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Hey Hep Cats and Jive Turkeys!
My local peoples have an Ork Apoc game coming up and I struck out to build an Ork Blasta Bommer. They run 410 points, have a buncha guns and can carry a slew of jump troops. The thing that caught my attention most was the Deff Arsenal: 120" Str 9 ap 3 3D6 heavy with d3 suppa rokkts (Hunter Killer missiles that kit on a 2+). No game changer, but should be a lot of fun!

Went about to find some inspiration. There are a couple projects out there that caught my eye, but those that I liked either under or over engineered the crap out of the bommers. In the original design from the Forgeworld sculpt:

In the past I would sketch out an idea and go from there, but with these images I would just go from there. I wasn't thinking "blog" when I started, so you don't get the boring shots of me with scissors cutting the first templates. The wingspan should be about 24", the length of the cargo bay plus Deff Arsenal will be about 11", height at about 9" and I have no idea yet what the nose to tail length will be.
Most of the project will be made out of plasticard, some GW bits, an aluminum rod or two, maybe some guitar strings and perhaps some PVC pipe. I wish I had started an inventory of plasticard used to get an over all cost for the plane but I am guessing it will run $40-$50.

This is the top and bottom laid upon each other:


Now the cockpit W.I.P., driver is a Black reach Deff Kopta pilot and some dude with a head form the Ork plane kit:

This was my first piece of excitement. It is a brace that will hold an aluminum wing support. The part I liked about it was that it had rivets and gouges taken out of it.


Door to the reloading room with an Ork for size comparison:


Door finished out with a large glyph (YAY!!! Rivets!):


Some decorative teeth on the side of the Deff Arsenal room:


December 15th is the deadline, so there should be some almight fire under this butt to get it done in time for the game!


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4 hours worth of rivets! The cargo/transport bay is looking proper. I doubt this thing will be entirely finished by the 15th, but my goal is to have the corpus finished and the interior detailed. Before last night I thought that that was an entirely doable deal, but now I am starting to feel reality kick in. Still think it is doable, but just not as much of a slam-dunk as before. The 900 pound ogre is the interior, this is the one chance I have to get it lined out and detailed the way I want. I have found that exterior good looks are important but it really blows people's minds when the interior has something significant to look at as well. I am not sure why that is exactly, perhaps because the interiors are often neglected and so it is a surprise, maybe they feel that looking into the gooey center of a model they are getting to view a little secret that nobody at that moment get's to look at, or what ever. What ever it is it is important and drags time along, plus the pain of being hunched over my desk staring at tiny slivers of plastic rod as I try to cut just enough and not lose the wayward chunks.
Here is what the driver's side exterior looks like today:


And this is what the interior looks like:


My son says it looks like a bus. Kind of thinking about making the wings and tail modular so I can make it into an Ork Fortress. Hmmmm, we'll see.


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Built one of the gunner platforms and fairly happy with it. Considering we have just over a week left and there is still a lot of work to be done I made the platform wide enough so I can stick a based ork with a Big shoota on the platform, this way I can save time constructing the corpus of the flyer in case I run short.


Here is the platform in context:


Finished getting the ribs in place for the tail. The foot print dimensions so far are 24" by 16" which doesn't seem like much until you hold it. This is going to be a big bastard!


Next up will be to rough in the skeleton of the tail fins. Still trying to figure out if I want to attach the wings to the upper or lower half initially. It would be easier to attach it to the lower since the aluminum support and majority of the wing resides there. If I try to attach it to the top initially the wing will not be supported very well while not attached to the lower half. The advantage to attaching it to the upper half is that I can use the aluminum rod as a way to lock the two halves together until the interior is painted, which I doubt I will have done by the 15th. Considering the way I want to mount this guy is to drill a big hole in the bottom and have a wooden dowel poke up through the body and rest on the underside of the hop half, this might be the way to go. Though now thinking about that I might be able to place a plate at the top of the cargo bay that can be pinned into place and removable for painting purposes. Hmmm, so much to consider.

Looking good so far. I'm not sure how you'll make the front curved corners which need to bend in two directions

Good to see you're already thinking about a flying stand - I've seen some people forget about that until the rest of the model's complete, with sad results :( But remember the mounting rod could jut into the interior you're hoping to show. Then again, you can cheat a lot with th interior - keep it dark and just suggest what's happening inside.

No weapon turrets? I was thinking the front would look very cool with a turret instead of fixed weapons.

Awesome work so far.. now go make more stuff so that we can look at it

if you're looking to make it on a flying stand there's a bit on a valkyrie you might be interested in. I'm using two on my bomma to have it use the actual flying stands. I'll see if I can get a picture after class.

EDIT: here's a pic:

it's the thing on the back. I've been looking around for it on bitz sites, but I haven't had much luck, but then again I haven't looked very far.

Thanks guys!

Yeah, I remember that bit form the Valkyrie but do not want to buy the whole kit for it. Do you know of a place that sells just that bit? And I really like that you are putting two of them on there. My Blasta Bomma is not that heavy, just large and awkward, so I think you have the right idea.

 MachineSlave wrote:
Thanks guys!

Yeah, I remember that bit form the Valkyrie but do not want to buy the whole kit for it. Do you know of a place that sells just that bit? And I really like that you are putting two of them on there. My Blasta Bomma is not that heavy, just large and awkward, so I think you have the right idea.

mine isn't that heavy either, yours is actually probably heavier. and I'm still looking for someone selling just that bit. I need to take another look sometime tonight. I'll get back to you.

