Black Dragons Ballistus Dreadnought for Dreadtober 2023 is Complete!

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Its well after dark, so my apologies for no outdoors/natural lighting pics.

This time around my buddy Neverness crossed the finish line ahead of me, but I wasn't too far behind. Technically this isn't 100% done as I still need to matte varnish it and the 'ard coat the few shiny bits. However those details are negligible in the grand scheme of things and due to a busy schedule, I likely won't get to that till the weekend at the earliest. 

Some paint chipping was added to the shoulder stripes for some visual interest.

Speaking of that busy schedule, my beautiful and insanely smart wife defends her dissertation for her PhD in Biomedical Sciences tomorrow. She's almost done, wish her luck! 

Rather than prattle on about this project which I've already covered fairly well in its first three parts, I'll let the pics do the talking (well, and maybe the captions). 

Went kinda basic on the side the normally I only see.

The same paint chipping treatment was given to the other arm.

A close up of Olen's name banner, I got it on the first try!

Close up of the alien flora on the base...

...and again on the front of the base.

Many thanks to Marc and all of the other participants (many of whom's projects put mine to shame) for giving me the impetus to paint up the Venerable and Mighty Olen, of the Black Dragons.

Black Dragons Ballistus Dreadnought for Dreadtober 2023 (pt.3)

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Now we're trucking!

Its been a busy week, but I did manage to get some brush time on my Dreadnought, which I've named after an old friend from a now defunct FLGS. Olen was a good old guy who played Warhammer Fantasy Battle with his kids and anyone else who dared come within range of his laser-guided guess-ranged artillery. Olen worked in construction his whole life and could guess ranges with unerring accuracy!

Several years ago, well after Olen's passing I got some custom decals from fallout hobbies, and had a few of these made in his memory. Now I just need to paint his name on that leg scroll.

You'd be playing on one side of the shop and hear his cackling laughter followed (or preceded) by his trade mark battle cry of:

'You'll die like bitches!' 

While Olen was never much of a fan of 40k, he did like Dragons. As such, I figure naming a Black Dragons dread after him would be an acceptable compromise.

Speaking of Fallout Hobbies' decals...

Unfortunately Fallout doesn't do personally customized decals anymore which puts my Black Dragons in a bit of a quandary as the majority of my Dragon icons were used up by my now defunct Silver Drakes. 

Another worrisome of this discontinuation is that when I had the decals made way back when, I only had left side large decals made, meaning I can't have my chapter icons on both sides of any vehicles. Or at least not any full sized ones. 

I had to get a little creative for the right side, and so used a small icon as well as the written saga of Olen's mighty battlefield deeds. 

Black Dragons Ballistus Dreadnought for Dreadtober 2023 (pt.2)

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The flesh is weak?

Were this an Iron Hands dreadnought, then I'd be damned near done as large swathes of the machinery bitz have been dry brushed with leadbelcher. A few other bitz and bobs have had other metallic colors applied, but that's about it. This however is not an Iron Hands dread, so instead this week's forward progress can best be described as: minimal.

Its all so...monochromatic. Its seriously giving flashbacks to my old 4th ed. Iron Hands army.

Black Dragons Ballistus Dreadnought for Dreadtober 2023 (pt.1)

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The New and Improved Space Marine Dreadnought, now with talons!

Well its that time of the year again folks. Like so many, I too have recently purchased a new Ballistus dreadnought from the Levithan boxed set, and why not go ahead and paint it up rather than having languish in primer for...possibly ever. Right? Right.

I chopped up a beastman's skull from the skulls basing set to give my dread some of the requisite Black Dragons' claws. 

I'm off to a good start as my dread is already built, primed, and even battle hardened. There's not much in the way of conversion potential with this kit, but a few added dragon's horns and claws with hopefully help it stand out from the norm. 

Naturally, one of these two horns went on easily, and the other dropped down into the sarcophagus, threatening to never be seen again...