# Starting Army - Death Skull Orks



## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Hello! I just recently joined Heresy after a week or so of reading through painting tips and looking at the project logs and such. I'm an amateur hobbyist and painter...and these are my first attempts at painting. I sort of just dove right into it, and I'd like advice and feedback on what I've got so far.


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

I hate Orks ... and the only thing that I hate more, are fuzzy Orks. They do not look bad but the sharpness on the camera needs to be adjusted. Looks like you are off to a good start.


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## Lumat (Apr 12, 2009)

That's a good start you made.
I have to agree with OIIIIIIO on the picture part though. It's kinda hard to give feedback when I'm not sure what I see.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Yeah, I can't find my regular camera right now (just moved), and those were taken with my phone. I've tried different methods and backdrops, but for some reason it just can't focus in on the close details, but gets great details on the background. I'll try and post more when I find my camera, hopefully it gets better results.

I have finished the Warboss and about 5 or 6 boys, and have another 5 boys about 50% painted. So when I get that camera, I'll have some more progress photo's up.

EDIT: Go figure, the camera was in a box that said 'Camera.' No wonder I couldn't find it. Anyway, here's some much clearer photos of what I've got so far.

The Warboss:


















My completed Boyz:



























And Boyz in Progress:


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

It's been a while since I've really had a chance to paint, and longer since I've had a chance to post progress photos. So...here's continuation of my progress so far. 5 completed Boyz...I believe I posted progress photos of these guys in the previous post.














































More to come soon, hopefully...if I can find time to paint.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Okay...so I realized after my last post that those guys weren't quite complete. So...after some touch-ups, here's what they turned out as, for a completed lot of boyz and my warboss in a group pic.




























In addition, I started and finished a Boy with a rokkit launcher, and here he is:



















And FURTHER, I tackled one of my Deffkoptas...and here HE is...




























The Deffkopta was by far the hardest that I've painted so far...mostly because of myself, because he was fully assembled and, as such, had lots of tiny nooks and crannies to paint that were hard to get to. I'm pretty happy with it though, and might add more orky details to it later, but right now I'm just glad that it's finished. I'm sick of painting on it :security:


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## Carna (Mar 13, 2008)

They look really good mate. Your first attempts at painting shame me.


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Nice work so far. 

The boyz teef are a bit dental product ad white though, a wash or colour change to a more yellow tone might help a bit.

Great work for a first army, keep em comming.


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## Drannith (Sep 18, 2010)

Looking good, one tip for future models might be to thin down your paint as some of the areas look a bit thick.

Keep at it and post more as you finish, again great job for your first army.


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## Diatribe1974 (Jul 15, 2010)

Got a good start on things here. Keep up the good work!


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## docgeo (Jan 8, 2010)

Really great start....I am with other when I tell you that my first squad looked like giant blue SM easter eggs....lol!

A couple things mentioned that might help some

1. Try diluteing your paint a little...this will help it cover more evenly

2. Wahes are your friends and can help pick out details and give depth.

3. I love basing so think about how you want your bases to go...this can really help tie units/army together and looks great.

Keep up the great work,
Doc


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## Oodles (Feb 24, 2009)

I agree with docgeo, Use washes (or wahes as he puts it), they add shading to your model and define muscles and adds the all important rusty look that orks so lovingly crave! Dry brushing works well for rusty effects too!
And thinning out your paints will stop you filling in the detail on the model. It may mean a couple of extra layers off paint but the effect is, once again, worth it!
Overall - Two thumbs up for a newbie! As alot of the Heretics on here will tell you, our first models usually look like they were just dipped in the paint pot. Yours don't. So well done


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

I agee with the washes especially on the teef, they must brush between every meal to get them that bright. So far you'r off to a great start, a little more experimentation with highlights and washing and you've prettty much nailed it. 
Ooo have some rep.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks for the advice and comments! It's really appreciated. As far as the teeth go, plans are in development for buying more paints/washes, but I'm spending as I need while also trying to build a more workable army out of the AoBR starter set...just ordered a Trukk and added some stuff to 10 Boyz to make them an 'Ard Boyz Nob. A yellow or brown wash is definitely planned for their teeth.

