Poseable Action Dreadnought

I found another fun thing to do with magnets. I honestly don't know what inspired me for this particular magnet idea. Perhaps I was just looking for a way to paint pot procrastinate. Perhaps I just had magnets on my mind. Regardless, I thought I'd share the fun.

I started putting together a Dreadnought for my growing Grey Knight army. I got a great deal on an unfinished standard Dread and some extra arms (see my last two posts about arms). As I was putting it together, I noticed there was enough gap in the waste to place a magnet or two. Since the magnets would have to reach through two thick plastic sections, I wasn't sure how many I'd need. So, I just put one of every size round one I had.

In order to make this work, I figured the other magnet needed to be loose inside the sarcophagus. The only issue I had was trying to use small magnets. There are two metal pins in my dread. One holding on the head, and one the smoke launchers. Every small magnet I used would stick to one of these pins. It would stick so well I'd have to shake it loose every time, which I didn't want to do. So, I tossed in a big square magnet leftover from a batch bought for some long forgotten project. While it still sticks to the pins when the dread top is not touching the bottom, the pull between to two magnets is strong enough to pull them together when they're close enough.

The actual design does limit its "poseability," but it was still a fun experiment with magnets. Another advantage, given all the nooks and crannies of the legs, is that it will be easier to paint in two sections. This is why the leg armor isn't attached yet. Well, I actually had them on and realized I wouldn't be able to paint behind them very well. They'll be added later. The armor is from the Dark Angels sprue, with a poor attempt at a GS book.

The front of the sarcophagus actually keeps it from spinning all the way around. With the magnets though, it can easily be made to look backward, should something attack from behind. Here's some views of the "poseable" range.
Right:







Left:







Up:







Down:

Another Dreadnought Arm Conversion

So, of all the extra Dreadnought arms I had, one of my favorite weapons was missing; the plasma cannon. I had a SM Devastator plasma cannon left from a previous bitz buy. I've had success converting one to use on a Sentinel, so it made perfect sense to use it here. This is the finished product.

I started with an extra Assault on Black Reach Multi-Melta arm like this one. First thing to do is cut off the front weapon parts and the cables underneath. I also decided to remove the fuel canister tips from the back end.

I had to add a bit of plastic to the bottom cutout, as I hadn't accounted for the part where the wires enter the backpack. I cut the backpack part to fit in the bottom cutout, figured out how to make the original large cable fit the gap, and used a piece of electrical wire to replace the original smaller cable. I also added a few bits to break up the flatness of the back.

Like the sentinel conversion, I would probably have saved a lot of time by buying the Venerable Dreadnought Plasma Cannon arm bits. Whether I really did it because I enjoy converting, or just to avoid the paint pots, it was a fun diversion.

Dreadnought Arm Modification

I had picked up a standard Dreadnought and a set of extra arms, which included several from the Assault on Black Reach set. My plan is to have several arm options. Breaking from my magnet preference, I decided friction was enough to hold the arms in place during games. Like many Dreadnought makers before me, I also found the AoBR arm holes were smaller than the standard Dreadnought kit. Some converting is required to make them work.

A quick look through my tool box found that a 3/16" drill bit was the proper size for the standard Dreadnought. I didn't feel the plastic around the current AoBR hole would stand the strain of drilling, let alone attaching and reattaching for game play and storage. However, with a bit of reinforcement, it should work out alright. I used sprue bits, cut to size and glued in place, as shown in the first picture. I used more than enough glue, to help fill in the gaps between sprue and the existing attachment hole.

Once the glue dried, I took the 3/16" inch drill and bored the bigger hole. I was concerned with using a power drill on this work, so actually used the drill bit like you would a Hobby Drill. In other words, I simply held it in place with my hand, and spun it with my fingers to drill the hole larger. It took a bit of wrangling that way, but I was happy with the results.

I took a cue from John over at Santa Cruz Warhammer and decided to 'plate off" the inside of the arm so you can't see the sprue bits. It gives a cleaner look, and is similar to the way the standard Dreadnought arms come on their sprue. Using a pencil, I traced the outline on a piece of thin plasticard, cut it with a knife, and dry-fitted it in place. Before I glued the plasticard on, I used a standard hole punch to make the hole in the plasticard, roughly estimating the location. Once glued in place, I then cut and filed the excess and beveled the edge.