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First of all, a big thanks to everyone on dakka dakka. I've been living here reading many the blogs for the last year. Its been really inspirational stuff. This blog is hopefully going to give back some of what I've taken. My Ork army started last year as ebay junk. Three big boxes of half painted, assorted, broken, models and bitz. The aim was to get better at converting/scratch building as I hadn't really done much of it before. I don't have too many wip pictures, what I have is in my gallery http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-user.jsp?u=36892 I still have a lot of work to do, however, so plan to update as I move along from here. Ok here goes some pics





Rollbars drivers and gunners have just been added. Still need to add some steering wheels.
Drivers and gunners still a major wip in terms of painting so they are not yet glued in place.

Most of the trukks have been converted up broken classic trukks. I've used some of the old driver legs with black reach bodies and hacked and slashed the arms into new positions, a bit of greenstuff required still so I shouldn't really have put any paint on yet.

Planning to do lots more mud and rust on the trukks. I have tested using some orange chalk (ground up) on the current gw model trukk. But decided I'd be better off waiting and getting some proper weathering powders. The paint-scheme that was done on the forgeworld mega grot tank is pretty much the look I'm going for.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Orks/GROT-MEGA-TANK.html

I have a plan and a little bit of wip done for making a mega-grot tank but it'll have to wait for the next update.

Thanks for the nice comments. Here's the update as promised. Ok mega grot tank skeleton is complete.


I'm using this kit as the basis for the mega-grot tank, Scale wise its the same length as an IG Basilisk, no idea what size the FW mega grot tank is so i'm going to make mine with the approximate footprint of a stock battlewagon( Then I can always use it as a stand in BW when i'm done.) The parts are a bit more delicate than a gw kit but nothing too complicated about the build (much easier than building 1:72 scale matchbox and airfix kits). First up I built the track units and sawed the base in half with a junior hacksaw. Then grabbed some bits I thought might be useful
This is the first project I've bought proper plasticard for! I've only used plastic creditcard, cardboard and random pieces of gw vehicles. I'm finding the proper stuff easier to cut, score, carve, glue etc. I stuck the two halves back together spaced out and cut some plasticard strips for the top. I decided to use the top that comes with the kit an I'll modify it as I go, to look more scrap heapish. The strips were glued to the sides notches to in the top for the top to fit on I'm basically just building a solid shape here that I can work from.


Ok, well the other thing needed was the pointy prow/plough? the grot tank has. I cut two strips from a big yogurt pot for some nice curved plastic. Its soft not brittle so should be fine. Glued it at the back with hot melt glue, plenty used so its nice and solid.
The next step was to cut some big corners of the thickest plasticard sheet in my pack. More hot melt glue and the prow now has a nice 90 degree angle (The plasticard does glue with polycement but wierd scavenged plastics often don't). I left a bit of excess on the top triangle so I measured it against the hull and cut to size. I've glue it directly onto the track guards. The armoured skirting is a page binder measured and cut to fit. Its glued to the bottom of the track guards. I built the main turret minus gun. I'll add it later.

Well, that's all the progress so far but I'm pretty happy with the basic shape. I'm considering whether the main turret needs to be farther forward. The plan from here is to make lots of armour plates, and stick junk on until it looks scrappy enough.

More progress on the grot tank. Its all happening much quicker than I thought. The proper plasticard is sooo much easier to work with than junk.
I've a bit of work to do with the top as I'm not 100% happy with it yet. The bastion gun ports are supposed to be like side sponsons but I'm not really sure about them, I might rip them off. Well, they might be ok after further grotification.
The next step will be to add more scrap to the plough and the main turret.

I've done absolutely nothing to the back yet. It needs lots of exhausts to be like the forgeworld model. I've none in my bits box and I'm not confident about scratch building them so I might just go to a bits seller. I'm going to do the guns after I'm done with the rest. I'm thinking 2x TL rokkits, 2x grotzookas and 1x scorcha is a fairly mean payload.