I'll try thinning some to see how that works. Basically, I started off with very few Citadel paints and a few cheap (very thick and hard to work with) acrylics, and am slowly moving away from the cheap stuff. And as far as highlights go, and multiple layers of paint for different colors/shades...ha, well, I haven't experimented that far. About the only layers I do pretty consistently is a coat of Tin Bitz followed by heavy drybrush of Boltgun Metal for rusty weapons and metal bits.

And definitely going to do...-something-...on the bases. Just haven't figured it out yet. Nothing as fancy as some of the amazing stuff on here, with customized poses and lots of green-stuff, but I'm trying to figure out something.

Thanks again for the comments, and more is coming. I've still got 2 Deffkopta's, 6 Nobs, a gretchin squad and about...25 more Boyz to paint. Buh. Oh, and a Trukk...and some Loota's and/or Burna's when I order them...

Damn my brother for getting me into 40k. I used to live a normal life.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Well, I haven't posted in a while. I've just got some progress photos, on a Trukk and 3 new Boyz.

So...here's the Trukk as it stands right now...probably about 50% or so completed.

















<REMOVED DUE TO CRAPPY BLURRINESS>
<REMOVED DUE TO CRAPPY BLURRINESS>
And the driver (minus arms).









And then 3 Boyz in varying states of "I haven't touched them in two weeks" completion.










The major change I've done to my painting on the Orks is using Bleached Bone rather than Skull White for the teeth, and I think it's a much better product on that aspect...other than that...yeah. Mostly I've been working on the Trukk, and being on ebay too much catching too many good deals. I have 5 bikes and a Wartrakk on the way...le sigh.

More to come when I feel like I haven't posted in too long of a time.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Alright...this Trukk has been an absolute trial. I'm NEARLY done...and wanted to post more progress pics, and here they are. I have literally ONLY been working on the Trukk, and it's been driving me slowly insane. I have pretty much convinced myself that I do NOT want a vehicle-heavy army, although maybe vehicles that aren't owned by Orks might be a little less daunting.

Hopefully I'll be done with this (pain in my ass) Trukk later this week, and can get back to painting Boyz.










































Side Note: The skull and arrow on the sides are my first true attempts at free-handing some Ork glyphs.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

I am FINALLY done with the Trukk. I -may- go back and do touch-ups further along down the road, but right now I'm absolutely sick of messing with this thing...and I think it will be the only GW Trukk kit that I'll buy because of all the problems I had with this thing's assembly, especially with the gunner's turret. Any future Trukks will probably be the earlier Trukks, I believe Gorkamorka, that can be had aplenty from eBay. Here's finished photo's. And yes, I know the checkers on the front right grill are screwy...like I said, a future-date.


















































Also, I appropriated (read: stole) some fine-grain sand from a job-site, and did up my Warboss base...not sure how I feel about it, but it's better than just a plain black base.










Next up is completing some more Boyz, and then trying to acquire a dozen or so space marine shoulder-pads and iron gobs for my 'Ard Boyz. My buddy split AoBR set with me and he took the Marines, made them Dark Angels, and I've mopped them up 3 times so far. So I figure scavenged DA shoulder-pads for my 'Ard Boyz would only be fitting. As it stands, I've got about 20 Boyz, a dozen 'Ard Boyz and a 5-strong Nob Squad to paint, plus 2 bikes and a Buggy that I've got to do some conversions/fixes to the turret.

On that note, I had considered putting a Trukk turret on the Warbuggy...before I assembled a Trukk Turret. Now, I want no part of it. Someone brought up a Battlewagon's grot turret as an idea, one that I'll probably go with...so that'll be in the works.


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

Looking good on the trukk, i know what you mean with these being a pain in the ass, whilst their stunning models with loads of deatail...that's detail that needs painting. I love the meshing you've done on the windows.
As far as the freehanding goes you've done well for a first try, i'd recomend trying a little highlighting and shading on it to make it pop, especially the flames. Working up from white to bright yellow would give them some real depth, though with orks it's not really necisary, it's not like they're known for their artistic prowess.

