King of the Road

 Bit of a slow few weeks - I'm back to work, rehearsing full time, and my painting has taken a hit. 40K's much-hated zimmer frame, the Dreadknight, is the latest off the production line.

There's not much love for this thing out there, which surprises me. I quite like it, it's a nice kit with a lot of potential for dynamic posing. If tying a terminator marine to your stompy death robot isn't at least a little badass, I don't know what is.

Crypt Angels colours, so lots of black and red. White contrasts and plenty of toothy pink on this one - the model has loads of flat spaces to brighten up, so I went slightly overboard with gums. It also helps to distract a little from all the Grey Knights iconography (the driver even has 'Grey' and 'Knight' stamped on his knees), which I wanted to paint in but not be too eyecatching.

The left hand bears a slightly more evil sword than the box option. Nagash has sent his Mortis Blade out on loan, which helps give a slightly more chaotic feel than all the inquisitorial gubbins the Dreadknight usually has.

The right wrist has a choice of guns. No magnets yet, it doesn't really seem to need them and I don't trust my hacking skills. It's also not glued together at the waist, so it can twist a bit. Or be broken in half for ease of transport.

The base got a tarmac look when I put the spray paint on over a slightly damp PVA/sand mix, so I used a bit of masking tape to put road markings on it. There are some cracks sliced in with a craft knife to make it look like the road surface is cracking under the weight, but the paintjob didn't really bring them out very well.

Once it was all done, it still looked a bit dark. I went back and put some lighter areas on the belt and wrists for contrast. Too much white and the red/black mix starts looking like Black Templars, though, which is not what I'm after.

Damn established Chapters! Taking all the good palettes. 

Painting Guide:

• Blacks - Chaos Black Spray, Eshin Grey and Longbeard Grey drybrush, Nuln Oil to finish
• Reds - Khorne Red, Whatsit Crimson wash, Wazdakka Red and a tiny bit of Wild Rider red highlighting
• Yellows - Averland Sunset, Agrax Earthshade, Golden Yellow and Bad Moon Yellow streaking, Hexos Palesun drybrush then the former mixed with White Scar on top
• Whites - Rakarth Flesh, Pallid Wychflesh layer
• Gums - Emperor's Children base, Tentacle Pink and Changeling Pink layers
• Teeth - XV88, Agrax, Ushabti Bone, Tyrant Skull and White Scar layers
• Silvers - Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Runefang highlights
• Brass - Tin Bitz, Brass Scorpion, Agrax, Runelord Brass, a touch here and there of Runefang
• Blue - Deadly Nightshade, Teclis Blue with Etherium Blue highlight
• Road Stripe - Pallid Wychflesh, White Scar over the top

In the background, I have also done a pair of dwarves...

I was feeling pleased with the paint until I realised he looks a bit like Superman.

Another dwarven cleric, adventurously using a hammer. Outside the box, this one.

It's okay, I got this.

You. Might not. Pass. 

...and retouched the Desert Thing until I was happier with it.

Green and wriggly. 

Bit of blending inside the mouth, to make the gullet look a tiny bit deeper. 

The Reaper base it sits on lets it plug into a Citadel Wood, handy for marking Mysterious Terrain. If you still do that kind of thing, of course. Not so useful for AoS, which all the cool kids play these days.

I sure do.