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For my entire experience with the 40k universe, I have LOVED the Orkz. They're funny, intimidating as hell, and just so painfully unique and random, I can't help to love them. I've always especially loved their vehicles; I used to love seeing a Killa Kan tear through squads of infantry in the old Dawn of War computer game. To this day, I still find myself chuckling at the quote, "Wartraks are da first to da foight." Eventually a friend converted me from the computer game to the table top, and I of course went straight for the orks. And of course, I gravitated to the idea of the Kult of Speed and the Death Skulls. (Gotta love them looted waguns.)

I thought I would start this blog in an effort to both share my ideas and receive constructive criticism and advice. I am definitely an amateur converter at this point, but with so many ideas and so little know-how and experience, I could surely use the help. And an all comments of a constructive, technical, or artistic mind-set would be delightful to have. If I am doing something "wrong", feel free to point it out; either one of us may learn something.
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tell me what you think.


Project One - The Kanun Wagun

My first project is to take a old Land Raider I recently acquired and fashion it into some sort of Battlewagon fitted with as much ranged firepower as physically possible. I was planning to place a Killkannon on it somewhere, some sort of big gun, (Kannon, Lobba, Zzap gun), and 4 Big Shootas (or Rokkit Launchas). The large issue I have is while I want to maximize fire-power, getting both a Killkannon and a Kannon/Lobba on it would prevent me from firing both at the same time. (When firing Ordinance, everything else is snapshots.) Should I stick a Zzap gun on here instead, or go for one of the template big-guns? Or just leave the gun off entirely?

Also, to reflect the orkiness of the vehicle, and because the Access Points are on either side and the rear, I thought it may be clever to turn the Land Raider around, having it drive backwards. To liven up the new "front" of the vehicle abit, what would be better than a big-old dozer plow welded to the front of the Land Raider. (See picture below.) I've assembled a rough plow design from some pieces of foam board and I like the look of it so far. It seems about the right height and when I just abit more to the top, I think it should give it a nice look and interesting shape.

My short attention span has dragged me through about a dozen partial projects since my last post.
Most significant, I feel, is a set of five Killa Kans converted from a box of unused Sentinel parts I bought off eBay quite a while ago. Here's some pictures of what I've got going so far.


I also plan to start converting an old looted wagon/rhino I bought from someone else. I am not fond of the size of the old edition rhinos as they're too small to be convincing (or fair) Looted Rhinos/Wagons, and they're too big and too tank-like to convert into Buggies or Wartrakks. Instead, I'm planning to take all the old Rhinos I have and convert them into either Mekboy Junkas or Gun Wagons. I'm planning on turning this one into a closed-top Junka with the ability to put a turret of some-sort on top. And I a Deff Rolla. Can't forget the free deff rolla.

Probably not that anyone cares, but....
I am still doing stuff! I haven't taken pictures of my works in progress in a while, and I've been busy with other things. BUT I am still doing stuff, and I have to say I feel as though I'm getting the hang of this stuff. Some of my things are starting to look good.
Here's a collection of some concept art I've scribbled out. The stuff all pretty bare-bones, but I still think it's pretty neat to look at, so why not share?

Show us the pics or nothing happened
Just joking of course.
First of all, I really dig the sentinels , second I want to see that first looted wagon done, the backwards driving is pure ork genius and I imagine the driver on a platform behind the exhausts with the killa kannon behind him driving blind from the fumes and smoke (googles are a must for the driver)

May Gork and Mork drive your WAAAAAAAAAGH!

In my quest for everything Orky, I stumbled across the Mekboy Junk in Imperial Armour 8. A transport, mek-oriented, extremely versatile, and a golden opportunity for converting? Sign me up!
I've since developed some very loose plans for an old edition Rhino and converting it into one of these scrap-yard monstrosities. As much as I like the old Rhino model, it's just too small though, so I split it right down the middle and spaced each side with some bits of sprue. I spaced the parts of the hull just far enough apart to fit a Rhino top-hatch or Razorback/Predator turret mount on the thing. This will allow me to be flexible with what I can stick on the thing, even letting me have some exchangeable parts. After applying some plasticart to hold the top of the tank firm-ish, I trimmed away some of the excess plasticard to allow a hatch or turret section to fit snuggly in the hole. So far here's what I've got.

