Battlewagon 1

Okay, so now that I don't have any Battlewagon's left and with a serious need for them I turn my head back at the past. Way Way back, to an unfinished project from 2005 maybe 2006, a looted Imperial Guard Leman Russ...
Not great, and not exactly complete I know. But hey I didn't pay for the Leman Russ. Then again the Leman Russ wasn't exactly a complete model and without a receipt I couldn't go in and say, um hey I'm missin a sprue here!

So I originally went the extra step and not only made my own trakks but the side plating as well, which still is not completely Imperial in design, or finished being Orkified.

Not a perfect copy, I admit it, but I am so pleased that I went to all the trouble in doing it. With GW's recent new and improved *cough cough* Leman Russ they released a couple sprues of the old Wagon on their Bits section. Expensive, but I've ordered 2 of the old Chassis sprues which has the center chasis, the top half of the Turret mount, a lascannon, heavy bolter, something I'm guessing are hand grips (I haven't held the sprue for a couple years) and some other assorted bits I might use, all at about 1/3rd of the cost for a Leman Russ.

And since I still have one of the sides to work off of I think I can replicate and then Orkify to a point where no one will suspect its Plasticard instead of GW grey. Or at least I hope.

One other useful addition is this...
Yum beer... But there is a reason for supergluing a Beer bottlecap on the interior of a Leman Russ (soon to be Battlewagon). What exactly? Well its fungus Beer what do you think powers Ork vehicles and gives them a good buzz? No actually the metal used is magnetic, allowing me on the back to mount something which I have planned but never actually as of yet built.
A magnetic KFF which can/will detach from the Mek when he enters a vehicle and that KFF attaches to a point on the vehicle for quick reference and as a reminder to me to exactly where the KFF is.

Last but not least is that I know that a Leman Russ is a little small compared to the release of the new Battlewagon mini from GW that honestly is one of the worst kits they ever produced. It lacks imagination, width, intrigue, and just looks god awful. (I could go on and on, but I think that's sufficient). I will be creating a Base for the Land Raider(s) which will add height, an extended back portion, access doors, Sponsons, armor plates, and all other gubbins so by the end it'll look propa.

July 2010 Upkeep

So I haven't posted anything for a while. A long while.

Haven't been doing much with my time, it just seems to slip by almost unnoticed.

Had a rather large amount of my Ork army stolen, lost my grandmother, moved to the golden city of Los Angeles, had most of my family turn into monsters with lawyers and thievery. Still looking for a real job, thought there must be work in LA. But this kind of talk is not my standard fare for the blog. Not like anybody reads this anyway.

So truth be told one reason why I haven't updated is that my new place doesn't have television or internet yet. Another is that with this whole grief thing I haven't felt like playing or building anything. Oh and I shouldn't forget the loss of my KoS Biker army, which at a current GW price point would cost around $800 dollars. (For 2000 points 4 units of 10 bikers, Wazzdakka, couple of Battlewagon conversions from Land Raiders, and 9 buggies.)

But say la vie. In fact I suppose this just means that my hopes and desires to fix up the army for Apoc with some konverted scratchbuilds, will just have to be built to replace what was lost.

But that's eventually. Not anytime soon. I'm not deleting the blog, still kinda hoping somebody out there will read it and go, 'wow that stuff he builds is cool!' But for now until such a point that I have the energy to build stuff, a working camera and an internet connection that doesn't require me to be at my parent's house the blog is on hold.

The Orky Air Core pt 2

Haven't forgotten, just didn't get a chance to do this sooner.

As you can see I added landing struts to this, the 4th in a series of prototypes. These landing struts are extremely similar to those on the Deff Kopta model, which these Deff Planes will be replacing on the battlefield.

In addition to the Struts I added a central Rokkit. As many of these are going to be equipped with Rokkits I wanted to see what it would look like to have a centrally mounted weapon (even if its a fire and forget Rokkit). This may or may not be a feature I add to others, but it does add a certain distinctiveness to the model.

