Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Got the inspiration from this Miniwargaming video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cUI_SdhQvk) to try making an Ork watchtower. Very much WIP at the moment:

- I need to add more details, make it more Orkish (any suggestions welcome here)
- Have to tidy up the excessive amounts of hot glue. My first time using hot glue, I tried to apply plenty of it in order to make the tower strong enough to withstand the punishment from my two little kids.
- Need to fill the cardboard holes with filler, and paint the whole thing of course. Will probably write "Waaagh!" or some other Orkish slogan on the plain cardboard slate.

So far took just over an hour to do, including planning, Material costs were very low: wood was scavenged from the back garden, the wooden floor is from a kids's puzzle box, a few matches for the ladders, and "corrugated steel" from a box of After Eight chocolates. :-)
Hot glue gun + 27 sticks of glue was 10 euros from EBay, including delivery.

I'm planning to paint the corrugated steel rusty looking, so any suggestions as to what paints to use to achieve this would be most welcome. Something like GW Leadbelcher for base coat to start with perhaps?

WIP Ork Nob included for scale. I took the photos late last night with my phone, so please forgive me for the poor quality. Will take better ones when there is more progress to show.

I like it so far. Properly crude in the spirit of the Orks.

Suggestion: Add more "metal" to sort of uparmor it. Take some more of those cardboard pieces, cut them into shapes that can no way fit together and then "bolt" them to the sides.

Lord Arturius wrote:
I like it so far. Properly crude in the spirit of the Orks.

Suggestion: Add more "metal" to sort of uparmor it. Take some more of those cardboard pieces, cut them into shapes that can no way fit together and then "bolt" them to the sides.

Thanks, I'll try that. What would be the best way to make "bolts"? Green stuff? Or maybe cut slices of a long cylindrical shape. Hmmm, if I had like a hexagonal piece of plastic, could just cut slices of that which would look like heads of bolts.

Slicing off bits of styrene rod (round for rivets, hex for nuts/bolts) is probably the most common method and works just fine. If you can find a distributor of Evergreen or Plastruct (plenty online, if there's no hobby shop nearby), they sell packs of the various rods along with their styrene sheets. If you're shopping, snagging some plasticard wouldn't be a bad idea - it's great for scratchbuilds and conversions of all kinds, but orks especially get good mileage out of it.

As for the tower, itself, I think the basic form is good. Biggest things to work on are, as you already know, cleanup of the excessive hot glue and detailing. A few small patch plates over the corrugated walls would be a nice and simple addition. Spikes, chains, and smaller wooden braces (placed at awkward angles, of course) can help fill in some of that empty space, as well, without actually enclosing the bottom.

One other potential idea that would help with both glue and detailing would be to have the joints of the framework lashed together. After trimming the bulk of the hot glue away (easy to slice through it with a sharp knife), dip some thin string (like butcher's twine) in watered down PVA glue and wrap it around the logs. When dry, it should be plenty durable and cover up any leftover glue. The PVA soak also keeps the twine from absorbing further moisture, so it takes paint just fine.

When it comes to rivets and bolts I cannot recommend these guys enough;

https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_nbw--rivets/Default.aspx

Thanks for all the suggestions, I have tried to implement as many of them as I could, namely more armour plates, with rivets (more rivets still to be added), and using rope to tie around the log joins. I also added a couple of wooden stakes, made from sprues, and an all-important barrel of draught ale. Also I tidied up a small bit of the excess hot glue, although not much, since every time I tried to remove it, it seemed like the joins were starting to come apart. Also filled the cardboard holes at the top of the structure with filler.
After gluing on the head on the spike, I realized it looks all wrong, since it's meant to be hung from its hair. I have to find another head to use instead.

After adding all those things I'm not sure if it is looking better, or indeed worse than before. :-) I might try adding a few small patch plates of corrugated steel over the existing one like oadie suggested.

Loving the watch tower! Maybe add some smaller spikes? or some ork glyphs on the sides/inside?