Fixing a Rogue Trader era Dreadnought. (Part 1)

by | Oct 5, 2022

 Recently while perusing YouTube I came across this great video by Squidmar. In this video they take four miniatures bought from eBay that, although well painted, aren't quite up to the standard they want them to be, and they demonstrate how to improve or 'fix' them. It's worth checking out. It inspired me to consider some of the models in my collection that have been given to me, or acquired second hand, that I haven't had the heart to strip the paint off of yet. But they're good enough that I could probably do to them what Squidmar did in that video. 


The first thing that came to my mind was this old Rogue Trader era Imperial Space Marine Dreadnought. The Furibundus version in particular. This model came to me in a pair that I got off of the old 40k Mailing List in the late '90s. There was a lady that used to post auctions on it and I got quite a few gems from her. These guys were a good deal. This one came pretty much as he appears here, except it was on an old Square base. The other was unpainted. I painted it not long after I got it and he became my Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought Rex.  Both of them were mounted on titan bases as GW was yet to start producing round bases bigger than 28mm for 40k.  


And I haven't done anything with this model since. Well, ok, I have played with it in a few games but that's it. I usually count that funky looking gun as a lascannon (the original White Dwarf advert called it a Heavy Laser) but I have used it as other things from time to time since it looks like no weapon currently (or if I can be honest, ever) in the game. 


There are decals all over this model that haven't aged well, or they were applied kind of crooked. I will remove these and apply newer ones. I could probably save these but I don't have the patience to paint around them and I have plenty of spare Ultramarines decals. And the decals on this model are crooked and just need to go.


If you look closely you can see a mold line running right down the middle of this thing. I will have to eliminate that if I can. As it bugs the hell out of me. 


Looking at it now, it amuses me that the guns were never painted. I guess the original owner just thought that the bare metal was just fine at conveying that these details were supposed to be metal.  I did similar things when I used to build model planes as a kid, but it's a heretical concept as a modern day miniature painter. 

  • Ok, so I am either going to replace that base or just stick him as is to another one.
  • File off the missed flash and mold lines. (Carefully and outside, as this thing is LEAD).
  • Remove the decals.
  • Start painting! 
This should be a fun Dreadtober project, yes?

 I was in for a surprising treat on the morning that I had scheduled to post this.; Eons of Battle posted a video featuring this model which was a fun vid and worth watching for a bit of inspiration. I like the way he did the eyes but I'm not likely to try and copy that as I have my own idea on how it should look. But that'll be revealed in a future post. ..