Thursday 25 September 2014

Oldschool Rogue Trader Siege Dreadnought......attempt #2

Hello all,

Some of you may remember my attempt at building a Siege Dreadnought a few months back. The final creation was, to put it mildly, disappointing. It just ended up looking awkward, the body was too small, the arms made it look like a Gorilla aping across the ground (fine if that's your intended purpose, but a pain if it's not) & the siege ladder that I later removed just compounded the bodys' inadequate size issue. All in all, it was a bit of a failure.


In "Warhammer Siege" there's an illustration of a couple of Siege Dreads assaulting an imposing fortress. They look to be normally proportioned Dreadnoughts, but upon closer examination of the illo & further reading of the text, it's clear that these things were supposed to be huge, cumbersome wrecking machines, much larger than their skull smashing brethren. Here's the description;

Basically, Big Arse Robots do the siege work.



After my failed construction I was a little stuck as to how I could build a "proper" Siege Dreadnought. I still wanted to build one, but was unsure what I could use for a base model. While I was on holiday a few months back I visited a model shop & came across this Japanese robot kit. Straight away I could see the potential this puppy had to offer. It's long arms ending in over sized metal claws looked menacing. I could picture it trying to tear down a fortress gate with them or ripping a watch tower up from it's foundations while the soldier's were still trapped inside.


Tasty!


Also on display was the Japanese inclination to sexualising robots (any Astroboy fans out there will no doubt recall his arse guns of doom!). This guy was no exception....twin linked cock cannons & "high beams" for nipples! Classy stuff guys, very classy :p


Meeting your demise from it's devastating "tackle" could be quite humiliating, don't you think?


Once I got this guy home I began trying to figure out the remodelling I'd have to carry out to "siege him up". First up was removal of his head/drivers seat, to be replaced with a cockpit for a miniature to fit in. Also, remove that radiator thingy above his groin & the silly looking collar he had behind his neck.



So, on with the show!

Here's the initial work I've carried out so far;


Enlarged the cavity in the neck space to allow a suitably sized cockpit to fit.


Old Umbrella support from a picnic table used for a cockpit....the wife will never know.


Added some plastic mesh flooring & cut out a relief to uncover the hatch.


Test fit....it's a good'n.


I thought about removing his "offending members", but the comedic potential of getting
 gunned to death by them made keeping them a must :)


An almighty spiked ball & chain will go in his right arm, so one claw was removed 



The other one can be used to crush it's victims.



And here is the semi-completed beast, obligatory RBT01 for scale.



Here he is, perched atop the giant wrecking machine.



As you can see there's still a long way to go, but I'm pretty pleased with how it's coming along.

Until next time, cheers :)











8 comments:

  1. My favourite part on the original has to be the radiator/cabin on the navel !

    Well I have to say it looks as a splendid start. the csale seems just right for a siege robot and I like th eopportunoity to make it piloted by a marine on top. Do you intend to add one big cannon on the belly? I agree shooty tits and penis seem a little awkward but a big gun on the belly should be an option right?

    Can't wait to see more of him.

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    1. Well, having a cock cannon actually fits with the old RT vibe. After all, the Epic Ork Great Gargant had an imposing "bellygun" :D

      This guys gunna have a lot more done to him -cables running on the exterior, maybe some spiked boots, might even tie an unfortunate victim to him as well? It's all rather an organic process, never know we're I'll end up with it.

      Cheers JB :)

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  2. Hey, that's a brilliant use of a model, I believe I would have never come to that solution! Looks nice so far, I'm really intrigued about the final result, looking forward to see more!

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    1. I never leave home without my "gaming potential hat" firmly strapped to my head.

      Thanks Suber :)

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  3. I've seen these robots on ebay from time to time and always wondered how they scale up. Looks perfect!

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    1. Just posted about scale on LAF earlier today actually. Here it is again for your viewing pleasure;

      "Scale" is a bit of a bugger with any sci-fi robot really. Who's to say how tall the creator wanted then to be in "real life"?

      Here's a little trick I use that gives me a rough estimate on the "actual" size of the model. Look at the printed scale, then look at the "real life" dimension's that are often displayed on the box. Then you just have to do some maths.

      Cheers Tartar :)

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  4. Looking good. Also looking like twice the scale of the Hellsreach Walker.

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    1. Nah, it's not really. The Walker stands in at 14cm vs 17cm for the Siege Dreadnought.

      See you in the soup buddy :)

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