I think a truck turret would work well on a warbuggy, i'd advise you paint the parts and then assemble them though. it makes it tons easier. 

oh +rep
edit: hmmm seems i repped you recently already and can't untill i've shared it out.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks Grim. I might still do a Trukk turret on the buggy. I'm going to lay off the vehicles though, and get to painting on my Boyz. It'd be nice to get the Boyz all painted. Maybe in a week or so I'll calm down about how much of a pain the turret was, and approach it again for the buggy...


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## piemaster (Oct 9, 2009)

Bleached bone is a much better colour for teef and they don't pop out and draw too mcuh attention. So far, you have good solid colour and the free hand on the trukk is really good, especially since you are new to this.

I much prefer the finer sand to the bigger grained stuff. I find that gluing the sand on before you spray your figures black is the best way. It helps stick the sand to your bases and lets you paint it withought the sand coming off. This is my top tip.

Washes are good. You can use water to dilute them a bit (and paint) to make it easier to paint on models and to achieve different consistencies. To do this you could do with an old plate (I use a food container lid) to mix the water/paint. Only use a little blob to practice with. Paint will dry out so its best to not have too much paint on your pallete.

I'd say washes to go for (if you don't have any already) are thakkara green, devlin mud and badab black. If you paint thakkara into the muscle recesses you will get extra definition on your orks. I'd start on your 'ard boyz as they have more experience (and are darker as they are a bit older) and see if you like them.


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## MrHuk (Jul 15, 2011)

I've decided I want to try my hand at painting Death Skulls and I was wondering which shades of blue you're using, especially the brighter blue.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've not given up hope on the Orks, but I honestly haven't put much time towards them in quite a while. However, I thought I might update some terrain that I built to break up the monotony of painting a ton of Orks, and here goes.

Here's some ruins I did, complete with my first attempt at modeling anything out of clay -- sandbags. 










I have some progression photos if anyone wants.


And I picked up a tower off of eBay, and used it as a template to build this one of my own, which IS painted but apparently I don't have a pic of that right now. 










I also have some Killa Kans, but don't have any progression photos on there, so I figure I'll hit that next.

Currently working: Shoota Boyz mob + Nob. Progression = Dead Snail's Pace.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

And some Killa Kans! I sadly did not take progression photos on these.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

MrHuk said:


> I've decided I want to try my hand at painting Death Skulls and I was wondering which shades of blue you're using, especially the brighter blue.


I'm very sorry I never saw your post. On my early models I used a cheap ultramarine acrylic, but now I mostly use enchanted blue with a light asurmen blue wash. I'm still working it out, and need to buy more blues to play with, but I do like the Enchanted Blue.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Pics of the 2 towers, the first is one I got pre-built off of eBay. It's made from foamboard and plasticard. The second one I built myself using foamboard and plasticard and popsicle sticks.

















Then I realized I didn't have any pics of the third Killa Kan, so here it is:

















And a group shot for fun.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

Looking good.

I do notice that your killa kans have a far different color scheme than that of your earlier boyz and trukk (especially with the addition of the green). I'm curious, what prompted the change?

(Oh, and my hat off to you for tackling a deffkopta and trukk. I'm rather worried about how long I'd take to paint one of those. And I don't even want to think about the weathering that I usually do being applied to a vehicle.)

Looking forward to seeing more of your Deathskulls.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Dicrel Seijin said:


> I do notice that your killa kans have a far different color scheme than that of your earlier boyz and trukk (especially with the addition of the green). I'm curious, what prompted the change?


Well, since DeathSkullz don't build their own stuff, they steal it. The Trukk was my attempt at, I believe, an Evil Sunz Trukk with blue paint slapped over it. The Killa Kans were my attempt at camouflage from another clan (I forget which clan it is that uses camo) that was stolen and pieces repainted blue.

Thanks for the compliment though


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Here's a small update on my mob of shoota's, along with a little converting I played around with and am pretty happy with the result. I don't like how little you are able to customize the poses of shoota boys--they're all cradling their guns against their chest in both hands, so I took out my choppa and my glue and got to doing this...










