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I recently got into 40K a couple of months ago. I am slowly building up an ork army. While playing my first couple of games I discovered ork warbikers and decided to get my hands on a few. I had planned on taking a warboss and putting him on a bike, eventually that evolved to making a Wazdakka conversion. He is the combination of a deffkopta, an AOBR Warboss, plasitcard, ork bitz and green stuff. The dakkakannon is made from a Tau Devilfish burst cannon. Using the burst cannon made sense to me as in the codex it states that it "is a rapidly-firing monstrosity" and it is assault 4. The model will look much better whenever I get around to paint it, I have hordes of boyz that need paint first.
and Yes, I realize I don't have the flaming skulls that represent the Titan crew. I am working on getting my hands on a couple of the flaming skull bitz from the Warhammer Empire Wizards box. Please let me know what you think.

I'm liking the massive gun rack mounted on the front... look forward to seeing it painted.

Is that gloss paint for your base coat?

Why did you use gloss? Paint doesn't stick to gloss very well at all, and any areas you miss will be glaring and ugly. Conversion itself looks pretty good, but it would be a shame if it didn't paint up well because of a bad basecoat.

Brother SRM wrote:Why did you use gloss? .

It isn't gloss it's the spray paint or the black undercoat drying.

In my opinion you should have done some pictures before spraying/undercoating and then some pictures of it when it's painted. Not in the middle of the two when its being sprayed/undercoated.

Looks like gloss to me. He must have INCREDIBLY fast hands to paint both the bike and trukk, and move them to a white board and take pictures before any of it starts to dry.
The mini itself looks pretty good tho


But if you need help getting that gloss spray paint off you can ALWAYS use. Dont waste your time on the simple green garbage.

According to the feedback so far, it looks like I made a couple of mistakes with the base coat and not posting pictures prior to base coating. I just got into 40K a couple of months ago and this is my first post.
As far as the base coast is concerned, it is black gloss spray paint from walmart, the cheap $1 can. I'm not sure what the big deal is though, I started painting today and it is turning out ok. At this time the plan is to finish painting and see how it turns out.

Well hey, if its working out, then its working out lol. I too use the cheap stuff (.97 cents at home depot) but next time get the flat or a primer. It gets the paint to stick on better. Show some pics when you get more painted

Same here, Ive bought the expensive stuff, but saw no different results from the .99 cent can of spray paint.

Like was mentioned earlier, flat paint will let the next coat stick better and if you do like the gloss effect, you can always use a gloss varnish when youre done painting.

If you like the way its going now, then by all means, stick to it. But Id suggest grabbing a can of the cheap flat paint and at least experimenting with it. I think youll like what you see.

I would lose the gun in his hand and make him holding one of the handles, right now he's no-handing it. I rode my bike a round as a kid, occasionally with no hands. Last time I did that, I wasnt paying attention and drifted towards the edge of the street and hit a rock, landed hard gashing my arms and chin. If you do the change I mentioned, he'll pass all his dangerous terrain rolls.

Very nice looking conversion. Love it.
I know that spray can from walmart. It is terrible. What ever you do, don't spray another layer of better quality paint ontop. I have really screwed up some models that are going to take some work to fix. What happend with mine was they got a really bad dusty, sandy feal to them, and when I try to give them a good quality paint job it just looks terrible, nothing I can do but strip them and start again.

Caboose wrote:I would lose the gun in his hand and make him holding one of the handles, right now he's no-handing it. I rode my bike a round as a kid, occasionally with no hands. Last time I did that, I wasnt paying attention and drifted towards the edge of the street and hit a rock, landed hard gashing my arms and chin. If you do the change I mentioned, he'll pass all his dangerous terrain rolls.

I understand what you are saying, however, I am taking a different approach to the model. In the Ork Codex, on page 46, under the description of warbikes, has the following: "Warbikers are so reckless that they will even let go of the handlebars when careening into the enemy the better to lay about themselves with sluggas, choppas and improvised weapons." That is what I tell people when the ask why he doesn't have his hands on the handlebars.

