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Since the release of the new ork dex I've been brimming with ideas for scratch builds and conversions and having finally started on one I figured that it was time to log the progression. For now this log will follow the creation of a custom wazdakka/warboss on bike but will later cover some larger scale conversions/scratchbuilds. Also there may be some regular old boys in trukks, bikes etc...

The basis for this first idea comes from the halo3 brute chopper. I've never played the game but the bike concept seemed cool and right up a orks alley. I like to let pictures do most of the talking so on to why we're all here:

The basic bike with a few things chopped off:


More parts removed:


I had to extend the chassis to accomodate an engine and some space up top for the big guns so I hacked it in half and put in a spacer and some detail bits. Most of that will be covered up so it isn't anything fancy just yet. Also you can see the beginning of the engine. Plus I had begun work on the tire.



Here you can see some of the exhaust system in place as well as the hover bits and some cabling:



Still a ton of work to go. Thanks for looking.

Interesting

Great idea. That HUGE tire is right up a warboss's alley.

I really like where this is headed. The de-halo-ization works, and the floaty gubbins under the saddle are great. Looking forward to more progress.

I've liked that chopper since I saw a pic of it, really fits for an orky ride.

Where'd you pick it up at? And how much? Impressed at the scale match.

- Salvage

Man, that is HAWT! Is the base model affordable enough to do a full unit of them or is going to be a Boss-only conversion. Totally sweet.

Pretty much all of the BRUTE weapons and tech from the Halo series are rather Orky. The Brutes (as their name implies) prefer sheer force and (brute) strength in their weapons over say, technical finesse.

I think it's a cool idea, but you're going to have to make it way Orky, or Halo fans such as myself are simply going to see a Brute Chopper everytime.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Teek: The old classic style sci-fi designs are my favorite so I had to include them. Plus I think they fit orks perfectly.

Salvage: I ordered mine online through amazon. You should be able to find them at comic shops/ dvd places that have those "manchild" type of toys though. The scale matchup is amazing, almost too much to be coincidence...

monkeys: That depends. It's around $7-10 depending on where you find it. I think that an industrious scratch builder could do just fine with a bike kit and a trukk tire. (which I may or may not be doing a full unit of later on...)

Lagduf sayz:"but you're going to have to make it way Orky..." Patience grasshopa.

Updates time! (Though minor)

Some tire work and some teef.




Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy.

Wow, great idea! I'll be watching this thread.

I never got around to play Halo, but this bike looks great. I really like the concept of combining a big wheel with grav generators. Will that guy be Wazzdakka or something else. It looks more like a Big Mek bike.

Teek, man - I think he's gonna give you a run for your money on the cool bike front!

Anung: I don't play halo either (don't have a 360) but as soon as I saw the screenshots of the chopper I started having orky dreams. He'll be wazdakka who, while they don't outright say, is a mek (I mean, he has a very customized bike, he carries meks tools, and he has a kustom mega-blasta) right?

Thanks for the comments guys. (I'll have a pic for scale next update)

I'm a Halo fan and you are already disguising it pretty well. Once you finish and paint it no one will be able to tell unless you tell them personally.

Ghost: I hope you're right.

So I moved across the country/continent and I'm finally settled. I haven't yet set up an ideal photography area so the pictures leave a little to be desired but I hope that the size of this update makes up in some small way for the massive lack of updates.

These first two shots I made ages ago and nearly forgot about them. they were obviously going to be part of an update that should have followed closely to my last one. Anyway here they are for posterity. I took these to show the general scale with an ork in the seat and also some work on the dakkacannon.




Now between those and these I did a lot of work. I tried to scratch as mutch as I could. I still have a great deal to do but I'm a lot closer now and I think that you can really see where I'm going with this now. Some things I'm adding soon are more chains, the handlebars, and a few more armor plates and gubbins.





And here's a closeup of the bosepoles. I know it's hard to see the detail but I'm going to take some really good pics once it's painted up. I was set on making my own rather than using bits. I'm not sure why but I just felt compelled.


And here's the boss himself. Not finished yet but he's very close. The only thing's I can think of are some work to his head/face and a few more chains or something to give him a grittier look.






I used the picture in the codex as a starting point but I had to change him around for my own tastes. I hate topknots so that was out and I wanted to do the powerclaw slightly different. I also had to make him a slugga that looked like it could actually fit in his hand and was custom looking. I don't think it's perfect but orks have huge hands compared to everything else and that made the scaling difficult. Then I bulked his arms up to make him looking like a proper warboss.

I hope you guys enjoy this update and thanks for looking.

Looking great so far! One comment though, the autocannon ammo drum half you used on the dakkacannon is too short compared to the shells you have feeding in the side so it looks a little odd. Where are those shells from by the way?

Love it. Unique and well put together!

Veeeeeeeeeeery nice!

I´m sure this is going to look awesome once it´s painted and whoosing across the table.

Sure to scare some ´umies into surrendering!

Great Work. A flying junkyard of orkish awesomeness...or something...

You need another head though. Either something with biker glasses, or a some hair and an open mouth like in the Codex picture.

Great job, thats amazing!

Yeah definitly doesnt even remotly look like a brute chopper anymore. I agree though it needs a different head. Maybe the burner with welding googles and the cigar would be perfect in my opinion.

One of the new Deffcopta pilots might do as well.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Delemon: It's more just worky bits than a part of the ammo feed system. The ammo belt is from some toy accessory kit that I can't recall the name of. I just saw it on the shelf at my old hobby shop and new that I could use the belt. I'm happy that I've finally been able to use part of it (I have 7 or 8 mor einches of the stuff) because I've had it for about a year now.