Considering how many scratch built Ork Dakka jets are out there as well as a lot of pre-flier base fliers are laying around (I have 2) that you would think somebody would make some bits to convert your vehicles to take the new stands. I know I would buy half a dozen of them right here and now, assuming they were a reasonable price. But yeah, if you find some, awesome!

You could always make your own (provided you can access one, or at least the stand, to get the measurements right), but it will be a bit of work. Get some thick plastic (or glue a few layers of styrene sheet together), mark your cross shape, and grab a drill bit or punch of suitable diameter, a flat needle file, and possibly a craft knife. Drill through your four end points, then continue following the lines inward with closely spaced (if hand drilling) or overlapping (if punching or using a drill press) holes. Knock out any pieces that still bridge the gap with the craft knife to give your file access, then file down the projecting points, leaving the sides flat and the ends round, like the stock part.

Not the most practical solution for mass production, but it really isn't that much work for the odd piece. I've used the same technique for making both slot- and cross-shaped breaths in greathelm face plates. If doing those didn't drive me nuts in 16g steel, plastic shouldn't be too bad.

And hey, if you make a few masters (one Imperial, one Orky, etc.) and dress them up a bit, you could always cast them in resin and become that guy who makes the bits to convert vehicles to take the new flier stand.

Like Jello Biafra always says: "don't hate the media, become the media." Good idea, Oadle!!!


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Here is an update:

Roughed the tail in. What a pain in the booty hole! I tried using an RX bottle and hard ahard tiem trying to get anything to glue to it. Roughed it up and it still didn't take to glue. Instead I went and wrapped the whole thing in .13mm thick plastic card and then glued stuff to it. Ran some dowels through it as well to pin the upper and lower portions. Still have a lot of work to do to it, like create a shroud for the intake and cover up that ugly screw.


Tried gluing some sheet to the side of the top. Kinda ugly now but I think with some details it will turn out.


Now, here is where I am really seeking some input, the engines. Granted the whirly things are not on them but do you think they are big enough? I am planning on putting a cover over part of them and run some tubes into the hull.


What do you think?

I think they might be a bit small, personally, if it's just two of them per wing. Perfect for secondary/tertiary engines, though, if you went in the direction of the FW model, with one honkin' big'un per wing and smaller ones clustered around them. With a fuselage that chunky, I, at least, expect similarly chunky engines to match.

The more I look at it, actually, the more I think it's the clustering of the engines on the FW model, rather than the size of the main ones that makes it work. Slinging a big one under your topside pair would lend a similar balance, I'd wager, filling the void created by the low "belly" and relatively high-set wings.

This is really some impressive work. I always get worried about these projects because the exterior can look great but the little details just usually aren't all there...remember that it's the little things like the rivets!

With the validation of my fears, which was that the Valkyrie engines were too weedy, I scrapped around my bits boxes I found a length of PVC pipe, cut it in half, put a large slit down the middle the width of the wing's thickness and built a fan for the front.


Not sure what to do with the rear, probably make some plastic tube thing with little flares on it to shove in there. For some reason my inner middle schooler has come up with a lot of crude jokes that he wants to enter into this post that I will refrain from spouting.
Might still stick some of those Valkyrie boosters on here as well, but we'll see. I was just stoked that building the fan thingy was not as big of a pain in the ass as I thought it would be! Not only was it easy carving up the little fan blades but the glue stuck quite nicely to the PVC, which I was afraid would not be the case after my debacle with the RX tube. With only 3.5 days left I am starting to feel the crunch. Ugh!

This is going to be AWESOME!!

I love where you're going with this.

Check out this Blasta Bommer

I need to be around when this thing is done so I'll be checking on this one. looking good so far

Definitely use the Valk engines - they're good parts. They just needed a little (well, big, in this case) help.

Thanks guys! Yeah Steelmage, I stole a few ideas from that guy's work. Love the Deff Arsonal he put together with the tiers of rokkits. And those turbines he put together? Very creative! I think I saw he put a hair curler on the end of a couple of them. Good stuff.

You used to be able to buy old GIJOE toys for cheap. The A10 Warthog the Cobra guys used to fly (I think it was called the RAttler) had perfect sized wings with engines attached.

Yeah, I remember those! So many of my conversions as a kid were rife with GI Joe bits. Yup, thems were the days!

For an update, with the game coming up tomorrow I went and made sure it had all of the weapons that it needs to be WYSIWYG, made a twin-linked shoota for the back.Thought about all kinds of variants on a turret but in the end liked the idea of a guy hanging back there and it kept in the theme of the side gunners.



At some point it will be detailed out and I will stick a roof over him, kind of like a personal bunker.

Now the wings are temporarily fitted. I think these guys are going to be permanent by game time, probably resting on their aluminum support rod and held in place with some blue tack. Despite the fact that the model is the size of a 1967 Leland Mini it weighs less than my Storm Ravens, so I am not worried about it falling apart from weight.



Now my least favorite part: the stand. Started working on it last night and my drill bits started to tear the plasticard. Ugh!


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Eyes are turning red, body is collapsing, army lists are ready and this thing will sail. It won't be anywhere near done but I can live with it. At least it is WYSIWYG.

For the support I borrowed one I made for a Forgeworld flyer a million years ago. It was over engineered but it works! Drilled upa bit into the floor and made a dummy rokkit crate to hide the supports.



Next is a line up for the B-List Big Shoota boys. Some day they will be replaced with the real thing, but they fit and make me legal.



Hate to say it but this guy is going to be put up for a while until I finish some non-Warhammer projects. Grrr! Stupid non-Warhammer projects! But I'll try to get some more work done on it before Christmas. Deal?

Good night, y'all!