Goddammit, I have a hoarding problem. I was cleaning out my bedroom, and found this. I must have brought it donkey's years ago, put it in a box, and forgot about it. Good thing actually, I needed something to do.
So, allow me to do my usual context-providing ramble. The reason why this is a Dreadnought, and not the modern Deff Dread is because that term didn't exist yet. Rather, in the days of 1st edition, basically everyone had access to the same common pool of equipment, something which 2nd edition would move away from, and 3rd ed would largely remove. This was a period when the setting was still in flux, and often dictated by the moulding tech GW had. At this point, the concept of a "Dreadnought" was one of the few vehicle platforms available, and these were small, chunky affairs cast from lead. Plastic kits made by GW were much less common, to the point of actual rariety. There's much mystique associated with this period, although it's outside of my personal nostalgia window. I consider almost every Ork release prior to Gorkamorka and the 3rd ed revamp as early instalment weirdness. Ork Dreadnoughts of this period do however have their own charms, and are a fascinating precursor to what came later. Ork examples came in two distinct sizes, one with a claw and gun, and a taller one with double that. These are obviously the ancestors of the modern Killa Kanz and Deff Dread, if with a rather different look, like an angry potato. They also feature what are literally the same guns as the infantry models, with an odd curved mount. There's a lot of curved mounts, actually, with all the limbs attaching via ball and socket joints. And, yes. This allows for some posing, but only some. Mainly, this only serves to make gluing them together more of an arse than it needs to be. I will however own that I didn't notice some mould lines until it was too late, as I am prone to do.
This model was incomplete when I got it, and I remember thinking at the time that I was not a fan of the weapons. The plasma cannons would be kustom mega blasters under modern rules, but this would have under the 4th ed codex, and I wasn't a fan of overheating. That's probably why I put in storage and forgot about it. The pilot was also missing and so was the banner pole. No biggie on either matter, I just kitbashed an exhaust, and closed the hatch. Getting the thing together though, as mentioned, was a bit of a ball-ache, this model needed some flat connection points and pegs. I attempted to pin these joints, breaking a drill bit in the process, before opting for the baking soda trick. That's probably not great in the long term, but this is a display piece, and a fairly light one at that.
Once I got around to painting, I entered my usual zen state of simple/repeatable techniques. Dry-brushing, ink washes, technicals, contrasts and stippling etc. If you are one of the maybe 3 people whom reads these posts regularly, you know what I did. One point I would like to highlight are the orange sensors/windows. I wasn't entirely sure what these details were at first, but I did manage to find an old painting guide. Once done, these really brought the model to life. Job's a good 'un.
All in all? As a model this is really showing it's age, even versus 3rd edition era models like Killa Kanz. Metal minis are always tricky to work with if they have multiple components, but the basic sculpt is primitive. No disrespect to a model about as old as I am, but this is suspiciously close to something I could have moulded from miliput. It is also, smaller than a modern plastic Killa Kan . So, if you really want one, be aware of the work you'll need to do. I wonder if there's a 3d printed equivalent knocking about...
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