Reclaimation assignment...

So no sh*t, there I was when a buddy whipped out a badly beaten FW dread he had gotten in a trade. The thing, as you can see below, was poorly painted, poorly modeled and just generally in a sad state. I got the dread from my buddy with the intent to return it to it's former resin-y glory. As for the pic above, this Forgeworld kit is now my venerable Dreadnought Maximus Tertius, 4th dread of the Howling Griffons venerated first company. Below is his refurbishment and return to the imperial fold.

This is the sad state to which I received poor 'ol Max. The black lines are actually deep grooves someone cut into the resin. More on that later.

Heavy flamer addition and a replacement cable from guitar wire. Note deep cut "Chaos" symbol in the arm.

Assault cannon repaired and as you can see, needed additional stripping. No less that 5 heavy coats of paint were on this model.

Refurbished cannon, more deep grooves in the upper arm.

The legs, where to begin...this is mostly brass pins now for repair and stability.

More replaced cabling.

Leg grooves now filled in with Squadron Green Putty.

Filled assault cannon.

Filled chaos symbol cuts.

The back. More filled grooves.

And now the completed and repaired Venerable Maximus Tertius, 4th Dreadnought of 1st Company Howling Griffons.

painted banner back.

I ordered the waterslide transfer paper for my inkjet printer. It will be here this week and this arm will get a Howling Griffon decal to match the terminator squads in the army.

Nothing like a codpiece to make you feel safe.

Banner front.

Nameplate.

srs bizness!

So there you have it. All told took about 3-4 days to repair and repaint this model. I magnetized it so I can swap weapons if I need to. I don't really use dreads in my normal army list. But when I saw this awesome model and it's sorry state I immediately imagined back story:

Honored Sergeant Maximus Tertius (1st co. 2nd Sternguard Squad) was mutilated at the claws of Warboss Shagnazzty at the battle of Fort Colossi on Rhinoth IV. The warboss was leading the Waaagh! of Da Red Orkz on a pillage coreward toward the Forgeworld of Rhinoth Prime. The defense of Fort Colossi lasted for three months until the walls were breached by a rampaging squiggoth herd. After the collapse of the walls the fighting in the primary promanade became a charnel house of pulped PDF troops and the red and yellow livery of the hastily assembled Howling Griffons. It took five days before a recovery team could be spared to gather any geneseed or war materiel for refurbishment. Amongst the wreckage of a battlewagon, a lone surviving marine was found. His armor rent and torn, body shattered beyond recovery, the near-corpse of Honored Sergeant Tertius still lived and was sent abruptly to the orbiting battlebarge "Rage of Mancora". Although his body was beyond the techno-science of the Chapter Apothecaries, the decision was made to inter Maximus in the sarcophagus of a dreadnought where he fights on for the Chapter to this day.