Hopefully that'll break up the pose monotony a little bit within the unit. And overall progress photos on the squad as of yesterday, sorry the pics are a little crappy. My phone takes decent pics, but I've lost the cord to my actual camera.




















Since these pics, I've finished the teeth and given the faces a final wash. Still highlighting, armor, and finishing touches to do on these 10 dudes. I've been working on their arms, and have the skin tones done on the arms holding shoota's.


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

oh god another plog to make me look lazy 

the level of detail you're putting into your Boyz is really good mate, gg and + rep


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks partner! I don't get to play often, but I really enjoy the painting when I'm able to put time aside for it. Plus I'm trying a whole bunch of new techniques and combinations to work on my arsenal of tricks when I get around to my Big Mek and my lootas...and I'm thinking about smashing together a squad of Killa Kans from various walkers...you know, for fun


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Quick update...1 Shoota Boy is completed (-some sort of basing that I haven't decided on). The rest of the squad is moving along...I only had one set of two arms complete...the rest of the non-wielding arms are still only base coated. Pretty happy with how this dude turned out, except for some user-error when gluing on the arms that wound up with them being a little wonky.

Without further ado, here he is...one angry looking, blue warpainted Boy with a big stolen gun.


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

You know i'm stealing your pics and most of your ideas right? just thought i'd better let you know that soon you will be seeing some of my nobz with blue flashes etc on there skin


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Haha, that's fine by me  I actually got six of ten boys assembled, just needing some final touchups on straps & buckles and such. Three are half assembled, needing some amount of work and Death Skullinationarizing, and my Big Shoota boy is only half completed. Late now, I might get some finished pics up tomorrow or the next night.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

That shoota boy is looking good. My only critique would be the trousers. It's hard to tell from the pic if you need another layer of color or if that's wash.

Looking forward to seeing the boyz mobbed up.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

I tried out a few different techniques on the pants, and even did urban camo pants on three or four of these guys--wish I'd gone wholly with urban camo because it looks much better. But that guy was a few coats of watered down CheapAzzzz Ultramarine, drybrush enchanted blue and then asurmen blue wash. The Asurmen Blue wash gets really dark sometimes if it pools in a place I didn't mean it to. I might go through later and add another light drybrush to bring out the seams and edges.

But, as you wish...mobbed up boys. One tragically has his arm unattached to his body, and their Big Shoota Boy is laying in pieces away from the panorama, and their Nob is still captured by evil Sprue monstrosities...but, the Boys.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

Very nice. The urban camo does look rather nice, but remember that blue jeans are very Orky. They're the only clothes that have rivets. And as we all know Orks love their rivets.

I'm curious though: what do you plan on doing for their bases? Old school green? Desert? Urban ruin?


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

I haven't the slightest idea. I have some fine grain sand, some static flock, lots of extra sprue, plasticard and cardstock...but no clue how I want to base any of my army. Right now my Warboss is on just a sandy base, with a skull bit between his feet, but I don't like it very much. I tried on a few boyz to pull off a tiled floor(as if invading some Imperial place), but didn't care for the result. I might try for something like that again, but with plasticard rather than cardstock like I tried to use.

However, my brother and buddy who also play Warhammer are wanting to put together a gaming board, so maybe I'll base after what we wind up with on that, if we ever get around to doing it.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Alright! Here we go, one 10+Nob Strong Shoota Squad. The Nob is a bash of an old Nob Arm that I have from a kit I got from eBay and an awesome Nob head from a StormBoyz squad (of which I have 2, with plans of doing neither...so they're basically just bits)and the other parts from the Boyz set.

Pretty happy with how it all turned out. There's still some touch-ups to do, but I'm moving on to making my 10-strong gretchin into 20-strong gretchin. Here's pics!


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

Looking good. I haven't said it before, but I really do like the blue that's been daubed on their skin and painted on the weapons. 

And I have to agree that stormboy head's awesome.