Just a few small side-projects I'm working on when my ADD kicks in; I can't spend all my time focused on the junka.
A while back I acquired some pieces to a Thrakka model. After scraping gobs of dried super glue out of the joints and re-gluing the thing together, I got something that looks...well like this.

It's starting to look like something a bit threatening, but the best part (Ya know, the part that turns tanks into piles of scrap and anything else into red piles of goo) is sadly missing. In an effort to alleviate the overwhelming lack of firepower, I've started toying with some power-klaw ideas. I've always liked the rotary blade found on the Forge World biker boss. I took one of my many broken up Deff Kopta rotors and a bit of scrap plasticard and came up with a start of design. I'm not sure if I like the design quite yet, but I think it has some promise.

Related to Deff Koptas, I've taken one and chopped it up, hoping to turn it into a nice bike, or at least start on a couple of various designs. I think I've found a nice couple of areas to remove any of the helicopter-esque pieces and leave only parts that could be find on a bike. I think this holds a lot of promise, especially considering the surplus of Deff Koptas and the lack of Bikes I have.

Finally, I've been toying with the idea of making an ork barricade-style Aegis defense line and eventually even a Icarus Lascannon and Quad-Gun. I managed to get some pretty good measurements of the actual model and I've been working on making my barricade as close to the model as possible. (I'd hate to have an unfair advantage with a bigger wall.) So far, I've got a nice little mock-up of one of the longer walls that I think will work just for once I build it up with some junk-yard scrap, a bit more random junk, and some additional plating.

Today, I've been working on my Mega Armour Warboos. Missing his arm and head as he is, he'd look just a bit silly fielding him like that. When investing points into an expensive unit like a Mega-Boss, I think it's usually a good idea to try to protect that investment; the 5++ from cybork parts can go a long way in protecting anything in mega armour. I'd think myself a fool if I didn't throw some bionics on this warboss and why not kill two Guardsman with one bomm by filling in the missing pieces with some bionics. I've taken one of the nob heads from the biker boss and dug out a hole, putting a bit of plasticard tubing in the space. I'm not entirely sure if I enjoy they look of it quite yet, but I'm certain a few plates, wires, and maybe some tubing will go a long way to make it look better.
I think a scratch-built robotic arm would be extremely fitting to replace the power klaw of the mega armour. I started with the smaller of the two hands shown, and while it did seem a decent size to be a hand replacement, it didn't seem to be quite large enough to crush a power-armored marine to a pile of scrap and blood. The second hand looks a bit more dynamic and I feel is a far more appropriate size for both the arm and for a Mega-Boss's weapon. I'll beef up the arm and hand with some hydraulics, plating and wiring and hopefully it'll look nice and killy.

Time for a bunch of pictures! I haven't updated this in quite the while.

For some reason, I love tankbustas. They're awesome models, full of character and inspiration. I've recently acquire two sets of the newer metal models, but I don't feel right having two of the exact some models in my collection... It just doesn't feel.....orky... I've set about trying to make a unique set of Tankbustas that have the same feel as the current metal models. Such a project has forced me to start green-stuff sculpting. This particular (unfinished) busta has managed to acquire a fancy hat and coat from some poor tank commander. Eventually I'll put some small metal debris tacked to the coat as well as reserve ammo, as per the metal style.

Here's what I have so far:



A while back I got a husk of a Leman Russ that was in TERRIBLE condition. The hull was warped, it didn't fit together, it was coated in places with too much glue, etc. I resolved to turn the unwise investment into a pet project. What sort of ork army is complete without the classic Looted Leman Russ. The gap on the front of the tank was a result of the hull not fitting together well. The back was ever worse, so I I covered it up with the patch-work metal plates that you see currently. Still a LONG way off from a finished project, but I'm amazed how much better it looks compared to when I initially got it.


Also, a while back, I acquired a set of looted Dreadnaughts that I felt needed a little tender loving care. While I was at it, I figured that I would rip the hull-mounted weapon that was on one of them and replace it with a nice over-sized arm. It's given me some practice with scratch-building, particularly pneumatic systems. I feel that the arm looks pretty good so far, and eventually I'll have a magnet at the base of the drill (about where the white circle is) to attach either the scratch-build big shoot that I've started or a Skorcha of some sort.


