Sukigod's Ork Waaagh! Log

[sukigod]

Hello and welcome to my thread!

I am roughly 80% finished with the modification (biggification as it's known elsewhere) of the GW Battlewagon. It's a great kit but seems a but weedy for my particular tastes. So, like any Big Mek worth his squig ale, I chopped it up and made it proppa.

All previous work can be seen here... http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=38291

I took the summer off for work and other activities (all 6 season of The Sopranos anyone?) and I'm starting to set some time aside for the modeling bench.

I did sneak in a little quality time the other day with my Big Shoota boyz for the back of the battlewagon, along with getting a game day in with the friends. Here' the boyz in the back (yes, I noticed the BS barrels are NOT drilled out, they will be dealt with before sealing)

Here's how they look in place.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw66.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw67.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw69.jpg

And a quick shot of the terrible three deployed for battle in last weeks match against a Blood Angels force.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/three_sm.jpg

I went 2 for 3.

Match 1: 1250pts vs 'umie - Loss
Match 2: 2000pts vs Blood Angels - Win (wiped out)
Match 3: 2000pts vs 'umie - Win (Took both objectives in Capture and Control)

Overall, I'm happy with the switch over to a more mechanized force. Oh yeah - Zaggstrukk and his Vulcha Boyz are my new favorite unit. This paired with two trukks are awe inspiring to watch in motion.

Later!

[Ghoulio]

First off I want to say that your ability with plasticard is amazing. I love the fact that the only way you can tell where the original GW model stops and where the plasticard starts is because of the white of the plastic. I have tried a couple times with it myself, but havent really been able to accomplish anything at all.

The question I have though is actually about the weathering/chipped paint for the armor plates on your vehicle. I was wondering what technique you used as well as which colours you used. I am working on an ork army myself and I have some stuff that is working well, and some that is either too time consuming or just isnt working. Any tips you could shoot my way would be very much appreciated :)

Ghoulio

[sukigod]

Thanks Ghoulio! THe chipped paint is rather easy. Chaos Black under ALL metallics. Then a layer of Choas Black/Bolt Gun mixed 50/50. I do a quick brush over of straight Bolt Gun making sure to leave the deepest areas alone so they stay darker. Then a highlight on just the edges and the bottom sides of very deep knicks (reflect mroe from above light sources) with Chainmail.

I paint the scratches with Chaos Black, then do just the insides with Bolt Gun making sure to usually leave a very faint line of black. This is isually good enough but for larger, deeper scratches I'll do a line of Chainmail on the edge that would be on the "bottom" of the scratch.

Got some time in tonight - finished off the the Komander and his cupola.

http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw70.jpg

I think I've figured out how I'm going to finish off the Kill Kannon, it's about time. Now I'm going around and doing the detail painting. I still have to finish the Zapp Gun, Kannon, Reinforced Ram and the painting of the Ork Glyph on the 'ard Case roof - as well as finishing off the Kill Kannon. Whew!

Later!

[icecube]

I am really expressed with your plasticard/ converting abilities! I play orks too and i would love to be able to work like that!

[splnes]

man from one ork to another... Bad ***. your evil suns make my Bad moons jelous!

[Vorlon]

Wow fantastic weathering, ...very orky.

May I ask what color you primed the models?

[sukigod]

Wow fantastic weathering, ...very orky.

May I ask what color you primed the models?

Sure thing, Vorlon. I prime most of my models in black. I use Rustoleum's, Painters Touch Black Primer.

Thanks for the compliments everyone. Glad ya like it.

Putting in some more work today, although not as much on the battlewagon. Here's my unfinished solution to the plain looking Kill Kannon. I need to actually make the barbed wire but you get the idea. A bit more "gubbinzy" to match the rest of the vehicle.

http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw71.jpg

I did however resurrect an old project. Some of you may remember these....

http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes11.jpg

I'll eventually be moving this back to it's original thread (on some forums, it's got it's own thread). I took a mental break from the wagon and decided to move forward with the magnetized, swappable bikers/nobz bikers. I'm in process of finishing the bikes first, then I'll finish the boyz/nobs. I'm getting excited to field the nob bikers to see how well they really do (and how much my opponents scream "cheese").

I managed to complete the front fenders and cleaned up and primed the resin bases and bottom half of the figures so I can start painting them as well.

Til next time!

[oni]

Cool. I'm looking forward to seeing the bikes finished up.

[Alien]

hate you so much and your orky god-dom-like convershun skillz.
not to mention your baddaz painting skilz.....yep hate is the correct wording here.

[Aldramelech]

I don't 'do' Orks, but I have to say thats inspirational........

[Lord Inquisitor]

These are awesome. You are a true ork, supposed to be taken as a compliment!

[Flonky]

When I saw your Orks the first thing that popped into my head was "cos red wunz go fasta!!!"

Keep up the awesome work!

[Metcalfedan]

I absolutely love that red! Can I ask, how did you do it?

[rsheridan5]

Those are pretty impressive. Not just the excellent modelling, but the painting as well.
I am wondering if you do all of your plasticard work from scratch or do you plan them in advance. Maybe using hand drafting or some sort of CAD program?
I know the orky bitz are scratch built, but I have to admit it might be awhile before I am confident enough with my conversion talents to tear apart a $40 vehicle.
You seem to have it down though!



War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

[bodhimind]

Great red! How'd you get it that rich?

[sukigod]

Hi Everyone. Thanks for the compliments. much appreciated, it's what keeps me motiviated.

@rsheridan5: The plascticard work is a combination of on the fly and sketched out on paper. Sometimes just poking my fingers around in the bitz box a couple of time will inspire me as well. I usually sketch out the basic shapes/outlines on paper first, then start cuttin' and glueing. There are times where I have to backtrack to "fix" something that wasn't working but not to often (I've been lucky I guess).

As for the reds... a common question (you'll ask for my greens later too - you watch :) )

Primer black > Mechrite Red > Scab Red > Red Gore > Red Gore/Blood Red (50/50) > Badab Black wash > Blood Red > The final Blood Red is toned down by sealing with Testors Dulcote.

Yeah, it's a lot, but it works well enough. I think this will be the last time I do it this way on a vehicle though. I need to find a faster way to do large surface areas. I'll see what I come up with on my next vehicle (looted something, most likely).

Later!

[terricon4]

This may not have the best game results but I think a big gun sticking out of the small hatch on the side of the wagon would look good, just has to be big and look like it was smashed in place by an angry mek.

[sukigod]

Spent a little time last night and wrapped up the build on the Kill Kannon - thanks Oddballs for the idea, it seems to have done the trick.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw72.jpg

The banding did tie everything back together, might have been the lack of rivets, who knows. I like it much better this way.

I started to paint the Kannon for the front and someone, somewhere, asked me to show the steps in painting my reds - well, I remembered to take pictures! Yay!

The first pic is the coverage for the Mechrite Red (after priming, of course).

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw73.jpg


I know it's a bit sloppy, but I go back over it with Chaos Black to clean up the messes before doing the metallics. The Foundation paints are quite thick and prefer to not thin it down very much, especially when there isn't very much detail involved.

Here's the next step, Scab Red.

I'l just have to tease ya and leave ya hanging at this point, it's as far as I got last night.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw74.jpg

I'm also beginning to do the detail work on the bikes, starting with the bones/horns. Here's what I'll use in my progression and I'll take pics for each step of this as well.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bone_paint.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

This may not have the best game results but I think a big gun sticking out of the small hatch on the side of the wagon would look good, just has to be big and look like it was smashed in place by an angry mek.

terricon4: This is from earlier in the provess - a very good idea!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw54.jpg

There's a Zzap gun I can use too, magnetized.

[sukigod]

Just look at tha BONES!

This is typically how I do all bones - teef, spiked decorations, etc. I use a brush that's in kinda rough shape and "point" or push the bristles down along the bones toward the dark areas using the splitting bristles add to the straition effect at the bottoms. I also don't mind the streaks caused by the bad brushes as it adds subtle grooves in the paint that becomes a bit more pronounced when the wash is applied. The photos below don't quite show it but they're apparent enough in the final beauty shots.

This show the first step painted over black primer.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes12.jpg

Hope this helps anyone interested in painting bone.

Later!

[sukigod]

I'm pushing myself to finish the Battlewagon - longest project ever. The kannon is finished - here's the rest of the painting progression of the reds and the metals done.

I know he photos of the 50/50 Red Gore/Blood Red and the Blood Red look nearly identical, red is a bugger to correct for in PS and I can't quite get it right - suffice to say there's a subtle difference in real life.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw75.jpg

Here's where the big guy sits. This leaves the Zzap gun (which I may do much later, never field it with one), the spikey ram, and finishing up the Kill Kannon and details of that turret. Oh yeah, and the glyph on the topside of the 'ard case. Will see if it's done by Christmas! ;)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw76.jpg


And the two projects I've got going simultaneously in one shot. Whew!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes15.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

VROOOOM! VROOOOM!

Got the Dakka done on the bikers this weekend and here's how I did them for all of you keeping track at home.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes13.jpg

Here's the mob all together and glued. I've Dulcoted them since some of my previous washes and glazes we a bit sticky so now they're all sealed up. I still have the detailing like the handlebar wraps and gauges to finish up before basing, which should be pretty quick. Then it's on to the Boyz/Nobz! Yay!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes14.jpg


Later!

[sukigod]

Did some work on the bases last night - and took pictures too - Yay! Everyone loves pictures, right? Since the bases already wonderfully come textured, I'm painting this to be "close" to the rest of my army's bases. Sandy and grassy.

Here's the progression from the primed resin base...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes16.jpg

The metals were done after that and turned out like this.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes17.jpg

I don't want the base to be too bright and detract from the bike. Most of the colors will remain fairly muted as I want the bike to be the focal point and "support" the bike (heh).

In a hurry to get things done, I attached the bikes before flocking, hate it when I do that but what are ya gonna do? I'll flock the base and finish off the detail parts like the handlebar wraps and the dashboard gauges next. I did pin the models to give them support and strength.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes18.jpg

VROOOOM!

While the bikes were drying on their bases, I started the boyz legs by stickin' them down to bases with poster tack to make'm easier to handle and basing the pants in GW's Foundation Calthan Brown.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes19.jpg

I'm getting excited to get to making the upper halves after painting and attaching the legs to the bikes. The green of the grass and the skin tones I use will really make these bikers pop (at least I think) against the reds and muted tones. And the magnetizing parts pretty cool too..

Later!

[oni]

Very impressive. Keep 'em coming. :D

[sukigod]

Thanks Oni - I'll try to keep things moving along!

Here's the bikes finished. The details are painted and I've intermittenly flocked the bases. The green already adds an extra level of interest without detracting - it breaks up the boredom of dark red and metals with the pop of color nicely. The same effect should carry through when I paint the boyz/nobz - the muted colros fo the clothing and weapons offset by the brightness of the skin.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes20.jpg

Like any sharp eyed BIg Mek looking to loot anything and everything, I love heading down to the local thrift stores. Some of my best finds (especially for the dollar) are found here. The other day I came across this for $1 (it was 50% off!). The are will make a nice addition to a stompa, or both parts could easily be used as the basis for a ram and grabba klaw for a Skullhammer variant. I've got a whole storage bin full of small things like this I've picked up and will eventually do something with.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/parts.jpg


Later!

[The West Coast Knight]

Very nice work on these.
I look forward to seeing what you have next.

[sukigod]

Next!

I finally did the nob biker bodies tonight. Magnetizing the torsos, picking all the parts so they all look different, it was a little tricky figuring out how to create the right arms for the left-hand weapon nobs (which, for my work here, are all the PK nobs) and I'll show how I did it.

I usd this nob from the Black Reach set showing the cuts I made...)I have a ton of tehse guys so I didn't feel bad "sacrificing" three of them for this, besides, it was a clean cut)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes21.jpg

This particular nobs hand matches the angle of the handlebar grips supplied with the biker nob from the bikes box. Not too shabby. Shave down the shoota grip, drill out the handle space and slip some plasticard tubing in there. I didn't trim this down until I got them on the models.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes22.jpg

Now I know this isn't perfect,and there were some suggestions of pinning, but I think I'm going to call this close enough. I'll need to build out the end cap of the grip and put a strip over the finger to look like some kind of breaking device but in general, I think it's pretty good for now. Here's what it looks like in place now.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes23.jpg

I put all the legs on to give a general idea/look at what they're look like when they're all put together. Please note though that much of it isn't lining up as I didn't snap the legs all the way into place in the bikes. I've learned that some of the weapon interfere with the boot straps and I'll shave them off when I decide which legs will go on which bike so there's some alignment issues that will be solved in final assembly. This also shows the matching regular boyz bodeis that can be used as well.


http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes25.jpg

Well, that's enough for me tonight, I'm going to get some sleep.

later!

[person person]

AWESOME!!!

Definatly gonna try out your red tutorial.

[sukigod]

It doesn't look like it from the photos but I spent most of the day working on the bikers. At least a post to show progress of some sort. The legs are finished and glued down to the bikes. I also got the bodies primed and half way through the greens for the skin, through the Dark Angels wash. Only the retouching of the Goblin Green and the highlights of Scorpion Green.

Here's the situation as of tonight...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes26.jpg

It seems like it's taking forever, similar to the 40 Slugga Boyz I did earlier this year (never again). Although this time I think it's because I'm excited to do one of these...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/next.jpg

Yep, one of them is the Gazghkull I started in Jan. The other two are Snikrot and Zagstruk. I think I might force myslef to finish Gazzy and use Zagstruk as the reward.

After that, depending on when/if Uberdark and I have our Wazzdakka Challange, I think I'll finally paint the burnas I've had siting around here fro years in white primer. They're looking pretty fun too!

Later!

[person person]

Good luck and looking forward to all of it.

[Dia]

Wow. It looks like a great job and your hard (time?) work really shows.

[sukigod]

Ok, ok.... What the *#&! is he doing now?