You mention gretchin, but I don't believe you've posted pics of them before?


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## Ring Master "Honka" (Oct 31, 2011)

only just found this plog and its nice to see the evolution of somones painting.

your shoota boys look great i look forward to your next update.

the only thing i will say is the same thing everyone has said to me might be worth drilling the barrels on the guns.

MORE ORKS +rep


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

@Ring - I plan on drilling out the barrels, but I lack an important piece of equipment. A hobby drill. I just haven't had the money to afford a visit to the hobby shop lately, but it's definitely on my to-do list. Last time I splurged at a hobby shop I bought a magnifying desk lamp for detail painting...which has been awesome for teeth.

I have not posted pics before. I have assembled and fielded a half-painted squad of Gretchin some time ago, and recently got a second box of them. But, if you want pics, I'm just cool enough to allow you to have one. ONLY ONE! And share with your friends!










Like I said, they're half-painted at best, and I just started on the other batch on them yesterday, roughing up their lighter skin tone with goblin green and thraka green. One thing I don't like is that I'm going to have duplicate poses, and if I accidentally put the same head on the same pose as another, I'll have twin grots. Gonna have to look through my bits and see what I can do to make each of them different...


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Well, I haven't been completely idle. The gretchin fell by the wayside (again). After I completed skin tones and got the other Runtherd assembled, I got irritated with all those TEENY TINY DETAILS. I'll have to tackle them in blocks of 5, I think, to get them down. However, I have started on my Lootas, of which I'll have two squads (total 8 lootas and 2 Mekboys with Kustom Mega Blasta's/Choppas). These aren't completely done, and I'm a little agitated at how poorly the kit fit itself together, but they're playable. I have quite a bit of work left on these guys, actually, because I had to do a lot of cutting and chopping to get the gun harnesses to fit around heads/legs, so there's a lot more bare plastic now than when I busted out the glue.


























































Critique is definitely welcome, these weren't my best work by a longshot. I need to buy a bigger variety of paint.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

The gretchin are looking good. You really shouldn't worry too much about identical poses. (I'm painting up another five 2nd edition gretchin and they all have the same pose.)

As for the Lootas, I have to agree with you that the kit does not fit together well. I've put mine together, but not completely glued for the eventual painting (not looking forward to it). As for your own, their guns are too clean. The gun components are looted so I'd expect more diversity in the condition of the parts. (Caveat: this is the guy that likes to weather everything.)

All in all though, good on you for the speed in which you cranked these guys out.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

I plan on hitting the guns up with a few slaps of blue, a little detail work to pick out individual components better and then wash it all with badab black and devlan mud (maybe a mix of the two, or one after the other). Nothing has been washed yet except for their skin tones, which will also probably get a dash of devlan mud as well. 

Despite being agitated at the kit, I think I'll go ahead and tackle the next four of these guys over the next week. Then I might look back on those gretchin, or the two Mekboyz, or finishing my 'Ard Boys...too much work to do, lol.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Well I've been down for a little while, still not in top shape due to some dental hijinks that my teef decided to pull on me, but it's all good. I haven't gotten much done, except for deciding how I'm going to base my minis...nothing too fancy, but I based out the Shoota squad that I most recently completed, and here's pics of the finished product.










And a close-up...

















And then I realized that I haven't taken a pic of my army all mobbed up...well, this isn't quite it, but it's where they're all mostly stored right now...










That's all on a little shelf in my office nerd room, all it's lacking of what I have currently assembled are my 'Ard Boyz, which I've officially decided to make my next project, interspersed with basing various other completed models as I go.

Future plans include another squad of Killa Kans, which if I can come up with some good ideas I might try to build myself, and possibly an older Gorkamorka trukk or two. I also have the other Loota squad and two Mekboys to do, and then my Big Mek with KFF...

Doesn't sound like much, but I'm tired just typing it out!

EDIT: Those pics are all pretty crappy. I started my Deffkopta flying bases, which will definitely show up alot better as far as what they look like over all.


