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Welcome!

Back in 2009 I started my first blog on this site - Da Dark Angelz - which ran until 2013. In 2020, I started Arakasi Reloaded as another attempt at resurrecting my beleaguered hobby, and, with a bit of luck, inspire me to revisit my Orks. Well, that day has arrived.

This blog may be a bit meandering, depending on where my muse takes me, but it will maintain a consistent theme of the Orks of Da Dark Angelz. There are projects to complete from the original blog, projects that have been started but not seen the light of day on Dakka during the dark times, new projects to start and who knows what the future might hold.

To start with, I recently acquired:

Combat Patrol: Orks

Orks: Killdakka Warband

Ork Warboss Grukk's Boss Mob

Ork Boyz (old)

Ork Lootas

Which opens up a number of projects, new and old:

Attack of the Clones - how to convert 40 of the new Ork Boyz to minimise their underlying duplicative nature.

A Tale of Four Warbosses - finish four (or more) Warbosses - Morgrim (my converted Warboss in Mega Armour), Combat Patrol Warboss in Mega Armour, Grukk, Forge World Warboss on bike, maybe the Assault on Black Reach Warboss.

Deffkoptas - old and new.

Deff Dreads and Kans - complete my Deffwing Dread and also a plastic Dread and Kans with appropriate swappable weapons.

To begin with, I figured I would start with the new Boyz, so after a quick clean up of my modelling area, I was ready to begin:


Unsurprisingly, the "default" build went together reasonably quickly and painlessly:


Having dealt with easy build before, the only change I made was to trim the internal pegs to ensure everything fit together as well as possible. I left the Nob for later, as I don't think I will do a "default" build for the four copies I have of him. More on that later. Talking about the Nob though, you have two head options, but they share a piece - which I plan later to have a go at duplicating so I can reuse all 8 heads. Which led to the next conundrum - the Boyz Nob head just isn't that big? Below you can see a Nob kit head and a regular Boy head alongside the new Boyz Nob head:

I'm seriously considering using Nob kit heads and using the new Boyz Nob heads for regular (armoured) boyz...

Catchya,
Arakasi

Saving this spot for later...

Hurrah! The return of Da boyz!

I hope you have stocked up on shoulder pads and greenstuff reposing those guys! Some of them look like they may fit ok, but the muscles are going to be a pain to deal with. I've had the same issue trying to fit dark eldar arms onto the Idoneth archers as they have large chunks of the musculature fixed and exposed. Good luck!

I see what you mean about the heads. It looks like the nob in there is more of a junior one that isn't quite as beefy as the Nobz themselves. Good call on using them for more armoured boyz

I'm pretty sure I have plenty of shoulder pads and greenstuff to go around

I'm going to start easy with weapon and head swaps, bitz and greenstuff details to taste to help break up the similiar profiles. I'm always up for more Shootas if I can manage it - I have plenty of Sluggas from Black Reach days. Even better is branching out into other units - Tankbustas, Burnas, etc. With a bit of luck I can keep the muscle modification to a minimum...

Here are some of my initial thoughts, now that I can see what I am working with:

Slugga to Mek, Shootas, Sluggas to Shootas, Shoota.


Slugga to Shoota, Shootas. Actually, these are all in previous picture, I'm not sure why I took the second shot...


Slugga to Shoota, Burna, Mek, Tankbusta, Slugga to Mek, Rokkit Launcha to Burna.

Meanwhile I'm back to the Dakka Painting Challenge Round 86 April 2022: Reborn, Remade after a long absence... and so is this model, originally put together in 2012....

He's definitely been remade, although I'm not sure how much improvement it is...

He was built to provide a Rokkit Launcha option (back when it was available) for a Trukk:


Catchya,
Arakasi

Heh, so now he's out of the Trukk, is this going to be a cyclone missile launcher for a Deffwing squad?

