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Request: Make an ork trukk out of an old shoe.

The Easterling head looks really good!

Slinky, thanks! I appreciate it.

RexInvictus Are you serious?

 Cleatus wrote:
RexInvictus Are you serious?

People have said that ork scratch builders only do it because you can literally take an old shoe and turn it into a wartrukk.

I want to see it done.

 RexInvictus wrote:

 Cleatus wrote:
RexInvictus Are you serious?

People have said that ork scratch builders only do it because you can literally take an old shoe and turn it into a wartrukk.

I want to see it done.

Never heard of that before, but then I haven't been in the hobby for very long. I do enjoy scratch building because it's fun; you can get really creative. Also Orks are the best army. So there's that.

Anyway, uh, shoe... shoe...

Something like this?

I'd suggest trying to find an old leather shoe or boot, instead. Pull the rubber sole off, replace with a nice boxy bottom/frame (remove the laces, of course) and I think you could have a pretty decent start.

Newer shoes have the plastic, of course, but they're so spongey and foamy I think you'd have trouble with the cutting and attaching. And of course cloth or canvas shoes don't have enough structural integrity.

 Cleatus wrote:
Never heard of that before, but then I haven't been in the hobby for very long. I do enjoy scratch building because it's fun; you can get really creative. Also Orks are the best army. So there's that.

Anyway, uh, shoe... shoe...

Something like this?

Yeah, I'm pretty certain it's just whiny buggers complaining. I think I might've heard it on Whineseer itself, actually.

And you've got the right idea.

Just think, you can get two trukks done with a pair of old shoes!

Haha, that makes more sense now. Maybe one day I will scratch build an Ork Battlewagon in the shape of a boot, with Orks and Grots hanging out all over the place, ala "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe."

Man, I really like the look on that terrain! It seems such a simple idea, but it turned out amazing!

cfrag wrote:
Man, I really like the look on that terrain! It seems such a simple idea, but it turned out amazing!

Thank you! Roughing them up gave them some texture which I like. Then it was just spray primer, black basecoat, black wash (to fill in the recesses), and a quick drybrush. I'm planning on doing another half dozen of these things. Not bad for almost free, right?

I was looking over my project list yesterday. I have a huge backlog. Like many others here, I'm struggling with staying on one project for very long before jumping to the next thing. The fact that I like scratch building makes it worse -- I don't just have a pile of unpainted plastic, but I have ideas for making new things that don't even exist yet! For instance, I've got some ideas for a custom Battlewagon, and some Buggies, and then there's the Stormboyz I want to convert, and...

So for right now, I'm trying to focus on getting this squad of Gretchin built, and then painted. I am not going to start painting anything else until they are done. Probably.

We're kindred spirits!

That is exactly how I feel most of the time (and our to-do lists are almost the same). Keep working, keep posting, use the community and we'll get each other through it. WAAAGH!!!

 mars2024 wrote:
We're kindred spirits!

That is exactly how I feel most of the time (and our to-do lists are almost the same). Keep working, keep posting, use the community and we'll get each other through it. WAAAGH!!!

Mars! Your stuff is awesome. Thanks for your encouragement.

Moar Grots!

Finished assembling the stikkbomb grot:


Over the last week I found some time to work on the rest of the unit. See what you think:

I really like how this second batch came out. Lots of character here.

Group shot:

"Action" shot:


I'm glad to be done assembling these guys. I have been itching to paint them. Now we're ready to prime!

The wee ladz are primed, and I started painting the first two. Results so far:


Easterling helmet Grot # 1:




Easterling helmet Grot # 2:




I wanted to convey the sense that these Gretchin had looted the Easterling helmets and hastily painted them blue, so I added some gold highlights to the edges. I'm on the fence with the results; I can't decide if I like it, or if the effect is too much. I don't want to spend a ton more time on these guys. Once I have all of them painted I'm going to base them, in case you were wondering.

Well anyway, here's the rest of the lot, all primed and ready to go:


Oh yeah, and while I was at my painting station waiting for paint to dry on the Grots, I started working on a Burna Boy. Skin is done so far, and that's one of the more important things with Orks. Take a look:


Back to work.

Really nice - I love the skin effect you have.

 Slinky wrote:
Really nice - I love the skin effect you have.

Thanks!

You are bonkers!

Which is perfect. Great stuff here, nice variety, your skin tones are excellent, and some good off the wall thinking.

Subbed, colour me interested.

Very good work! The Grot heads really came out well.

Camkierhi wrote:You are bonkers!

Which is perfect. Great stuff here, nice variety, your skin tones are excellent, and some good off the wall thinking.

Subbed, colour me interested.

What can I say? Orks are a lot of fun! And thanks.