A little piece of terrain and/or objective marker I threw together in a couple minutes of work was this Minefield / buried munitions sign. The sign's ork glyphs roughly translate to "Danger! Buried Weapons/Explosives". I felt it would be nice to have a little set piece that has a bit of flavor and looks like it belongs on the battlefield. Eventually I'll cover some of the base in kitty little to look like the shovel's been used recently.


Last, but certainly not least (but by far the most infuriating) is the start of a Warkopta I started today. My love of Imperial Armour 8 has inspired me to not only start a dread mob, but make an Ork air-force as well. What air force wouldn't be complete without some fancy flying trukks to carry da boyz in? I felt that Landspeeders would make a good base (for at least one squadron) and so I started chopping up one today. After many minutes of sawing, I was able to remove the cockpit and start working on the pilot. At first I thought about making a sort of plane's yoke control scheme, but that didn't fit the helicopter nature of a warkopta. Instead (and regrettably) I chose to go with a flight-stick design that I think of when I think of Helicopters. MANY INFURIATING HOURS LATER, I had learned to make custom poses for arms, it's really just better to chop the arms into upper arm, lower arm, and hand in order to get the most flexibility out of the models. I felt that a pose with the pilot fighting to keep the kopta "steady" would be really interesting and dynamic, though it was also the only way I could really fit the torso and flight stick in the cockpit. I'll eventually fill those gaps in with green stuff (hopefully when I'm better at sculpting) and I'll stick a fitting head on him. I've got several heads from a couple boxes of Storm boys I recently acquired that I REALLY like, and I've got more than enough extra heads from Deff Kotpas. Without further ado, the pictures of my work so far.


Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you liked what I've been working on. If you have ANY comments at all (even "YOU SUCK! [Insert Reason Why]" are welcome. I really need help to get better at this kind of thing.

You've a lot of neat bits and bobs floating around. I like the start of your orkgis defense line, and the looted vehicles show potential.

I too, have a bunch of half finished projects laying about. I'll have to keep an eye on this, when you get some of your stuff done it should be pretty neat.

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything, though I've not just been sitting around doing nothing. I've been working on everything from my Mega-Boss to a new Deff Dread (like a need another one) to some nobs, and even some basic boyz.
Most exciting (to me at least) is this guy. The cybork arm is a count-as Power Klaw. This poor warboss was crippled, losing his entire left arm and if a hydraulic-powered fist is enough for them beakies, it's good enough for an ork! I'm quite fond of how well the arm is coming along, though I will need to beef up the arm a bit. The hand itself doesn't quite look dangerous enough as of yet, so I'm toying with different ideas to give it more bite.


Recently I got fed up with having a dozen and a half of those Assault on Black Reach nobs. Instead of having so many of the little dull 3-piece models, I thought I'd buy a set of pistols and choppas from the nob set (only 99 cents for all of them), and do some simple converting. After a couple hours of careful hacking, sawing, and gluing, this is what I came up with. I think the variation from the standard Black Reach nobs is quite nice and they'll look a bit different when compared to either the boxed nobs or the AoBR nobs.


When I bought the nob parts, there also happened to be some deff dread parts for a good price as well. I bought a set of arms and the can for cheap and thought I'd scratch build everything else. Here's my progress so far on the legs of the dread. I'd like to give it a more dynamic pose, so I extended one of the legs. Hopefully in the end it'll look like it's clumsily lunging forward.


Finally, one day a while back, I set myself a goal. I would do everything I could to make each model in my army unique. I'd like each model to have a story, personality, or something special so that I can pick them out from the mob. This is quite a daunting task for an ork horde, but I figured out a great way to start on this. Customizing an orks weapons with battle damage or just interesting markings is an idea I came up with. It's simple, fun, and I've only lost one weapon to cutting too much away. Here's a bunch of some of my customized weapons


Thanks for dropping by, and pleasure post ANY comments you have. I'd love to hear ANYTHING you have to say. If you have any ideas or constructive criticism, so much the better! Be sure to come back soon.

