Thursday, March 3, 2011

Heresy-Era Thousand Sons - Dreadclaw Drop Pod Conversion, Part 1

I know that I want to include at least one Drop Pod in the Heresy-Era Thousand Sons army I'm slowly building, with the intent that it would carry Azhek Ahriman and his Red Sorcerer Coven into combat. Ideally I wanted to go with a Dreadclaw, but the one available from Forge World is a bit too Chaos-y for my purposes. That said, Old School Terminator over at Dark Future Games converted his own version using the standard plastic Drop Pod model and it works a treat!


I essentially followed his instructions and the whole model went together as though it was designed to be built this way. In fact, it was actually EASIER to build it like this than the 'real' way to do it! I was a bit premature in priming it, in retrospect I should have added a bit more decoration than I did. No fear though, a couple extra bits and another quick hit of primer and we'll be in business!

5 comments:

  1. If the doors still work, that's brilliant!

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  2. On this one they do not, but with some prior planning it could be possible as an alternate style of loyalist Drop Pod. Technically the Heresy-Era Dreadclaw would land and then the 'legs' would extend, lifting the pod into the air and revealing the troops that disembark from a hatch on the bottom of the pod (I didn't get a picture of the underside but I did model the underside hatch). The Dreadclaw was also used in ship-to-ship boarding actions similar to a boarding torpedo - it would slam into the side of a vessel, latch on via the legs, and the troops would cut their way in through the underside hatch. Unfortunately the Dreadclaw was prone to machine spirit maliciousness and intractibility, and amongst the loyalist legions it was replaced by the newer style of Drop Pod during the Horus Heresy.

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  3. You know I've always wanted to try this and make some death Guard ones.

    It looks cool and effective.

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  4. Nicely Done! I am glad you like it!

    As to door - Tristan, a Dreadclaw is a boarding vessel that was also used for planetfall during the heresy era. It has a controlled descent and the Marines come out of the bottom of the craft. The parts that would be doors on a drop pod are just hull on a Dreadclaw. I think there is a wiki somewhere on it.


    I can't wait to see this bad boy with some paint!

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  5. Thanks Old School - I'm honestly tempted to make one or two more, they were a snap to build, thanks again for the tutorial! I'm thinking I may add some armor plates to the doors to make them look a bit less 'drop pod door' and more 'hull'. Perhaps the alternate drop pod door plates that chapterhouse makes would fit the bill - I suppose I should get some soon before they get squashed!

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