He's not planning to be out of the Trukk - who knows when that might be valid again - but it does beg the question, why don't I have a Cyclone Missile Launcher Deffwing Meganob? I'll definitely consider remedying that when I get around to completing my Meganobz... (I have at least two plastic ones to build...)

Or were you thinking a Master Blaster type of arrangement? (Might work better on a Deff Dread...)

So of all the new Boyz, this one seems the most promising to me. Here he is, armless:


Put together, you can see how close his torso matches the old Boyz kit torso:


A little surgery later with an old Boyz kit shoota (and still missing a head), we get this:


Very promising.

Catchya,
Arakasi

I’m rooting for you converting those evil monopose lads, I’m excited for all the new gitz you’re making, I binge read the old blog last night .

Wow . Like a movie sequel, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to top the original blog - we'll see if experience trumps youth...

The next on the block is one of the new Slugga boyz who I thought might lend himself to a classic Space Marine pose:

Ignore the black scribbles - they are the remnants of a previous project...

Apparently I didn't take too many "in progress" pictures of this one. Here he is, exchanging a Bolter and Powerfist for a Shoota and Tankbusta Bomb.

Going to have to do some surgery on the head to fill that gap methinks!

Catcha,
Arakasi

Change of tack, Deff Dread and Killa Kans:


Actually, I just want to sort out how I'm going to make all of the arms and weapons interchangeable at this stage, while I'm not under any pressure.

Here is one of the lower arm weapon mounting points from the Deff Dread kit that I drilled for pins when I attempted my old Deff Dread kit, with a test of the width of the pins in plastic tube pieces. Three of the same size is just a bit too wide. You can also see my template for the upper arm holes:

More to come...

Meanwhile - paint!


Catchya,
Arakasi

I'm always in awe of folk that can be bothered making things interchangeable. Nice job!

A welcome return of da boyz

Excited for all the goodness to come, and certainly interested to see what comes of the re-posed monoposes, those things are a bane to modelling

@inmygravenimage: Early days yet, but I have a plan...

@monkeytroll: Thank you. They sure will present a challenge.

Here is a better measure of the width of the small arm pins, using a smaller sized rod for the centre separator:


I super glued the connector in to drill the initial pilot holes:


Then created back and front greenstuff molds as locators:

(The connector was given some freezer time before snapping the super glue bond.)

Then I used the original side piece to drill the locators:


And attempted to use the locators to drill another side piece:


That... wasn't as successful as I had hoped. Mainly the thinness and lack of rigidness of the locators, while working for the entry point, didn't do a great job of keeping the hole straight and so the exit points weren't ideal.... Try two - I built a taller, rigid construct for the holes in preparation for using greenstuff around it to act as the locator....


And duplicated the super glue trick on the other side:


And while I'm at it, on the Deff Dread side too:

(Using less super glue removed the need for freezer action in between.)

More to come...

Meanwhile, Trukk Rokkit Launcha is making progress:


Catchya,
Arakasi

I didn't show it on the previous attempt, but I'm trying out wrapping the pieces I am imprinting against in cling wrap to stop the greenstuff sticking. It has its plusses (no oils) and minuses (a bit fiddly). Here you can see the rigid locators in place over the cling wrap ready for greenstuff.


With greenstuff pressed into place to locate the... locators.


The end result and a test run. Better than the first attempt, but still not perfect - in that the test fit wasn't perfect and required a little extra pressured drilling in the required direction to have it sit flush.

I might just stick to the super glue method after all that .

On the plus side, I actually plan to drill these out and place connecting tubes between the two sides, so these are still really only locators, not the final holes.

Also, Trukk Rokkit Launcha continues:


Catchya,
Arakasi

Great seeing a new green wave emerge, good job individualising the boyz so far!

Thank you Viterbi.

That missing neck finally annoyed me enough to rectify:

Delicate work, cutting the neck from the head. Back.


Front. The aim is to be able to reuse the head...


And in place. A bit rough, but most of it will be covered by the new head eventually - just wanted to remove the gaping hole.