Call me short attention span Sukigod. No, not really. I ahd a panic the other day going through my list for an upcoming tournament and realized there were some models that weren't painted - and sadly the bikers are not on that list! Here is what is...

7 Nobs + Pain Boy
Mega Armored Warboss (Gazzy)
Zagstruk
and a Trukk

The first tournament opportunity is in three weeks. I can do this right? I tried to do these nobs as quick as I could and could only manage to get two of them 90% finished in one day. I was self teaching CMS software at the same time though - wish I didn't have to but it's how I makes my livin'.

Here's where I left off with the nobs...

http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs1.jpg

I know I can do better but I'm on a really tight deadline with these. I'm shooting for less than a week on the nobs mob, 3 days for the trukk (the main color will be black so it should take less time), leaving around two weeks to finish Gazzy and paint Zagstruk.

Gaaah!

Later!

[sukigod]

There was two, now there's four...

Finished the two from yesterday and got two more done. The easy ones, anyway. Here's the front and backs (rearely show then, not sure why I don't)

http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs2.jpg
http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs3.jpg

I know, they're kinda boring and staid for my usual work, but I need them quick and legal. The next four, technically, are more complicated. 3 PK nobs. One with Bosspole, one with Waaagh! Banner and one solo. The fourth is the 3rd Ed. Mad Dok Grotsnik that will "counts as" my Painboy. Fun.

http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs4.jpg

I'm hoping to get these four finished within the week. Tally Ho!

Later.

[sukigod]

Roight! Got the skin done this evening. Still on track for finishing up by the end of the week.

The Grotsnik model is soooooo damned detailed - I might even strip this one down later and redo him to where it should be. The skin is amazing! Here's the finished nobz overseeing the ones in production.

Hop to it, lads!


http://bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs5.jpg

Later!

[person person]

Coming along very nicely.

[sukigod]

Battlewagon Update! Yay!

I finally painted the reinfored ram for the BW today. I wanted the "interior' of the "mouth" area to somewhat disappear so the "teeth" stand out more. I achieved this by shading the inside with a wash (well, two washes) of Badab Balck mixed with Chaos Black paint. This darkens it enough and still lets enough of the "metal" look through from the backing plate - the photos don't shwo it well and looks much darker than reality.

Here's some of the nobz that will be riding it into battle in the coming weeks...

'Ard Cased
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw79.jpg

and Open Topped
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw80.jpg

I'm not sure how I want to run this in the upcoming tournament yet - I've got three weeks to test it out and decide.

Here's the "beauty" shot to compare with the codex version. not too shabby. (I was going to post a pic from the codex, but I think that might get me in trouble - google it if you need a referesher and too lazy to pull out the codex)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw81.jpg


Other updates as I get them ready. (soon)

[person person]

Dozer blades vicious.

[sukigod]

Other update...

NOBZ!

Uggghhhh!!! Almost finished with the nobz mob. Thought I could have it done in a week but fell a bit short. I still need to finish off Grotsnik, the Waaagh! Banner, and base them. I don't feel too bad time-wise though as I did also get started on the other trukk and finished off the Battlewagon (enough for the tournament).

Here we are so far...

Nobz front

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs6.jpg

and back

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobs7.jpg

A few notes from todays work... I hate yellows I tried it on the powerklaws and it's a complete mess. I guess I know what I need to work on (no that doesn't mean becoming a Bad Moon can member).

My laundry list is now down to wrapping up the nobz mob, spend one night only on the trukk, clean/assemble, paint Zagstruk, and dig this guy back out.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz13.jpg

Oh yeah - the driver for my trukk has gone missing too. Hmmm, maybe he knows something I don't?

Later!

[person person]

Awesome.

[Slann]

This army is coming along awesome and at a good pace .

[sukigod]

Alright, yeah I'm a schizo mess. I'm now back to the bikers, but for a very good reason. I can't make the tournament on the 17th of Oct. but will be making the one on the 7th of Nov. This modifies my army quite a bit and so, changes my plans.

The Oct tournament was 2K list, and I so very wanted to play that one as I think my 2K list is a fairly strong list and I can play it pretty well. The downside is the tiem crunch to finish the necessary models. The Nov match up gives me an extra three weeks to paint. Yippeee! The downside is it's only a 1500 point tournament. The twist being two-fold. One, there's going to be four matches throughout the day instead of the usual three - four 1.5 hour games. Two, each match will have some sort of Chaos God tie in as the tourny is a Chaos God themed tournament. Sounds fun to me. MY personal downside is I'm not sure how I want to make up my 1500 point list - the upside is I've got three extra weeks to playtest and decide.

With that in mind, I've decided to drop the mega-warboss (Gazzy) and Zagstruk and Da Vulcha Boyz due to points. Now I'm not rushed to get them done. I'll be running at least one mob of nobs, I'm just not sure right now if I'll be using them on bikes or putting a couple in a battlwagon. I'm not comfortable enough yet to run two mobs of nobs because I think at this point level, I need them elsewhere.

I've decided to first finish the bikers mob (both the regular boyz and the nobs bodies) and then the foot sloggin' Nobs. There's not much left to them anyway, a Waaagh" Banner and the painboy. I still need to paint the trukk though. So, on to the photo...

Wrapped up the skin finaly with the Goblin Green and Scorpion Green highlights.


http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes27.jpg

Here's the bike with a standard boy attached...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes28.jpg

Now on to the jackets - the regular boyz's jackets will be black and the nobz will be a deep red.

Later!

[Aldramelech]

Those bikes look great.

[sukigod]

HEy, I finished something! (well, over half of something). The regular biker boyz are done. Now I get to paint up the nobs bodies. Because of my previous list change and considering the biker nobz, I'll need to make a painboy and warboss on bikes. But for now, here's the bikers.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes29.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes30.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes31.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes32.jpg

Once I'm finished with the nobz, I'll take the beauty shots and post.

Later!

[sukigod]

Got some small work started on the biker nobz bodies. Partially for cohesiveness and partially out of laziness, I'm painting all of their shirts the same dark red color. I wanted something similar to my Warboss (from the A0BR set) which was a little different approach.

I wanted a darker overall look as much of my reds usually go all the way up to a highlight with Fiery Orange. This time I was looking at Blood Red being my final highlight. I also wanted a different shadow color and went with a Purple Ink and was pretty happy with it. Thinking about it, I wondered why GW didn't make a purple wash? Wait, they do! I just don't have any here and didn't want to waste the gas to go get it. Looking around I do have Asurman Blue and Baal Red. What the heck...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/purple_wash.jpg

This is my mix on the palette, nice and dark - a bit darker than the GW wash.

Here's how it looks wet on top of a banner based w/Mechrite Red and layered with Scab Red and then Red Gore.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/purple_wash-wet.jpg

Here's how it looks on the same base colors on the nobz shirts.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/purple_wash_nobs.jpg

And dried on the banner...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/purple_wash_done.jpg

Not too bad. I've since re-layered the reds back to Blood Red and things are looking more muted and subtle. I'll take more pics soon. Thought I'd share the "new mix" with anyone interested.

Later!

[sukigod]

Hey Folks!

Here are the promised pics of the red brought back up to Blood Red after the purple wash.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes33.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes34.jpg

Later!

[person person]

Purple wash looks awesome.

[sukigod]

Finished the bikers off last night - woohooo! Here's the quick, off the workbench, pics. I'll do up the pretty ones later this week (for posting at CMON and The Waaaghs! Trophy Rack).

First off is the bikes with boyz, then the same bikes with nobz.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes35.jpg

Then the nobz, 3-up so you can see them better.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes36.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikes37.jpg

Next up is a trukk to finish (it's primed) and maybe Zagstruk. I'll be testing out a 1500 pt list with him in it tomorrow night and depending on how that goes, he might be after that. I do have four objective markers to whip up in the next month as well (bring your own markers tournament)

Later!

[MightyOrang]

great job on the battlewagon -- the gun crew nests on the sides with the big shootas are excellent.

[person person]

Interchangible bodies are great.

[sukigod]

Hey all - started work on some objective markers for the upcoming tournament. I need four, I might make a couple more while I'm "in the zone".

Here's the first one - a bit of a redneck party theme. Beer, guns and 'heavy metal! Biker Barry for scale.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj_1.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj_2.jpg

There will be some standard tropes - the "hiddun - sekrit hatch" with the usual escape hatch in the ground as it's simple and quick. Another will be nothing but guns and ammo, and another with a crashed cockpit of sorts (some of you looooong time geeks/nerds should recognize the source when you see it).

I'm also looking at making a warp-y generator thing (like a Big Mek lost it somehow) and an orkish sentry gun thing. All very early thought/design stages right now - which means it's a box of bits I pulled, let's see how it all goes together!

Later!

[Lindargo]

Wow, your painting style is just like mine! But better! Great job!

[therealjohnny5]

diggin it man i love good objective markers.

[sukigod]

Ok - I'm cheap and I like to torture myself by seeing if I can do things that sometime really don't need to be done. Take magnetized, swwappable boyz/nobz warbikers. You don't really need to but for some reason I felt compelled to do it - call it a "proof of concept". Well, here's the proof.

Most of the nobz bodies are from the AoBR set. The handgrip arms for some were grafted from the nobz and modified to look like they're gripping a throttle. They're not perfect (I know I could have pinned them) but I can live with the results - I'm not going to a GD contest with'em.

Without further adoooooo...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers1.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers2.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers3.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers4.jpg

One in a series of three posts.

[sukigod]

Round two...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers5.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers6.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers7.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers8.jpg

[sukigod]

....and the final four.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers9.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers10.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers11.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/bikes/bikers12.jpg

[sukigod]

Started two more markers this morning. The "seekrut place" is quick and dirty, most of the work will be foliage so won't be seen until it's nearly finished. The other is the base for the Bik Mek's Thingy. Those with vision imparement might recogize the base for the device. I've had Lasik surgery a year ago and no longer need this. I'll be attaching wires and some other bitz and bobz to "make it work".

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj3.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj4.jpg

Later!

[Hephesto]

Those magnetized bikers are very cool. Good thing you said you'd used magnets, could have fooled me ;)

[Aldramelech]

Very, very nice.....

[Heroka Vendile]

awesome job, like the bulking-out on the Battlewagon and the paint job is superb

[sukigod]

I'm keeping this simple and added just some wires to make it electrical in nature,. I'll try painting a glowing effect later.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj5.jpg

Here's the basis for the fourth marker. Should be pretty cool. (I'm teasing for now)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj6.jpg

Later!

[MarshalAdamar]

Amazing work! I love the paint jobs on the wagons. I have to say, as a Death Skull, don't leave those things parked in our neighbor hood (Cause we have a couple that happen to look EXACTLY like those) 'cept blue of course and we wouldn't want to get them confused in the dark and all. (GRIN)

Again, way cool man. Way cool

Thanks for posting pics.

[rsheridan5]

That is probably the most interesting use of a contacts case as I have ever seen. I am contantly amazed by people's creativity in expanding this hobby. You are no exception. I can't wait to see those markers painted. Especially the Mek one!

[person person]

4th objective marker looks like a gundam cockpit bit. Or some other mecha-anime thing.

[sukigod]

OK - haven't been posting much because I'm really busy in real life. Go figure. Here's the latest update though, a small one at that.

I went back over my upcoming tournament rules and they specifically mention bringing four 25mm based objectives, that means all the work I've done on these markers with 40mm bases are for naught in the short term. Here's my quick work on four 25mm objective markers.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj7.jpg

I need to finish a bosspole and finish the details on the Painboy (Mad Doc Grotsnik) and my tournament army will be finished. Yay!

Later!

[sukigod]

Just a quick update, finished the last two pieces of my 1500 point puzzle and here it is in total.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh.jpg

I'm carrying it on a breakfast tray, it's all I could find at short notice. I don't have time to custom build one so it'll have to do.

Later!

[rsheridan5]

You continue to impress me. You will have to let me know how the ork mech army plays. I am interested in doing something like that.
Really inspiring stuff there man!

[person person]

Thats some stunning work.

[icecube]

i agree.

[Cryl]

Beautiful

EDIT: on second thoughts perhaps beautiful isn't the right word for an ork! But you get the sentiment I hope :)

[sukigod]

OK, I know this "update" will suck because I have no pics but I wanted to at least let everyone know I'm still here and will be starting up all new projects soon. I also wanted to share how the tournament went and what I learned (and boy did I learn a lot!)

On the upside, I took Best Painted Army, enough cash to pick up another battlewagon. Yay!

The downside is I learned a lesson the hard way that I play too safe with my boyz. The tournament was a little different than most I've attended. The biggest difference was four matches at 1.5 hours each. Not much time but it made sense within the theme of the tourny. Each match was scored on Win, Tie, or Lose with a few extra points available for misc things. Here's how things went and then I'll fill you in on what I did wrong.

Match 1: vs. Biker Ork Army
Outcome: Loss by me

Match 2: vs. fish'ead
Outcome: Loss by me

Match 3: vs. Drop Pod beakies
Outcome: Loss by me

Match 4: vs. fish'ead
Outcome: Loss by me

Sad really. My opponents and I talked after each match and three out of four said "If it had gone one more round, you would have easily taken the entire game." The only one I didn't have a chance was the first fish'ead player who frankly outmaneuvered me after I made a few bad deployment decisions and I totally earned that beating.

My mistake was playing like the game was going to go four or five turns, holding back to make the "grab" in the last round to take objectives which each mission was based on. The problem was we never played a fourth, much less fifth turn because of the time constraint. Not complaining. Each table had the same time issues and dealt with it, I apparently just didn't take notice and played slower instead of ramping up and trying to win the game in three turns.

Which brings me to a piece of wisdom brought to be three days later by Bell of Lost Souls (I love irony). Practice with your army not only as to how it plays against other armies, but practice to finish or win within the time limit set in the tournament. I know, genius and readily apparent in hindsight.

