Right, I promised you that you wouldn’t have to wait long for the next update on my Dreadknight/Decimator conversion, so here goes. Let me begin by admitting that I’m a little disappointed by the lack of reactions to the painted model so far: That really doesn’t bode well for the publich opinion on this guy, I suppose. Let’s just hope people are holding back all their constructive feedback for the finished model…
Anyway, back to the matter at hand! Here’s where we left off last time:
Time to get this bad boy some arms, right? Unfortunately, I didn’t take any PIP photos of the arms, as I painted them in one, frantic session, eager to finally see the model completely assembled and painted! Once again, the arms were detailed enough to almost be counted as models in their own right, yet the slightly bigger size made painting them a fairly pleasant affair.
I also made a list of all the little details that I had yet to paint and used the time it took for the paint on the arms to dry to get all the fiddly detail and additional accents out of the way.
When all the different sub-assemblies had been completed, the time had come to carefully glue everything together. While maybe I should have gone out to pick up some really strong superglue before putting everything together, I really couldn’t wait until the next day when I had finished all the components at about ten in the evening. So I used a couple of items to stabilise the position of the arms, while the model was resting on my keyboard, no less – yes, talk about patience and professionalism… 
But after leaving the model to dry overnight, everything was stable enough, and the model itself was finally completed.
So now it’s finally time to take a look at the assembled model. Meet the Wargrinder, ladies and gentlemen:
Quite a beast, don’t you think? The arms do a pretty good job of making it look even less than a stock Dreadknight and more like a daemon engine. And as you can see, some final detail was added during the assembly process: Two Ogre gut plates were once again used to represent the World Eaters’ legion badge. And two semi-circular trophy racks from the chaos vehicle sprue provide some additional chaos flair while also bulking out the model’s silhouette some more.
Let’s take a look at a couple of details:
Like I said before, I realise that the head probably isn’t for anybody. But I am rather happy with the way it turned out: The model looks like an emotionless, relentless killing machine, and that’s exactly the look I wanted to achieve. And even if you don’t like the head, it should really be easy to find a suitable replacement, in case somebody is planning a similar conversion.
I also used one of my beloved, simple OSL effects on the weapon arm’s plasma coils:
The huge coils are really an open invitation to painters to go for an effect like that, and even though I kept it all rather simple, the finished arm makes for a nice eyecatcher.
Another look at the model’s back: The exhaust pipes were given a pass of Vallejo Smoke Ink to make them look even more dark and grimy. I am also very much in love with that brass etched symbol of Khorne sponsored by PDH!
To tell you the truth, all in all, I probably couldn’t be any happier with the model: The different head (while clearly a case of love it or hate it) makes it different enough from Chris’ conversion so as not to seem like a retread of the same idea. And the paintjob really ties together the different parts, making them look like they were meant to be used in that way. Painting this guy also was a real blast!
I am still not 100% done, though: The base still needs to be built and painted — and it goes without saying that a model as imposing as this deserves a suitably impressive base to go with it. Fortunately, I already have an idea, although it may take some time for me to get around to actually completing it.
Until then, I would love to hear your opinion on the model, so feel free to drop me a line or two in the comments section! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!
Filed under: 40k, Chaos, Conversions, paintjob, WIP, World Eaters Tagged: 40k, blood knight, chaos, chaos space marines, conversion, counts as, daemon engine, decimator, khorne, khorne's eternal hunt, painting, painting in progress, paintjob, PIP, wargrinder, WIP, world eaters
