After a long and successful series of experiments, including Ancients Gerhardt and Sebastian, I finally had a clear idea of what I wanted to do for my Ultramarines Dreadnought, Ancient Seneca Crius. The model is based on a Forge World Mk. IV Venerable Dreadnought, and relatively few changes were made to this kit; the feet, autolauncher and powerplant were all swapped with 'classic' Citadel componants.

The arms are also Forge World upgrades, but rather than use the claw-like venerable dreadnought close combat weapons, I instead opted to combine the Mk. IV assault drill with the box-standard plastic dreadnought close combat weapon and Furioso power fist. Overall, I think that this, combined with the outstretched pose, gives the model a much more aggressive look.

My personal favorite, however, has to be the use of a plastic Terminator helmet in place of the resin Venerable Dreadnought head. The smaller size helps to make the model look more in scale with the rest of the army, as well as illustrating that there's still a man within the machine. To make it fit, I used a simple technique for converting pre-Heresy Terminators, shaving down the helmet's face mask until it resembled a Grey Knight's, then cutting off the bottom so that it would sit in the Dreadnought's head socket. The added benefit is, of course, that it ties together the pre-Heresy look.