Not all was bad though. Even though I finished absolutely last tactically, I earned enough point from the painting that it ended up placing me squarely in the middle of the pack. And just because I'm like that, I averaged out the points if we had one more round and I had indeed taken those games? Would have been first or second overall. Oh well. That's why there's always a next time.

BTW: The tournament was held at Tower Games in St. Paul, MN and was one of the nicest gaming experiences I'v ehad in my gaming career. Friendly people, very accommodating store, most armies were painted up full, I will be attempting to attend every tourny they throw. Great jobs Adeptus Minneapolis and Tower Games!

Other news, I'm starting to put together the next iteration of Red Jacks Waaagh! by adding BURNAS!!! My new favorite units. Used them spectacularly in a battlewagon last night against Grey Knight termies and smoked'em. WHoohoo! I'll start painting them up this week and start work on Zagstruk as well as I'm liking the way he's worked for me the last few friendly games.

Pictures next time, I promise!

Later!

[sukigod]

OK, I promised you photos this time.

These aren't really up to par but done under duress of timeline to use in a tournament. I'm happy with how they look for the time I put into them. I'm thinking i'll redo Mad Doc Grotsnik sometime in the future as well.


My Nobz Mob on foot (I know one isn't based - whoops!)
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nobs/nobz_small.jpg

25mm Objective Markers
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/objectives/obj8.jpg

Mad Doc Grotnsik (used counts as Painboy)
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/mad_doc_grotsnik.jpg

Now I start my slow progression of adding new units as I change up my playstyle and experiment with different things. Burnas and Zagstruk are definitely on my list next. Then maybe back to Gazzy - who knows?

Til next time...

Later!

[Aldramelech]

Not up to par? Look good to me.....

The Lamp on the objective is very nice.

[person person]

Yellow PK is great.

[NealSmith]

Love your stuff! Now I want to go home and break out some of my Orks! :)

[Lerra]

I'll have to stop by the next Adeptus Minneapolis tournament to see this army in person! I usually attend their tournaments but couldn't make the last one (just started a new army). That group is a fun bunch of players though. If you play AJ (Black Templar) stomp him into the ground for me. I owe him a few ;)

Grats on best painting!

[sukigod]

Thanks everyone!

@Lerra: I did play AJ and got stomped by the stores Tau force. Completely my mistake and made some horrific choices - great guy though and I learned a lot. Hopefully I'll be there for the one they mentioned in Jan.

[sukigod]

The culmination of 10 months of work (they're never quick with me are they?!) Heavily modified and magnetized version of the stock GW Ork Battlewagon. I wasn't happy with the overall scale of it so took matters into my own hands. The vehicle has been "biggified" (is that one or two "g"'s?), widened by about and inch and lengthened around two inches. This original size/mod is based on DocNuk's version on The Waaagh! forums. Much Kudos to DocNuk. The rest is all mine with input/comments/critiques from various forums.

You can see the full WIP blog here...

http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=38291

The front end had been reconstructed along with a custom built re-enforced ram to match the image in the Ork codex. The kannon (which is magnetized along with the zappa) has been moved to the front left of the crew cabin. The 'ard case has been modified to fit the new size and a boarding plank added on the passenger side. A modified mounting plate for a modified turret to house the double-barreled Kill Kannon was made as well.

A long journey I don't think I'll be taking again any time soon, one a year is a enough for me!

Please vote if you can at Cool Mini Or Not!
http://coolminiornot.com/237412

Enough babbling, on to the pictures....

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw82.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw83.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw84.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw85.jpg

Thanks for stopping by!

Sukigod

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw86.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw87.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw88.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw89.jpg

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw90.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw91.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw92.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/nbw/nbw93.jpg

[NealSmith]

WoW! I think I have my "model" for how I want to paint mine now! :)

[Kieranator K82]

By Gork (or possibly Mork), that is COOL!
Certainly one of the most awesome Battlewagon I have EVER seen. Many Kudos and Teef to ya!

[person person]

Agreed, thats the best. The dozerblade gives it a nice Grimdark feel. Plenty o' dakka too. Never seen a Twin-linked Killkannon!

[sukigod]

Back on the squig again.

After a few weeks off from 40K for real life (tons of work, etc) I finally got time in with my favorite xenos rabble. The newest unit to my stable will be a mob of burnas (weeeee -wooosh!). I've got four of the new models made from regular boyz and bitz I won in an auction so I don't have the heads from the box. I've also got six of the original 2nd/3rd Ed models in metal. Frankly, these are some of the best models made in those editions and I prefer these over the new ones any day. I'm also waiting out to add 2-4 four more of the Kommando Burna variety as soon as I can find/afford some as they're pretty sweet as well.

Anyway - on to the pics. A couple of knuckleheads (the four made from misc parts).

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas1.jpg

And the skin on the rest of the parts. I'm doing these in small batches to keep myself from going stir crazy.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas2.jpg

This is part of a revamp of my tournament army, swapping out the lootas for burnas, adding the deff rolla to the battlewagon (the original one) and adding a trukk boyz mob and a large mob of Vulcha Boyz with Zagstruk. He's my new favorite model of the month now as I've successfully deepstruck with him everytime I've used him. Works for me!

Later!

[sukigod]

On with the Burna Love!

A call to arm! Waaagh! I' finished the arms this morning and will be moving on to the bodies this afternoon. I'm adding some blacks to these guys in the form of the gloves and the shirts and pants on the torsos. For some reason I can see this working well - add some reds for accent colors and a few checks and we'll be good to go. A slight deviation from my normal scheme but not wildly different - they should still "blend" with the rest of the army.

Here's some arms...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas3.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

OK, so I lied. Once I sat down and looked at the burnas for a minute I decide to paint the shirts a bright red, something a little different. Here's the bodies finished. I didn't detail the backs as they'll be covered by the burna tanks.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas4.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas5.jpg

I've started work on the burna parts and will leave the tanks til the end. Lots of fun those'll be!

Later!

[person person]

They look great.

Always loved that face on the metal burna.

[sukigod]

Well, not much to post yet on the painting front but I do have a treat (for myself anyway). Got to bring the "big" camera home this weekend and take some full up army shots. I will post some of the burnas work later today, but for now, here's what Red Jack's painted portion looks like by years end...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh/waaagh1th.jpg

Link to large one - around 2MB. PIcture one (http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh/waaagh1.jpg)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh/waaagh2th.jpg

Link to large one - again, around 2MB. Big Pic Two (http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh/waaagh2.jpg)

And a close up...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh/waaagh3th.jpg

And full size - Close Up (http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/waaagh/waaagh3.jpg)

There's roughly 4,500 points there. Sad thing is, I've got at least that (not including Apocalypse models and ideas) still in various assembled/primed and boxed stages. Sheez!

I'll post some new work later today!

Later!

[Aldramelech]

Impressive!

[sukigod]

OK - some promised burnas pics. These dang burnas are just as fiddly as the lootas are! It's taking me forever to finish'em up since there's no real way to "assembly line" them because each one is so different. I'm nearly done with the second one as well - I might get it finished tonight.

I do need to do a scorched effect at the end of the burnas too, something I'll do all at once, just before sealing.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas6.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas7.jpg

Later!

Edited:
Finished the second one - two down, eight more to go!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas8.jpg

[gorepants]

Looking good. Like that red.

[person person]

There's roughly 4,500 points there. Sad thing is, I've got at least that (not including Apocalypse models and ideas) still in various assembled/primed and boxed stages. Sheez!

Well I wish you alot of luck then. Speaking of Orks in Apocalypse...

http://ironhands.com/minelayer.htm

[sukigod]

Thanks person! Is that minlayer yours? I've got my eyes on building one down the road and this one's as good a lootin' version as I've seen.

They're multiplying! (they're orks, of course...)

The first four burnas are nearly done. I've just got some touch ups (small things I forgot) and to apply some sort of heat effects and scorch marks.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas9.jpg

To keep things interesting, I'm going to do the rest (another six of the classics) two at a time. Next up is a painboy on a bike for my biker nobs, then two burnas followed by Zagstruk, followed by another two burnas. Then finish off my trukk, then the last two burtas. Hopefully I'll be able to complete all of this by the end of Jan.

Later!

[person person]

Burnas look awesome es. the metal headed one.

Although the minelayers not mine, still plenty of more orky goodness on that site.

[sukigod]

Started work on some more burna boyz today. Had a couple games over the weekend and used a slightly different list and found I'm pretty happy with it. I'm going to try it out against a few other army types in the next month - I hope it works out because it would mean I have less models to paint before the end of Jan!

Anyway, here goes. Here's two of the older metal burnas. Very nice models, one of my favorites. I've had these boyz a looooong time and feel pretty good about finally getting paint on'em. I got as far as the skin and shirts...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas10.jpg


They were primed white (since that's how I started way back when) so I brush painted two of them Chaos Black to start. I'm hoping to find (getting tougher...) the particular brand of black spray primer I use this week for the rest and Zagstruk. With my new list I only need to paint 7 more burnas and Zagstruk - completely doable in the time frame. I'm working on the burnas in pairs to chop the workload up a bit and try to stave off burnout (heh). When they're done I can spend a goodly amount of time making Zaggy a really special paintjob.

BTW: My Zagstruk is 9 for 9, dead on with his deepstriking - my new single favorite model....

Later!

[Pherion]

These guys look great :-P Do they run 7 inches because they are red?! Have you tried them in a Truk yet? 10 man strog in an open topped vehicle is disgusting :-P

I'd like to see a few close up pics of the leather if you could. I'm interested in how you got that particular color.

[sukigod]

Thanks Pherion! No, thery don't run due to red - only vehicles get that (I wish they did though!). I don't run them in a trukk as I've got a dedicated battlewagon w/deff rolla and KKF Big Mek they ride around with. Tears up pretty much anything they get near.

The straps are done like this... Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, then Snakebite Leather. The colors are mixed together in progression to make the transistions smoother. I'll try to get a closer shot for your in the next update.

Later!

[sukigod]

Got the mask (arg, haven't finished the lenses..) done on one of the burnas today. Figured I've got enough time, it'll try to do them really nice.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas11.jpg

We did our xmas today at our house (multiple families and all that) and from my daughter, i received this...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas12.jpg

Love my daughter, she buys me tanks to loot! Good little grot... After unwrapping it and coming up with ideas for what/how I was going to loot it into, I noticed something familiar...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas13.jpg

Yeah - I thought so too. Someone, somewhere cast them and used them here, on a $10 Target toy tank. Nice!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good Waaagh!!!

[sukigod]

I'm willing to bet I'm the slowest painter here.... (no - not that I paint the least - I do paint, just not quickly...)

I finished off two more burnas last night. Only 5 more to go (four for this unit and one to go with the Kommandos unit), and Zagstruk. I'm hoping to get the burnas finished in a week or two so I have a long time to spend on painting the special character.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas14.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas15.jpg

Rant: Damn Krylon and Rustoleum seem to have discontinued making black primer sprays - either that or there isn't a single store in the surrounding area that carries/orders it anymore. Sum-*****es. I tried a $4 can of Valspar black primer out of desperation, it was the only black spray primer I could find. Valspar primer is the worst primer on the planet - bar none. Still tacky after four days so into the (Simple Green) Dip the burnas go. I will be searching out the automotive stores today in search of the Primacolor automtive primers. I've read it's pretty good so let's hope everyone is right. I don't want to have to prime white/grey and then repaint black just to get started start.

Rant Over

On a good note - I did get the Forgeworld Masterclass Modeler's book for Christmas. Now all I want to make/paint is tanks. This book is the best military modeling book I've seen. This is the type of resource I would have killed for back in the early eighties when I was doing most of my military kits. Sure, there were the magazines but you only got bits and pieces in each issue- nothing all encompassing. There were a few books (which I still have) but to be honest, most of the books were printed in black and white and the few that had color plates weren't all that good.

I know things have changed in the last 20+ years, especially with the advent of the internet and cheap distribution of knowledge about niche hobbies, but this makes me itch so bad to get back to doing tank kits again. All I've got to do now is work/save towards an airbrush setup and it's all out for me. The first vehicle to get this new treatment will be a third battlewagon for my ork force. Then the stompa will get it's day.

After that, I've got a Tamiya M1A1 kit with a few Verlinden upgrades I've been saving for nearly 15 years that will finally get done. I was an M1A1 tank crewman in the service and I've been waiting to do this one up right, just like my old tank, but didn't want to do a half *** job with it. This gives me the inspiration to finally tackle it. Enough with the nostalgia...

I'll keep you posted as usual.

Later!

[person person]

Can't wait, sounds like I should try to get the IA Masterclass next time I get the oppurtunity.

[Alvin K]

Great job, you're one of the few people who I've seen painting Orks very patiently and nice. I love them. Though mine is very authentic, I speed paint them.

Consider me your new fan-boy.:p

[Stormlord Aeirling]

Very nice looking orks. The burnas are particularly well done.

[sukigod]

Thanks to everyone for the Duplicolor recommendations - works like a charm. It's a little on the "light black" side but easily overlooked for what I need it for. Very thin coat and the paint works well on it.

On to the pics for the day..

Primed and did the skin on the next four burnas. Hoping to get these fellas done by the end of the long weekend so I can concentrate on Zaggy (and quickly do one last burna for the Kommandos).

Burnas with green skin... (about 2.5 hours of work)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas16.jpg

I'll post over the weekend as I get certain areas done - just to keep myself motivated.

Later!

[person person]

Keep it up and happpy New year!

[sukigod]

Thanks person person - Happy New Year to you as well!

It's all about the faces!

Finished the heads this morning, on to the clothing and boots.

Time on faces/goggles: 1.5 hours.
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas17.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

Finished the clothing parts - tops, pants and boots (minus the soles).

Another 2.25 hours.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas18.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

80% done. Finished most of the burnas. I've got the wrappings from the backpacks and the burnas left - things are progressing smoothly and on schedule! I wonder how that happened?