Thanks Boys "R" Us. I haven't had much luck on ebay or in bits sellers looking for exhausts, but I've given myself a blister drilling holes in assorted plastic tubes.

In the meantime I've made some progress on painting my big mek. I just recently finished sticking bits on him (previously he'd been sitting in disgust in the bottom of a box for about 5 months). I'm hoping to get him finished soonish and have him as my first fully painted model. (edited to replace pics)

As you can see I decided to go a bit psychedelic and have the KFF purple. I painted Vmc salmon rose as a basecoat then some VMC violet red (almost identical to warlock purple) followed by liche purple squiggles coming from the bottom. Pink squiggles from the top, followed by white squiggles (I'm adding about half of water and glaze medium to the paint now). Mixed up a dark angels green glaze for the darker part and did more squiggling. Went back to the violet red and mixed that up as a glaze. More squiggling, I applied it over most of the pink while keeping most of the white highlights clean a little went to the edges of the dark areas to blend a little.
The skin needs a bit of work still as I want to deepen the shadows a bit more and probably strengthen the highlights too. The side effect to having the purple has made the blue look more powder/baby blue, than I'd like, but I think it will be ok after its dirtied up a bit.

Some pics before painting


I think he needs a fuel canister for his burna, so I'll have to stick one on.

Quick update: got a bit more painting done on the KFF mek. I need to touch up some details, and I think another highlight on the skin. But he's nearly done! He'll be the first model I've painted to completion in a while.

There's a couple more shots in the gallery. These latest pics should be a bit better because I finally got the macro setting to work on my camera. The other pics were just cropped in Paintshop pro.

Thanks for the compliments, everyone. Hy hubby suggested I use the purple ( He drilled and magnetised 16 terminator arms while I painted it.)The purple has been a bit of a journey. I used to do it with layering and blending working from dark to light and it always ended up looking washed out instead of bright.

Here's some of the lootas in case anyone is wondering about the deathskulls part. I'm hoping to finish them off with some wires etc and then start painting them soon. (I did them about 2 or 3 months ago they've been in the gallery but these are better pics cos you can actually see what was chopped up.)



I probably won't have another update until at least the weekend as my two little boys (21mths and 3.5yrs) have caught a chesty cold, so I'll be a bit busy with them, (and probably not sleeping much).

Ok this is a little update, unfortunately the chesty colds are turning into chest infections so I'll probably not be posting a whole lot over the next week. I've done nothing on the mega grot tank. I finished of an Arwen model I had kicking around 'cos my mum complained that I wasn't painting anything pretty (no surprise after looking at that big meks ugly mug). I've done the Mek's base, probably a bit too much junk stuck on. I ground up some of my chalk pastels for the rust, applied it with a soft brush and have sprayed it with the W&N artist fixative for chalks.

You can see his feet there so he's pinned on already, despite the fact that I'm still planning to put a bit more paint on him (I've entered him in the leaders competition so really will have to finish). My pics today came out clearer so I got to see just how much more work he needs to be finished finished instead of "ah he'll do finished". I did a little bit more work on the truck drivers and threw a wash on them.

The chopped off feet are so the guy can actually fit in the not so spacious cab, can't be seen when he's in place.

@ Boyz 'R' Us I don't deserve as much kudos as you think, I actually bought two boxes of the new lootas, and built them first, and shock they got some paint on them too.
But yeah couldn't bear to have more lootas all the same had to convert more. The spare bits from the box did get stuck on some ebay boyz so I got the two mekboys and the eight burnas too.

Thanks for the kind remarks. The black reach warboss to Big Mek with KFF conversion is finished!

More pics in the gallery. Hopefully I manage to paint some of the other models in this army to completion too. I've done some work on the grot tank too. I got a dreadnought exhaust and combined it with the straws I gave myself blisters on drilling holes.