Lazzamore wrote:Very good work! The Grot heads really came out well.

Thanks!

Easterling Grot update:

Skin is done:


And here's a shot of them cleaned up, ready for detail work:


I'm hoping to have these finished up this week. Slow progress, but hey that's life.


Side project update:

A few months ago I won acquired a lot of 2nd ed Ork Boyz and Gretchin. Fantastic deal. Some of them came painted, some were bare plastic. I recently dug them out and tossed them into a LATA bath. I let them soak for several days (ok, I forgot about them under the sink), and then pulled them out and gave each one a quick scrub with an old toothbrush.

Before:


After:


As you can see, 95% of the paint is gone. I've read that using a stiffer bristle tooth brush can help get the paint out of those recesses. I might spend a few minutes picking out the remaining paint, but I'm not going to sweat it. Not sure when I'll get to these guys, but at least now they are ready to prime.

Grot skin looking great.

I once fielded an army with 120 of those grots, brings back memories.

I finished painting the Gretchin this week. See what you think:



Not a great photo, but you get the idea. All that's left is basing and clear coat. I have a few more Easterling helmets, so I might make some more of these guys. Maybe bump up to a solid unit of 10, and shift the regular Grots over to their own unit. Eventually, not now. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but I have a lot of other projects I want to tackle, and I've already spent far too long on them. After all, they're only 3ppm troops.

In other news, I was inspired by Matthew's post on How to build a painting station out of cardboard, and decided to build my own.

Does this count as a scratch build? Or just screwing around with cardboard and glue? Probably the latter, since I wasn't making a model. I decided that I didn't like the look of bare cardboard, so I used some blue painter's tape and a few sheets of printer paper to give it a clean look. I used it several times this weekend while watching movies on the sofa. It's a modest attempt, but it gets the job done and the price was right.

They are done!
Gretchin with Looted Easterling Warrior Helmets:

Based and everything. Phew!
Here's a shot of the little guys mix in with some regular Grots with the same paint scheme and basing:


I finished a unit. Finished. And I started very few other side projects along the way. Haha...

They do need a Runtherd, but I'll proxy one in for now. Assuming I get to play anytime soon.

I have a list a mile long of projects I'd like to do next, but I think I'm going to focus on cleaning up my existing models. A lot of my minis were acquired second hand, many of them with decent paint jobs, but they lack cohesion. I think if I based them all in a similar fashion that would tie the army together nicely. I want to drill out the barrels of some of the older models too. Maybe do some work on making my Trukks look a little better, and add some proper drivers and gunners. Oh, and artillery. I need Mek Gunz. And more bikers. And a Bikerboss. And a Painboy on a Bike. And buggies. And maybe a couple Gorka/Morkanauts. And a Stompa.

They are looking brilliant bud, love the skin tone against the blue, really works. Such a great blue.

Oh and dredds and kans and buggies and boys and stormboys and .............

Those warbikes are really cool, but man that ground pounder has to be one of the funniest conversions Ive seen in awhile, so orky!

Camkierhi wrote:They are looking brilliant bud, love the skin tone against the blue, really works. Such a great blue.

Oh and dredds and kans and buggies and boys and stormboys and .............

Thanks Cam! Yeah, it's a wonderful disease, isn't it?

Rotgut wrote:Those warbikes are really cool, but man that ground pounder has to be one of the funniest conversions Ive seen in awhile, so orky!

Thank you! Perhaps I should build some more. Mork knows I have enough bitz at this point.

Ok, I've come up with my "sprint list" of projects I want to tackle next. You could call these micro-projects I guess.

I'm starting with some of the Ork Boyz I picked up when I first started the the hobby. Because they came from a variety of sellers, none of the paint matches, and most of them aren't based. So to start with, I plan to:
- Drill out barrels of 3 units of Ork Slugga Boyz (approx 33 models).
- Base 3 units of Ork Slugga Boyz.
- Update the paint on one unit of Ork Slugga Boyz to make them look like Goffs.
- Update the paint on one unit of Ork Slugga Boyz with a different color scheme (Evil Sunz?).

That's a good start.

Oh my, Orcs and Goblins from the 2nd ed box. I haven't seen those in that sort of quantity in 15+ years. Takes me back. In a good way.

If you build something from raw materials, it is scratch-building. Nice work on the painting station.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Oh my, Orcs and Goblins from the 2nd ed box. I haven't seen those in that sort of quantity in 15+ years. Takes me back. In a good way.

If you build something from raw materials, it is scratch-building. Nice work on the painting station.

Thanks Red!

Love your work, especially the monowheel bikers. If I were to offer random suggestions, I'd recommend tilting one of the monowheels over a bit to one side to make it look more dynamic and more use of inks.