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Hey guys. I want to start this off with an apology - up till now I haven't been keeping a W.I.P. blog on these forums about this project because I was a little embarassed about how my last one, the warboss on warbike, went. I've put that aside for the time being, though, and started making something entirely different that I think you might enjoy.

I have a bunch of pictures in the stages of W.I.P. that I am about to present that will culminate in where I am at presently.

To begin with, some of you may recognize this sketch:



This is art by Mark Gibbons, a fellow who works for GW and does illustrations for their books. There's been a lot of rumors and whispers going around on Warseer that GW might actually make a small stompa gargant for release - so I decided I'd beat them to it! The gargant is very much based in scale from that picture - I am working on this project by inflating that picture to 200% times it's original size and starting from there. My final product will be about 7-8 inches tall. If your monitor is calibrated correctly (running at it's native resolution) then this picture should be to scale:

http://www.fusedcreations.com/adam/largegargantsketch.jpg

Just linked for size, since it'd probably break the forums.

Edit/Update, June 16, 2008: The model's now completely painted and finished. You can see the final work at this thread here - the rest of this thread is just the W.I.P. that got there.

Anyway. Having set myself to this new task, I began by building the best defined part on the beast - an arm.





With the arm done, I decided I'd move to the feet next, as they were also well-defined. Due to the dificulty of making the curves portrayed in the picture, I came up with an interesting method of making them - I framed it out with plasticard, and used a modeling putty to create the smooth curves. Then, I created a rubber mold and poured myself a resin duplicate, saving myself a lot of time and energy!

With that done I then proceeded to build upwards from those feet until I reached a point where the legs would no longer be visible inside the torso and underneath the skirting.

The next step, since I wanted to start getting everything consolidated into one piece, was to build the 'hips' and upwards into the torso.

Then I attached the torso and began work on the engine, which is where I'm at currently in the building process. The arm is attachable through magnets at the moment, and the overall function of the engine should be fairly apparent - to power the legs and drive the shoulders. There are still some details I need to fill in here and there, though, like a huge exhaust. Anyway, the point of the chains on the wheels is to make the shoulder joint mobile - when the arm needs to be raised, the wheel on that side of the body gets cranked down and the chains torque the wheel that they are wrapped around at the top.

I'm trying to be faithful to the sketch while still incorporating some of my own ideas, such as the pulley wires that control the arm's operation and the way the engine is designed. I do think I'll signifigantly be redesigning the head, though, as I'm not too fond of it.

Some of you may be wondering what I am doing with the front of the torso.. Allow me to explain:



I am sticking a crew of probably 3-4 grots in underneath the head as the main control center! They'll be working levers and wheels and such and controlling the gargant's motion and guns.

The cylindrical nature of the torso will be remedied (or at least broken up a bit) fairly soon when I take very thick plasticard and smack it on the outside as armor plating, and the legs should be better concealed when I add the armored skirt.

Lastly, I'm also thinking I am going to light this model, as I tend to do with a lot of my other models. Two lit eyes and a lit cockpit sounds reasonably good for this project - I'm just waiting to see where I'm going to fit a 9v in.

Sorry for not including you all in this process earlier, I was just a little embarassed by how my last project went. However, I'm confident in this one and I hope you guys'll enjoy seeing it come together.

WOW! Great job. Thats really cool.

That ork in the picture of the feet is also cool lookin.

Wow, that's some inspiration work (and it's not even half done yet).  Your attention to the smallest detail is amazing, keep up the good work.

That, my friend, is excellent work - great stuff!

That's incredible.  It really is an impressive replication of some very inspiring concept art.  Outstanding...

 

RZ

You are a *fudge*ing genius !

The players of Adepticon Team Bloid bow to your genius and wish to thank for you for the motivation

::Thankful this guy isn't going to Adepticon::

I hate you! You make my Ork stuff look pathetic. My Mekboy is just going to have to build another Stompa Gargant to DESTROY yours!

(Keep up the good work! LOL)

This is VERY impressive. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment. Puts my own mini-stompa to shame.

Now, a word of caution - PLEASE DO NOT add the grots as you've noted. Grots would never be given the chance to control something so killy. The mek would be inside the head, ordering grots around to make sure things are working. This is the only non-orky thing going on with this project, and is excellent in every other way than this.

The mek that designed and built this would be too proud to let anyone else pilot the stompa. I could see a hint of the mek's face visible behind one of the eyes, but other than grots running around at the meks command, don't have the grots controlling anything! It wouldn't feel right.