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas19.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas20.jpg

Tomorrow I'll do the tutorial on the straps and ropes (as per DocNuks request). Til then,

Later!

[person person]

Alternating Blue and red looks nice, makes the models look more different.

[sukigod]

Thanks person person. I normally would have painted four different colored tanks but Ineed a bit more speed for these to get onto the next project.

OK - Here's the tutorial for how I do my leather straps - nothing super fancy, pretty much the usual. I originally got this from the internets so I'm just showing you how someone else did it.

I started by cleaning up the straps, making them all black and trying my best to separate them out from the surrounding areas.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas21.jpg

I'm showing you photos really close up so you'll see how messy it can be close up. I paint my "regular joes" to just a high tabletop and you can see the messiness of the work in these photos. More steps and thinner paint makes for a smoother transition and cleaner paintjobs - I reserve that for the special characters and bosses.

On to the ugliness!

The first step is Scorched Brown. This is laid down evenly across the entire strap. Since this color is already so dark I don't feel the need to leave any black at the edges of the strap or the rivets/studs.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas22.jpg

Step two (or three after clean up) is Bestial Brown. This is used to give a base color to the straps and define the actual outline or edges of the straps.This is where I start pulling back and leaving some of the Scorched Brown showing to give definition to the separate areas. I do this in two or three thin coats, building up more paint in the higher areas and more open spaces such as between the rivets/studs.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas23.jpg

The next step (and final for the actual leather areas) is Snakebite Leather. This is layered much like the previous Bestial Brown. A few thinner layers with more layers applied on the highest spots and also giving the sharp edge a little highlight for a little extra definition.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas24.jpg

It all doesn't look like much while going on but building up these layers from dark becomes second nature after a while and really makes for some smooth and more natural transitions.

Part II Coming Up! (image limit)

[sukigod]

Part II...


I did the studs in a quick and dirty NMM style using Chaos Black to re-dot the studs (I'm kinda messy remember?), then a dot of Chaos Black mixed 50/50 with Codex Grey. A spot of straight Codex Grey on that with a highlight of Fortress Grey for reflection.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas25.jpg

Now, in all reality, I didn't get a really got coat of those colors in the perfect places, I'm not anywhere near that good. What it does do is give preceding layers something to sit on and sometimes it works out. The ones that don't? Say something like "Orks aren't perfect and they're supposed to be beat up and dirty" or "It's for variation. We don't want them all the same, do we?" Yeah, that's it! The point being, for high-tabletop standard, it's pretty good.

I also have one last trick up my sleeve and that the knowledge that the final varnish (I use Testors Dulcote) will defuse the light enough to smooth the trasitions all over the model. Here's what that difference looks like.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas26.jpg

The middle burna has been sealed already, notice the colors a bit muted (a side effect of the Dulcote - I highlight one step higher to negate this for the finished product) and the straps/studs are a little smoother than the boyz unfinished.

I hope this helps anyone (especially you DocNuk!) and I'm more than happy to show people how I do things, I like to teach - at least those willing to learn!

Later today I'll show you how I did the ropes holding down the dual tank burnas.

Later!

[sukigod]

Ropes!

Here's the second part of the tutorials DocNuk requested.

I'm assuming you've read the preceding tutorial on the straps (it's a few posts up...) so I'm not going to go over everything or reasoning, I'm just going to list what colors I used and how.

Here's the start, the boyz with the ropes blackened and cleaned up and the paints I'll use.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas27.jpg

The close up and uglies...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas28.jpg

Scorched Brown base much like the straps.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas29.jpg

From here on out I'll show the palette along side the boyz so you can get an idea of how to mix this as there's no recipe, it's all by sight and what I feel like. I've added a bit of Graveyard Earth to the Scroched Brown nad mixed it out on the palette. It may look like a lot of paint but it needs to be enough so I can add more to it down the road - you'll see this in the following progressions.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas30.jpg

Part Two Coming........

[sukigod]

Ropes! -Part II

From here I'll add a little more Graveyard Earth, go over the twists on the ropes and add a little more Graveyard Earth and go over once more. The final step here is straight Graveyard Earth.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas31.jpg

From here I'll move into adding Kommando Khaki to the Graveyard Earth for highlighting. These last two steps are only applied on the highest areas of the twists, the underside of the ropes under the tanks will get none of this paint - it enhances the depth. The last step is a touch of straight Kommando Khaki for a highlight.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/burnas/burnas32.jpg

Again, I've included the finished, Dulcote sprayed, burna along with the two I've just worked on for reference as to how it will look once sealed.

Thanks for looking and hope everyone enjoys these - maybe I'll do more...

Later!

p.s. you're welcome DocNuk!

[sukigod]

Yipee! I'm kinda excited to start work on Zaggy tonight as I get to break out some new brushes I've been saving for a special character.

Here's the skin finished on Zagstruks head. I need to clean up the eye socket a bit as the camera shows all the uglies without any compassion.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag2.jpg

No work until Wed night at the earliest as tomorrow is game night and I'm playing for the next tier (friendly competition pyramid at the LFGS) against the local Necron master. Should be interesting as I've played against Necrons the last two weeks and won both matches. He's definitely a better general than the last two. I'm not too worried though.

Later!

[sukigod]

Went through and finished off Zaggy's head, or at least I thought I did til I saw his unfinished earrings in the pics....grrr. Oh well.

I did one more highlight layer before trying some NMM on the chains on the hat, not too bad for not having much experience doing that sort of thing.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag3.jpg

I'm not going to try and re-imagine Zagstruk as he would look in my army so he'll be painted pretty much standard GW color scheme so no great surprises or ideas, just trying to do a really nice job.

Later!

[person person]

NMM looks great.

[Crimthaan]

AWesome paint job man, really awesome. Very orky and very crisp and smooth.

[sukigod]

Thanks everyone!

Big update today! Well, maybe not big, but a lot of photos!

I fixed/finished Zag's head last night and whipped up a the head for the final burna for my Kommandos mob while I was waiting for Zagstruk's primer to dry. Here are both results...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag5.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag6.jpg

Not too shabby for waiting around.

Here's your hobby tip/trick for the day. Hate sanding/scraping off paint to get clear, clean surfaces for gluing? Here's how to solve that. Get yourself some poster tack/sticky tack and put small amounts on the spots where you will be gluing the parts together down the road. Prime, then pull off the poster tack. Viola! Clean metal surfaces for glueing!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag4.jpg


Ok, on to the real updates. All I got accomplished this morning was his pants and shirt. I had a mid-course correction on my paint scheme idea after looking around and making some decisions about what I was going to paint what. The original idea was to pretty much paint it verbatim to GW's version. After doing some research I thought it would be cool to do the upper parts of the mechanical power legs in black and only doing the klaw feet in bare metals so it would attract your attention better to what makes him special - those powerklaw feet!

I came to the conclusion that black hat, black clothes, black metal... you see where this is going. I was looking for a little more definition between parts so I choose a blue. It's still somewhat dark but doesn't blend right in with the metal uppers of the legs. It also give the leather straps going all over and around his legs something better to stand apart from. So with that in mind I went after a final color close to a lighter navy blue. Here's the process...

Necron Abyss Foundation - thinned like regular paint.
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag7.jpg

[sukigod]

Cont.

Regal Blue of the foundation.
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag8.jpg

Regal Blue blended through four layers to Ultramarines Blue
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag9.jpg

Ultramarines Blue mixed two layers to a highlight of Hideous Blue (my favorite blue higlight color and no longer available... dang)
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag10.jpg

A thinned wash of Asurman Blue to blend the transitions and shift the brightness down a notch towards a more subdued blue - more like a worn Navy/Air Force jumpsuit than denim.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag11.jpg

The highlights might seem a little bright yet but I know they're flatten out and not be so sharp after Dulcote sealing.

Later!

[person person]

That is a nice blue.

[sukigod]

.....and I'm spent.

Straps!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag12.jpg

Then I watched Monsters vs. Aliens (fun) then The Story of Anvil (depressing, for them).

'til Wed...

Later!

[sukigod]

Started work on what I think is the most difficult part of this model for me. I've never tried this but I'm looking for a shaded black for the upper legs. I'll be going slow and I'm in no rush - I've got til the end of Jan to finish for the tourny - so here's the first whack at the shading part.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag13.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag14.jpg

Now, this is a pretty advanced technique for me, shading into different colors. I've gone from Chaos Black to a bit of Codex Grey. Then I shaded the top of that with Chaos Black mixed with Space Wolves Gray to give it a little color and blue shade the black. Then I went over it with a very blended (hopefully) application of a small touch of Choas Black mixed with Kommando Khaki to give it a dusty, shaded appearance.

The photos at my workbench do an abysmal job of showing the shading as it's a fairly subtle application. I think it looks a bit messy at the moment but I will be adding a highlight along most of the edges to give the legs much more definition. I plan on doing the skull on the one knee white, the other knee will receive the checkerboard treatment and the rivets/bolt heads in actual metals.

I'm also going to attempt something I've read about on the feet. A NMM in metals technique. Maybe not literally, but that's the idea. I like the idea of the feet really standing out in the lower half so I'm hoping it works out.

Later!

[gorepants]

That black has a good start on it. Think it'll turn up a treat when the final highlight is done. I like the subtlety of the shading - it makes it look nice and black.

I like the idea of NNM with metalics, especially contrasted against a very matt mini. Something to watch for is that when you dullcote it you may just end up with NNM since the dull flatens out most of the metalic sparkle. On one of my minis I decided to add a wash of metalic silver powder (from Mig) to the highlights and the darker carbon steel over the dark to add back the sparkle. These were mixed with satin varnish so they were table ready and would have a hard time getting rubbed off!

[sukigod]

Thanks for the advice gorepants. I'm aware of how the Dulcote effects the mteallics from GW but had never thought of dusting metallic pigments to bring the shine back.

OK. Spent some time tonight with Zaggy's legs. Got the large portions of the legs and feet finished. I've got a few small areas to clean up and smaller details to paint like the rivets/pins for the legs (which will be done in metals), the hydraulics and some selective grease and dirt in the hinge/scissors joints areas.

The first two pics show the highlighting on the upper legs and the others are varying views of the finished feet. It's tough getting a decent picture of the lower half of this guy from more than one angle and the reflective metals aren't helping either!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag15.jpg
Finished metals on feet - I think they turned out rather well. They stand out nicely from the "black" uppers and will jump out even more after basing.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag17.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag18.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag19.jpg

Later!

[Col_Festus]

I have to ask, what do you overcoat your models with, if you do at all that is?

[sukigod]

Hi Festablo: I assume your mean to seal the model when it's finished? (if not, feel free to clarify). I seal everything with Dulcote (I'll do this a number of times during the process to seal certain steps) and I prime with automotive primer - Duplicolor specifically.

Quick update. Doesn't look like much more got done but I spend three hours tidying up and doing small stuff. I can start on the upper half of the torso next.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag20.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag21.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag22.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

Spent some more time on Zagstruk today, small update. Finished the main body and started the left arm. I wish the colors would photograph correctly at my workbench as some are off abit and nearly impossible to color correct in p'shop. The blues are quite muted compared to what's showing, the red on the Big Red Button is a much brighter and richer red - here it comes off a bit orange. HIs skin isn't quite right either.

Alright, I'm done *****in', here's the shot for today

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag23.jpg

At least when I'm finished I know I've got a pro setup at work to do the finals.

Later!

[Madness]

Really astounding, if you can pink up the lips a little bit you've got golden daemon material on your hand.

[sukigod]

Thanks Madness. GD? I'm not sure about that, although I'm very flattered! and probably too modest for my own good. ;)

I know the recent convention is the pink/red tinged lips (originating from the French painters - Gods all), I've never been a fan of that style of "realism." I prefer my orks with green on green - maybe I'm just to crotchety to change. Who knows?

[sukigod]

More Zaggy!

Finished both arms today. I've got the jetpack and the hose/controller bits to but down and then basing. I'm sooooo close it's hard not to rush things. These photos are the closest to the actual I've gotten so far so I'm pretty happy how he stands so far.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag24.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag25.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag26.jpg

Later!

[person person]

Never noticed there was a rocket bolted onto his choppa, Awesome work.

[Lerra]

That looks awesome :D Congrats on almost finishing Zaggy.

While I'm not sure the model is enough to be a GD winner (mostly because GD winners are usually conversions or A+ sculpts and this is a good but not amazing sculpt), it's enough to get past the first round imo, which is what I'd consider to be "Golden Daemon material." You could complete with the best if you wanted to.

[Madness]

What Lerra said.

Basically I'm in love with the watered down checker paintjob on the knee and the face details, everything else is a notch worse, but those parts are enough for me to love the mini.

If I had the money I'd commission from you.

[sukigod]

Update for Zagstruk tonight. Sooooo close, but I don't want to rush it and ruin that last few details so I'll continue tomorrow. To finishe: the controller stick, the connecting wires to from the controller stick to the rokkit pack, and the base. I'm not planning on adding much more to the base as I don't want to really "upstage" Zaggy - he's a pretty impressive model as it is.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag27.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag28.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag29.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag30.jpg

Here's how big this model is. Also remember my burna boy shown along side for scale is on top of a large washer as well, giving him a little bit of extra height. This is one big special character!

I now have two other burnas to paint instead of one, before the tournament. Somehow I've had one go AWOL in the last week or so. Looked all around the house, at the game store and in my truck. No show, so I'll be "speed painting" two more burnas to finish for the tournament next week. Oh well.

Later!

[person person]

Lol, Zagstruck seems to be wearing alot of red white and blue!

[Madness]

He's a Patriot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Patriot_missile_launch_b.jpg) after all.

[Vorlon]

*sigh* why do I still come to this thread? Sukigod is depressingly good....and I mean that. Most painters of this caliber inspire me but after seeing your work I want to drink all my paints and stop trying! Hmmm.....think Ill start with mordian blue


Seriously....superb work!

