Project- Make a Decision. "The winner is.......Orks, orks, orks, orks!"

Bristol Vanquish is looming and I have to make a decision on what Army to take along.
With all the work on the Orks of late, it would seem churlish to not give them an outing; but away from my usual Speed Freek style.
Again, it will be an opportunity to field some new units or those that have been relegated to permanent storage. So, a general idea is forming (Dredds, Kans, Stormboyz, Meganobs, Battlewagon) but for this set-up I will need a new HQ.
Now comes the problem;
It will be a Big Mek, with Kustom Forcefield. Having only an ancient Shokk Attack Gun model, I will:
a. Buy the new figure (very nice!) and spend more dosh.
b. Tie a securing tether and dive into the expansive Bitz Box (if I cannot come up with a kit-bash Konversion, I may as well give up!)

Sense and Sensibility calls for option b.

Grabbing a handful of bitz & an old Warboss model (the one with the chainaxe) ..... off we go.
What do I want?
A name: Big Mek Nobgul Mekwort
Armour: 'Eavy, Cybork body
Kit: Meks tools (standard), Kustom Force Field (KFF), Burna (the only Ork option for a power weapon attack), Grot Oilers x2 (a re-roll for fixin' fings)
That is 130 points of obscured/cover save, fixing goodness (with a bit of choppy if necessary).

For a change I remembered to photo journal the rabid process over the last couple of hours (yes; once started it was frenzied).

First visualisation was a head: IIRC this is from the Nobz sprue, to represent Cybork bitz.

Next WYSIWIG was a start on the Mek tools. The mek backpack placed at the belt area.

There were plenty of options for the next steps (too many), a lot of metal bitz were promising, but I didn't want to be cutting, pinning and filing all of the fiddly bits so swapping an changing all the time I progressed in a logical (sort of) manner to make a KFF.

Power (lots of battery packs - from the Predator sprue).                        Energy coils and gubbinz (A cut-down lascannon)                            More Mek tools (cut from an equipment panel off the Land Raider Sprue.                                                                                       Supported by another cut-down Lascannon (more coils), for the other side, to balance it up.                                                                       You can see the first options for the spinny generating gubbinz, these evolved as I went along.

Next was to secure the whole thing to his body, as a backpack and start build the generating gubbinz.With some use out of the old Shokk Gun (big spinny bit and the central globe-bit, then an angled metal rod with a small polystyrene ball (craft shop) stuck on the end.

The Polystyrene was stuck with PVA and then coated with PVA (hopefully, so it won't melt when spraying later).                                   A harness was added for effect (from the Burna/loota sprue), because I am that retentive!                                                                              So: KFF ......... check!

Now for the arms (& effect). A Burna and something for the pose.

I liked the big choppa arm from the Nobz sprue, with it resting over the right shoulder, or the Standard pole arm from the Black Orc sprue .... the big choppa would be easier to konvert, so there we go.

With the right arm taken, the Burna then became a problem (as all the ones from the burna sprue are right handed). Choose a left arm, cut off the hand attached to the burna and stick on! The fuel hoses need to be re-positioned as well, with the burna fuel tanks trimmed and stuck on the base of the KFF.

Back to the right arm; I was thinking about whittling some caliper jaws, but that was too much aggro for me. I have plans for a Techmarine servo-harness, that doesn't need on of the caliper arms (Conversion Beamer....ahem!...).

With jaws pinned into place I was now ready for the final pose and effect, before painting. (I had to knead the connecting screw with pliers, to widen the reach and fit the big choppas head).

Here it is.

Comments are very much welcome (before I start painting please). I like the pose and the "Mekkiness", I'm very happy (and still have a few "beer tokens" in my pocket!).

WiP Stompa with interior detail, Part 1

Well, after having a Stompa languishing in its box for over 8 months, I decided that "enough is enough!"

Here I will apologise that as with most of my projects; I get carried away and just start building without documenting. These photos are well into the basic construction and base painting (metallics, rust, interior layout and painting etc) but there is lots still to do on this, as my ideas and plans are developing continually.

I am going to log some of my thoughts and rational for changes in direction as I go along. Any comments, questions or advice are most welcome at any stage.

With the initial concept of having the Stompa disgorge 2 Deff Dredds onto the battlefield, I had the primary concern of creating a narrative visual effect (by way of a ramp/ door). This then lead to needing some sort of interior as well.

So, to the bitz box!............

