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I was lucky enough to pick up two (and a half) beat up rhinos as part of an ork deal back at AdeptiCon. As I was going for a Snakebite themed army, I figured a couple of looted rhino's would fit the bill. I set about building the first and was really happy with the outcome. Casually reading through fluff, I found that the Snakebites liked to adorn their trukks to represent their totem animals. So about three quarters through the construction, I added a snake head and a boar head to the front. Which when all painted, should stretch a fair bit down the sides. You can see the results here...



Not entirely content with the size of the 'totem animals', I set about a more orky style on the second looted rhino. The plan was to reconstruct the front end to better represent a boar head and use the plating to give the effect of the boars body (if that makes any sense. What I mean to say is, make the rhino into a giant orky boar). I managed to get the front end finished as well as some of the plating. Then I broke my cardinal rule... I just had to play a game with an unpainted, half constructed army. I pulled together a laughable list from what I had on hand and took on another ork horde. (see still fluffy I considered it the early stages of a clan development, the scrabble stage). Long story short, as expected, I got crushed, haha, the kind of crushing that comes with the word "Tabled". I realized that while fluffy and fun, Looted Rhino's were taking up some precious heavy slots and not packing a good enough punch. No joke, during the game, one rhino rolled a "Don't Press dat!" Sending it right between two enemy Battle Wagon's (both 12" -13" away). Not sure if any of you watch Mythbusters and saw the 2 Semi- crushed compact episode, but that about describes the ensuing carnage
Anyway, I digress. I realized that I needed a bit more reliable and powerful transport for the boys. As I mentioned I still had 'half' a rhino left from the deal. The half being the track sets. It is amazing how you can bulk out a rhino with a second track set. I stuck them to the 'boar' rhino and added a howdah. what do you think?




And before you question the "No Dakka" I plan to magnetize the lot so that I can switch it out.

Looks nice. Da old wayz is best.

Looks great! What do you use for rivets?

KaloranSLC wrote:Looks great! What do you use for rivets?

The rivets are made from .035" (1.6mm) plastic rod stacked on a 1/16" (.88mm) rod. slightly time consuming, but once you get into a rhythm it doesn't take long.

What do you use to cut something that small/thin? I'm finding that my X-acto knives just aren't... cutting it...

Sorry. Bad pun.

KaloranSLC wrote:What do you use to cut something that small/thin? I'm finding that my X-acto knives just aren't... cutting it...

Sorry. Bad pun.

I have a couple of different ways to cut plastic rod. If I am aiming for really precise cuts I use a Miter Cutter.

For the less specific 'orky' rivets, I just use a retractable hobby blade. Picked it up at the hardware store for a couple of buck and the refills are pretty cheap too. It has a series of perforations to snap off dull blades (no more hunting for the blade box). The width of this kind of blade works really well for this technique. Just place your finger over the end of the plastic rod and use the tip as a guide while cutting (similar to a chef cutting vegetables). Using a healing cutting mat also helps prevent the 'rivets' shooting off the table.

When it comes to applying them to the object. I use a sculpting needle (actually a leather needle set into a handle). Just put a blob of plastic glue onto a scrap piece of glass or metal (doesn't react and dry out as fast as if you used plastic), then spike a large rivet, dip in glue, and apply. Once all the large rivets are in place, repeat with the small rivets.

hope that answers your question.

Thanks!

That's some sweet looted wagon, but where's the dakka?

Jonny_Lunchboz wrote:
That's some sweet looted wagon, but where's the dakka?

guynamedFleck wrote:
And before you question the "No Dakka" I plan to magnetize the lot so that I can switch it out.

I'm still waiting for the ork gunners to arrive in the mail. Then I will stick a magnet into a foot and have swappable gunners in case I change the load out.