothing that I'm concerned with, though - I'll wait and see how they are after they're painted and if the defects are still visible, I'll just cover them up with some purity seals ;)

 

I also wasn't sure about the 'knee guards.' The shape was right, but they seemed a bit on the small side. That bothered me, so I decided to go the extra mile and add some extensions (which coincidentally, will serve as a 'nice' piece of trim).

 

 

 

Now the knees are just slightly too bulky, but I think I prefer it this way - they are more comparable in size to those on the original Redemptor and flow better with the design of the knee joint. Without the extension, the armour seemed inadequate, leaving the joint overly exposed. I don't know, I might trim the trim () a bit.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Brother Cristopher

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

I hadn't noticed the cross on the grieves before. That's a great touch! I also like the trim/extension of the knee pad. It does give it a little more of the armor aesthetic we've all come to expect from the 40K Imperial armor. Overall, I have to echo the others and say that I can't wait to see the model through the painting stage. I'm sure it's going to blow minds!

I know you vent a lot here, but you're doing a great job. You've made the Redemptor have that boxy look and be unique at the same time. I wish I had the same skills. Keep up the good work, Brother!

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks mate! It's a delight to read your feedback - thanks again! On my part, I'm doing my best to keep up the work and use the momentum to finish the model ASAP.

 

I managed to squeeze in some Warhammer time during the weekend.

 

I decided on the paint scheme (borrowed from the FW Dark Angels Leviathan Dreadnought which also served as a major source of inspiration for my alterations).

 

 

I think that I'll also paint the housings for the hull-mounted storm bolters / whatever-their-name-is-rockets with the corresponding colours.

 

I also decided on the choice of colours - the ornamental trims will be gold, the 'mechanical' parts will be silver (they're mostly done already) and I decided which bits will remain black, representing armour.

 

Work in progress shots - please disregard the messy grey/black areas. The golds are also not done yet. For the white, for the first time I went with a non-white base. After so many years, I heeded online recommendations and got an almost-white grey (Ghost Grey from the Vallejo Game Color line) and drybrushed/highlighted the thing in proper white. The result is okay - I like it. It's not worse than my earlier whites, painted over a black primer, but the result is way, way quicker. Better late than never, I guess.

 

 

 

I decided to experiment and added an ornamental pattern on the red bit of armour:

 

 

 

I'm not sure about it, though. It looks pretty cool from close, but from a distance, it looks like it's badly painted. I'll need to reserve judgement until tomorrow when I'm able to inspect in natural light. I'm still considering repainting the white half of the cross with a metallic paint.

 

I also decided to add some rough freehand bits on the 'lids' on the hips - a Maltese cross and, with a bit of imagination, a skull:

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Brother Cristopher

[Urkh]

Super cool. Can't wait to see the whole thing!

[Brother Christopher]

Between battling some real-life attempts of Nurgle to affect my life and lots of work, I managed to make some progress. The legs are almost painted. I tidied up the highlights, did 70% of the gold trim and did some freehand on the knees.

 

 

 

 

I'm not a huge fan of this, though:

 

It was supposed to be a sword, with a Templar-cross hilt with some ribbons; however, it turned out a bit too cluttered and somewhat 'undefined' - it doesn't pop on the red background. Regardless, at the moment, I think I'll leave it as-is: I don't want to paint it over.

 

[Marshal Reinhard]

The freehand is most excellent

[Urkh]

The only thing I think is off about the sword is the angle of the middle parchment. It is going in the opposite direction of the other two, which seems wrong if it is being wrapped around the sword. Just a nitpick though. It looks fantastic, and freehand stuff like that should be enjoyed from close up, not from across the table. The mini is already cool enough that people are going to want to see it up close, and will definitely see you cool work.

[Brother Christopher]

Haha, you guys are the best. Should you ever choose to join the Reclusiam, let me know - I'll write you a letter of recommendation for boosting my morale.

 

12 hours ago, Urkh said:

The only thing I think is off about the sword is the angle of the middle parchment. It is going in the opposite direction of the other two, which seems wrong if it is being wrapped around the sword. Just a nitpick though.

 

Oh, you are absolutely right! That's 3/4 of the issue. However, I won't be redoing it - I'll be keeping my OCD impulses at bay here. The remaining 1/4 is the artificial light I'm using, which makes the red somewhat off to me. In daylight, I find the paintjob to be way better.