Heres some other close ups, if you couldn't tell.

But that one Rokkit isn't going to be enough to represent twin linked. It looks more like a one shot weapon at the moment, which is why I'm going to have to add more Rokkits, like underneath the wing and the rear stabilizer wings.

Also have the first prototype Propeller done. Its slightly larger than the Deff Kopta roter, but really needs more detail work than I've done so far.


You can't see it in the photos, but the different parts of the Propeller are angled around 15-20 degrees. And no, they don't match up to be perfect and exactly the same, these are Mek made creations!

On the left you can see the 3rd prototype with the Prop attached. Still a lot of detailing to do before paint, but its getting there.

Now after working on a couple of these, not only am I getting aggravated with the slow progress, but annoyed with some of the details, so the next plane I thru something which flies in the face of the original concept of WW2 planes, a jet engine.

These pics are admittedly not great, but by tapering the end of the aircraft to an even further degree than what I was doing previously, and adding a jet (which is just a piece of tube with lots of plasticard bitz plied on) it adds quite a bit to the mini. Additionally while I was working on it a triangular bit fell and landed on the top rudder. I liked the look of it and added a couple more, which gives the aircraft even more of an Orky flair.

So the project is goin good, I'd say once I finish my first dozen that it'll be good.
Peace
~OD

The Orky Air Core pt 1

While the original plan was an Ork Luftwaffle force that idea, well it wasn't quite right. Drawing inspiration from WW2 and the Allied forces, I've decided to name this project, and the subsequent models the Orky Air Core (after the US Army Air Core, which later evolved into the US Air Force).

That being said work has been...slow.

After about a weeks worth of work I have little to show... or do I? Its hard work, but it'll look amazing when I'm done.




This was the first. Its uh... well its built. I didn't think it worked too well so I put together a different plane with a more wind swept look.



As cool as this bird is it still just wasn't quite right. I had gotten away from the old school look that I was going for.

To rekindle that idea and vision I started doing more research into an aircraft that was known for fast lighting strikes, an aircraft which heavily influenced the war, I speak of the Mustang.


Ok, so its not exactly a Mustang, but nevertheless it is an Ork Fighter plane more interesting than your average Kopta!

I even have gotten some detail work on the interior!



Not highly detailed, but the beginnings of one. You can also see some of the detailed dents/scratches/blasts/battle damage that I've applied in this picture. See no proper Ork vehicle is clean. In fact since the Orks build mostly out of scrap and don't mind using such dilapadated armor it makes sense. Plus I like having my army look like its seen a battle or two and not a bunch of highly polished brass that's afraid of a paper cut.

The only problem with this current design is this...

I believe that scratchbuilds or conversions in place of current models should be as close to the original porportions if not bigger, and while my current prototype (mark 4) is longer and wider than the original, it is shorter...at the moment. To correct this problem I'm thinking Landing gear either wheeled or skids, and possibly some more worky bits on the bottom. As for something to represent that top boom... I got nothin at the moment.

Peace
~OD

New Project

Well the last few days I've been tinkering with an old idea which often leads to a new project.

The spark for said new project? A combination of factors actually...
A huge Anti-Nazi conversation in class due to a poor joke reference to Seinfeld's Soup Nazi
A History Channel program on the planes of WW2
and my Grandmother suffering from a heart attack.

While these events (especially the latter) seem trivial, they have gotten me energized to put work in on a concept I've wanted to do for a long time, namely a 'fleet' of WW2 era planes for count as Deff Koptas. (For clarification, my Grandmother who I love and adore helped manufacturer war planes during WW2 while my Grandfather was a pilot for the then Army Air Core.)

If I could find my blasted camera I'd have some photos of it. But (very ANNOYINGLY) I can't find it, which as led me to waste precious time tearing my room apart, when instead of looking for a camera (or working on minis for that matter) should be studying for my finals.

