Space Wolf Contemptor Dreadnought; finished.

Over the last month I have slowly picked away at painting the first of two Contemptor Dreadnoughts that I will add to my budding Space Wolf army. Here's the finished model, equipped with a Twinlinked Melta Gun.

I had big plans for this little guy, when I started. Here's a building shot that accentuates his pose. I really wanted to make use of the flexibility of the design, being able to bend his legs. The Contemptor Dreadnoughts are so much more interesting to work with then the conventional dreads, because they can be positioned so well.

I really wanted him whole body turned, and paying attention to something on his left side.

After finishing the build I got inspired to create some decals for him, based on some old nordic Viking artwork. Here's the decalsheet that I created, and of course anyone can use it.

Testors decalsheets come only in 5.5 x 8.5 so that's what the file is sized to.

I followed the instructions, and the the shoulderpad decal went on pretty well, using a decal softener. But after weathering and washing, the inks started drooping anyway. In the end, I repainted some of the viking ship in the artwork. I still looks cool, but not as crisp as i wanted. The roman numeral 7 was added later.

On the decal sheet you can also see the rune decals, but unfortunately, they really should be printed on clear decal paper and I only had white. So I couldn't use them. I perused my many decalsheets and added a name to his other shoulder, sorry a bit blurry.

 
I spent quite a bit of time weathering this old dread and make him fit into a barren, cold and lifeless landscape.

I mix a lot of washes and overlap them as well, often painting 2 or 3 times over the same area in different shades of the same color. I feel that in this way, the armour really ages well. It's not a clean paintjob, but it is effective.

I added a bit of writing on his breast scrolls, some runes with archival brown ink.

All in all a fun project! I will build and paint one more, but this one will be in blue!

SC Mike