A short post today (not that they're usually long).
A while back I got a Predator from a friend. It was one of the first models he'd ever put together and it was BAD. He'd used so much spray paint on the thing that it'd started to bubble in places and even run in others. After tons of time doing my best to clean up the poor thing (and ripping it apart to clean out the joints), I started orkifying it. The cannon isn't quite as large as I would like, but I wanted to keep the original turret so it'll have to do. I felt something about the boxy nature of a Predator lent nicely to the typical orky face glyph so I'll eventually turn the front of the vehicle into some sort of design you may see on a stompa or some such thing. I also felt as though this particular Looted Wagon should have some sort of supa-boss pole, sort of mimicking the heraldry you see on many Space Marine models. The plasti-card rod sticking out of the top is the start of that idea, but a long way off from fruition.


Next up I just felt like sharing some poses for a couple of my Deff Dreads. I originally was introduced to the 40k universe through the Dawn of War computer game, and that heavily influenced my feel of Killa Kans and Deff Dreads. They always felt clunky and cumbersome, but still flowing with energy. For the dread on the left, I wanted to take that to the extreme: a dread taking a too-large step over some battlefield remains. The other dread I wanted to feel more serious and threatening, almost as if it were staring you down and saying it didn't need to run, it'll catch you anyway. I still wanted a sense of movement so I gave the dread on the right a mid-walking stance. I feel as though it makes it appear a much lower energy model, but all the more serious and threatening because of it.

In celebration of my attention span for holding out for TWO WHOLE CONSECUTIVE DAYS... Have a face.

I've managed to do some more work on my looted Predator, and I have to say I'm quite happy with the results thus far. The eyebrows add a "jeh neh sey wot?" to the vehicles. I'm rather surprised at how well the boxy nature of a Predator lends itself to the ork aesthetic. I feel as though the size of the barrel is no longer a major issue as this looted tank CLEARLY has the power of Gork (and/or Mork) behind it. I find it a happy accident how symbolic and practical the view ports are, as well as how open compared to a normal Space Marine vehicle. Sometimes I wonder how looting a vehicle (in many cases) reduces it to AV 11/10/10, but in this case, the huge hole they've carved out of the front of the tank may have something to do with it.

This is some of the best ork builds I've seen here on dakka! You really manage the gritty feel to the lr exhaust-pipe!

And to salvage old vehicles to Orks must be a breeze! It doesn't have to look good :-p in fact, it shouldn't look to good haha!

I'll be following you!

Some really good stuff here the GS on the Tankbusta is particularly good

Awesome work so far. Don't get discouraged man, the blogs here go so damn fast people will just simply miss it. Keep it up

"Early" morning update before work! I've been on some crazy 40k and modeling high lately, and I've gotten even more stuff done.
Firstly, I'd just like to thank danesk, Llamahead, and KingCracker. You guys not only made me feel great with your comments, but also kept me motivated to keep working hard at this. Thanks again guys!
And now for the work I've done this morning:

The more tedious of the two things from this morning was finishing up the grate on Looted Predator. The normal grate on the standard Predator piece had two issues. One, it wazn't orky enuff! But the second issue was far more pressing. Many of the vents behind the turret were filled with so much paint, they were almost a smooth surface. I mentioned previously the person who made this just piled on the pain, but the amount in the vents was just ridiculous. I set about making a replacement that would just fit over the existing cavity for the vents. I liked the 3-section look of the original, so I decided to keep that. Throwing symmetry out the window (as is roight an' proppah for da orkz), I just made the sections whatever size looked bad (but in a good way). On the two side sections I placed to layers of screen-door mesh to give it a nice grate look, and then the middle section I made a bit thicker with some plasticard rods cut in half for the hinges. Two small holes drilled into the door let me easily place a bent piece of paper clip. And of course you need an org glyph riveted in place so that the grots know that's the bit that makes the tank go!


And speaking of grots! I recently played a game where I fielded a whopping TWELVE Grot oilers. I didn't have any models to represent them, so I just used some regular grot models. Since I have dozens of plastic grot models just laying around (I planned ahead and bought them when I could) I started working on my hordes of grot oilers. As an added bonus, these little guys can be used as grot crew for Big guns, or possibly even Grot Grenadiers from Imperial Armour 8. Since they're a mek's assistant I thought it would be fine if I did some other ideas than just a grot carrying around a Oil Squig. This particular one I felt would look great waving a spanner about in the air, and wielding an acetylene torch. The two rods to his left are the start of the burna-boy style fuel pack that will eventually be strapped to his back and I'll eventually give this little guy a pair of welding gloves and goggles. I figure green stuff could be used to bulk up the fingers a bit and get rid of some of the details like claws, but that's a project for another day.