[sukigod]

OK - had a little bit of a breakdown today. I've recovered though and here's my story.

I finished the painting of Zagstruk proper this morning so I went on to paint the base this afternoon. I got all the base colors down and turned to reach for something....... and knocked Zagstruk off the workbench and down onto the floor.

I've spent the last three weeks handling him like he's made of the most fragile glass, making sure not to rub off paint where I'm done and very, very carefully manuvering him around to get to parts after glueing him all together. This is the final leg to completion. And I dropped him.

I looked down at the floor. It's carpet, there's hope - he's gone. I get down on all fours and search under the cabinet. There's Zagstruk in his component parts, spread around under the cabinet. The rokkit pack stayed on, as well as the joystik and attachment wires and his head. The left klaw and both arms broke off, and not cleanly either. I haven't had the impulse to actually do some kind of structural damage to something out of anger in a loooong time (it's not like I have a problem with it either, I'm just sayin'). If I hadn't had a house full of family, all hell would have broken loose.

Ok, so, he's fixed. The hard part is he landed on his foot, bending the toes making it nearly impossible to put back into the original possition - he landed pretty hard on it and the angle was juuuust right. The arms were a *#@&$^ to repaint as the original paint flaked off a considerable degree so I had to match that as well so there wasn't such a glaring "Step" effect where I did the paint repair.

So after all is said and done, Zagstruk is finished. His left foot is a bit messed up. I wish I had time to really do those toes correctly but I don't. The arm patching isn't perfect either but it's not so bad. Maybe they won't look [i]that[/i/ close when judging painting for the tournament next week. Here he is all finished.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag31.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag32.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag33.jpg

I'll do some really pro photos in the next week or two at work and post them in the usual places.

I've also started the two burnas to round out my 2k list. I should be able to wrap them up easily since they're not quite special characters.

After that I'll be scares for a couple weeks as all of my attention will be squarely placed on the 50 Hour Trivia Marathon coming up on Feb 12th.

Later!

[Cryl]

It's still unspeakably amazing... in fact the slight distress on the toes looks even more orky than before, you could claim it's done on purpose very easily

[sukigod]

Zagstruk is done and ready for his closeup Mr. DaMille!

One beasty of a model, Games Workshop has been really, really knocking them outta da park with the latest sculpts for the orks. I believe they have the most character out of all the races, and as someone mentioned on another blog, it's hard to see just how much character and animation there is in these sculpts until you get some paint on them!

I am very happy all around and can't wait to field the new model tomorrow night (get the "first game jinx" out of the way before the tournament this weekedn ).

I also can't wait to crack open Snikrot's package.

Well, here's what you're all really here for - pictures!

.. and if you'd like to vote... http://coolminiornot.com/241988


http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag35.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag36.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag37.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/zag/zag38.jpg


Thanks for stopping by.

Later!

[Lerra]

Ah, that's heartbreaking to hear about Zaggy's tumble, but the final result looks great! Good luck at the tournament this weekend.

[sukigod]

OK - no new pics from me but there are some pics...

INSPIRED!

I can across Rutt's "abondoned vehicles" (http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=44266) blog and saw this in progress shot...

http://www.bigshoota.com/cmon/ref-pic.jpg

I was immediately struck by how much it looks like one of these...

http://www.bigshoota.com/cmon/m88.jpg

Hmmm. The Big Mek in me thought - "I have a Russ sitting in a box, along with a Rhino not doin' mucha nuttin." Then I remembered I actually have that particular AVF Club model sitting on my "to get to and loot somehow" shelf. I bought it a couple years ago with the idea of making it into a battlewagon (this, before they came out with the current kit) and never got around to it. Well.....

As it seems I alternate between character models/troop types and vehicles - I just finished burnas and Zagstruk so that leaves me at the doorstep to choosing a vehicle model to work on. I think I'll actually do TWO vehicle kits simultaneously.

WHAT! Yeah, I can't let Uber get all the attention for simply stacking two BW kits.... (I'm kidding Uber, great job!). I've decided to Use the inspiration on the top image from Rutt to create a looted wagon w/boomgun loosely using the pic as a sstarting point. THEN I'm going to make up a Big Daddy Big Mek version out of the M88 and Apocalypsize it. It won't be anything actually printed up so I'll create my own rules for it (with input for balance of course). I'll do some blooprinting before starting so I have an idea of the final, doesn't mean I'll stick to'em though!

This will not be a fast journey (as most of you already know) but a leisurely project interspersed with breaks to resume work on Gasghkull (finally).

Ok, now that I've posted this it means I have to actually do it (I'm like that). I'll be down for the next two weeks due to the local 50 hours trivia marathon coming up (we're pretty competitive about it) so I'll pick up after it's over.

Later!

[rbryce]

i can empaphise with zaggy, i spent 3 months painting my saint celestine, trying to get it "just right", and 2 week ago my daughter got hold of it and ran it through the wash. i lost an arm that i converted for her, and most of the paint job. luckily the face was undamaged, but i gotta repaint the rest now. oh well, added to the list. really impressive work though, one day ill turn green, possibly through envy.

[sukigod]

Agggh! Just about make ya sick didn't it? But what can ya do... (unless she did it on purpose... mwahhahahahhahaha)

;)

[Madness]

... and the rivets, don't forget to put plenty of rivets.

[person person]

Agreed, good luck on the wagons and Zag is lookin' great!

[sukigod]

Updates!

OK - rumors swirling around the interent that something big is happening. REALLY BIG. Like BIG MEK BIG!

Well, the rumors are true. The original Big Mek Challengers are going at it again. In a farewell send off to Uberdark's Orky horde, him and I have decided to have one last Big Mek Dual. This time it's Wazzdakka Gutsmek. Him and i talked a while back (before he started the Iron Squiggoth painting - splendid work Uber!) and said we'd do it, just didn't know when. Our schedules have cleared, the planets have aligned, and Gork and Mork have seen fit to make it so. We'll be doing this starting March 1st(ish) and ending at the end of March(ish).

I've been cooking ideas to do Wazzdakka since he rode around with a Battlecannon mounted on his bike and I've been hording bitz for a long time. I have an idea of what Uber might be cooking up but won't say anything until we start the contest.

ON to other news. At least I didn't take last place in the tournament this weekend. It was a rough one for me as my first match was against my best friend (I play every week with him, someone different please?) and we pushed, very good game. The second match was broken (really, I wasn't the only one complaining) and the third match I lost as well but not so badly. I did take Best Paint though, which game me enough in-store $$$ to pick me up a couple of these...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted1.jpg

These will start to replace the part metal ones from 3rd ed (ug) and you might even see some parts include in the upcoming Wazzdakka build (maybe).

But, until that starts, if I spend time on the hobby it's working on what I threatened before. Looted Wagon #2 (the first one was the original Big Mek Challenge against Uberdark) and his Big Mek Brother's Apocalypse version.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted2.jpg

I got a running start and roughly pieced together the bases to get a sense of scale for each.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted3.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted4.jpg

The looted wagon will be have a 'ard case, boom gun, reinforced ram (dozer blade) and grot riggers. For the big brother version (I'll have to work up some kinda name for it...) I'm thinking a Lifta Droppa for the main armament and some big shootas, rokkits, and maybe a kannon or killkannon as secondary weapons.

Well, that's it for tonight. We'll see how much I get finished before March's competition.

Later!

[therealjohnny5]

stoked to see what you come up with my man.

[sukigod]

The 50 hours trivia marathon is over and I've mostly recovered. The house is back to normal and I can spend some brain cycles thinking of the upcoming projects and games. Our local shop is having an 1850 point tournament in early March so I made up a practice list to smash the folks there with (I'm not sure if I'll be attending or not, yet). There's been something bothering the crap outta me for a while. About 85% of the games I've been playing, either by tournament mission or die roll, have been leaving my Kommando unable to use their infiltration. Maddening! I keep paying the points and continue to watch them slum it across the board like everyone else. I figured it's high time I do something about it.

I was originally going to replace the kommando squad but I looked through the codex and reread Snikrot's entry. His ability to be held in reserve and enter from any board edge seemed like a good solution to my problem. Yes, I have to move some points around but I wasn't too worried as I've traded the lootas and kans for some other units. I''ve got a GW Snikrot in the package but I don't want to rush him in the paint department so I spent about two hours working up a cheap scratchbuilt Snikrot I won't feel too bad about basically speed painting.

Introducing the Econo-Snikrot...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/cheap-snikrot/cheap-snik1.jpghttp://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/cheap-snikrot/cheap-snik2.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/cheap-snikrot/cheap-snik3.jpg



Yes, I do realize his rippy knives are a little oversized. It's not intentional, just how it worked out - although a bit comical, I kinda like it. THe basis, of course, is a AoBR nob with some plasticard work, nothing too difficult. The blades of the knife too a little figuring out but as you can see I worked it out.

I may not paint him right away, I'll play a game or two with him along side Zagstruk nad the new list and see if he's worth keeping around in this list. If so, I'll have enough time to paint him before the tourny if I play.

Later!

[therealjohnny5]

hey my man, i actually really like the snikrot stand in...and i found this for a boom gun that i'll be using, might be handy....it's ridiculously large...http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=56789

EDIT: also just thought about this as i've done a number of the "stealth grip" knife figures, typically on a knife that has a hand guard it is on the same side as the blade (usually the curved edge) and then a reverse grip knife is held with the dull edge of the blade along the arm if it's a single edged blade with a curve, so technically it might look a little better if you spin the serrated blade around, but that's just an IMO statement, and they are orks so they don't really have to make sense, just thought that might help. if not no worries mate, your work is excellent regardless.

[Madness]

Oi!, dat some 'uge choppaz.

[Aldramelech]

Goodbye

[sukigod]

Put in a little work last night on the new looted wagon - wishin' like hell I could put a deff rolla on it ( :) )!

I'll start with a little experiment I started this weekend. In my bitz box, I've got car/truck model parts (not trukk, trucks )and as you know, there's a lot of chrome in these kinda kits. I've had some exhaust stack shrouds I've been wanting to use but I know the chrome on them is an issue (glue and paint don't adhere well to it) I decided to see if there was a "Simple Green" style solution to stripping chrome plated parts.

Lo and behold, there was a rumor that good old Coke-a-Cola will strip chrome. Hah! In the military, our mess hall cooks used this to clean their plumbing before inspections so the concept seemed sound. I dipped the parts in a tub with some Coke in it (the clamps thing is to hold the parts down since the carbonation makes the parts float) and left them submerged for 5 days. A little long if you need them short term but I wasn't in a rush and it seemed like it worked ok.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/chrome.jpg

OK, on to the wagon build. About a year ago, our local ING bank had a promotion where they were giving out metal buttons with magnetic backings, instead of pins that would poke holes in delicate fabrics. I happen to have "gotten ahold of" a few hand fulls of these. They're nearly as strong as standard neodyne magnets and came cheap ;) I epoxied one of these to the backside of the front hull of the Russ. This allows me to make the boomgun swappable with a scorcha.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted5.jpg

RANT: The Leman Russ kit os one of the most twisty, out of shape kits I've run into in twenty years - sheesh! I hope the new kits have this fixed.
END RANT:

[sukigod]

The next shots shows the base construction of the boomgun. I know, not as impressive as my last one but it'll do (pig). The frontmost part is the mid-sized roadwheel from the Russ kit. I put a small neodyne magnet at the back of the barrel. There will be more detailing of the barrel in time.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted6.jpg

Here's the gist of the setup.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted7.jpg

And here's with the heat shroud from the semi-truck model.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted8.jpg

There's more detailing to do here as well like the application of rivets (more rivets!) and I've got a really cool piece in my bitz box for the scorcha. I have no idea where it came from but it's completely inspired by Kroozas latest Scorcha work.

I also have a really neat idea for the bigshoota mount and a copula for the vehicle commander I'm really excited about. The 1:35 scale M3 Stuart tank is a great model to loot items from for Russ size vehicle. Every Big Mek should have one or two in their junkyard.

Next: scorcha, commander's copula and working on a dozer blade (re-inforced ram).
Later!

[sukigod]

A little more work done this weekend. Worked on the big shoota and the cupola and magnetized the scorcha. Somehow (serendipity, I guess) I ended up with two nearly identical nozzle looking things is two different sizes. One's for the "mini" Mek Wagon and the other will be prominently displayed on the Big Daddy Mek version as well.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted9.jpg

I also started bashing together a second deff rolla for my other battlewagon since the new FAQ makes this a near mandatory cheap upgrade.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/rolla1.jpg

Later!

[person person]

Nice work, I knew Coke was acidic but woah.

[sukigod]

OK, small update to the workbench. Realized Idon't need to finish the 2nd deff rolla for the tournament (my list seems to work pretty good as is) so I decide to work on whatever struck my fancy. I tried working on the side door area of the looted wagon but that didn't work out so I went and worked on the engine compartment.

The parts used vcary from the rear fender sections from an Israeli Merkava tank, parts from the chemical plant kit, some odd random blue pieces from the bitz box and plasticard tubing.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted11.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted12.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/looted/looted13.jpg

It's kinda nice to work at my own pace for a little ( I know - to cries of "hurry up, I wanna see it painted!") while waiting for the Big Mek Challenge.

Later!

[Madness]

Argh, wait, you skipped the photo I was waiting for, What happened to the side of the rhino chassis? Just over the point where sponsons are usually attached?

[sukigod]

Argh, wait, you skipped the photo I was waiting for, What happened to the side of the rhino chassis? Just over the point where sponsons are usually attached?

Ahhhh - In the immortal words of Douglas Adams... DON'T PANIC!

