Adeptus Mechanicus - Knight Castigator build complete

Managed to get the Castigator built up to the point that it's ready for primer! I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed building this kit, though there are a couple things I'd do differently next time around knowing what I know from the initial build.

I kept all of the armour plates separate for the time being, which will allow me greater access to the under-chassis of the model and facilitate painting. That means the model is a little skeletal looking at the moment, but once the plates are on it definitely bulks up! The model is currently separate at the waist as well (currently just held in place by a big ol' honkin' pin), though the arms are permanently attached.

  

Quite pleased with the overall pose, opening up the arms from the body and rotating the torso and head gives it an interesting sense of forward motion - not running as I'd likely do the Lancer (and I am much more inclined to pick one up now), but a solid advance while mowing down infantry with the gatling bolter. I was slightly disappointed that the sword arm is solid at the wrist, so you're pretty much stuck with elbow and shoulder for posing on that side. Nevertheless, I like it as a counterpoint to the reaper chainswords on the Paladins.

 

Now THAT'S an ammo hopper! In retrospect I would have actually been better off building the left leg bent at the knee and the right leg straight, as I found the more extended rearward placement of the leg interfered somewhat with the available torso rotation options due to the ammo belt hanging so far down. As I'd cocked the gun outwards about 25 degrees I ended up needing to hot-water bend the ammo belt into place to fit the two receiver sockets anyway, so incorporating the leg position wasn't a dealbreaker. With the leg up and out of the way however, I think one could get some really interesting posing out of the gun arm.

Here's a scale shot of the Baron compared to the paladin model - definitely think the two paladins acting as Squires is fitting scale-wise when they're on the table, though I do still contend that either the FW knights are slightly too big, or the GW knights are slightly too small. The Castigator is nearly the height of the 25mm Dreamforge leviathan!