I also changed the side sponsons to look a bit more boxy.
I have some mult-ipart Night goblins I'm thinking of converting up for grot crew. Not sure if this would be ok. I'm actually planning on getting sometime in the future the forgeworld grots as £2 a model seems a pretty reasonable price. I'm a bit worried about how fragile the resin might be though. I thinks its a bit brittle?

I got two evenings to paint since my last update so I have a few pics.
Well my hubby got me a forgeworld runt-bot and grot controller off ebay for valentines day. Having read a lot about how much work the resin is etc I was a bit apprehensive, but I reckon it was less work than a metal model, to clean, glue, etc. I have just been doing the basic colour so not a whole lot of exciting just yet, but here's a pic showing it to scale with a meganob and Ghazghkull. I was thinking of using him as a stand in meganob... hmm... I guess not as its more of a kan size.

and the back

For anyone who's interested the metal is black, then tinbitz+black mix, then boltgun with a bit of the mix, washed with black+brown. I layer it on with a quarter inch flat-head brush, alternating between the flat of the brush(to pick out raised detail) and the edge (for streaks on flat areas) Its really a time saving device for me as I get a pretty good effect without spending hours on it. I'll touch up the metal areas with some finer highlight once I'm done with the rest. Lots and lots of detail in this model to pick out.

I had to dig my meganobs out and start putting some more paint on them. The metal and blue I had done before, so checks and dags and flames, well I got it done on two of them. Need to touch up a few checks with the blue paint. One guy got a bit of a rust bath as a test when I was painting my big mek and I think I'll have to tone it down a bit. I'm going to do the same wash as I did on ghazzy and the runtbot to tone down the shine and then just apply the rusty wash to specific areas. (These guys were originally covered with 2mm thick gold paint when they came into my hands, They had several dettol baths). Lots of cableing etc I'm going to have to learn how to do those black and yellow striped wire that look so good. These guys are my testing ground for the runtbot.


Last thing is the Mek junka truck I built a while back. I'd been holding off on painting it as I'd decided I didn't want it the same blue as everything else. Well, I got a bunch of half price foundation paints from the local art and hobby store. The acclaimed- if you want to paint yellow use this colour- iyanden darksun amongst them. So the truck is now yellow and possibly starting to look like the toy tractor it was built from again. I'll really have to tone it down with rust and mud. I was thinking of painting some crazy blue flames but perhaps it would be a bit bright. Any ideas?

I am going to go do some more work on these models now so I have more to show than basecoats!

Small update, haven't done very much as I've been busy watching the elections here with bated breath. I've been waiting for this to happen since I first had the vote, so goodbye and good riddance to FF.
I've done some blue flames on the junka truck, I'm unsure about putting them on the side armour plates over the back wheels or not- any opinions?. I'm thinking I'll highlight them up too.

@arakasi: reply in your blog.
@a small waagh: the grot tank rules are available to download from the forgeworld website. So I'll probably be able to use them in a game or two but otherwise I will use it as a stand in battlewagon It has a similar enough length and height. The people here are not usually too fussy, and no local GW stores.
Junka truck just gets used a BW too, it has rules in Imperial armour 8 but I have yet to purchase the book.

Thanks for all the nice words. I haven't got any more pics just yet. I have been going cross-eyed painting checks and still have more to do!
I could try for a group shot if the weather is good on the weekend 'cos my husband can mind my boys. My lighting set-up is a bit limited (overhead halogen and two desk lamps) so I need daylight which means someone has to keep hold of the kids while I unpack all the models. My almost two year old likes to pick up orks and "walk" them along (that is bash them up and down) shouting monkey monkey monkey! So that is to be avoided if possible.

Hello All. Big update gap as due to family reasons I have just not had a whole heap of free time in the last few weeks. Hopefully more to come soon. I have added some rokkits to the mega grot tank. Here it is in the sunshine!