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

body paint and blue paint on the guns, idea noted and shamelessly stolen 

keep it up though dude, it's all going to look very cool when it's done


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

@Hellados - Haha, you're not the first to say something along those lines for sure. I like the random bits of blue paint all over in random patterns--in the Orks Codex DeathSkulls section, it says that they not only paint stolen items blue to denote their new ownership, but that it's a sacred color--at least I think so, and if not then that's what I'm going with.

Progress has sort of halted. I'm gearing up and raiding bitz barn for a project that I want to enter into July's Conversion Challenge...it's gonna be my first big attempt at a large-scale conversion. All I need now is a crap-ton of different widths of plasticard and random tubing for gubbins. I plan on starting as soon as the month rolls over, I will post progress pics here (of course).

So, sadly, only this to share:










This being 1 of 3 of my flying bases for my 3 AoBR Deffkoptas, which I though would give a better idea of the base-scheme of my army, and hopefully of the board I eventually plan on building with my group. I have another of the flying bases 100% done, and the other (with a cool little doodad of flavor terrain on it) is 90% complete, I just have to slap a little paint and wash on one little bit.

The base is just sand applied with plain ole white glue (the kind you used to eat in school), base-coated at first with severely watered-down Scorched Brown until I blew through the rest of my pot of paint, and then just with Cheep-Azz Brown Acrylic from Wal-Mart. Heavy drybrush of (EDIT) a cheap "linen" colored acrylic, heavy application of Devlan Mud, allowed to dry, then another drybrush of Linen.

This one features a very fine, 100% genuine rock from the earth, which was given all this same process. Other bases include random bits of sprue based Chaos Black then painted with a cheap Linen acrylic (off-whitish, almost but not quite Bleached Bone in color). Static grass to satisfaction.

I wanted a pebbly looking base, like crushed or pulverized rock/gravel with a heavy feel of detritus and neglect. It's pretty vanilla, but I'm satisfied with how they look. Hopefully it'll work with either urban ruins or open wasteland battlefields.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Well, here's what I've entered into the conversion challenge for this month. Looking forward to getting onto this, and I'll be posting progress pics for critique from you cool kids on the block who are more experienced at this than I.










This is pretty much all I'm doing today, so I'll have some starting progress up later on.

EDIT:

Later on...several hours of cutting, slicing, mashing, bashing and some good-natured cursing later...some of my work in progress.

Not sure how that dozer blade is going to turn out, looks like it's going to be a very oddly uneven shape.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

I have to ask, how much did the kit cost? And I'm surprised 1:35th scale actually looks right. I've usually seen 1:38th, 1:45th, and 1:48th scale models, and rarely 1:56th.

It's a pretty good start from what I can see, though that plow does need work--have you tried heating it up with hot water, binding it to some curved surface, and leaving it to cool?

In any case, I look forward to seeing your progress.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

That kit only cost 14.99 USD, though I've traded bits and bought about 60 bucks of material since then to make it....still waiting on my shipment from bitzbarn. 

I am definitely going to redo the dozed blade. Should I use a thicker gauge sheet styrene? How do I heat it, stovetop in water or low-heat oven?

I've made some more progress on it though,and ill have another update tommorow.


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

I'm an idiot. You said hot water. Gotcha.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

I'd add that all the tutorials that I've seen said to use hot water, not boiling, and you let it sit in a container, not on the stove top. The time they say to sit varies, though all agree that the plasticard should be malleable when you do the shaping.

And keep in mind that I've yet to try any of this. I'm still trying to find a shop that sells plasticard for cheap (online shipping costs to Hawaii are brutal).


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks for the comments and advice. Here's where I stood as of last night when I finally dragged myself to bed. I'm definitely going to remove and redo the dozer blade, and I am very unhappy with the end of the barrel and got to scrounging around the house and found something 300% better to use on the end of the barrel, hopefully I'll get to that a little later tonight. However, the little model's coming together, though I still have a lot of plasticard work to do to really ork it up.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

I enlarged your photo--what is at the end of the barrel? Is that cork?

I like the ork warbuggy bitz at the back end (though I'm not sure about the origins of the others).


