The Praetorians - Brother Severus [Space Marines]

So the kit has finally arrived and I couldn't bare leaving the box unopened for the whole weekend. 

So, here is a little taster of the starting stages of my Dread - Brother Severus. 

As with basically all my recent blog entries; excuse the poor lighting as these photos are having to be done at low light due to it being Winter and over-cast outside. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

So, as per my normal habit of modelling, the kit stands semi-completed in easy to paint sections. The only difference in this situation is the feet which are affixed to the semi-built base (but more on that later). I was pleasantly surprised to see enough parts to make all three right-sponsor arms (plasma cannon, autocannon and twin-linked lascannon) and all three will obviously be painted even if the model will primarily be used with the plasma cannon.

An over-saturated view from the front. The wounded Space Marine will eventually be hidden behind a removable panel for everyday use but i thought he should be painted up for the occasion every now and then. I've actually been working on a new technique for gold which consists of two base layers of a dark and then light red-brown, followed by a dark gold, two black ink layers and then a light highlight of metal.

The front also shows how much damage from everyday use is present on the model (although, this looks better under the right light). The blue especially is scratched and chipped to hell.

The back at the moment is looking far too bright and clean for a battle-hardened dreadnought... this is going to have to change. On top of that, the purity seal and other details still need painting, and those chimney vents need another highlight of black to really show off the smoke bellowing from them.

The left arm (without shoulder pad and under-mounted flamer) is starting to come along nicely with gold skulls, colourful piping and enough scratches to the blue to show off how many battles this guy has been through.

A little close up of the ornate hand.

My rule of thumb with adding everyday scratches and wear-and-tear is to be as messy as possible - through the book out the window and throw that brush around as much as possible. 

Together they are starting to look quite the piece. Don't worry, that black shoulder will eventually be covered by an over-sized should pad. 

A little sneak-peek at what this guy is going to be standing on. This is very much still a huge work in progress as another layer of filler will need to be put on once this layer has dried. The idea is a combination of the dried-mud (present on the other Marines) and a bit of stone (which will be painted to be a cracked road); the addition of some weeds will hopefully tie this together with the rest of the army. 

My idea behind this was having the dread walking over the wreckage of an ork vehicle (obviously painted in the same colour scheme as my bommer).