You can see a few little grots there in the pic too. I'm actually swarming with the little guys as I managed to get a bunch of the gorkamorka ones of ebay and then my hubby got me the forgeworld grots and grot tanks too. The meganobs got some wires painted before the hobby hiatus but I reckon I've run out of steam for finishing them at the moment and there's little grot tank tanks calling for paint. I'll get back to them again at some stage. Anyway hopefully I'll have more pics (of something soon).

Here's an army shot, its not the best photo as it was taken at night so a bit grainy and washed out. It shows my current army list for 1750 points.


@shank I take that as a great compliment as those guys have been my inspiration and I doubt I'd have got any of this done without their blogs.

@ Wib just read the above

Wow thanks guys.
I have a lot of lego lying around so I do find it pretty handy, I keep boxes of junk and rubbish too so it all goes in.
I've got some pics of the painting progress on ghazzy and the runtbot. I still have quite a bit more work to do to bring them up to the same standard as the big mek.



I managed to get a big group shot of the paint in progress models. The kff mek is actually the only model 100% finished. Nothing much is based yet, because I've been waiting to to them in a batch when the painting's done.

Ok, the great empty lot of bases and unpainted kans in those group shots made me feel bad. So I got onto doing up some bases. Junk glued on. I like waterproof wood glue for sand and UHU all purpose glue or hot melt glue gun for the bigger bits.


I've kept the paint pretty simple for the sake of time.


I've also based the deff dread and killa kans too and slapped a bit of blue paint on them. The metal kans and Deffdread were part of the e-bay rescue lot. I cleaned them and built them over a year ago so they've been waiting a while for the paint, mostly 'cos they weren't in my original army list. Don't anyone mention the scorchas please, I have to replace them with rokkits and grotzookas... just as soon as I build some.




The lovely sunshine (in april! in Ireland!) you see in those piccies kept me outside so I did more sowing seeds and running after toddlers trying to EAT the entire outdoors than painting but looks like rain now for the next while so more might get done.
The meganobs have the bases done too but since they haven't got any more paint otherwise I didn't take another pic.

@bigfish You've made some good use of the ol' lego yourself.
@checkerthinker I do a metallic basecoat (black then tinbitz, then boltgun+tinbitz) The blue is vallejo model colour pastel blue thinned down and painted from the center of the panel outward leaving the metallic edge and letting the basecoat show through slightly. Its very quick. I usually apply a partial second coat around central areas where I want the paint to look more solid. The cream colour is vallejo model colour dark sand, its like GW bleached bone but a touch more opaque and darker. I'm planning on having it dirtier still with rust and mud at some stage when I get to it.

Ok I'm probably guilty of thread necromancy with this update, I believe its acceptable with your own blog however so on with it! I've had a lot going on in my personal life so haven't been posting. I've converted and painted some old fantasy boyz to slugga boys. Well I stuck sluggas on instead of some choppas anyway, they probably need some shoulderpads etc to 40k them a bit more. The photos are working out better with the addition of a tripod (my hubby bought it from lidl!) The bases are all done across most of the rest of the army now too.

The other thing I did was finally get around to putting some paint on those grot tanks I've just given them the same paintjob as everyting else. I have the little grot to paint still and there's wire's and other bits and bobs to pick out. I was thinking of using the same purple as the big meks forcefield on the kustom mega blaster. Any thoughts?

and back

What looks like white checkers in the photos is actually much more cream coloured in reality. These were actually very fast to do this time. Instead of painting a grid the way I usually do I cut a square of blister sponge and used the paint straight from the tube so it was a bit thicker and sponged on the squares, I went over them with some thinned paint to fill them in. I have deliberately kept them a bit messy and irregular.
I tried out some weathering powder on the side of one tank. Its the forgeworld aged rust followed my own bright orange(ground up chalk pastel). I didn't notice a lot of difference in the two materials so I'd probably just grind up more of my poor chalk pastels in future if I'm looking for more colours (I have several packs left over from an art course I did). I've fixed the powder with fixative for chalks and pastels. It slightly dulls the powder but Its handy (and really stops the stuff falling off, and stops paint chipping too) cos I have it and don't have to order anything in from online. Here's a comparison shot of the weathered vs non weathered tanks. Its pretty subtle but I figured it was easier to overdo than underdo the weathering so was compensating.