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

@Discrel: That was just a strip of thin cardboard from a toilet paper roll. I was unhappy with it because: A) There was a really ugly seam from where I glued the two ends of the piece of cardboard together on the barrel that no amount of filing could fix, and would take a lot of filling work to appease me; B) When I used my newly acquired pin-vice to drill the holes through the entire barrel, the opposite side from where I started punched up raw edges of cardboard that I couldn't ever get down. I'd fully ruined the entire thing by the time I was done poking around with it, and eventually just started over.

Progress last night, though not much. I've re-done the dozer blade, and I'm pretty happy with how dozer 2.0 is looking, except for the mounts in the middle. I wish I hadn't punched entirely through the card-stock, but stopped about halfway and mounted that way. I'm brain-storming about how I'm going to cover those rough patches. Help and ideas is welcome  My best notion so far is to use a thin strip of plastruct through the middle to cover them up.

So far, though, I've used bits from a warbuggy I tore apart, some random pieces from the Stormboyz box (in particular, the jetpack of one as a mount for a grot that I pulled from the Loota Boyz box and rocket packs that I cut to look like nitrous or fuel tanks), some of the random plates and glyphs you get in every box, sweat, tears, cursing and some blood from an errant hobby knife gone wild.

I'm pretty happy with the blade. though I had some difficulty getting the shape right...or getting it to shape at all. I tried bringing water close to a boil, placing it in a bowl, and dropping the plastruct in there...to no avail. Eventually, frustrated, I just boiled a big ole pot of water and chucked that sucker right in there on the stove. It warped--the wrong way from what I wanted, but the curvature actually turned out alright. I strapped it down to a small shaving cream can for a gradual curve with a liberal amount of painters tape and let it set for several hours. The blade itself is made out of 0.060 plastruct, and then I cut the "waaaagh" glyph out of 0.020 and mounted it.

So, I think next time I want to shape thicker construct, I might try a blow-dryer of something, and see how that goes. Stuff's too expensive for me to just play around with a whole lot without a purpose. There's exactly one store in Tulsa that sells it, and they're pretty proud of it.

Also, I re-did the barrel. I found a small roll of thread here at the house, and the tube it was on fit -perfectly- down the plastruct tubing I'm using for the barrel. It was almost divine. I very nearly almost found religion. But that fell flat, because I'm a heathen, but I took the thread roll anyway. After shaving and sanding rim around the edges, I mounted it to the tube and drilled holes through with my pin-vice, and I'm 100% happier with the outcome.

I'll shut up and post a few pics, though.


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## Dicrel Seijin (Apr 2, 2011)

Looking good. 

As for the mounts, you could patch them over with glyph plates, or you could greenstuff it, or a combination of both if you use thin plasticard then brush it over with liquid greenstuff (I've used this so I'm on firmer ground here) to blend in the plasticard edges. I'm not sure what look you're trying to achieve.


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

Looking really good so far. I do love me a good kitbash. I'm not a great fan of the rounded shape of the turret base, it just screams historical model kit to me and seems more in keeping with tau or eldar then orks. I'm really looking forwards to seeing what you come up with for the rest of the model. 
+ rep for daring to think outside the gw box


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## jlaughter001 (Mar 15, 2011)

@Discrel:

I'm not sure what I want either, to be honest. I've never messed with greenstuff, and my modeling clay adventures have been mostly disastrous at best. I thought about glyphs, but then I'd have glyphs sticking right in the middle of the bigger "WAAAAGH" glyph that I made...so I'm not sure. It's not as if Orks are known for their tact and style. I'm sure I'll figure something out, just haven't had the time to think on it the last few days.

@Grimzag:

I am not a big fan of the round turret myself, but it fully rotates and the barrel is adjustable (which I like and plan to keep it that way). I haven't had a bunch of plans for the turret itself, except maybe attempting some sort of trophy chain or poles sticking out of it...maybe I'll hack at it some and raid the bitz box and plasticard for something fun that I can keep functional.

Thanks for the comments and rep! I'm exhausted, Oklahoma heat is murdering me at work, so probably won't get much done on it tonight.


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