Ultramarines Ironclad Dreadnought / Venerable Dreadnought

I never seem to be able to finish my Ultramarines army. I guess there are so many bits and left overs, that I am compelled to try to use them before moving on to new projects.

I went through my bit box, and found that I had enough parts to make yet another Dreadnought (# 4). My previous ones consist of two ordinary Dreadnoughts, and one Venerable Dreadnought, with all the various weapons magnetized. Then I got the idea of a storyline linked to my last Librarian build; A couple of weeks ago I finished a “pimped” / “vane” Librarian with lots of scrolls, Servitor Skulls and a beige robe. What if I made a model representing him honoured with “Dreadnought armour”? My Librarian being quite taken with “bling”, I am sure the Tech Marines and Servitors where only happy to apply them selves in order to make him stand out on the battlefield!

Making the option for him to be fielded in a Venerable dreadnought was a no brainer, however, I wanted to try to make one build I did not have in my collection – an Ironclad Dreadnought. I gave nothing against GW, I love the models and the game, however – I do want to put a limit to purchasing models and part, deciding to try to add various bits left over from previous projects in order to make a model that could represent an Irenonclad Dreadnought.

First out I had to change the Sarcophagus, deciding to use venerable parts in order to make him more “bulky”. I also added skulls on top of him to i) create bling and ii) that could represent the Ironclad “grenade launchers”.  I had a large left over Forge World Skull that I thought would look cool on the front armour.

I filed down the front armour plate, filled it with Tamiya putty, sanded it level, and glued on the skull.

Some work in progress pictures:

Preparing parts to build the body

Various bits – choosing parts in a creative, as "I go along process"

The skull and front plate (before sanding)

It’s coming along

I fitted extra plating to both arms in order to make the model more bulky than the normal build, also representing - “Iron clad”. Now how to scratch build a Seismic Hammer? I turned the Missile launcher arm in the opposite direction (from left to right arm), removed some parts, and used the Drill bits from the Centurion kit, some left over cables and the landing gear from the Storm Eagle flyer set. I magnetized a Heavy Flamer and a Meltagun so they can be fitted under the arm. And of course, servo skulls, old left over Forge World Ultramarines ornaments, and finally scrolls where added.

And this is how the finished model looks like:

  

All arms are magnetized, and he can also be kited with a Lascannon, Assault cannon with flamer ore a Multimelta. On these arms I only added scrolls and some more subtle ornament parts, in order to be able to keep the basic idea of this old Librarian now being a Venerable Dreadnought.

What to do next?

I have 5 Sniper Scouts, but want to build them with Bolters, and am working on how to refit the Rifles with Bolters. But then again, there is an old industrial complex with narrow corridors and confined compartments that are sending out a distress signal…

Cheers,

Ørnulv