Anung: I felt the same way about the head aside from adding hair. (see below)

Ghost: Are you refering to a bit or ideas for sculpting? It isn't the right fit for this model but maybe the next. (Which I haven't talked about yet but it will be much larger and more Meky if that makes any sense)

Eldramesha: I haven't seen those up close but I'm tempted to pick up the AoBR set.

Small update. I have the terrible habit of doing work on a project, taking a few pictures, and then forgetting to update. I did this early last week and since then I've added some of the chains to the bike and wazdakka but I don't have pics of that yet. I just started some commissions so I have had less time to work on this project. Anyway, on to the pics.

You can get the general idea even though I know these pictures aren't very good. I have to get a photo setup here at my new place.




I added some goggles, and then I sculpted his face to try and make him look more menacing and imposing. I also gave him a spiked collar that I'm not done with yet.

Thanks for looking.

I love the ork! He's superb, and crucially he looks 'coherent'.

Not being into Halo myself, I don't know the machine you started from. I like the work you've done on it, although personally it doesn't sit right with me for the look of the orks. But then, we all have different 'visions' of what the orks are like and this obviously ties in with yours. As I say, whilst I personally don't like the look, I think you've done a fantastic job with it. The only thing I could suggest to make it better, is a whole squadron of them! That one mek has been beavering away and made many to accompany him - now that would be sweet.

Keep up the great work.

this might be a silly comment and it's not intended to be rude or anything but I constantly see some very good conversion here on dakka such as this. What gets me is that you're obviously avery talented modeller, so why shell out hard earned cash for a model which is goingto be modified so heavily. Surely you have the skills to knock it out from scratch?

Great looking model. Like the concept. i think it's very orky myself. If the style fits in with the rest of the orks then to me the concept doesn't matter. If a mek sees something alien he's bound to copy it. I'm, a little surprised we don't see more wacky things like this/ork versions of falcons/crisis suits/big people eating monsters. A good project could be a squig creater. can you imagine the things a mek would do if he mastered the genes of a squig?!!!!

why shell out hard earned cash for a model which is going to be modified so heavily

If I may interject my opinion:

Sometimes it's seeing that particular "donor" model that inspires the conversion to begin with. I know with some of my projects in the past, I've been in the toy aisles at a store and something will catch my eye, and spark the concept. I'll pick one (or three) up, go home, and set about it with styrene and x-acto knives.

Yes, you could see a toy/model/doodad and then go home and scratchbuild something similar, I agree that would fit the style of an ork mek trying to emulate what he sees on the battlefield. But hey, shortcuts never hurt

no, I understand that shortcuts are great. I use toys rather than scratchbuild myself, more due to lack of skill though. It just seemed a little strange to me that those who obviously have high skill levels still take short cuts. My personal prefernece would be that, I wouldn't want it to look like it had a toy as the base, but then I guess that's where the skill comes in to disguse it. It's not a criticism, just something odd that struck me. I'd be curious to see someone have a completly wacky and original idea and scratchbuild the whole thing like a mek would, and see some feedback on how much longer/price difference etc. Obviously if it takes longer then short cuts are needed to get an army out. Justr random thoughts of mine. As I said, that's a carzyily orky idea for a bike! keep up the good work!

Love it!

My one criticism however... v4?

i tink dis boss 'serves a wompin' tree-fitty

Inyoka: Thanks for the compliments. It's true that each of us can imagine orks (and any of the 40k races really) in a variety of ways, and I think that's one thing that GW has really excelled at. They can make a race that has it's own style but still allows each of us a great deal of creative freedom. As to a whole squadron, well I'll get to that later.

covenant: I don't know how I could interperet it as rude seeing as how it is a question rooted in a generous compliment. Indulge me for a moment as this may get a little wordy. I like to "talk shop" as they say. The easiest way to explain why I used an existing model is that it gave me a framework, or base upon which to build, both plastic and idea. When I first saw the chopper (a screenshot of halo3) I immediately thought "man an ork would have a field day with that thing." I know it sounds a little wierd but when I look at things now, since I started into all this miniature stuff, I tend to look at stuff in a way that see's what it could be rather than what it is. So I brainstormed a little and put it on the backburner. Then I see that a little model chopper comes out and it's even scaled right. So I dropped the $7 on it just to get it into my hands to see if it had the potential so to speak. Sure I could have saved the money by scratch building it but the concept was that an ork got ahold of some alien tech, as they do, and went to town on it.

The nice thing is that in working on it I now have a better idea of how I would want to make a scratchbuild. Things like what should go where and what parts I would want to have that this one doesn't. My original concept was to make one using biker parts and a trukk tire, which I may still do (told you I'd get to it later). This way it'd look like the mek, now having looted one, could go on to crank out his own. I think the next one I make will have an exposed chain drive wheel and look more industrial. Then if that one still doesn't capture just what I want I can scratchbuild it. It didn't have to do with saving time at all because when it comes to my own projects I tend to take my time anyway.

Hisdivineshadow: wompin tree-fitty gave me a chuckle. At least this v4 has huge (to scale) cylinders.

just start painting will you!!! It's a brilliant piece of kit.

I know it might be too late, but there is one change I feel you NEED to make. If you do then, likely, at some point in the future you'll be glad you did and, if you don't, you will likely regret it at some point.

Those glyphs on the Bosspoles look excellent. I REALLY like 'em.
The problem I have is the actual poles, themselves. They're just plastic rod. VERY fragile.

If you remove them and replace 'em with brass rod the same diameter, you'll be glad you did. The difference in sturdiness is amazing.

Eric