I haven't actually done anything on the sides yet. I've a few ideas but none of them have worked out yet so I switched to the back end. Once I figure out what to do with the sides, I'll put up shots for that. I'm in a quandary as to leaving a door there or covering up the spaces completely and "reshaping" the profile of the vehicle and creating all new surfaces or just orkify the existing ones.I'm trying to make it an ork vehicle that once lived as a rhino but not so obvious that when you look at it, it says "Oh, I'm a looted rhino". Much like my last one did, Istill have people ask what it was based on and they're surprised they didn't realize it in the first place.

I'm like that I guess.

[Madness]

I can appreciate that, but I'm still curious of the outcome. It looks like I'll have to be patient.

[sukigod]

Didn't feel like getting out the knives and saws today - I wanted something a little more relaxing with a little less pressure on creativity, so off to painting. After painting up Zagstruck, I've decided I've got the knowledge and skill to tackle Gazghkulls armor now.

I've only done the knee plates so far and have decided to go with a red for accent. The teef on the right knee will eventually be white. I'm doing a few things different for experimentation sake. I've got a bottle of Tamiya Red (X7?) that I'm trying out as it's a nice vibrant red without being to "orangey" and I'm using Blood Red and Kommando Khaki to highlight the edges. We'll see where it goes.... Here's the pics!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz14.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz15.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

Nothing too exciting tonight. Spent about 1.5 hours shading the lower half of Gazzy's mega armor. I'll most likely get to the edging tomorrow night. And yes, I know there's some sloppy spots - I'll eventually clean all those up.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz16.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz17.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz18.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

'Nother quick unpdate. Put in about 40 minutes and did the edging.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz19.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz20.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz21.jpg

Later!

[person person]

Very crisp.

[sukigod]

OK - finished up the bottom half of Gazzy today. Cleaned up errant paint and completed all the little details like wiring and such. Sealed him up with dullcote so as to not remove anything I've already finished. I put his head and jaw on to see what it looks like together so far. Wierd for me to see it like this as I painted the head/jaw over a year ago. Nice to see it back!

Here's the pics, on to the upper half!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz22.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz23.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/gazzy/gaz24.jpg

Later!

[gorepants]

Lucky you haven't changed your style! Looking good.

[Hialmar]

I really like the clean crisp details of your painting although personally I prefer my Orks to be a bit dirtier and grim covered yours look great. Did you ever consider adding a bit of rust and oil to the trucks and even the cybork parts of the Orks to make them seem a bit more "battle-tested" or experienced? The chipped and scraped paint looks like it all just happened recently so a bit of weathering on some of it might help the overall effect.

Again just a suggestion, as I think what I have seen of your work is fantastic. I look forward to seeing how Ghazz progresses and other projects in the future.

[sukigod]

Thanks everyone!

It seems to be a common question - "It's not dirty/rusty/greasy enough..." (or in that vein) I know the nitty gritty realistic way of painting orks is all the rage right now but my modus operandi has always been to achieve a high table top standard that really stands out on a table top - whether you're close or far away. The gritty trend that's going around, while looking really, really good in photography, lacks punch on the table top - my main goal. Someday in the future I will start doing some models strictly for painting and not gaming and then I'll look at the more advanced weathering and detailing for the army models.

OK, enough of that, let's take a look at what has recently invaded short attention span Sukigods workbench....

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/grots/grots1.jpg

Hehehe, yes my little pretties. The grots are coming, the grots are coming!

Now I have three projects to bounce around to working on whichever I wish. I like not having to be working on something for a particular list - it's creatively liberating.

Later!

[sukigod]

GROTS!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/grots/grots2.jpg

I can't help it. They're fun to paint. I've decided to see exactly how long it takes me to paint a mob of 10 to see if I can add another 20 in a timely manner.

Here's where I'm at and the steps I'm taking...

Assembly and prime: 1 hr

Dark Angels Green Base: .8 hr

Snot Green: 1 hr

Goblin Green + Dark Angels Wash: 1 hr

Goblin Green re-highlight: .33 hr

Goblin Green/Rotting Flesh: .45 hr

Rotting Flesh + Rotting Flesh/Scorpion Green highlights: .7 hr

Total hours for skin alone: 5.28 Hours

I was hoping to get close to 10 hours for the box (minus the herder) but I'm not sure if I'll make it. Sure lets me know I'd never make a living at it!

Later!

[gorepants]

It seems to be a common question - "It's not dirty/rusty/greasy enough..." (or in that vein) I know the nitty gritty realistic way of painting orks is all the rage right now but my modus operandi has always been to achieve a high table top standard that really stands out on a table top - whether you're close or far away. The gritty trend that's going around, while looking really, really good in photography, lacks punch on the table top - my main goal. Someday in the future I will start doing some models strictly for painting and not gaming and then I'll look at the more advanced weathering and detailing for the army models.


For what it's worth, I'm with you - as much as I like gritty, you don't need it for a good mini. Maybe it's starting with the old cartoon orks back in rogue trader, but I think your style works well for them.

[sukigod]

For what it's worth, I'm with you - as much as I like gritty, you don't need it for a good mini. Maybe it's starting with the old cartoon orks back in rogue trader, but I think your style works well for them.

That's pretty much it gorepants. I started "back in the day" as well and fondly remembering all the "primary color rainbows" that was 2nd Ed. I like the newer models and they we're much less cartoony so the super bright color schemes didn't quite work anymore but I did like the brightness of the greens. So yeah, it's kind of a modern take on the old school style.

[sukigod]

OK, the grots are done. - whew! One of my quickest turn around times as far as start to finish.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/grots/grots3.jpg


Here's the breakdown of the rest of the time involved...

All scorched brown and leather: 1.1 hour
Fur: .35 hr
Pants: .35 hr
Shirts and loincloths: 1 hr
Metallics and wash: 1.25 hr
Teef and Claws: .5 hr
Final irregular parts and details: 1 hr
Basing after Dulcoting: .5 hr

Giving me a grand total of 11.3 hours of from opening the box to finished for 10 grots. Roughly 1.1 hours per gretchin, pretty close to what I was after now that the little blighters are finished I can paint up the Runt Herder (kind like a reward for finishing the grots)

These aren't the best but they'll work for me on the tabletop. They do have tons of character and are a really nice return to the 2nd ed style grots.

I think I'll alternate now between the runt herder and Gazghkull for while to give myself a change of pace.

Later!

[B to the Bop]

This is an extremely impressive thread you have going here. You have one of the nicest looking large forces I've ever seen. :D

[sukigod]

Thanks guys!

I've kinda slacked off on my painting and scratch building as the inspiration bug has drifted away as of late. Don't worry, it'll be back and I'll be doing more work on Gazzy and the paired Looted Wagon, Mega Wagons. For now though a complete mindless and stock-from-the-box build of the GW Battlewagon is enough to keep my army plans moving forward.

Now since this is a straight build, I normally wouldn't post picks until painting time but a few people (as well as myself) wondered what the size difference is between the stock kit and my "bigified" version I biult last year. Well, now we know...

http://www.bigshoota.com/cmon/bwscale.jpg

This'll be painted in Goff-ish black that will match the trukk I intend on finishing sometime in the next 5 years. :grin I'll do another comparison shot with all the acoutrements with both when I've finished assembling the GW BW.

Later!

[sukigod]

Just another silly comparison shot tonight. You know, these things go together a LOT quicker when you're not modifying every last part? Probably spent 2 hours on it so far.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw1.jpg

I'm priming right now and will start lazily painting it over the next couple of weeks. Yay - another new project!

Later!

[person person]

looks nice even if its all stock. Lots of guns!

[KellyLama]

Awesome work!

I read through the whole thread, but I didn't see (or overlooked) what technique(s) you used to do the rivets on your megawagons. Any advice?

I've got a leather punch, but the smallest setting on it still gives me rivets that look over-large compared to the ones on the model.

[sukigod]

Awesome work!

I read through the whole thread, but I didn't see (or overlooked) what technique(s) you used to do the rivets on your megawagons. Any advice?

I've got a leather punch, but the smallest setting on it still gives me rivets that look over-large compared to the ones on the model.

I've got a variable leather punch that is used for the larger rivets, the smaller ones are done by shaving them off of styrene rods, kinda like chopping carrots. Pretty simple affair.

As far as advice? If you're worried about the new rivets looking out of scale to the ones on the model, cut the ones off the model and replace them with all the same size new ones. And always cut/punch more than you think you'll need.

Good luck!

[sukigod]

OK, some of you might know of this from else where but once in a while, me and another Big Mek named Uberdark throw down and have a building contest. I'm putting my half of the conversation here to keep in continuity. If you want to watch both sides of the battle you can view it here...

http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=45420

OK, here's the start of my Wazdakka conversion. Not much to see at the moment but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

I drew up a list of what I thought made Wazdakka, Wazdakka:

Dakka Kannon (of course)
Speed
Big, loud looking exhausts
Fat tires
Big Engine
Fixit (the grot - I know there aren't any more rules for him but I want him anyway)

That's a lot to try and fit into a small model. I've got as lot of ideas and in true Sukigod Big Mek fashion, I'll just keep throwing stuff together until it looks right.

I know the new codex shows him canted forward, leaning of the handlbars in a real aggressive stance but I'm liking the idea of him being sooooo badass that he rides sitting back, lounging a bit - much like the lead clown biker from Akira.

One of my earlier thoughts was to go with a trike like the old Evil Iron model kit from Revell in the early 70's (I still have one :) )

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/eviliron.jpg

But that wouldn't allow me ot do what I wanted to give the bike a sense of speed (you can see from the first real shot below what I'm using for that...

Then I dug through my bitz box and retrieved this...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz1.jpg

It was a toy I pulled years ago from a garage sale or something like that - it's a Disney toy from the movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It looked like it was the right size until I shaved away the warboss tabbard and sat him down - way to out of scale. Might be a nice platform for something else unique but not Wazdakka.

So I spent about two hours looking back and forth between the bikes and the deff koptas. I ended up settling on the deff kopta frame due to the engine. There was a design I saw, can't remember where now, that used the trukk engine and worked out really, really good but I don't want to loot too much :wink

That left me with cleaning up a messy chop jub to seperate the bottom half of the pilot and glue on the top half of the legs from a biker so I can custom make the top of Wazdakka out of various nobs bits. I'll be having to get out some greenstuff so wish me luck on that!

Here's the general layout and some of the starting pieces I'm trying to work into the design..

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz2.jpg

Because of real life this one will be a slow one for me, I'm hoping to get the build done in 3-4 weeks and paint it in 2-3 weeks.

[b]Later![b]

[sukigod]

What's this? A competition going on? (hehe)

Done having a beer with the turtle back there at the starting gate (it tasted GREAT!) Little update, started the fork and fixed up the crappy cut job on the biker/deff kopta body to facilitate putting on a nob body in a dynamic pose.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz3.jpg

Til tomorrow,

Later!

[Captainmiserable]

That is going to be one super cool bike conversion, I think I had one of those atlantis toys. I'm so trying that ;)

[sukigod]

Baby steps!

Started work on the dakka kannon and got the fork figured out and attached.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz4.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz5.jpg

Working at this scale is very different than working on vehicles - everything is so much smaller1

Later!

[sukigod]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a commin'!

Who knew Uber was gonna take the first two and a half weeks off to work solely on Wazzdakka, huh? :)

Real life is getting in my way a lot atm which is why I asked Uber for a end of May date for the contest and he was so graciously to oblige. Although I'm pretty sure he's gonna stomp my green mechanical *** into the ground with this one, I wouldn't want it any way else. That being said, I will finish this, if only to try to aspire to get close to the number of votes he gets ;)

Now on to my small update. Got the main part of the dakka kannon squished in there and started work on the rear fender portion. Lots of rough spaces but they've eventually be filled in and worked out (I hope).

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz6.jpg

Again, thanks to Uber for being patient as I trundle along with this challenge!

And your army looks abso-frickin-lutely fantastic!


Later!

[person person]

That Dakkakannon is awesome sauce.

[sukigod]

Update!

I've got to redo the belt feed as it broke while attempting to bend it - it's late and all I'm doing is breaking things so I'm showing you the concept (looted from Tommygun), I'll make new belt tomorrow and be more patient with it!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz7.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz8.jpg

I've also got the back tire on and most of the structure assembled. The back fender is kinda rough I know, but it will be mostly covered so I'm not too worried at this point.

Later!

[sukigod]

Took the advice from Tommygun and used a hot water bath treatment instead of candle heat to deform the ammo feed and it worked. Thanks Tommygun! I've also done a quick in process shooting so you can see how I finished off the ammo feed. Pretty simpple if not a little tedious but worth the effort, I think.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz9.jpg

And here's where it's at right now. Gotta let some things dry and set up so taking a break. It's starting to look like I wanted, like a Fatboy Harley cruiser style.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz10.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz11.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz12.jpg

Now on to fitting the extra dakka to felsh out hte dakka (dakka, dakka..) on the bike then on to figuring out how to attach the rokkits and saddlebag/boxes.

(btw - the Evil Suns glyph on the dakkakannon and the head on the front fender isn't glued in, just seeing how it would look...)

Later!

[Madness]

The ammo feed belt is absolutely amazing, overall the structure is very promising, the one thing that seems a little underdesigned in the front gatling gun, it needs a support bit to make it less "toy looking".

http://j.imagehost.org/0102/shot.jpg (http://j.imagehost.org/view/0102/shot)

See the red part for details.

Also, to keep it orky, don't put it perpendicular to the ground, rotate it, so it is asymmetrical. For some reason, simmetry doesn't strike me as orky.

[sukigod]

Thanks Madness. I've been debating on adding just that part when I read your post. I think that finalizes it, I'll add one tonight.

[Madness]

You are so very welcome, I look forward to the result!

[sukigod]

Got some work done tonight. Since I have to wait for the barrels to come in special order I'm using foam "counts as" for scaling. Got the other two dakkaguns added, the saddlebags and workign on the front fork a bit. Just testing to see how those choppa/axe blades go over the front wheels. Also added the turbo boosters.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz13.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz14.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz15.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz16.jpg


I can hear it already... "sukigod, things are looking a little bare and the rokkits stick out a bit much don't they?" There's a lot of details to add yet as I'm trying to get the main parts in place and then all the spaces will get filled in.

