Forgeworld arms on metal dreadnought

[Itsacon]

Does anyone know how the size of the (mk V) Forgeworld arms compares to those on the older metal dreadnoughts?

 

I recently converted two old metal DA dreads into a Mortis dread, and I was thinking of adding a set of autocannon arms next to the missile launcher and lascannon ones I now have.

 

Some pics of the conversion, just because:

 

http://www.itsacon.net/portentimage/40k_da_dreadnought3_work_right.thumb.jpg http://www.itsacon.net/portentimage/40k_da_dreadnought3_work.thumb.jpg http://www.itsacon.net/portentimage/40k_da_dreadnought3_work_left.thumb.jpg

[Xenith]

I'd imagine that the FW left and right autocannon arms will be the same size as one another, and to the same scale as the current dread arms.

[Quixus]

I once asked FW about the GW Venerable Dread and their MKIV arms. They answered all our arms are compatible with all GW dreads.

 

Worst case scenario, you either have to put some GS into the whole on the arm or you have to file down the peg on the body. Not that big of a deal.

[Itsacon]

It's more that I don't know how similar the current plastic dread is compared to the old metal one. Considering nearly everything GW makes has grown over the years, I'm afraid the arms will be too big (not the hole, I can deal with that, I mean the arm itself).

[Major_Gilbear]

I have these at home; if you can wait a few hours, I'll snap some side-by-side pics for you later.

[Itsacon]

I have these at home; if you can wait a few hours, I'll snap some side-by-side pics for you later.

That would be awesome. Thanks!

[Major_Gilbear]

Pictures taken, but there's about 60 because the metal parts are tricky to photgraph!

 

I also did a comparison set with the plastic weapons too.

 

I'll sort through and edit the best ones tp show you tonight, but the summary is this:

 

- The "shoulder" parts are a decent match across all three materials

 

- The metal weapons are a fair bit shorter

 

- The resin and plastic weapons are extremely good matches for size

 

- All three have very small detail differences between them

[Cloud Runner]

Arms are comparable size and should work just fine.

 

BUT

 

(and it's a big one!) I found that the holes in the arms were smaller than the pegs on the metal dread sarcophagus which was really noticeable. 

[Major_Gilbear]

Right, as promised, here are the edited pix. The shine of the metal unfortunately makes it hard to see them well in the first pic, sorry. Hopefully you can see well enough for a size comparison though.

Metal weapons are the top-most row as indicated:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Metal%20amp%20Resin%20All_zpsqfcltp9l.jpg

Next up, the same resin weapon against the plastic weapons (again, plastic is top row as indicated):

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Plastic%20amp%20Resin%20All_zps17jggrwv.jpg

First up is a detail shot of the metal lascannon overlaid onto the resin one. As you can see the metal one is shorter but the shoulder is otherwise a good match for size:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Metal%20amp%20Resin%20Lascannon_zpsc45pii0f.jpg

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Metal%20amp%20Resin%20Lascannon%202_zpsecbitawg.jpg

Next up is the same comparison with with a plastic lascannon overlain onto the resin one. The match for these is almost perfect (little details notwithstanding):

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Plastic%20amp%20Resin%20Lascannon_zps4lmsbiav.jpg

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Plastic%20amp%20Resin%20Lascannon%202_zpsblk52gcj.jpg

Finally, the metal missile launcher against the metal one. Although the shoulders are the same height and width, they are different lengths. This is further exaggerated by the short length of the weapon as well, which results in a significant overall difference in length. Details are also reasonably different too, making this match less than ideal:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Metal%20amp%20Resin%20ML_zpsrizzofwp.jpg

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp154/MajorGilbear/Misc/Dreadnought%20Arms/Metal%20amp%20Resin%20ML%202_zps3jjz25ud.jpg

Hopefully that helps you. It's also worth noting that FW do a few left/right arm pairs (not all though!), and that it might be worth picking a complete pair if it's reasonable for your needs - that way, not only are the shoulders a reasonable match for the old metal boxnaught, but the issues relating to weapon length and size go away. Example of a replacement for the left metal ML arm here.

Arms are comparable size and should work just fine.

BUT

(and it's a big one!) I found that the holes in the arms were smaller than the pegs on the metal dread sarcophagus which was really noticeable.

I'm sorry, but this advice is just plain wrong.

The arms are not all in fact a comparable match, and the arm-holes size is actually a really minor issue.

If the holes in the arms need adjusting, simply fill them with a little putty and drill new ones of the size you want when it's cured. It's about as hard as gap-filling or pinning, and if you're assembling an old metal boxnaught anyway, you have to assume the builder has *some* basic modelling skills.

[Itsacon]

OMG! That's so above and beyond helpful! I can't thank you enough!

 

That's exactly the info I needed. Looks like the `shoulders' on the Autocannon arms from FW are pretty much identical to the metal LC arms, so they'd be a perfect fit (if I drill the hole to the correct size).

 

The missile launchers I can convert from two metal ones (the lascannons I already did). But there were no metal autocannons (except for the chaos ones). Bt now I know I can get a complete set of those from FW, as you said, and they won't look weirdly off-sized.

 

Again: Thank you!

 

Also: That's a lovely collection of old metal arms. I'm jealous.

[Major_Gilbear]

Just be aware that FW do two sets of boxnaught arms; the MkIV and MkV.

 

The MkIV has shoulders whose slopes are concave, and are designed to suit the Venerable boxnaught. The MkV are the ones pictured above and are designed to fit the style of the regular boxnaught.

 

FW still sell both L&R autocannon arms of both marks, so be sure you get the right ones!

[Itsacon]

Yeah, I noticed. The sets with identical right and left arms are all Mk V (Since the Mortis is a Mk V).

 

I like the Mk IV autocannons better, but the Mk Vs are pretty enough for my purpose :-)