A quick and dirty little update for tonight. Work's been keeping me busy, so I've not had nearly as much time as I would like to work on my stuff, but I'm getting some stuff done here and there.
Least interesting bit is I worked on another Grot oiler. This little guy is drilling some more rivet holes for his big-mek master. Every ork knows the best way to fix battle damage is to rivet new armor over it! It's quick, easy, and makes the thing even bigger and nastier looking!

Next up is a custom Choppa boy that I've been working on. I'm working on two sets of slugga boys, one set will be flyboys (pilots) and meks-in-training that have ventured away from the ork airfields to find a good fight. The other will be a bunch of young lootas looking for good scrap for a mek or big mek. I'm not sure which group this guy will belong to, but I'm liking where the buzz-saw is going, even if the blade looks a bit wonky.

For a while I've been trying to work on a biker-boss. Either a Warboss on a bike or a stand-in for Wazdakka. Recently I played a game with a Big Mek on a War bike. I liked it so much I thought I'd rather see the bike made into a Big Mek (or Wazdakka stand-in). One of the more distinctive parts of a Big Mek is its botnics and head-gear. So I've taken a nob head and started converting it into something that will be instantly recognizable as a Big Mek. The body will be a chopped-up Black Reach nob (most of it will be hidden behind gubbins or the bike it self) and I'm working on scratch building the bike. It's been coming along slowly, but hopefully the inspiration for the head will give me some drive to surge forward.

I'm back from an exciting trip to Maryland! Before I left, I was able to get some things done, but not so able to post the progress. So without further ado!
I've done some more work on a bunch of grot oilers. One of the grots has got a little toolbox for his big-mek master. The middle grot has a set of mallets to "fix" any gubbins the mek might direct his assistant to. The final grot has a rivet gun with a air tank strapped to his back. I'm not quite sure I like the style of the rivet gun at the moment, but I'm not currently sure what I could even do to improve the look. Perhaps a strap around the gun and shoulders of the grot and a couple handles attached to the rivet gun.

Next up is a little grot oiler with a screw-driver on his belt. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the arms yet, but I'm certain I'll figure out something.


I've also been working on a big mek on a warbike. The front of the bike is starting to look like something and I've started working on a ram head that looks as though it's been modified by the big mek, some of his grots, or possibly just another mek. I'm planning to have a back-pack on the bike with several mechadendrites on it which will hold the mek's tool, his twin-linked dakka gun (from the bike), possibly a flame thrower, or any other weapon and/or tools he may have. I'll probably do different styles of arms so that it looks salvaged or haphazardly constructed and orky, with replaceable parts on the ends so I can change the biker's loadout on the fly. I'll even make some attachments so that the biker mek can even be a stand-in for a Wazdakka (though I would like to convert a more lore-faithful model of Wazdakka.)



Last but not least is a radio operator for my shoota boyz. This doesn't represent any upgrade in the codex (at least at the moment), but I thought it would be kinda interesting to have a second-in-command for the nob of the group. This guy talks back to the big boss back at base while his nob sergeant busts come skulls. Perhaps the nob works closely with a big mek to coordinate what scrap to bring back from the fight and this shoota boy is the lucky radio operator. Whatever the case may be, I rather like the model, despite it being so simple and thought I'd share it with the rest of you.

Hey nice updates. I'll be converting grots like you did as well for the Stompa I'm building, so that's some nice inspiration for me there. Also, I giggled when I saw that bolt replacing the missing toof on the soon to be big mek.

 KingCracker wrote:
Hey nice updates. I'll be converting grots like you did as well for the Stompa I'm building, so that's some nice inspiration for me there. Also, I giggled when I saw that bolt replacing the missing toof on the soon to be big mek.

