Jon's Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought Click to enlarge

Jon: When I first opened up my new Space Marines Venerable Dreadnought box, I was struck by the sheer amount of iconography and detail on the miniature. I started work by cleaning the various parts of the miniature, removing the vent marks, flashing (excess metal) and mould lines – this was done with a sharp hobby knife and files. Whilst cleaning the various parts of the model I noticed more and more detail on each piece and slowly began to realise the full challenge of the task that lay ahead of me.

As I always do, I drew a rough sketch of the parts, noting the various details of my ideas and thoughts for painting and construction. Whilst considering colour schemes, I also began thinking about which chapter the Dreadnought would belong to. The wings on the front of the sarcophagus are indicative of the Imperium, and I felt that they suited the Blood Angels or Dark Angels chapters. However, I eventually decided to paint the Dreadnought as part of the Space Wolves chapter, giving me the opportunity to add wolf pelts and use a really striking colour scheme of blue-grey with contrasting gold elements.

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I knew early on that although I was happy to add some Space Wolves detail to it, I didn't want to convert the miniature to any great extent – it's cool enough already! I used White-tac to pose the miniature, attempting to give it the most dynamic pose possible; striding through the heart of the battlefield, raising its arm to fire its storm bolter. Then I assembled the larger pieces of the model so that they could be painted separately – allowing me clear access to parts that would be covered when the model was fully assembled. Where necessary, I used a little Green Stuff to fill in the gaps where pieces came together, and to repair some of the areas that were damaged during the cleaning phase. I also took the opportunity to add a few extra Space Wolves-specific details, using the plastic Space Wolves sprue as a template.

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I decided to add just a few subtle details, wanting to clearly show that the Dreadnought was a part of the Space Wolves chapter, but not go as far as to make it look like a Norse god of olde. I started by sculpting a wolf skull onto each arm. I then added a pair of wolf tails taken from the plastic Space Wolves sprue to the braiding (replacing the original tassels), and sculpted a small stone rune hanging from the braids. Finally, I added a wolf pelt (which would be attached later on), repositioning it to replace the Dreadnought's own loin cloth.

Each part of the model was then sprayed with Skull White undercoat and then given a wash of watered down Chaos Black to provide shadows on the miniature.

STAGE 1: PREPARING THE MODEL FOR PAINTING

I began by painting the armoured sections of the sarcophagus and arms, applying a basecoat of Shadow Grey mixed with a small amount of Chaos Black. I then added small amounts of Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey to the mix to gradually lighten the edges of the armour. The final highlights were created by adding Skull White to the mix, emphasising where the light would have hit the armour.

I painted the head and the power fist with a basecoat of Red Gore followed by a wash of Dark Flesh. These areas were then highlighted with Blood Red. Small amounts of Fiery Orange were added to the mix to highlight the edges of the armour. The eye pieces of the helmet were picked out with Regal Blue followed by a touch of Midnight Blue to give a sense of depth. Finally, a single dot of Skull White on each lens represents the reflection of light.

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A large part of the Dreadnought's sarcophagus is dominated by the eagle wings. These were painted with a basecoat of Dwarf Bronze and given a Brown Ink wash. Each of the 'feathers' on the wings were highlighted with Shining Gold, then Burnished Gold and finally a small amount of Mithril Silver was added to the mix to pick out the edges of the feathers.

To give depth to the yellow braids hanging from the front of the Dreadnought and from the exhaust pipes, I started with a basecoat of Blazing Orange and then added Bad Moon Yellow to build up layers of highlighting. The braiding was finished with a final layer of Bad Moon Yellow mixed with Skull White. The rune tag was painted Codex Grey, highlighted with Fortress Grey, and finished off with a runic symbol painted with Chaos Black.

STAGE 2: PAINTING THE METAL AREAS

Next I turned my attentions to the largest area of the model, the metal chassis and framework. These were given a basecoat of Tin Bitz and then lightly drybrushed with a mix of Tin Bitz and Chainmail. At this point I gave the metal work two washes; first a wash of watered down Bestial Brown and then a wash of watered down Dark Angels Green. I found this an effective way of representing the oiled machinery as well as adding some weathering to the metal work. To finish, I painted the pistons and weapons with a thinned-down highlight of Chainmail. The mechanisms of the arms, the assault cannon barrel and exhaust pipes were painted in the same way as the chassis. To give the impression of burn marks and dust around the exhausts and gun barrels, I dry brushed them with Vermin Brown and Chaos Black.

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STAGE 3: ADDING THE FINER DETAILS

The Dreadnought was now nearing completion, so I could move on to the finer details of the model.

I attached the wolf pelt to the Dreadnought, using a small amount of Green Stuff sculpted to resemble more fur and purity seals. I painted the wolf pelt with a basecoat of Bestial Brown and then gave it a wash of Scorched Brown. This was then highlighted with Bestial Brown which was gradually lightened with Bleached Bone.

