ComeFindMe wrote:Has anyone got any advice on easily Orkifying vehicles? Maybe vehicles from other game systems and manufacturers that could be a good basis looks-wise? I’m confident with the converting and am also manically trying to scavenge Ork bits on eBay
UK but have had really limited luck. Does anyone have any advice for this too? I’m trying to be as inventive with keywords as possible.
The end goal is base vehicles to have a
40k vibe as opposed to generic vehicles with an Ork stuck inside
Obviously if there is nothing then I’ll have to pick up some
40k stuff but just trying to keep it affordable, particularly as there will be a steep learning curve for my son!
A lot depends on (1) how limited your budget is and (2) how fussy you are about matching the established Orky aesthetic. There's also the question of which vehicles you want to represent.
I am assuming that, since you are talking about Orkifying vehicles, you are trying to avoid buying
GW kits (otherwise you might as well buy the official Ork vehicle models). In my experience, buying bits from eBay is quite expensive (although you won't have the murderous postage costs that I have to absorb). That said, you might want to look for job lots of assorted basic bits (especially weapons, wheels, exhausts and moulded glyph plates). While you can build your own vehicles from scratch, I think your best option is sourcing reasonably Orky looking military kits, and modifying them. To be honest, this really isn't that difficult - all you need to add is slabs of roughly shaped armour plate (plastic card) and plenty of rivets. But this seems to be far less popular than it used to be - there was a time when this forum was full of Orky vehicle conversions.
The best scale for Ork vehicles seems to be 1:35. 1:48 is actually a better match for
WH40k generally, but it doesn't really work for Orks due to their bulk. Ideally, you're looking for vehicles which are already quite slab-sided and angular, and which are approximately the same size as the official model you want to represent. WW2 vehicles work best, especially German and Soviet stuff. For instance, a good stand-in for an Ork Trukk is the German SdKfz 251 half-track. Slap some crude armour plates and glyphs all over it, attach some Orky weapons, and it'll look fine (probably better than the official Trukk,
IMO). Military kits are significantly cheaper than
GW kits. Tamiya is the best-know brand (and their kits are very enjoyable to build), but Italeri is cheaper and there are numerous Chinese manufacturers out there too. Once thing I'd suggest, however, is to omit or remove the fine detail (especially items that are scaled for 1:35 humans) as it won't look Orky.
I really can't illustrate this approach better than by putting up a pic of a Battlewagon converted by Nightserpent using a cheap 1:35 scale Sturmtiger kit. This model is from the golden age of Orky conversions, and I liked it so much I acquired it from Nightserpent (and still have it). You can see that Nightserpent used all kinds of stuff to conceal the original model. The actual cost would have been very low - most of it is plastic card of various thicknesses and textures, and I think he also used the aluminium mesh that is used to repair cars.
Let me know if you want any more suggestions.
' ~9000pts
' ~1500
" ~3000
" ~2500 