I see the need for grots, but please, no control levers for them.

would you please stop creating things that are just so unbelivable AWSOME!
it's absolutly fantastic, I can't stand it. my Gargbot looks very dumb compared to THIS.

and don't let Grotz pilot it

That's so cool I just wet my pants and the pants of everyone around me! That's rad to the max, no fakin'. I mean, man that's some good stuf there. Awesome work on a VERY orky looking device. Hopefully, a new ork dex will bring this option into popularity. Until then though, you've got an awesome and unique model that would make any ork player jealous. I'm always so impressed with how much talent is on these boards!

[edit] and I like the idea of grot piloting it.  The gatekeeper and the tunnel cleaner machines from Labrynth are usually how I picture most orky things.  Full of tight places and crammed with levers and pulleys that only a tiny creature like a grot could operate.

A few things:

I don't mean to dissapoint, but I do intend to have grots piloting for a few reasons.

1) It makes an interesting focal point, as grots instantly bestow character to something. I'm picturing four grots sharing the space, with one to each arm and one controlling the legs in the middle with the last one harassing him - he'll have a lever in each hand, and a grot behind him with his hands over the driver's eyes as he tries to shove him out of the way and get at the controls.

2) I plan on having a fun rule that I want to use with the gargant - due to the grots piloting, at the beginning of every turn I have to roll a die. If I roll a 1, the stompa goes berserk - the grots start havin' at eachother and fighting inside the cockpit and the gargant starts gyrating wildly and moving entirely counter to the drivers' intent. This would mean I roll a scatter die and move six inches in whatever direction it dictates. I realize it's a stupid handicap, but it seems perfectly in the flavor of orks and would be fun to play.

Also, GrimTeef, consider that this stompa is relatively small in the world of gargants - if a mek built this one, you can count on the fact that somewhere, there's one about four times this size and eight times as killy with the mek's name on it, and this one gets relegated to the grots instead.

I'm almost done with the engine aside from some riveting - you can see where according to the dots. I also added a removable grot for the moment - he looks good, but not quite right. I need to work on it some more.

With any luck I might get to the armor plating by tonight.

the chains on the shoulders are amazing

Firstly, Dont worry about the Bike WIP, reguardless of what happened, it was pretty cool while it lasted. that being said this is pretty amazing as well.

Anyone know how wide the standard cityfight street is? Like, perhaps how wide they are on that battlemat released with the new imperial city? When I base this thing I'd like for it to be able to fit down most streets. ;P

The terrain placement rules in CoD have a central hub of buildings no more than 6" apart, with buildings placed wherever you like around the rest of the board. So if you want it to get right into the centre of town, it needs to be less than 6" wide, or be able to remove buildings from its path (which can be done with Strategems).

Terrific work, by the way

I am completely blown away by this conversion.

Massive props to you. Please keep giving us updates!

Dude... you make me sick.





But in a good way.

Well, with one arm on it's just 5 inches wide, so I think if I base it carefully I could fit it down 6" streets.

Here's a question for you guys: I've been thinking about making the other arm, and looking at it, I'm presented with two things I'd like your help with.

First off, that buzzsaw. I've actually tried a time or two to make it already, but I find the teeth are very difficult and I'm wondering what suggestions you guys might have. I'm afraid I don't have any bitz that cover buzzsaw teeth.

Second is what the arm's weaponry should actually be. Looking at the drawing, I see one main kannon with a secondary, slightly smaller barrel underneath it. Judging from that, I'd say the overall thing would play as a twin-linked Kannon... Still, though, I'm not sure quite how I should make the loading mechanism look - really, I need to figure out what I'm going to do with all of the unseen mechanics of that arm. Emulating the first arm's mechanical function in pulleys and hydraulics isn't hard, but the actual gun itself needs some thought and I'm wondering if you guys have any ideas.

Beware da kraw!

Chainsaw ideas?


Take apart some salad shooter you find cheap at a pawn shop/second hand store?

Jams...

Goto the local Home Depot or Lowes, and look at the fine toothed 2" round blades for Dewalt or Makita. Plenty of Orky bitz there for Mekboyz.

Where did you get the hoses for the arm? The detail on this model is amazing.

Mac

A lot of the hoses on the thing are either simply rubber tubing with some fine gauge wire wrapped around, or tubing from lego.

I hate to quote Mr. Slave, but... Jesus Christ

Awesome job so far. You better paint that thing when it's done