Tools & Materials:

Standard tools for the Stompa itself, with extensive use of a razor saw, hot glue gun and: styrene rods, girders and sheets (plain & grid-patterned). Sprue offcuts and the ubiquitous "Bitz box.

Assembly:

Firstly, in order to get at the interior; only 3 sides were attached (with the top and front panels left off for the moment. This was also good for easier manipulation of the front, to create the ramp.

Note; In gaming terms the access point is to the rear, but the model itself restrict any meaningful cutting. So this will be a representation for aesthetic effect (any models will be transfered to the rear in a game).

Arms, weapons etc were put together for painting and attaching later, as I'd easily break things when working on the interior.

The Interior Plan:

True to GW scaling of vehicles, there really is not much room available, so the plan was to creat the effect of the Stompa interior (visualise; girders, platforms, ladders, junk!!!). This I did with a loose perspective in mind .... the floor throughout, then back and sides of ecclectic support infrastructure.

By hot gluing styrene girders etc., I took this all the way up to the head plate and to the front panel (not encroaching into the clear ramp area).

Apologies again for not having the "white stage" of construction, but it was a case of ...... cut/snip, place to see, then glue.

I will post the detail and explanations on the interior a little later ("just trying to get to grips with this Blogging/posting/formatting lark", it is my first time!!!!!), for now I sprayed the whole lot black and drybrushed metallics and rust etc., to bring some detail out of the superstructure.

For now, a general shot of the interior from front and overhead.

I hope you enjoy.

Dave

WiP - Stompa with interior detail - Part 2

Moving onto the interior:

Building up a 3-sided "framework" of structural gubbinz left a stage area to use against this backdrop. Adding an overhead superstructure that extended forward to the front panel completed the frame, now all I needed to do was decide what to do as an appropriate focal point.

At this point, the idea of a plain holding bay to hold embarked models (similar to a landing craft/APC) lost its appeal. As a diorama; a preparation/ assembly/ workshop area began to form. I could visualise that due to restricted space a similar arrangement to an Aircraft Carrier would be a suitable practice (i.e. wings folded until ready to launch the aircraft), So Dredds or such would be brought around to the "launch area and have its weapons fitted just before stomping down the ramp (a la Wallace & Gromit).

This then opened up opportunities for a Mekshop when I finally decided that this Stompa would become an "Evil Eye in da Sky" to go with my Speed Freeks. Repairs on Deffkoptas etc., fitting nicely with the Aircraft Carrier idea.

Starting from the rear, as a central focal point a generator plant took shape. From the battlefield accessories; a large crate, onto which one of the Landraider internal detail panels was filed down (it is reversible detail), showing some hand tools and a winch. Perfect.

At the base of this panel are some output points; which using some stripped flex (with their own plastic sheathing left on) was coiled and superglued into shape. These were then sprayed black then matched to the output colour coding.

Superglue-tacked onto the floor, we now have snaking cables (with bared ends!!!). These add to the Mekshop feel and should not intefere with embarked model placement, too much.

The interior is rather gloomy, and will be even more so when the front and top panels are fitted, so a bright blue colour was splashed on. A bit more of weathering for it is still to be added.

This leads me on to the idea to fit LED lighting for the interior. I am in the process of search supplies for this; not easy in the UK.

I don't fancy starting from scratch with soldering and selecting resistors etc., so I am looking for a pre-done kit: KISS style (keep it simple, stupid!).

It is easy to identify what I want ..... just finding a stockist is proving difficult. It maybe cannibalisation of whatever I can find around the house (there are tons of LED stuff around: torches, toys, old electricals (power indicators)).

Why waste all the work on the interior if you can't see any of the detail!

With this shot of the starboard side, you can see where I started to populate the "dead space" behind the superstructure. Crates and drums, cans, cylinders then a vignette of a "fewl" point made from a Skorcha trailer I had spare...... Yes, I'm an Ork player, so I have a bitz box, the size of Asia.

No water effects used, as normal glue is sufficient to create a puddle/spill on the floor

There was no hardship adding these bits as most were already painted or taken from existing scenery pieces. I just had to resist completely stacking and cramming bits in, for the sake of it.; I still have Grots and a Mekboy to fit in.

On the Port-side, I have left it pretty much clear. From the effect on the other side, it wasn't much use piling stuff behind as any detail will likely be lost when the panels are on.

I think a Grot will be the most I'll put in there.

OK, I think that this is a convenient stop point for now. I will carry on with the front panel and ramp assembly next time.

Still lots to do.

Thanks.