 

[Brother Christopher]

So, apparently I forgot that I was supposed to paint my models more quickly to get stuff done. Apparently, I'm not very good at cutting corners and instead of painting the model up to a tabletop standard, I got lost in 'the zone' and am about to paint the converted Redemptor almost as best as I am able to and have the resources to do. Given the paints, brushes and skills I have at my disposal, as well as not wanting to deviate from the overall aesthetic/style of my collection, the only thing I can realistically improve are the metallics. However, with the overarching goal in mind (i.e. finally getting my models painted), I have to impose some limitations on myself. After all, there's always something to improve.

 

I am particularly happy with the edge highlights - they are by far the best ones I've made on any vehicle. I was also thinking about doing some free hand on one of the shoulder pads and a chequered pattern on the other. However, given the size and shape of the pad, as well as the number of ornaments, details and colours on the 'hull,' I think I'll skip it for this model: I don't want it to get too cluttered. I'll probably save the idea in a future project, perhaps the vanilla Redemptor I have (provided that I won't sell him).

 

 

 

 

 

[Urkh]

Green seals, blue cruxes, and rainbow cords, oh my! A very colorful way to change the way the most people paint those features. Whole thing is looking great. Keep it up and you can't go wrong.

[Brother Christopher]

22 hours ago, Urkh said:

Green seals, blue cruxes, and rainbow cords, oh my! A very colorful way to change the way the most people paint those features.

 

Yeah, I felt... frivolous. I was worried that I'd overdo it but I kind of like it.

 

I think that this will be the penultimate update. Hopefully soon, the project will come to a successful end and the deluge of photos will stop ;) What remains for me is to paint the weapons (some are scattered in the background in the photos below) and choose the angle the torso pivots. I decided to paint the main guns red. You can also see that one shoulder guard has a white check pattern. This is supposed to provide a balance to the sides of the greaves painted white and read respectively: left leg and right arm with a red motif v. right leg and left arm with a white motif.

 

Since I weren't happy with how I dealt with converting the 'mechanical', moving parts (they weren't well-defined), in order to make them more distinct, I decided to paint them silver, while the armour remains black with a gold trim.

 

 

 

Greebles in the back:

 

And finally, the thing I'm most happy with - the check pattern:

 

This is my first attempt painting checks with a gradient and, despite that the photos exaggerate the thickness of the paint, I must say it turned out quite convincing.

[Urkh]

The checks are amazing!

Edited November 14, 2022 by Urkh

[Marshal Reinhard]

as someone who's done a fair bit of checker patterns, that's a checker pattern to be proud of.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work.

[Brother Christopher]

I am not superstitious but this project was cursed. It took me way longer than I ever imagined and even at the very finish line, when I called it a day and decided not do do anything else, it gave me a final rough ride refusing to stick to the base. Also, somehow I couldn't glue the waist joint with polystyrene cement and resorted to superglue and... I messed it up :D I ended up with a final position different from the so-carefully chosen angle. But that's enough of woes. It's time to celebrate.

 

After a month and a half of disassembling, building, converting, toiling, sculpting, sanding and painting (as well as photographing and spamming the forum with progress pics), I hereby declare that the model is painted.

 

First, the weapons:

 

 

 

And the whole thing:

Overall, I'm very happy with this. The whole thing was a bit overwhelming. I feel that at times I got lost in 'the zone' and overdid some parts of the model but... that's a good thing. I just need to be more careful about overcommitting in the future ;)

And for the base... I need to take a break from this dread - I'll do it when I'll be doing other bases!

Finally, I am unable to find the right words to express how grateful I am for all your support: words of reassurance, praise, understanding and advice. Special thanks to Marshal Reinhard, Urkh, Sword Brother Ryan

, Brother Carpenter and BLACK BLΠFLY. You're all great brothers and... motivators! Cheers!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done. How will you decorate the Venerable Brother's base? Do you have any Chaos or Ork models to dismember and then pile at the Dreadnought's base, as defeated foes?

[Urkh]

Absolutely gorgeous! This motivates me to finish the project I am currently working on. Unlike you, I don't like posting WiP pics of special projects because I like the surprise element to it, but watching this all come together and unfold was quite something. This is your first primaris mini, yah? You should be extremely proud. I probably would have voted for this dread in the knightfall votes.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Have to say, I felt a bit uncertain about how it would all come together for a while, but if anyone knew how to plasticard something together like this, it'd be you. And lo' and behold everything clicks into piece and is now painted up and if I didn't know the original kit  I'd barely be able to tell it was altered.

 

I will feel especially jealous of the leg armor and the classic arms of this brute.