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An Ork Skorcha and Wartrakk advanced over the red desert flats.
You can see how I converted and painted my Ork Skorcha. I was quite pleased with it when I had finished it, though since then I think I might need to take it back onto the workbench and do some more weathering. If I was to go through the process again I would distress the extra armour plates I added and give the model a more weathered and tired paint job.
Originally this was to be a conversion of the Ork Trukk kit, however in the end it was decided to make it a full resin kit.
I really like this model, which combined with Trukks and Halftrakks gives the Orks a variety of vehicles that you would expect to find in their force.
Main issue is that it comes with no instructions and it isn’t the easiest kit to put together.
So this is what you get in the box, quite a bit of resin.
This is not a simple kit, and it is furtherly complicated by a lack of instructions. Hopefully my workbench feature will help anyone else putting one of these wonderful and well detailed models together.
So after getting all the parts together the next stage was finishing the model off. Sticking the arms on, the frontal armour and the exhausts.
As you can see from this rear view, there is a lot of detail on this model.
I aim to bring out this detail using a combination of washes and drybrushing.
My converted KilKannon, it used the plastic KilKannon from the Battlewagon upgrade sprue.
I did consider having the guns pointing at the same target, but in the end decided to have them slightly off kilter.
See the full workbench feature on my Ork Mega Dread.
I bought the Mega Dread with two KilKannon arms. The reason for getting two KilKannons was that I was not that impressed with the close combat weapon that was available at the time, the claw arm looked very flimsy and as a result I felt the model looked unbalanced (from the photographs). Since I bought mine, Forge World have bought out a buzzsaw weapon arm for the Mega-Dread that is much better in my opinion and looks “heavier” and more deadly. If I was to buy a second Mega-Dread I would seriously think about getting the buzzsaw.
These are nice castings that go together really easily.
Though using one on the left and the right means taking a little extra care to ensure that you don’t end up with two left arms!
For one of the arms I used the plastic KilKannon from the Ork Battlewagon Upgrade Sprue. My reason for this was to make the Mega-Dread look too well constructed, I wanted the Mega-Dread to look like (as it does with the main part of the model) as though it was thrown together by a Mek from lots of rubbish and parts in his workshop. The plastic weapon needed minimal filing to fit and adds variety to the model.
One left arm and one right arm… Of course the model as a result has two spiked shoulder pads.
See the full workbench feature on my Ork Mega Dread.
Having gone back to my Ork Fort I decided to give the roof floor a wash of brown ink.
Now I have done this, I will drybrush the floor of the roof of the fort to highlight the detail. I will then add further washes and use some Forge World weathering powders to show a more used and worn look.
As for the walls of the fort, these I will wash, drybrush and weather, but not as heavy as the roof floor.
Still lots to do.
Next stage on my Ork Mega Dread was attaching the legs having attached the thighs to the main body.
One of the challenges was to ensure that having positioned the legs that the model not only could stand, but was also stable so wouldn’t fall over during a game. I didn’t really want to have to base the model if I could help it. This is so I could use it in various games and not have a grassy scenic base whilst playing Cityfight style games.
Though… of course if you do use a base, you could convert the model to make it look like it was walking rather than standing.
See the full workbench feature on my Ork Mega Dread.
Just under a year ago, Games Workshop released some new plastic Skaven kits.
It wasn’t just me, but a lot of other Ork players looked at the new plastic Skaven Doomwheel and thinking, “now that could be an interesting Ork vehicle or bike!” I am thinking a Weird Boy transport option. Of course being plastic means that conversion should be easier than the previous metal version.
In the box there are three plastic sprues.
As you might expect, a fair number of the parts have Skaven style insignia and icons on them. I am thinking that carving these off the plastic parts shouldn’t be too hard. The other thing I could do is cover them up with Ork icons. I have the new brass ones form Forge World and a fair few plastic ones from the various Ork kits I have.
The engine will be a key conversion for this model, it’s at times like this that I wish Forge World would make more conversion bitz for the Orks. I think I will need to use some plastic tubing for this. I am intending to add to the conversion using parts from the Ork Trukk kit, though I am also thinking that I may need to get some Ork Bikes as well.
At GamesDay 2010 was another chance to see Forge World’s excellent Ork Shanty Town diorama.
This time though Forge World had added a lot of their new models, including an Ork Stompa, one that had used some of the Forge World conversion kits for the Stompa.
Though I know it will be some time before we see an Ork Gargant from Forge World, it certainly isn’t outside the realms of possibility. Forge World make a BIG model once every two years. Last year, in 2009, we saw the Reaver Titan, next year 2011 we see the Eldar Phantom Titan. Therefore in 2013 we will see another BIG model. I have to admit my money would be on a Warlord Titan, but an Ork Gargant is certainly one possibility and if we do see the Warlord in 2013 then I think we would see a Gargant in 2015… Can I wait that long? Probably.
So what about the size? Well the process that Forge World use is the same one that companies like Rolls Royce use to make full size resin copies of their aircraft engines, so size isn’t really an issue, selling them certainly is though. Forge World only make models under the assumption that they will sell them. Models that don’t sell find themselves resigned to the mould bin of history.
So would I buy one? If I could afford one, then yes I would. Could I afford one? Probably not.
After constructing the legs and thighs, I attached the thighs to the main body.
I also added one of the side Big Shootaz.
There are eight “taps” that they need to be glued onto the rear engine. The exhausts were challenging, in the main due to the superglue I was using, the glue was a little two liquid, so I changed to a gel type super glue.
See the full workbench feature on my Ork Mega Dread.
After putting the main body parts together, the next stage was getting the legs and thighs constructed.
The legs go together quite easily and have pistons.
The thighs would join the legs to the body.
See the full workbench feature on my Ork Mega Dread.