Tech Paladin

When Games Workshop came out with their new Ork Trukk kit I instantly fell in love. The old model was nigh-on ancient and far too small, being more than a decade old originating in a game where the Orks were the size of modern-day grots. It was really quite weedy and even back in 2002 it looked pretty dumb. But the new one was a total smash hit!

About a year ago one of my friends got me a new kit and it thought it was just soooo cool! I hurriedly assembled most of it and gazed at the detail and precision of the new model. But then I stopped about 75% through assembling it according to the directions. It would look just like everybody else’s trukk! That wouldn’t do; Ork vehicles were meant to be customized, converted, and made unique and personal. I guess I wasn’t in a very converty mood so I dejectedly sat it down and sort of forgot about it for a while.

After my last game I realized that it was really sad to be using this half-finished trukk that was just begging for some love. So I got back to work on it. Here’s where it’s at right now:

The rokkit mount is an experiment since I attached it with rare earth disc magnets. They’ve worked great so far, and they allow the thing to rotate and also come off without much deliberate effort. I highly recommend them for anything you can imagine wanting to be removable. The roof is removable too because, hey, why not?

Besides tossing rivets and bolts everywhere, the biggest alteration still remaining is the wire mesh case I want to mostly enclose the back. I sort of want it to look a bit like the cage from McLeach’s Bushwhacker, of which you can actually see the original Disney 3D model right here! Oh, the internet!

Obviously the cage part will be more decorative then confining, as the Orks inside wouldn’t want to have any hindrances to them getting out to knock some heads.

Whaddaya think so far?

My friend over at ChameleonInsurrection has posted an extremely enlightening missive on the subject of Games Workshop stores (Games Workshop makes Warhammer 40K, for those not in the know). I’ve always felt weirded out in those stores, as if I were terribly out of place despite my earnest desire to purchase the offered products and socialize with other fans of the game. It’s like the employees are ashamed of their products, and try their best to inculcate that very sense of shame in their employees and customers. Go have a read, it’s pretty fascinating.

I never got around to posting a picture of one of my favorite scratch-built Ork vehicles, my Skorcha Skidoo. This little demon can routinely murder dozens of Imperial Guardsmen and Tyranids with its beautiful flamey goodness. I actually finished it about a year ago, but you know what they say: if it isn’t on the internet, it doesn’t exist! So allow me to bring it into the world once and for all:

Though the tanks of the approaching Cadian 86th were clearly out of range, Raggitz jammed down the trigger of his homemade firearm and shot off a ragged salvo just for the fun of it, laughing as a few of the bullets blew chunks out of a tree and propelled splinters into the air. Ah, the joy of mayhem.

This guy’s leading my mob of shoota boyz, and I figured he could add to the squad’s firepower by toting another big shoota, bringing the mob’s total to four. Big shootas are real fun to scratchbuild, and this one was no exception. It’s made out of one of the standard Ork shootas plus a piece of piping I has lying around to lengthen the barrel. I also decided for some reason that the magazine should be on top, so that’s where it went. This left an odd void on the bottom of the gun, and two magazines seemed silly. Besides, his big shoota didn’t seem big enough yet! So that’s where the built-in stikkbomb chukka came in. I didn’t actually give him any stikkbombs, so I figure he fires one off every once in a while to add to his gun’s firepower–to make it more “big.”

One other part of this model I’m proud of is the part of his gun wrapped in bandages. This is the first time I’ve done it in anything approximating a satisfactory manner. Here’s how I did it: first I just roughly slathered bleached bone all over the bandages. After it dried, I similarly slathered some chestnut ink all over it. After this, what I had was a bunch of weedy, crappy-looking bandages with a lot of ink in the crevasses. Next came the touch-up stage, and really, the only one that was very difficult. What I did was to paint each individual bandage with skull white, being sure not to cover up those dark crevasses. It took some fiddling, but I’m really pleased with the result.

Pyoo pyoo!