Project: Dread Talon

Project: Dread Talon is now nascent, having procured most of the requisite plastic for it other day at Darren's Anniversary Sale of Awesomeness. All I have left to get for it are the Blood Letters and Purity Seals I arranged to get from others.

Having examined the frames that came with the Dreadknight and Storm Talon boxes respectively, I noticed something I did not expect, and really, made me quite happy. Out of this project I had expected to yield one piece of custom stompy, and instead I am going to get not one, not two, but FOUR minis out of this.

• 1 Dread Talon
  
• 1 Tech Marine
  
• 1 Terminator of some description (honestly, there are a lot of different Termy things I could build him into)
  and
  
• 3/4 of a Dreadnought

The Dreadnought is the one that really surprised me out of this. His basic construction would consist of using the torso of the Dread Knight to from his chassis, and installing the baby-carrier pilot holder as frame work for the Sarcophagus. The inside round bits from the Storm Talon turbine pods would form the stumpy Dreadnought legs, where the cowling for the engines become the housing for the Dreadnought's arms. All this really leaves me looking for him are feet, a groin, and guns. And even on the guns part, the Storm Talon kit provides quite a number, including Assault Cannons, Lascannons, Heavy Bolters, and Missle Pods. The Dread Knight itself also provides a sword and hammer that could be used for close combat weapons, were I so inclined. I still think Auto Cannons are the way to go with my Dreadnoughts, though.

The only thing I notice missing from my current bits supply for the Tech Marine is some servo arms, which will likely be alleviated by a trip to the local department store's toy section and buying Doc Oc.

I imagine that between this project, the Aegis Defense Line, and getting the rest of my Knights painted up (and finishing off my Crons, *cough cough*), I should have myself busy through Spring.

I have started the preliminary test build on the Dread Talon. No glue or hacking away at pieces yet, just seeing how everything fits together and seeing what does need to get cut where. At this stage I have noticed that the arms seem somewhat short and piddly compared to the new "torso" of this kit bash. The solution, oddly enough, was sitting right beside me as I was checking the forum: a Space-Type Zaku model. The retro-thruster pods from it will fit nicely with the arm once the ball from the ball-and-socket joint is removed, and it's pre-existing details will allow me to paint it up the same way I have painted all my Grey Knight pauldrons to this point.

looking very robotech-esque. Make sure you trim your blue-green stuff :-)

The "blue stuff" as it were, is not permanent, it's just ticky-tack, that blue stuff you use to put posters up with. I find it to be useful for pre-posing models before I commit to glue. Doubly so if I've never built a kit before.

I have also started pre-posing out my Tech Marine in his one-man Land Speeder that he'll use in place of the basic Servo Harness. I'll need to grab him his power axe, especially so given that he's about the only model in the whole of Codex: Grey Knights that can take one.

Kit bashes that work this well should be freaking illegal. I feel kind of stupid for not buying two of each box now, though I am sure my wallet is thankful.

This Dreadnought is just unf.

Also, given how it's bulking up like that, I think I could easily call it my Venerable Dreadnought if I ever decided to field it as such.

Trying to get my images scaled better for the forum now.

The Venerable Dreadnought seems to be the first of the bunch to be committed to glue, as I build up it's stumpy stompers. The inner workings of the turbine engines were used to make the "hips", the turret mounting T option that came with the Autocannons I used on the previous Dreadnought formed the "pelvis", and the thruster exhaust became the "feet". I used a Popsicle stick and the bits of plastic that slots into the 27mm bases to build up the "bones" and "flesh" of the legs.

I still need to find a way to bridge the gap between the legs and torso, but still...

I love how stumpy its feet are

he looks like a mech out of Robot Jox. pretty cool tom.

Looks awesome so far Tom!

Dale, the nice man down at Dale's Woodworking, is being so nice as to manufacture a 2.5" diameter base for this bad boy out of 5/8" MDF. I figure a base of that weight should help counteract the top-heavy nature of the model, and should help to keep it from toppling when on uneven terrain.

i still owe you those bloodletters tom. will you be at the den on saturday?

I know I will be in there tonight, not sure as to tomorrow yet. If all else fails, maybe I could get Canadin to snag them from you on Saturday, and then I can get them from him next time I am over at his place.

The Dread Talon can stand on it's own now, photos to be posted later.

Looks cool. Like something out of mechwarrior..
Nice

Tail has been chopped off now, and legs are glued. I think the chin turret mounting location will make an ideal interface point between the hips and torso.

looks awesome so far Tom. I am really excited to see how the arms line up.

Time for some arms. Also, with that whole "every part of the space buffalo" thing, I do not kid. The shoulder "hubs" are bases from a Dust Tactics squad I bought to turn into Warrior Acolytes. The bases are a touch too big for a normal sized model, but they are beautifully detailed.

The hands aren't being worked on until those Blood Letters make their way out here.

I think you need to move the top down a bit, it looks really odd to me. Perhaps to around where you added the white plasticard to the underside(not top/back).

The weapons of choice have been mounted onto the Storm Talon half of the kit now, and I have started work on enclosing the chin turret mount to help conceal it.

It can stand on it's own now! Once the arms are done I can move onto priming it.




I realize that plasticard is far from my forte, but I figure it should be fine for the purposes of table top.