Hobby Progress April 16 - Pelvic Thrust

As well as taking advantage of the better weather to basecoat loads of marines, I've got stuck into the Iron Hands project with a start on the Spartan and my three dreadnoughts.

As you would expect from such a large model, the Spartan had some casting defects; a bit of mould slip on the heavy bolter turret and one of the wheels in the track is malformed. However nothing sufficient to warrant a return for new parts. 

Taking it off the sprue was not too bad; the joins to the sprue weren't too large and are in fairly easy to get at places. My key learning from the Venator is that the process just requires a lot of patient filing. Go too fast and you end up damaging surrounding detail.

Fortunately this is one of the new versions with single piece side sections that include the tracks. Assembly has therefore not been too bad. I found it difficult to get the hull section to come together neatly and ended up having to pin the roof in place. I also think I'll end up having to glue the assault ramp shut as it is fractionally off and won't close right without a good shove. Ironic, as I've built a hinge into the top hatch to allow that to be opened and closed. 

I've actually not glued on the side sections and will not do so until after painting. Same with the las cannons which are super complex and will have to be painted as sub assemblies.

Overall I think it's a great model with a real imposing bulk. It's a heavy duty pierce of kit - perfect for the X legion. 

Progress so far

The Derideo dreadnought is now ready for priming. This thing was fantastic to build. Firstly the cast was near perfect with just some small air bubbles to contend with. Secondly the design is very well thought out; allowing you to pose the dread in a number of different stances. Finally I think the model is great aesthetically. I know it's a sculpt that divides opinion but for me this is a great looking dread. I'm really pleased. 

Another model which is much maligned is the Betrayal at Calth Contemptor. Its got limited posing and lacks a proper cavity where the head is. On the other hand, however, its super quick to build and is cheap as chips (a rare attribute in 30k).

In my opinion the main body has a reasonably fluid sculpt, the problem comes with the arms. As they are moulded in pretty much one piece they are locked in a two dimensional pose. This gives the contemptor a bit of a 'Robbie the Robot' feel. For my first B@C contemptor I've addressed this by hobby sawing through the arms at the point where the weapon arm meets the shoulder. The weapon has then been reattached at an angle from the shoulder so the whole limb gets to move in an extra dimension. Its a small change but I think it helps the model a lot.

I've also added some forgeworld Iron Hands brass to the legs. Once it has been painted and liberally sprinkled with transfers I think it will look alright.

I wasn't able to resist getting another B@C set so this has given me the opportunity to do a more radical restructure on the second dreadnought. Fortunately I found a brilliant tutorial on YouTube which can be found here: https://youtu.be/Iq2Opubrhck.

First step was to hack his legs off where they join the main body. The second was to saw through the waist. I then rolled up a pea sized ball of greenstuff, let it dry overnight and then cut it up into three sections. The middle section was thrown away but the remaining outer hemispheres were glued onto the pelvic section as shown below:

Then a 5mm drill was used to enlarge the holes at the top of the legs so that the green stuff hemispheres could fit into them and act as ball joints. This allows the legs to be positioned at angles off from the main body. As mentioned in last week's post, I feel that the B@C contemptor's main issue is that it is all right angles. Positioning the legs at twenty or so degrees off of the plane of the main body gives it a dynamism that it lacks when assembled straight off of the sprue. I went for splaying both legs outwards slightly to give a 'pelvic thrust' stance. 

As the photo above shows the pelvic section is magnetised at the waist which allows the model's main body to be posed swiveling in any direction. 

I've then angled the close combat weapon so that it is being flung out to the model's left. The assault cannon is also angled to the left as if it is being brought to bear across the body. The pose I was going for was one of the dreadnought tracking its assault cannon off toward a target on the left and throwing its CCW out to counterbalance the manoeuvre. Ideally I would also have angled the head to the left. I briefly toyed with cutting the existing head out, using some inverted marine shoulder pads to create a new recess for the head area and adding in a new, posable head. However, I thought that was quite risky and I didn't want to potentially ruin a model that was shaping up well. If it get a third B@C contemptor then the whole new head recess thing is happening to it.

My other, definitely not Iron Hands, hobby progress was with my Dimachaeron. The poor thing had malformed claws due to a moulding issue. Forgeworld customer service has been as good as ever and I now have a replacement which has been fitted. He's whole and ready for a basecoat.