From a more practical modeling standpoint I couldn't figure out how to remove the gun without destroying the model. I am new to 40K, I've only been playing a couple of months now, and this is my first major attempt at building a model. I didn't want to get too ambitious to the point that I ruined the model. At a later date, when I have more experience at modeling I may go back and redo him or build a better one. Right now, I am satisfied with what it is. Thanks for the feedback.

WELL now that you mention it, I used the same AOBR warboss to make a biker boss. IT was actually pretty simple to do. The gun slices off with little to no problem. You cut the hand and gun off at the wrist. Its easier to take the gun off that way. Then simply glue the hand back on in a handle holding position. Give it a shot if you want him to hold like that. Heres a pic

KingCracker wrote:WELL now that you mention it, I used the same AOBR warboss to make a biker boss. IT was actually pretty simple to do. The gun slices off with little to no problem. You cut the hand and gun off at the wrist. Its easier to take the gun off that way. Then simply glue the hand back on in a handle holding position. Give it a shot if you want him to hold like that. Heres a pic

Nice conversion!

Oh hey thanks. I really should get off my ass and finish the feller. It looks worse then it should be lol

jayjester wrote:Very nice looking conversion. Love it.
I know that spray can from walmart. It is terrible. What ever you do, don't spray another layer of better quality paint ontop. I have really screwed up some models that are going to take some work to fix. What happend with mine was they got a really bad dusty, sandy feal to them, and when I try to give them a good quality paint job it just looks terrible, nothing I can do but strip them and start again.

It sounds like you were spraying on a hot day or simply holding the can too far away. Or maybe you just had some bad luck and got a bad batch. However, Ive used the .99 cent stuff for years now and as long as you spray in good conditions, it makes for a great, cheap basecoat.

FreekyE wrote:

jayjester wrote:Very nice looking conversion. Love it.
I know that spray can from walmart. It is terrible. What ever you do, don't spray another layer of better quality paint ontop. I have really screwed up some models that are going to take some work to fix. What happend with mine was they got a really bad dusty, sandy feal to them, and when I try to give them a good quality paint job it just looks terrible, nothing I can do but strip them and start again.

It sounds like you were spraying on a hot day or simply holding the can too far away. Or maybe you just had some bad luck and got a bad batch. However, Ive used the .99 cent stuff for years now and as long as you spray in good conditions, it makes for a great, cheap basecoat.

Same here, when used properly the cheap stuff is just awesome. I like it better, because its a bit thinner, and I feel that it fills the mini better as well. Seriously you people should just try it on some scrap, youd be surprised

I've been rather busy so I am just now getting around to posting pictures of the painted model. First off, I know that I am going to get comments about the paint job, give me a break, I'm still a novice painter. The reason the model is shiny is because I used Army Painter Quick shade on the model

lucky1302 wrote:I've been rather busy so I am just now getting around to posting pictures of the painted model. First off, I know that I am going to get comments about the paint job, give me a break, I'm still a novice painter. The reason the model is shiny is because I used Army Painter Quick shade on the model

Hehe ultramarines head in the klaw

Next time around, buy some proper primer. You can find some good stuff in various autoparts stores, home depots, and any similar stores.

Primer is different from normal paint, it acts as a neutral surface for the paint to stick to.

And it doesn't really look like you used quickshade. It just looks really off and glossy. What paints did you use? It looks like you used enamel paints. Enamel paints are fine for some models, but definetly not miniature painting. It's way too thick and takes way too long to properly dry. I can tell right away that one of the major reasons your model looks so poorly painted has nothing to do with your actual skill, but rather, the paints you're using.

I don't want to sound mean, but try to avoid using the cheap, discount paints. They may help in offsetting the costs of expensive model kits in the short run, but the poor quality really shows and definetly hurts the end result. Personally, I'd have to recommend Vallejo. It's slightly cheaper than GW paints, but short of the metallics, just plain better.