Thanks! I'm terribly flattered that you like the grots enough to be inspired. I think a couple are pretty neat and inspiring, but I feel the rest lack pizazz. Of course they're better than a dozen completely identical grot oiler models.
As for the tooth, I'd love to say it was my own idea, but it was shamelessly "stolen" from OkariXterrum. She's been trying out drawing some orks, and I figured she wouldn't mind if her boyfriend modeled a couple of things off some of her drawings.

What battlefield is complete without debris and terrain to cover it, livening up the dull flat playing surface, and adding story? And so I've been working on creating new bits of terrain for the games I play. The first piece of terrain was spawned when I played a game with a friend. For a piece of terrain, she took one of my extra Deffkoptas, laid it on its side, and placed several broken blades in a pile beside the crashed heli. I liked the idea of soldiers taking shelter in a downed husk for a deffkopta, I thought I'd do it myself. A deffkopta malfunctioned or was shot down, careening into the ground, dislodging pieces everywhere and bending the frame of the heli.


The next piece came from a recent acquisition of Sentinels. There were many in parts and I thought it might be a cool idea to take one of the walkers in the worst condition and turn it into a piece of terrain. I'm still toying with what will be on the base and how it'll look in the end, but I think I'll very much enjoy working on this one. Hopefully the end result will have a soon-to-be-looted feel to it.


Finally, I've been working on a set of modular pieces of terrain that would feel at home in a industrial setting. I wanted something that wouldn't really block line of site, but would complicate tank movement. The something I came up with is a set of pipes suspended in the air, similar to the Alaska oil pipeline. The pieces will all be modular with different types of pieces (Long ones, short ones, bends, curves, T sections, etc.) I'm really excited with what I can do with this. Here's just a start of what I've been working on.

I've not had any updates in quite a while (I'm going to blame work and school for that), so I've decided to try something a bit interesting! This week, I'm going to try an update-blitz! By next Monday, I hopefully well have 35 models posted in a "complete" condition. That's an average of 5 models a day and you may be asking yourself, "How can ShadowMage keep that kind of pace?" And the answer is quite simple: I'm crazy! (And the models will be small.) Part of my end-plan for my ork army is to have several hundred basic boys, each unique with different styles of weapons, clothing, armor, etc. It seems so wrong to have a mob of boys and to have half of them nearly identical!

So my goal for this week is to have 35 ork boys, choppa boys specifically, with modified weapons and potentially armor by next Tuesday. To whet your appetite, here's a couple of sketches I did earlier jotting down different modification ideas and styles.

I like the sound of that challenge. I look forward to it.

Just as an example of some stuff I'll be making, here's a picture of some things I've done previously. Sadly, (or fortunately) I'm not counting them towards the 35 models so there will be MUCH more to come. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Woooo! Choppa boy update! Here's the first 16 of the 35 choppa boys.
A double-length chain-sword, a serated back-edge of a blade, a knife with a chunk cut out to make it swing fasta, a serrated axe, and a choppa in rough shape wielded by an ork with a shirt make up the first group. I had a bunch of green stuff left over from patching up the chain-sword, so I gave the guy on the far right a shirt sleeve, to practice my green-stuff skills, test out my new sculpting tools, and just make him unique. I rather like the results.
Group two consists of an 'Ard Boy with an over-sized axe (I think I'll call him "da bucha"), a sword stylized with some rear-edge spikes, a salvaged choppa, jagged knife possibly belonging to a future kommando, and a battle-damaged axe join the troupe. Something about the choppa with the curved spines on it speaks to me. Eventually, when I make Kommandos (even though they're so bad), I'll probably use a design with lots of gentle curves and spikes, just like the fourth boy in this picture.
Some more battle damage, a couple more spikes riveted on, a chain-sword with a bare frame holding the chain, and an odd looking knife finish up the boys here. I'm not quite happy with the chain-sword with the hole in it; I'll probably try to go back later to cut a bit more out so it looks like it's just a frame with the chain looping around it.

Success! One week and 35 boys later, here are the rest of the results!
I happened to remember how much variety reposing the figures can bring. A quick cut at the wrist, a bit of rotation, a simple pin-job, and voila! The ork in the foreground of the third picture (the one in front of the pirate ork), is from Assault on Black reach. Normally a dull and static looking model, a simple repositioning of the axe head and a twisting of the wrist yielded a nice result full of motion and energy! It's the same case with the ork in the back ground of the first picture (spike on the axe handle). I'd love to hear what you guys have to think.




