Dreadtober TBT

This Contemptor was the first dreadnought I've painted.  When I was younger I always went for space marine tanks and I've only started buying dreads in the last few years.  The painting was finished in the spring but I just recently figured out how to use decal solvents to put the last touches on the model.  IMHO, that makes these the perfect pictures for some Dreadtober throw back Thursday action (I'm only several years late on this trend).

It's the plastic Contemptor from my first Betrayal at Calth set (as opposed to the second copy and then two copies of Talons of the Emperor I later bought, my plastic crack habit know no bounds!).  I did a very simple repose by cutting it at the thinnest part of the waist and then filling the gap with green stuff after I repositioned the upper body at a slight turn.  A long internal debate then began as to the best position of the arms.  The final winner was Kheres pattern assault cannon coming to bear with dreadnought power fist reaching forward to crush it's quarry.  My long time love of classic Battletech was very appreciative of the classic "torso twist" pose.  I added a tilting shield, censer, and obligatory spooky sword bearing angel to customize it for the Dark Angels.
I built what I think is a "light box" to try and get some more light on the miniatures and isolate them from a background.  I like the clarity of the photos but they still don't seem bright enough to me.

Non-Deathwing dreadnoughts usually carry a company sigil and number noting which dreadnought they are in that company's armory.  His Deathwing paint job denoted company affiliation so I just went with the number two in order to show he's the second Deathwing dreadnought.  For some reason I felt it was going to far to assume I have the oldest dreadnought in the first legion, but somehow was okay with having the second oldest ...

I probably went a little overboard on the army group and campaign badges but I figure a dreadnought that's been fighting since the Horus Heresy would have accumulated quite a few honors. In the additional realm of self critique I went too far when painting the highlights and took the dread to full white instead of bone white.  However the power of the narrative head canon can also solve this problem by positing that he's been painted in the ceremonial colors of the Deathwing so many times it's pushed the color to full white.  And my teachers said my overactive imagination would never come in handy ...