Let me know what you think. Also thinking they probably need some glyphs etc

Thanks for all the comments guys. @killamop I'll try and write up a tutorial for you, time allowing. However, you might not need it as schank23 has a very nice basing tutorial here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/376811.page#2996693

Just to let ye know I'm still here chipping away at the orks, I finshed building the Mega Grot Tank. Just a rusted metal look for now, blue paint to follow when I take more pics. I have a whole crew of little grots to populate it soon, I'm working on their paint.


and a pic before paint

The rivits are tiny glitter sequins! They can be picked up with tip of a cocktail stick and they glue with polycement so it was just dot dot all round the panels.

Thanks guys. It only took me 8 months to finish it! Although actual hours spent building pretty small.

Ok I have some colour on this thing now and pics too, its pretty much the same paint job as everything else.



A few more views in the gallery if anyone's interested.
Some of the plastic grots on the bases I did a while back

Well I've been working on them slowly off and on Schank, even slower taking pics and uploading them. I did some more paint on my boring old stock model battlewagon a while back. It was looking very dull next to everything else.

before:


after:


Ok so still a lot to do to. I mean that gunner hasn't even got the obligatory brown wash yet! The camera does a good job of showing off those mold-lines too. The killkannon/supakannon is sitting unused in the back of a drawer so didn't get any extra paint or make it into pic 2.

I've been working on more grots too, some forgeworld ones mixed along with old metal ones. No convershuns here either. The plan is to stick these guys all over the Mega Grot-tank and probably add some as grot riggers to the other vehicle too. The painting is actually a bit further on than this but have to take piccy.


Finally I have a couple of the kustum lootas with a lick of paint on them now too. The modelling side probably coulda used a little more attention first but I hate to have plastic starting at me.


There is a few more angles on the wagon and lootas in the gallery too.

Update on the grots red and black parts done. I tried out something new for the black. I basecoated with shadow grey and then worked it back to black with two black glazes then a little extra highlight with a paler grey mix. I might add a bit extra shadow to the red but I'm going to do some more work on the skin and other areas first. Pics are adjusted to correct the red so the grots are a little less green than in real life.


and a bit closer

Pics are bigger in the gallery if anyone wants to click through
Also if anyone has a way to stop those corks from falling over when I tap my painting tray that would be greatly appreciated. They are helping me to stop dropping models on the floor though.

Thanks for all the comments guys.
Well with the Mega Grot Tank done apart from crew and weathering I've started a New Project so expect to see it finished by summertime maybe (If I'm quick) My imagination is limited so another forgeworld inspired job, The Killbursta. Original can be seen here.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Orks/ORK-KIL-BURSTA-TANK.html

And here's the wip so far with rhino for scale, I think mine is a little shorter height and length. I was guessing measurements. I'm going to coin a term here and call this a junk-build rather than scratch-build. I think scratch-build implies working to a plan and using proper things like plasticard, while I've just grabbed cardboard, household rubbish and broken eurostore toys and lots of gluesticks.





So quite a lot still to do although the top is well on the way. Lots more engine to add and the side armour and the plow.
I have aquired most of the bits from the truck sprue and a old Leman russ I've dismantled for parts so I'll probably be able to get on with the stompa and trukkstop at some stage. And of course I have been collecting more rubbish too.

I'll just pretend its getting into the spirit of things and trying to be a propa Loota.

Thanks for the encouragement folks. However, it could be a while before you see more work on the killbursta since I got a lot of non-orky stuff going on at the moment. Grots are slowly tipping away they have some shading on the pants now.