On the list to try and fit in yet; big pipes, Fixit, the megablasta (which will go on the front left as he'd reach around with his right hand to grab it, a big banner pole of some sort, and of course the upper torso and PK. Since I'm kinda getting a 2nd edition feel from him I'm not sure if I want to add the flaming skulls - I'll have to see how I feel.

Slow but sure...

Later!

[wormwood]

Excellent Orks there!
I really like the way the Badab Black wash works on your metals.
You might also want to dry brush a little Fiery Orange on some of the bare metal parts to simulate light rusting.

[sukigod]

warbosssean: I think it might be the angle of the photo - besides, can't see it when he's on the bike (heheh).

Got some more work done today: Work on Wazdakka himself as I needed the right hand in place so I could put on the knuckle guards. capped the engine block top and the top of the upper receiver on the Dakkakannon, and got about half of the exhaust completed.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz17.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz18.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz19.jpg

He's starting to look like a bad ***, heavy metal lotorcycle now. The song i get i nmy head when I imaging the finished product is Judas Priests "Heavy Duty". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db9a5R1QgeY

Yep, that's what I want to feel when I see him come rolling onto the battlefield!

There's still a ton of bit-work to do. The space above the left side (drivers side, if in a car) will get a gun rack put there to hold the mega blaster so he can reach over with his right hand to grab it if he runs out of dakka on the bike. The other saddllebag will reserved for Fixit and the meks tools and maybe the stikkbombs.

Other small details I'm hoping to work in yet: small pair of headlight eyes, some armor on the front struts, a bigger mek/biker glyph coming up behind the seat, bullets streaming out of the guns (fingers crossed for this one), and some kind of detailing on the back fender. Of course there's how I'm going to tie down the fuel drums and fun gas lines after they come in. And then there's the base and his PK.

****, just as I start thinking I'm getting close to being done I have to list things out like this to remind me how much I have left to dO! Aaaagh!

Anyway, I'm having fun figuring this beast out and can't wait to see him finished either (I'm still hoping to get maybe 5 or 6 votes... hehe)

Later!

[person person]

How about using the Warlord Titan crews' heads that he killed for the bosspole?

[sukigod]

Exhaust - check. Armored struts - check.

Size comparison shot - check. Just about right in my book (he does live on the thing, after all)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz20.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz21.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

I can't wait until those dang barrels come in - it's holding up a lot of progress...


Until then though, small progress elsewhere.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz22.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

Alright. Ein's concern about the placement of the rokkit packs convinced me to sick the Xacto on the saddlebags...

AAAGH!
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz25.jpg

This really did go a long way into tightening up the body and bringing the front- and top-side silhouettes into a cleaner (and lighter) state.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz26.jpg

Comparison of before and after.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz27.jpg

And the 3/4 overall shot.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz28.jpg

I've also finished Wazzdakka himself (the last of his greenstuff is curing with him in a non-flattering pose ) so he can be crossed off the list as well now. That leaves mega blasta, tools, stikkbombs, Fixit, and a few final touches/details and I can almost call this build complete.

Later!

[sukigod]

Ok, everyone can stop complaining about me complaining about those damn barrels!!! They're here!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz29.jpg

Here you can see the parts I'll be using for spigot nozzles coming out of the tanks, these will connect to hoses that will lead to a pump manifold that will lead to the engine somewhere. Then I can figure out how I'm going to chain these drums down.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz30.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz31.jpg

I would have actually got some of that done last night but I spent it instead wiping the Missus' laptop of a nasty virus. Even smart people get them sometimes (and she thanked me for being such a geek!).

Later!

[sukigod]

Progress!

Got the barrels figured out for the most part. The chain is a bit long and only put in place temporarily as I'll paint it separately - same thing with the metal pins sticking out the front holding it down there. I'll trim them off and bend them to shape after priming/painting.

Also got some of the front fork shored up with the suggestions from Ein. Still need to attach a strap of some sort to the front of the wheel faring.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz32.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz33.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz34.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz35.jpg

Starting to run out of room on the left side for the mega blasta - not sure how that's gonna pan out. I'm sure I'll figure something out at the last minute.

Later!

[sukigod]

After another trivia marathon (this one was only 8 hours, overnight) I've gotten some time in on Fixit's station this evening.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz36.jpg

A little platform with a post for Fixit to hang onto while not rapairin' stuff and a bag-o-mek tools. This worked out about as good as I had thought and I'm pretty happy with it overall.

This photo also shows how I decided to pay homage to the new fluff with the three skulls of the Titan crew. Although not flaming, he still keeps them close as trophies.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz37.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz38.jpg

I'll be wrapping the construction up tomorrow and will be priming him tomorrow night, regardless of where he's at since I've only got two more weeks to paint this fella up and take pics for the voting.

It's gonna be nice to wrap him up.

Later!

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz39.jpg

Yes folks, that's not a greyscale image, that's black primer. The build is done! I'll be letting him dry overnight and because of schedule, most likely won't get to start painting him until Wed.

And I did take into account some of the later suggestions, you'll just have to wait to actually see some of them.

Are ya happy now Uber? There's paint on him! ;)

Later

[sukigod]

{creeeeeeaaaaaaakkkk!!!!!! Click - kurlunk}

Shhhhh!!!!!! Can't you see I'm sneaking off here to paint a little? Sheejus!

Got a little time tonight to put some paint down on Wazdakka. After schlepping trees and sod and bushes and mulch and.... for the last two weeks during nearly every waking moment, it's nice to sit down, hunch over the bench with the iPod on and just ->paint<-.

Nothing much, just some work on the front armor and his skin.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz40.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz41.jpg

I'm going for a darker skin with a lighter, more dramatic highlight as I think it's right for Wazdakka. I know most of my other character models are actually fairly bright according to modern day fluff but I think this just seems to fit him better - meaner somehow.

I have picked up a wet palette and against my better judgement, have decided to experiment and do trial stuff using Wazdakka. Nothing like a little pressure to get good realy fast, eh?

I'm not sure when I'll have the next chance to sit down and paint, hopefully a couple hours at least over the weekend. We'll see.

(p.s. you know how hard it is to force yourself to paint when there's a brand new 55" HD tv hooked up to a new BluRay player in the basement? Gotta finish him sooner!)

Later!

[Big mek]

Im... speechless... what a completely awesome bike! Max points for you m8 ;)

[sukigod]

Can't mow today as it's raining so I spent some time basing the reds.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz42.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz43.jpg

Nothing too impressive right now as it's just the basic blocking out of the reds.


Later!

[sukigod]

Sneaked in some time to finish the reds tonight, should get a good start on the metals.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz44.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz45.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz46.jpg

Yes, I know there's some paint on some of the metal parts - it's to cover where I was messy with reds.

This things a pain in the a** to paint since it's already assembled.... oh well, thankfully it's a one of a kind!

If I get enough metals done I'll post them tonight as well.

Later!

[Aldramelech]

Excellent as always. Just when I think you cant do any more to suprise me......

[sukigod]

Thanks Aldermech. I hope I can continue to surprise you and myself!

Finished the metals this morning. I'll be sealing this portion up with Dullcote to protect what I've done so far from rubbing off as I get down into the details. I have yet to figure out exactly how I'm going to do the exhausts - metals down and then rust and smoke/soot? or go straight to rusty pipes with soot. I expect these pipes to have been there for a while so I'm leaning towards rusty layer first. I'll go scrounging the net for junkyard pics in a bit for that.

And now, metals.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz47.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz48.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz49.jpg

It'll be nice to be painting something other than red and silvers for a while. :)

Later!

[sukigod]

Ok Kids! Tutorial Time!

(remember this when you're voting, did uber ever give ya tutorials? Hmmmm?)

Figured I'd give the Forgeworld rusting exhaust technique a whirl. I love them for giving good step by step instructions. I hate them for making it look so damn easy! I gave it a shot and learned a few things along the way, I'll try to impart what learned here.

There are a few things listed in the Forgeworld Masterclass book that I didn't have on hand so I made do with what I had laying around. First and foremost was the weathering powders. I plan on getting some eventually but for know I used the pastel chalks I picked up a few years ago.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz50.jpg

I think $12 at the local Michaels craft store. The book calls for rust colored weathering powders but I couldn't find one close enough so I made my own from three of the colors I did have. Back scraping the chalk sticks with an xacto made short work and lots of powder.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz51.jpg

I "mixed" these three colors together in a small wax paper cup to give me the final "rust" colored weathering powder.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz52.jpg

Forgeworld used Scorched Brown (which is really the same as Burnt Umber as I found out later) as a base color and mixed the weathering pigment right into the paint. It did lighten it up a bit and make it look more "rusty" but not in the orangey rust way.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz53.jpg

BTW: This looks almost exactly like the Testors rust colored enamel paint I've been a fan of for nearly 35 years. Very nice to see I can do this now in acrylic.

(cont...)

[sukigod]

Here's the pipes on one side completely painted in the new pigmented mix. I didn't apply this super carefully or evenly as I'm assuming this will give the rust color some variation to break up the monotonous rust tone along the length of the exhausts.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz54.jpg

After this layer has dried Forgeworld uses a Burnt Umber oil wash to wet down the area and bring some definition to the shadowed areas - and to give the weathering powders something to stick to when adding the rust details. I didn't have any oil so I used, ta da, Scorched Brown as the wash. I added a little bit of matte medium to it to give it some longevity on the model as you're supposed to put the powder down on a wet surface and then blend it in. This seemed to work ok for me. I did this in sections to make sure things didn't dry up too soon. Here's the finished results from one side...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz55.jpg

Just enough orangey breakup to make it a little interesting. Too bad I will completely obliterate this with the airbrush later (oh well, one of my lessons learned today.)

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz56.jpg

Now, even though it happened over the course of two hours or so, I completely forgot to take pics of the next 3 steps. (yes, I can be quite the dumbass sometimes) Boltgun and Mithril silver is dry brushed over the shrouds. I realized a little late that my paint was way too thick when I did the dry brushing. Another lesson learned.

Next, They use a series of yellow, red and purple inks to impart the heat coloring effects on the outer exhaust shrouds. I did this, layer by layer, over the course of two hours since inks dry very slowly and the humidity is high here today (raining out now).Soooooo, it comes to longer story shorter.

I heat treated the exhaust shrouds with the inks then man handled my borrowed airbrush for the first time and airbrushed the exhaust soot over the ends of the pipes.I finished this off with a stippling of Chaos Black on the very ends of the pipes and a light stippling of Scorched Brown and Vermin Brown to add a bit of rust and flaking to the outer shrouds. Here's the finished results...

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz57.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz58.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz59.jpg

There are a few things I wished had worked better. The drybrushing mistake is kinda noobish (for me) and the inks are tough to work with when their so thin they always gravitate down - in this case, all the color kept pooling up on the underside of the pipe instead of sitting on top. Not sure if I thinned it down too much or what. I eventually ended up mixing the inks with a little matte medium to try and add a bit of "stick" to the color.

I also learned a few things about airbrushing that I won't go into here - for another post.

Well, off to do more details, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

Later!

[sukigod]

Just had to post it... One of the "holy grails" of toy looting.

http://www.bigshoota.com/cmon/joe.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/cmon/joe1.jpg

Yep - that little sticker says $2. I love garage sales!

Later

[bb-dawg]

It'z da mini Krater Maker!

[sukigod]

It'z da mini Krater Maker!

Dat it might be!:D

[sukigod]

(sssshhhhhhhhhhh! don't tell uber I'm over here and not working on Wazdakka !!!)

Actually, I did spend some time on Wazdakka tonight, I got most of the body painted. While I was waiting for parts to dry I decided to give the airbrush I borrowed a try. I'm using my stuck battlewagon as a test bed for airbrushing and to get me prepared for painting some Apocalypse sized toy conversions scheduled for later this summer.

Tada!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw2.jpg

A Badger 150 and a little Badger compressor to go with it.

Carefully masked lower half - I haven't masked off a model in over twenty years!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw3.jpg

After doing some online research I found out the Mechrite Red tends towards the pink side when airbrushed to I decided to add a bit of Scorched Brown to try and counter act that. I now have a perfect use for all of the old, used paint bottles I've been saving! I mixed this up as Mechrite Red/Scorched Brown/Water - 3/1/2. I was guessing/going on what some other people had suggested for a thinning ratio and it seemed to work at about 1/3 water, for a while....

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw4.jpg

Here's the first coat - not too bad. The Mechrite didn't go pink on me so I feel it worked out alright.

(cont. next post)

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw5.jpg

Then a thinned 3/1, Red Gore/water was sprayed on.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw6.jpg

For some reason the rest of my outdoor photography went to crap, not sure why. The colors are easily seen though. Then a spray of Blood Red.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw7.jpg

I deliberately sprayed the Blood Red from an upper angle, not caring too much about getting a full, even coat as this is supposed to give some zenith shading to the color - a bit of a fade.

Back inside the house under some better lighting and more steady shooting, here's the final result...

...

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw8.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw9.jpg

I'm in love with the airbrush. Now I just have to figure out how to keep the nozzle from clogging (with experience, I know). It didn't happen until half way through the second color. It seems as though the tiny nozzle was gathering paint waaaaay deep inside where I couldn't clean it easily. Some people suggest "back blowing" tip until bubble appear in the feeder cup but the tip on mine has a crown shape top so I can't get a perfect seal over it - the air will always come out.

Besides the smooth, even coverage, the thing I'm most blown away with is how much detail is left. It's almost as if there wasn't any paint on it at all. I'm imagining the washed will sit deeper and be more crisp and the dry brushing I'll apply later with really stand out against all the crisp definition.

OK, back to Wazdakka until he's done. I promise!

