Commissions: Ironclad Dreadnaught

My client's Angels of Flame army is growing by leaps and bounds, not least of which is another Dreadnought. Although it's the model I completed last, I thought I'd feature it first. If you're comparing it to the last bunch of pics I took of the initial Angels of Flame offerings, keep in mind that this is MUCH better lit, thanks to the lightbox, so looks altogether brighter and more vivid. Again, thanks to Greg for goading me into making one :)

Firstly, the Seismic Hammer might be one of my most favorite weapon bits, ever. I left the joint lose and mobile, so it could be posed punching, and for the better part of a day agonized over whether to do more cutting and pinning so as to make it spin. Maybe if I ever get an Ironclad of my own.....

While I like the concept (and look) of Hurricane Bolters, I think they could've designed the weapon arm better. Why not make a huge right gauntlet ringed with embedded bolters to serve as a counterpoint to the Seismic Hammer? The pepperbox is big and imposing, but robs the dread of a CC weapon; not a very good trade-of if you ask me. The chainfist bit is rather  low-impact, visually. A long, wicked looking one with a hinged wrist and more intricate, jagged teeth (like a real chainsaw) would've been been much more interesting (and possible) on such a large model. Purists (and Battletech fans) will note the searchlight mounted off the left torso, like a Warhammer. Sort of makes me wish the HK missiles were in a little six-shot box. 

I do like the extra beefiness the HKM's bring to the torso, though. I've always been a fan of the boxy dreadnought's squat strength, and this kit doesn't disappoint. While I like the elephant-foot power glove on the standard model, the fingered glove on this one makes a lot more sense as a manipulator. 

The obligatory Super Dread shot, courtesy of magnetized shoulder sockets. While the HKM boxes look sexy, I still wish this thing had the anti-tank punch of Lascannons or Autocannons. The client could mix/match arms and field two dreads with ranged anti-armor rounds, I suppose....

As a last note, on the bench now are a couple of scratchbuilts for my own Ultramarines:

Thanks to some old-style metal bits from an eBay bits-box auction, a Razorback and a Predator will be joining my forces by Christmas. After covering the rest of the commissions next post, I'll do a Klaus Fischer-style photo docu of these things going together. The backbone of any Marine force is its Rhino-chassis motor pool, and I'll be expanding mine for sure now that I have patterns cut out (not to mention enough metal Pred bits for another tank). I ran out of stowage bits back when I was working on my IG tanks, though. :(