I will however leave this post with a picture of this...
It's a Republic P-37 Thunderbolt firing all 8 of its 50 Cal machine guns presumably at a military target somewhere around 65 to 70 years ago. While it may not be the fighter my grandfather flew in the Pacific, he certainly saw and worked alongside of them, and you can't deny that it has an Ork-ish feel to it. Ok well you could but I'd tell you 'Your wrong.'

Peace
~OD

So haven't updated in a bit. Still the beginning and I already [censored] up the whole 1 post a week. But been having setbacks and personal problems plus the whole finals season, so I suppose personal life gotta come first.

Been thinking about other projects I'd like to do, one of which being an entire Cybork army. Granted this would be more for aesthetic purposes and not so much gameplay purposes. At least when I get all the designs down a bit.

first designs of the new deluxe Kickin Legs (yes I know I'm not living in 2nd Edition, but this idea is really me paying homage to the Ere We Go book).

But its going. Unlike usual you can actually see some of the finer work I'm putting in detailing of the parts, specifically the scratches and dings that add so much realism to the piece.

As you can tell from the pic on the right, its a little oversized for a Nob. Its a problem I'm beginning to notice that I'm just about always building things just a little too big. But hey, Orkz don't do small things. I might end up modifying an old konversion or just changing these legs into the base for a Mega Nob, as they're just about the right scale.



And I guess I'll leave you with that for today.

templates? Templates?! We don't need no Stinkin Templatez!!!

So somebody recently messaged me about a konversion from a distant time, sometime between late 07 early 08. It was about my Mega Nobz, which were originally created due to a 'friendly' challenge that I play against him without Trukks, Tanks, or Bikes utilizing Mega Nobz, which at that time I had never really used.

To be honest part of this challenge was because he had given me a Mega for xmas or my birthday or somefin. Not wanting to put out a ton of money I thought I'd konvert em up myself. My prototype was... well interesting.
The head from what then was the current Black Ork set (it was soon replaced by the better plastic), sprue legs, and plasticcard (+ a liberal amount of bits). At the time I thought this was really nice, but looking back at this picture before painting makes me realize that I could do better.
Anyways after a couple of konversions of the same thing you start to get the hang of it and they start getting better, and in no time a good konversion starts building itself and the designs only improve. This is evidenced by these lads, as well as the threesome underneath.

I even had some fun and built up a Mega Armored Grot (not for play purposes of course. This little 'boy' is named Furt. Fluff-wise he was just a regular Grot until the town's Bad Dok grafted on some Boy arms to him, givin old Furt the strength to knock him out, steal his gold teef, and get an ignorant Mekboy to give him Mega Armor (that Mek in particular thought the Nob was a little short, but who can argue with a chest full of gold teef!)


Not after long in need of Warbosses (yeah right like I'm gonna buy Ghaz) I ended up constructing this monster, which I have some in progress pics of.


He was named 'Boss Solorg' after the man with the plan, Solorg, one of the best posters on a web forum ever (who somehow got banned and I never found out why, but oh well.) Not being content with just the one I mocked up another which I also named after an online forum friend, 'Boss Gutstikk'

Now, with almost every Konversion things look better painted. When I take these guys out of the boxes (when I find them, I move around too much) I'll post up some pics. Here's one of Solorg mid paint.
Light-years cooler huh. Some people say that they're too big, others think they shouldn't be allowed to be put on a GW table, others just think its a cool konversion.

Which brings me to the point of this post, and therefore back to the beginning about the message I received. Namely the individual wanted to know about I used them, where he could find a template and a how to.

Now, no self respecting Ork modeler, or for that matter any self respecting modeler would use a template. To do so would be cheating yourself, and I don't do how-to's (at least not yet). I didn't use no stinkin template for dis, and frankly I don't think I'd ever stoop to that. The best way to convert is to scratch your Ead and build something out of nothing.

Nuff Said.

Peace
~OD