The areas of parchment and the skulls were given a basecoat of Graveyard Earth. These areas were then highlighted by adding small amounts of Bleached Bone. To create a sun-bleached effect, I highlighted the edges of the parchment and skulls with a thinned-down mix of Bleached Bone and Skull White.

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I decided to paint the purity seals a traditional red colour, and started with a basecoat of Scab Red, highlighted with Terracotta. To finish the seals and parchments, I used Chaos Black mixed with a small amount of Brown Ink to 'write' the litanies, creating the impression of fine text. I find it easier to use a standard brush with a sharp point for this fine detail work rather than a thin brush with only a few hairs left as it holds the paint longer, meaning it doesn't dry out as quickly.

Before I started painting this miniature, I had decided to make it an ancient hero of the Space Wolves chapter but I quickly realised that there were few areas on the miniature big enough for chapter symbols. Eventually, I decided to paint a pair of wolf paw prints on the upper shoulders of the sarcophagus. To further reinforce the celtic nature of the Space Wolves, I painted a series of freehand celtic designs and markings on some of the smaller 'free' areas of the Dreadnought's armour plating, adding further detail and interest.

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STAGE 4: CREATING THE BASE

I normally treat the base on a miniature as an afterthought, and quite often all the hard work I have put into the actual figure is let down as a result. It can actually be very rewarding – once you have got the bug for building scenic bases it's really addictive and can add a whole new level to the model. I wanted the Dreadnought to look as though it was making its way through a battlefield. The base looks quite complex, but is actually fairly easy when you break it down into stages.

Following a trip to my local hardware store, I mixed up some plaster (the kind used for filling gaps in walls), following the instructions on the packaging. Then I carefully poured it into the lid of a thin plastic box to the depth of about 5mm, and left it to dry. Once the plaster was thoroughly dry (it's a good idea to leave it in a warm place for a few hours, just to make sure it's totally dry), I carefully popped it out of the plastic lid.

Next I needed to prepare the base for landscaping. I wanted the detail to 'break out' beyond the side of the base, so cut away about a quarter of the base. Having broken my sheet of plaster into several large pieces, I began to cut and shape a piece to fit the gap in the Dreadnought's base, gluing it into place when I had a good fit. To create a cracked and weathered appearance, I broke the edges up with a pair of pliers (you can be pretty rough and random about this).

With the first piece in place, I repeated the process of shaping and weathing subsequent pieces and began layering them in as interesting a fashion as possible. For the third layer, I cracked a corner off the slab and re-attached it with short lengths of fuse wire to make it look like exposed metal reinforcement rods running through the concrete. Once the slabs were all glued into place using PVA glue, some additional metal rods and battle damage were added. Plaster is really easy to cut and carve when dry (just use an old sturdy blade for the battle damage and a small drill bit for the bullet holes), however, be careful not to apply too much pressure as it is also quite easy to shatter larger pieces. For a little extra detail, I added a pipe, made from plastic tubing, to the base layer and built up a surrounding pool area with modelling clay. To finish construction, I applied PVA glue to the exposed areas of the ground and dipped the base in a tub of sand.

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STAGE 5: PAINTING THE BASE

After spraying the base with a Chaos Black undercoat, I began painting the 'concrete' slabs with a basecoat of Codex Grey mixed with Chaos Black, applied in a number of thin layers.

The highlights were built up by adding Fortress Grey to the mix to create successive layers of highlighting. The highlights themselves were applied with an old sponge to create additional texture. With your chosen colour mixed on your palette, take a damp sponge (not wet) and carefully dip it into the paint. Then, just as with like drybrushing, dab the sponge on a paper towel to remove any excess paint before moving onto the model itself. The aim here is to build the colour up slowly, adding texture to the surface as well as applying the colour.

Once the highlights were finished, I added weathering effects. First I used a watered-down wash of Bestial Brown to create a rusty brown colour. Before this had a chance to dry, I then carefully wiped away the wash covering the topmost surfaces to maintain most of the original colour. Next I applied a really thinned down wash of Chaos Black paint, again wiping clean the topmost surfaces. Once the washes were dry, the edges of the slabs were picked out with light grey tones which helped to re-define their shapes and brought out the details. These final highlights were applied with a brush rather than a sponge.

The metal rods were painted Boltgun Metal and then given a light wash of Dark Flesh to give it a rusty appearance. The pipe was picked out with a thinned down Bestial Brown and highlighted with Terracotta whilst the inside of the pipe was painted with Chaos Black to give it depth. Some faded lettering added to the top slab provided an industrial feel to the model, over the top of which, I added some weathering. Again the weathering was painted with thinned down Bestial Brown, blended on in patches to look like stains. Lastly I painted the flower bright colours, adding a touch or colour to the otherwise quite neutral, industrial base.

With the painting complete, I filled in the pool area around the pipe with a small amount of Water Effects, which I left to dry before attaching the Dreadnought to the base.

An ancient Venerable Dreadnought of the Space Wolves leads an attack against the agents of Chaos.

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