Solid conversion work! And good job getting paint on the model quickly BUT - the paint looks a bit heavy... If you have some inks or washes you may want to use it to tonw down the flashy effect - just douse the whole model in it.

He's MASSIVE! I like the model. Cool basing as well.

First, excellent conversion. He is appropriately massive to be Wazdakka and I totally agree that he would let go to do more krumpin on the way in... A+ on the base, too!

For the painting, you have a steady hand. But as others have said the painting certainly needs some improvement. These Ork models are so detailed that you should be able to get a thin coat of primer, thin base coat with green, wash (or dip with army painter) and be done. Something has gone awry with this guy. I'll use Wazdakka's face as an example. He looks... soft. He shouldn't. It is hard to say if the base coat of black went on too thick or if the subsequent paint has, but something is obscuring the detail of the model. Honestly I've used the cheap spray stuff and I've also used the extortionate GW stuff, and multiple varieties in between. I have had this same effect with cheaper primer especially when trying to cover the whole model in one round of priming. I seem to have better luck with GW primer- maybe because I the expense makes it physically hurt when I use it, it so I hold back, and as a result don't spray it on so thick.

The other thing that points to something awry is that the Army Painter dip should be providing some deeper shadows. This was already covered a bit by Fafnir but I wanted to also state that it does appear that the paints are not compatible with the dip.

You could try a drybrush of light green and lowline in the shadows a bit. Show us how it turns out!

Edit: fix typos

Gymnogyps wrote:
The other thing that points to something awry is that the Army Painter dip should be providing some deeper shadows. This was already covered a bit by Fafnir but I wanted to also state that it does appear that the paints are not compatible with the dip.

That's because the enamel paints he's using fill in all the gaps that should normally be emphasized.

You could try a drybrush of light green and lowline in the shadows a bit. Show us how it turns out!

I doubt it'll help. Especially if he's using enamel paints like I suspect (You can easily tell by looking at the red. I used to have a pot of Testors red enamel, and you'd have a hard time getting a red that deep with anything but.).

Really, you should just strip him and start over with proper paints. Start with an actual primer coat, not just plain spraypaint, and work your way up. I recommend Vallejo, but Privateer Press, Games Workshop, and Reaper Mini all make some great paints.

OMG Testors red! I totally forgot about that... one of my first minis ever painted was a mostly naked D&D Priestess model, with a Testors Red cloak. I still have her, actually!


Wow she is showing her age. But yeah, that red is pretty distinct.

So, lucky1032, you are leagues ahead of my first model simply based on your conversion work!

Will the standard stripping agents remove enamels?

Edit: to add photo and then more comments

Yeah...

Painting 101:

Use FLAT paint as a basecoat! Your paint will just slide right off those orks of yours.

Stripping agents should work but make sure to ask someone with experience painting models...well more than I do any way. there IS ways of saving them before its too late!

aww man, i loved the conversion, but the paint job isn't bad its the paint you used. the red definately looks like an enamel and the rest of it just looks real shiny (i don't know too much ard coat maybe)
for a novice paint job it all look applied right (maybe a bit thick, but w/e so does my stuff), if you haven't already invest in some good GW or Reaper Paints and Primer, nothing sucks worse than messing up a great (not to mention expensive) mini with poor quality paint.

Excellent conversion but really ruined it on the paintjob.

First, buy some flat black next time, or better yet, actual primer!

Second, thin your paints when you use them.

Third, if you must use that horrid, horrid quickshade, spray them with a coating of a Matte Finish at the end to remove the horrible shine.

Pretty good for some of your first work though!

Jesus....did you prime these in used motor oil??? Whats up with the gloss my man?

Think enough feedback has been given about the paint choices guys. Kind of gone past constructive criticisim and turned into a bandwagon.


OP, if you are happy with how this looks, then that is really all that matters. If you want to make changes for next time, there are a lot of great ideas in the replies here. The conversion is fantastic as everyone has already said, so he could very well be something you could come back to and strip if you want to try some of the suggestions, but either way for a first time painter, he is fantastic.