Catchya,
Arakasi

Looks like some excellent chopping action

Nice bit of rocket surgery, Arakasi.

That's quite the project my friend. Coming out nicely too.

That's quite some surgery there! We'll need to call you Dok-asai soon

Thank you people.

Done, just need to work out the final pictures...


Catchya,
Arakasi

Nice!

Thank you Gitsplitta.

Final submitted entry:


Back to Deff Dread and Killa Kan arms.... I gave up on the locators and just used the super glue method to drill and pin the lower Deff Dread melee arms:

In place on a mocked up Deff Dread. I didn't get the right arm (left to viewer) at the right angle for this body - I suspect it is going to interfere with the right leg, at least in a torso horizontal to the feet and ground scenario. But I'm not worried about that because...


They are meant to go on this bad boy - and hence will be painted bone anyway. I cut it close though - that right arm only just clears the right leg here.

Meanwhile, I don't have any Kustom Megablasta (KMB) arms (well, there are none) - but I do have a spare Deff Dread KMB and a spare Killa Kan Rokkit Launcha arm with the Rokkits removed (used in an Avatar style Deffkopta conversion)...


Which gives:

Needs a little extra work, but mostly there. Now Killa Kans apparently can no longer take KMBs, but who knows when that might change. The main reason for doing this is I have a plan for how to mount Killa Kan arms to the top Deff Dread arms in order to go full shooty if I so desire - but that needs this type of Killa Kan arm - and Deff Dreads can still take KMBs - so, here we are.

Catchya,
Arakasi

I love ork dreads... they just make me feel good.

They are pretty cool models.

Public Service Announcements

LoER Hobby Challenge Round 38 (May/June): Elevation

Dakka Painting Challenge Round 87 May 2022: Mayhem

Thinking either a Nob or a Burna for Mayhem.... thoughts?


Catchya,
Arakasi

Back in the green. Back where you belong.

Absolutely. Welcome to the new blog Camkierhi.

I mentioned in my first entry that I was saving the Boyz Nob for later - mainly as I don't think the stock builds are going to allow for much differentiation, and who takes a Big Choppa and not a Choppa too? So, first port of call - what to do with the open hand? There aren't too many Nob options that don't want to fill that second hand - possibly only two - the Tankbusta Nob and a Nob with a Kombi Weapon. Today's post is the start of looking at the Tankbusta Nob option.

Given the raised arm, I figured an underslung Rokkit Launcha like the actual Tankbusta Nob model would be a good starting point. In fact, I thought the Killa Kan Rokkit Launcha might be perfect, so as part of my Killa Kans / Deff Dread builds, I put one of those together for fit:


However, the arm was making it difficult to see how that would fit in place. Then I remembered I had the cut down magnetised version for my Deffkopta:

Here you can see where I am going, alongside the actual Tankbusta Nob model for reference. Interestingly, the actual Tankbusta Nob also has three rokkits on his Rokkit Launcha, but in a much more compact arrangement. I know some Ork Warbosses don't think Ork weapons can be too big, but I think the Killa Kan Rokkit Launcha unbalances the model...

Thankfully, the Deff Dread comes with a smaller Rokkit Launcha:

I think this will be a goer. I'll have to see if I can recover the peg and potentially trim down the back. Most hand held Rokkit Launchas also have a blast shield...

Catchya,
Arakasi

Making painting progress on an Ork Burna:


Catchya,
Arakasi

I get two weeks holiday and... its a bit quiet around here...

Anyway, got my Dakka Painting Challenge Round 87 May 2022: Mayhem entry close enough to finished... just...

I present - Ork Burna!


Catchya,
Arakasi

Been following painting progress on the reloaded plog, but finally gotten around to checking this one out. Some fun conversions in progress, the choppa with underslung rokkit launcher is perfect orkiness!

God's you sod, I want to play with my orks, really get the itch looking at your amazing work. Trouble is I am otherwise engaged at this time. Amazing work as always bud.