As a "little" reward for completing my goal, I got myself two fancy new models! I've been wanting one of each of these and it seemed like a good time as any.
A Forgeworld Big Trakk and Biker Warboss are now mine.

Where's the paint?!
The finished products?
Rad conversions....
MOAR PIKTURZ!!!!

Well, it's been a fething eternity since I last updated this. Sorry I haven't posted anything for quite a while, but I'm hopefully going to change that. Over the holidays (all of them, not just Christmas/New Year) I was pretty busy (one of the joys of working in a grocery store). Now that the October-through-New Years stretch is over, I should have more time to start working on and posting stuff more regularly.

A pain boy converted from a AOBR nob I've been working on. It's loosely inspired by the mad docs from Dawn of War 1, a la the serrated surgery blade.


I love Stormboys and since there isn't an official kit for a Stormboy nob, I thought I'd make my own! I wanted a sort of pseudo-military look to him and so I gave him a military-styled cap. The goggles atop were a suggestion from a fellow DakkaDakka-er.



Another project I started 2 days ago is a Deffkopta with extended tail and actual Twin-linked shoota. Eventually I'll have a whole squadron of these guys with long tails, but at the moment I'm just experimenting with modding Deffkoptas.

Nice work. I look forward to watching as you progress through your list of projects.

Update time!
I've had the parts to a (apparently) re-cast Big Trakk sitting around for quite some time. I even put a picture of the parts on this blog several months ago. Well, finally after about an entire day of gluing, re-gluing, walking away in frustration, pressing, bending parts, breaking parts, and finally forsaking some parts, I got it done. This model ate an entire day to put together and it was such a poorly made re-cast, I had to not put one of the wheels on the thing. The kit was simply a nightmare to put together, and I nearly took a hammer to this blasted thing almost 3 times. But now it's done, and I'll never have to build it again, thank Gork (and Mork). Let this be a cautionary tale for all of you, if you are buying something Forge World on eBay, be careful. This kit was NOT worth the money I saved due to all the lost time and teeth-grinding frustration.


I got a new Big Mek recently, a Kustom Force-Field so that I can stop proxying one of my other Mek-boys as the oft-used KFF. Conversely to the Big-Trakk, this Mek went together beautifully. After cleaning off a whole bunch of flash and metal spines, the model went together nearly flawlessly. I'll be very eager to put some fancy basing work into this guy. For whatever reason, the GW KFF Mek is one of my favorite models.


Another set of recent additions was a group of 4 Skorcha Mega-Nobs. I got these for a steal of a price and I even got to put one of them together myself. (See if you can guess which one is made by me.) Unfortunately, one of the goals in my army is to have each model at least a little unique, and 3 of these MANZ are neatly identical. I eventually may replace the heads on some of them, though I am unsure if I'd be willing to risk destroying the iron gobs. I may just keep these guys around, buying other mega-nobs and creating my own, eventually pawning off these guys. I have to say though, I don't know why anyone had issues with Finecast models. The one I made went together excellently, but perhaps I was just lucky.


Finally, a riddle for you all... What do you get when you cross a pile of extra ork boy bits with a huge pile of Assault of Black Reach ork sprues?
The answer is cheap and "easy" shoota boys! When I made my initial bunch of orks, they were slugga/choppa boys. This left me with a bunch of unused and unloved shootas lying about. In a deal a while back, I managed to get a whole bunch (something like 4 or 5 sets) of AoBR boys. I can't stand the default AoBR posing (something about 4 poses drives me batty), so the most obvious solution is to chop, crop, and glue! The bodies are a bit thinner than the standard ork boy torso once you cut off the arm, but if you cut smart and position the arms carefully, you can get a set of arms to align pretty easily and be able to fit the AoBR heads on the models. And, in my nearly ever-constant quest to differentiate my boys, I thought it might be a good time to start styling them into different squads. The second picture features two ork boys that will be used in my Luft-waaaagh-a squad. It'll be comprised of pilots and wanna-be meks who couldn't resist their battle lust and left their damaged planes to join the fight. They'll be kitted out with various goggles, aviator vests, and the occasional plane part. (The boy missing his left arm will hopefully be wielding a flight stick ripped from a downed plane.)