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A while back I sculpted an Ork Def Korps Genrul and his Grot aid. I liked the look so much I decided to sculpt him a command squad and Kommissar. One thing led to another and now I have a nearly playable army of Def Korps of Kreeg. About a year ago I built a few Earthshaker cannons and about 4 months ago I decided to add 6 more. People had asked if I could do a construction blog, so here goes.

Since I had already basically figured out the engineering and construction, materiel and measurement specifics, this time the build should be easier and go much faster.

Now all of these steps could be done with an exacto, scissors, needle files and a pin-vice, but if you are planning on making more than one, I would recommend upgrading your "tool box". A Dremel is an essential tool for me. I don't think I would have even finished the first one by now without it. Plus with the addition of a "Big Ass Metal File", this build was much easier than it could have been. Still even with these I'm still looking at almost 5 months from start to paint shed.

The first step was to make the wheels. Since I already had the templates, I just used those to trace 48 of them onto the plasticard. I used a sharp scissors to cut them out and then a file to finish rounding them. A pin vice for the pilot holes, the Dremel with a conical sanding bit widened them and a round needle file finished them off. Then I used some narrow and thin strip for the spokes and the hubs. Last time I had a lot of difficulty getting the outside part of the wheels on evenly and a horrible time getting things to line up later in the build, so this time I got smart and decided to use a jig(?).

I hurried and carried my newfound smartness onto the next step before it left me, and I became dumb again. After examining my completed guns, I realized painting the inside of the wheels after they were glued together was going to be one hell of a challenge, so I decided to paint them first. At least this eliminated one headache from painting.

Once that was done I had to make the "suspension" bitz. A hole punch was used to make some of the circles and a leather punch was used to make the larger rivets.

The carriage itself was next. Sheets of plasticard and square tubing were used. Again, thank Gork I still had the templates. Same for the support parts on the back.

Here are the Big shields. Again, more templates to trace.

Big Gunz!

I added gubbinz to the front before I attached the wheel assemblies. I wanted to make sure that the platform was level after I attached the wheels. As it turns out, if I set the platform on top of 2 standard Lego bricks, it puts the platform at the perfect height. So, all I had to do was make sure the wheels were in the right spot, front to back.

Great blog! The pictures really document the whole process well. That is an extensive volume of custom plasticard parts!

thing o beauty and no mistake...

patience of a saint and the hands of a draughtsman. impeccible plasticarding. If I could do the same, I'd have heavy mortars a-plenty for my guard! LOL

Exalted for the perseverance of cutting out all the bits so far! Great level of detail going in to them, it’ll be an immense gun battery when it’s done!

Wow, amazing work, looking forward to the finished earthshaker.

Finished with the build. Finally. I went back and added some more gubbins to the first 3. Tools and such. I'm kind of happy with the way they've turned out so far. Now to just get some warmer weather so I can pray a basecoat and get these things painted up.

fantastic, detailed and neat build. Your plasticard skills are great to be able to make so many identical parts so accurately.

They'll make a magnificient and foreboding sight across the table

Yeah, that’s amazingly neat and consistent work!

Great work, the patience you must have to build not one but none is a amazing!

I’ve started

Wow! Very nice scratchbuilding! Subscribed!


Capt. Hodgeheg

Are those… Track links?…

They look like they could’ve track links, but surely no one would try such a thing?!?! good luck getting them together!

Unbelievably detailed build mate. Super impressed by the amount of effort and precision that went into that battery. Can't wait to see it painted, as well as whatever new madness the blog brings!

Yes, those are going to be track links. I’ll post more pics later. Until then, this is the assembly process for the links.

I’ll also be adding some finished pics of the Earthshakers.

With a bout with the plague, working 10+ hrs/day 6 days a week and playoff hockey (Go Wild!) progress has been a little slower than I’d like, but here’s what we’ve got so far.

By the Emperor that's some awesome work. I completely lost the plot when I was building some tank treads for a conversion so you definitely have better patience and skill!

Next time I'm sure going to use a Dremel.

Mindblowing what you can do with plasticard. Very smart use of lego blocks I can see in those tank tracks.

Here are some pics of one of the Earthshakers. I don’t have the time or room to set up a group shot, so just the one will have to do.

I also have a couple pics of me breaking them in during a big Apocalypse game a few weeks back. Playing them as an artillery company, they kicked ALOT of Super Heavy butt. In the very first round of shooting, the spotting round landed directly in the center of the Baneblade and the rest of the guns pummeled it into and Apocalyptic explosion. They also claimed an Imperial Knight and did everything but destroy the other Baneblade.

Some WIP pics. I had a rough time with the placement of the heavy stubbers within the hull. I’m still not sure I’m going to be completely happy, but it’s too late to change it up now. Yeah, the Legos just turned out to be the perfect width to use for some extra support. It’s a lot better than cutting up a bunch of tubing.

The hulls are going to be a bit wider than I had envisioned, but bigger is always better. Right?

This is absolutely incredible!

That’s nuts! I’m talking about the full on Battery of guns in the field and the plasticard tanks. Amazing!

Wow that amount of guns on a table...

After a somewhat productive day yesterday…