Later!

[sukigod]

OK - still not dead...

I think I'll be able to put some real quality time into Wazdakka this weekend. no plans, nothing going on, just free time. I'm actually hoping to wrap him up completely by the end of the week! (now isn't that the way to jinx it?)

To prove he's moving along, here are some pics.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz60.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz61.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz62.jpg

No, he will not be keeping the Rogue (Marve) looking top-knot. I just needed it to have a white base for what I want to do to it.

I'm hoping to have the rest of his body finished and most of the bike finished by the end of the day. Expecting to finish the rest of the accessories minus the banner tomorrow (we'll see how it goes). That should leave the base and the banner to complete in the little evening time I have during the week and photograph/post next Friday.

Let's see if I can do it!

Later!

[HellCrusader]

May i ask how you did the shells coming out of the shootas on the sides?
Love the paint job on the exhausts by the way(and on the rest of the model for that matter)

[sukigod]

HellCrusader: Thanks!

The streaming bullets are from the lootas/brunas box - it's extra bits you can use to jazz up the lootas. I never put them on so they were just laying around my bitz box.

[wormwood]

I was just curious, do you intend to add cotton smoke to this when it's done?

[sukigod]

Wormwood: probably not now due to time constraints. Maybe down the road - it could ba added pretty easily.
OK- major update and you can actully tell I did something!

Down to the nitty gritty details. Gotta finish up the dakkakannon support, paint the back taillights and evil sunz glyph, paint the mek tools and finish painting Fixit. Then whipping up the base which will be a pretty simple affair due to the complexity of the model - don't want it detracting from it.

Here's where the "Bad to the Bone" Wazdakka sits...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz63.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz64.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz65.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz66.jpg

I'm hoping to have the rest of the details done before Fri so I can take pics at work and post them Fri. night so everyone can take a good look look at both entries over the weekend before making their decision.

Later!

[therealjohnny5]

would you consider blacking the banner tip from the exhaust?

[sukigod]

would you consider blacking the banner tip from the exhaust?

Thanks Johnny5. I had that exact same thought last night while painting the face on the back. I think this is something I will do, should be pretty quick and easy with the airbrush.

Still on track to finish by Fri - even got a slice of time to paint an old face...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz67.jpg

Now I gotta figure out how to paint the tail lights housing and lenses. My instinct says red but there's already so much red already. Hmmm.

The things we waste brain cycles on. (sheesh)

Later!

[Aldramelech]

Green! Go GO GO GO GO!

[sukigod]

Thanks everyone for your comments, critiques, and kudos. It's been a fantastic ride (albeit a long one for me) all roads eventually come to an end.

I am finished with Wazdakka Gutsmek, Evil Sunz Big Mek biker extraordinaire.

A lot of you had some really good ideas, some were incorporated, some were not. None were left out because I didn't care or didn't hear ya, I just didn't have the time. I thank all of ya again.

I'll be taking pics tomorrow over lunch and hopefully, with some communication with Uberdark, we'll have the side by side and voting at The Waaagh! and over at Cool Mini or Not set up by tomorrow night.

Thanks Uber for pushing me to improve, nothing better than a little competition. I look forward to seeing what you do with the bugs and what you do with your lootas (once yo go green....; ) )

Till tomorrow,

Later!

[sukigod]

OK. Now that the Big MEk Challenge is over (I'll post some stuff here when Uber gets back to me) i can turn my obsession over to something else. And this is part of that something else.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/apoc/apoc1.jpg

What ever could I be doing with these? Bwahahahahaha....

By buddy and I are hosting/running an Apocalypse demonstration in October, that gives me three months to convert these bad boyz into some serious orky firepower. I've already got two fighta bombers and a custom made unit called the Brain Krusha (basically a static soopa kannon). To this I plan on adding...

2xSkullhammas
2xCustom Battlefortresses
2xFlakkadakka Trukks
2xBig Pulsa Rokkits

I'm not going to try and knock these outta da park like I do my regular stuff as I'll most likely only get to use these things once or twice a year (if that) so these will be fairly quick and dirty affairs. I am using my stock battlewagon as a test platform for painting to see how quickly I can get something painted up.

These will also be a nice set of additions for Spearhead, which my friend and I (IG motorpool anyone?) are chomping at the bit to throw down with the new rules.

Looks like Summer of the Aporkalypse is upon me!

Later!

[bb-dawg]

Hey, I recognize that blue trukk! :-P

[sukigod]

I'll make you sorry you ever offloaded on me...

Dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka, dakka,

[gorepants]

Inspiring work sukigod!

[sukigod]

Thanks everyone! Hopefully you'll be inspored to go and vote now!

Bik Mek Challenge: Battle Wazdakka is over and the voting is up for the general public.

http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=46326#entry618277

There's one at Cool Mini or Not that I'll post when Uber gets it posted.

Later!

[sukigod]

Now that the Big Mek Battle is over I will post the finished photos here and some comparison shots - they may come in multiple posts. For those interested, and my posterity, here are the contest threads

Running WIP Thread:
http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=45420

Voting link:
http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=46326

And now, onto the photos...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka001.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka002.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka003.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka004.jpg

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka005.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka006.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka007.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka008.jpg

[sukigod]

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/wazdakka009.jpg

[sukigod]

Here are some size comparisons of the Wazdakka Gutsmek model with a few of the regular stock Games Workshop vehicles.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz68.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz69.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz70.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/wazdakka/waz71.jpg

Yes, he's pretty big - he does live on his bike ya know!

Anyway, glad he's finished, gonna start using him and see how the biker lists fair around here and just have fun as usual.

Later!

[Aldramelech]

Your best yet! Impresive stuff and should be entered for Golden Demon.

[sukigod]

Thanks Aldramelech! Wish I lived closer to a place that had them (or could afford to travel there...)

OK, back to the stock battlewagon!

Here's a progress shot of the chipping. I started with a stippling of Scorched Brown mixed with Chaos Black.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw10.jpg

Then I went over the entire wagon by hand and brush with Boltgun Metal. The reflection of the metallic is much brighter than real life but it still looks pretty good.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw11.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw12.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw13.jpg

I did forget to spray some glyphs in white in a few places but won't sweat it - it's a test piece, not like I don't have more to try things out on. I've gotten the parts that are going to be solid metals blacked out and some white areas like the teef on the ram adn the face on the periscope post and a few panels for accent to break things up - just haven't taken picks yet as I'm too tired/lazy right now.

Not too much left to do to this really: the undercarraige will be mostly dry brushed Tin Bitz and bolt gun, the exhausts weathered, the tracks and tires attended to and do the deff rolla and then I can wash the entire thing down with Badab Black through the airbrush.

Later!

[sukigod]

Here's my "Once a Week Update Whether I Need It Or Not" update.

Been griming out the new stock battlewagon with a few techniques from the Forgeworld Masterclass book. I'm not apllying all of the techniques, just testing things out. Here's where it stands now - including the first layer of drybrushed Tin Bitz and Boltgun Metal on the tracks - no greasing up those yet so their pretty bright. Some of the airbrushed Badab Black is still wet in a few pics.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw14.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw15.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw16.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/sbw/sbw17.jpg

As I've applied each of the different techniques I realize the first time I do them (which ever one it is at the time) it's always a bit heavy handed, too much paint usually. Gives me the experience though to know how much to put down to achieve the effect I'm looking for down the road. The grease/dirt rain streaks coming down from various rivets is a good example of this. The chipping effect is another, a case where a little goes a long way but you gotta overdo it the first time to realize it.

Applying these kinda effects to the superheavies I'll be working on next should be fun!

Later!

[sukigod]

Started the work on the pair of Skullhammas tonight. Figured I'd get the armaments doen first, then I can just slap plates and rivets and call it good. I spent about 20 minutes sifting through 4 big buckets of parts and came across these parts.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas1.jpg

I just new I'd have a use for these some day.The square bits are the packs some brands of disposable contact lenses come in - yes I kept a lot of the foil seals from them too. They will make great realistic metal plates and thin bent metals! The caps are from the automated shower cleaner bottles. Yep, I scavenged those too. It's easy to collect these kinds of things and just throw them into a box and leave'em til ya need'em. The repetition in these kinds of things is what lends an air or function to using them in scratchbuild/kitbashes. Industrial Light and Magic uses the same techniques when making thier models for movies.

I decided to knock out the twin linked big shootas on sponsons as they contain the most fiddly bits.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas2.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas3.jpg
http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas4.jpg


Last picture shows the half finished sponsons poster tacked to the tanks. All I need to do to finish them up is some plates ib the back and side and some angle iron over the edges with rivets and I'll call-em done. Oh yeah, a little hatch for the top of each! The little well where the contact rested make perfect hatch circles - neat!

btw - don't expect these to be super detailed like the other work I produce, I'm purposely moving fast on these as I won't have time otherwise to finish all of the models I need to by the beginning of October and I'll probably only use them once or twice a year.

Later!

[Force21]

First off...

Wazdakka Gutsmek......IS INSANELY AWESOME!!!


Second...

I wish I could paint vehicles even half as good as you...


Great stuff. :D

[titan eddy]

[QUOTE=icecube;12202]I am really expressed with your plasticard/ converting abilities! I play orks too and i would love to be able to work like that![/QUOTE/]

yeah same here

[sukigod]

Thanks guys!

Finished the skullhammas sponsons tonight. I still have the rivets to do but I'll do them all at the end. Here ya go!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas5.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas6.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas7.jpg

Next are the kannons.

Later!

[weeble1000]

I like those sponsons. It's a nice use of re-purposed scrap, which is always great to see. Did you glue the caps in or leave them free to rotate?

[sukigod]

... Did you glue the caps in or leave them free to rotate?

They're glued down - too much work for the final product. If they we're regular battlewagons I'd use on a weekly basis (or so) I would have.


OK, forced once a week update here. Got the base kannons done so all the armaments are finished. I know they look all slapped on but I'll be "blending" them into the body better in the scrapping/junking phase, which is next.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas8.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas9.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas10.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

Started the armoring and scrapification of the first tank...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas11.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas12.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas13.jpg

Yes, a bit sloppy, but that's what I'm going for. No one will mistake this for any other kind of unit on the table. Depending on schedule I'm hoping to be painting these things by next weekend. We'll see.

Later!

[Lordgimpet]

Looking good so far and your lootas are skilled to steal that tank from GI-Joe :P

[sukigod]

OK. Finished with the first skullhamma, the other should be finished tomorrow with the hope of priming tomorrow night.

Photos, that's about it. I've greyscaled it because the color version is even harder to tell what's what.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas14.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas15.jpg

Nothing too detailed or "soopa doopa orky", just looted and plated enough to tell it's not an imperial machine anymore.

Later!

[Duke]

One thing that the Orks lend themselves to the scratch-building... I tried to do some stuff with Eldar, but if it isn't perfect the Eldar dont like it one bit. Keep up the good work.

Duke

[sukigod]

Update - twice in one day!

Primed.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas16.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas17.jpg

And both on the workbench. Started the armor plating on the second.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas18.jpg

Later!

[sukigod]

OK - second skullhamma tank build finished. Grayscaled for the same reason as before.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas19.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas20.jpg

I'm priming this one right now and taking a long time since the humidity outside is so high at the moment. Spray, bring it in, let is dry, go back out and spray again, come back in and let it dry. Evaluate...on and on. I'm actually hoping to get at least the base coat of Mechrite red sprayed down tonight - we'll see how it goes with the primer curing well enough to mask.

Later!

[sukigod]

Primed and some Barry shots, - nobs and a battlewagon.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas21.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas22.jpg

On to paint!

[sukigod]

Now dey go FASTA!

Masked off and ready to go to the garage for airbrushing.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas23.jpg

And now they're red!

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas24.jpg

They're really bright at this point so they'll look a little cartoony - this is even more pronounced in the photos than in real life. Next will be the metals and details, then a couple of overall washes and then paint chipping and done.

Gotta figure out which ones I'll be doing after that. Matching Pulsa Rokkits? A kustom battlefortress? Maybe the pair of flakka dakka wagons? All before Oct.!

Later!

[sukigod]

Small update, been busy with half my family sick and in/out of the hospital. Everything is alright now and on the recovery track for all involved.

Did the drybrushing highlighting and started the basing for the metals - edges of cut panels, guns/exhausts, etc. I also did the checks for one tank. Turned out alright I think. I'll be doing something different for the other tank. These pics are some of the first ones I could get color corrected to show the true red (your screens may vary...).

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas25.jpg

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas26.jpg

Tonight I hope to get the second tanks black basing done and stenciling (for a lack of a better word) as well as the details, then maybe the chipping finished over the weekend. I'd like to wrap this up by Sunday to give me enough time to complete both Pulsa Rokkits in time for the instore Apoc Demo coming up. Yes, I've decided to do the Pulsas next. They'll add more visual impact to the game and the crazy rules should be more fun than the ability to shoot down flyers, we'll have some other units for that.

Later!

[sukigod]

TUTORIAL TIME!

Biff Gunhed over at Warseer asked about the "stippling"method I use to weather the paintjobs on my vehicles now. I'ce reached that point and made a pictorial demo of how to do it (at least how I do it)

I choose a Chaos Black/Scorched Brown as a "primer", or base color for my wearing. It seems most natural for a red based paint job and works well for me. The grey sponge at the upper left is either a blister sponge or one I cut from a larger piece of some kind of packing foam. I'll use this, let it dry out, then cut off another angle and keep doing this 'til I run out.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas28.jpg

Now our test subject painted up...

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas29.jpg

Here's the sponge dipped into the paint and then kinda "sponged" off a bit on my tile palette - this is similar to removing most of the paint for dry brushing.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas30.jpg

Apply the sponge to the surface of the model, focusing your attention on edges, places wear natural wear patterns would occur and places you want to muck up basically.

http://www.bigshoota.com/blog-photos/skullhammas/skullhammas31.jpg