MFH Ateteen: Grot Jet (Deff Kopta)

As July meanders to it inevitable end, it looks like Mek Shop Month must come to a close. Officially anyway. I plan to spend August making orky vehicles too. Because that is how I and Waaagh Snaggatoof roll. And how shall we end this most meknificent of months? With a lame pun? I say thee no! A thousand times no! (Even if both Grot AND Orks don't understand the concept of numebrs beyond three - check out the 2nd Edition Codex for more on this!) We shall end it by building tiny flying machines! Let us look upon the world, realise the official model of the Deff Kopta is a rather dated hang over from Gorkamorka, that the cool ones which came in Assault on Black Reach never got made into a kit outside a starter box and that a combination of cheapness and aesthetics prevents us enjoying the situation. Then let us recall the dusty Robogear box at the back of the cupboard bought from eBay to provide parts for conversions... and then let us UNLEASH THE HIPPO! (live from the Hoodling's Hole no less!)

Et Voila! All that is needed now is a Gretchin on Gobbo head for the pilot and basing using a brass rod for the flight stand. I am planning to build about four of these and use the Deff Kopta rules (hence the buzz saws in the wings - Deff Koptas get a serious melee attack from their rotor blades!) This is actually the second one built - I did a test to see how it went first. The first one was built over the course of about three days, this one was built over the course of two modeling nights at The Hoodling's Hole. Where all but me played Mechwarrior Online. Because Painting Night is a myth these days it seems...
The intake comes from a Robogear kit - I think it's called a Thunder. I bought the Airfix version Robogear starter pack cheaply on eBay years ago for kitbashing parts. It comes with two of the planes, each of which has two intakes. The grey plastic tube is some sort of interlocking pipe I got as part of a collection of construction vehicle toys at an opshop. It's polystyrene based as plastic glue works on it. You could use PVC pipe too (with super glue - plastic cement doesn't stick to it), but this was the right size and I had it handy. Everything else is Evergreen plasticard either in sheets, rods, strips or tubes.
Anyway, I should go and get some work in on the third one - it's got a radial engine and propellor!

Mek Shop Month: Wot did yoo do in the holidays?

Today's the last day of the school holidays, and also the last day of the first fortnight of Mek Shop Month. What have I done with my holidays? Well, apart from visiting two museums...

This is everything which has been completed so far - the buggy squadron, big mek and oiler, and grot tank squadron.

The larger one at the back is the command tank - there will be a grot peering out of the hatch, but I don't have any spare bodies so I might have to raid an old WFB army or use greenstuff or something. I have some spare WFB gobbo heads. The one next to it has the gun glued in, so unlike the others it can't be rotated.

The buggy squadron - I was worried the one in the front would look odd - it's wider to accomodate the engine and I fitted the widest wheels meaning it's almost square. It looks odd as a chassis, but the body has helped the proportions.

And the Big Mek with his faithful GrotBot. Still without a base.

I plan to start painting the vehicles today. It's very cold here (frost on the ground even) so I want to wait for things to warm up a little before I spray undercoats. It's ages since I've painted a vehicle for wargaming (and that was using my previous painting style), so I've been looking at techniques online to try to get the most out of the models. I am also hoping to get the army's first battle in next weekend. And I should probably name the mek... I've got a name for the Warboss, but not a model for him, so the Mek is in charge, and has no name...

MFH Ishoo Sventeen: Grot Tank wiv Grotzooka

Two posts in one day? And there I was thinking I might've lost my mojo... 

Grot Tank time! These tiny tanks are very cool, very characterful, and very quick to build (being on holidays helps). They're a great first scratch building project since they're fairly small and simple, and since they're built by Grots, meaning you can blame the weedy green gits for any mistakes you make. I know I do. In this ishoo, we're going to have a bash at building a Grot Tank with Grotzooka, mostly because I've tackled big shootas and rokkits in the buggy builds. I like to approach these projects as if I am a Grot Mek - I have a rough idea of what will happen, but I don't plan in detail and just bodge things as I go. If it's good enough for a grot, it's good enough for me.

And speaking of grots - here's the grey kind again!

And there you have it Hippo Fans! I suspect things might become a bit quite on the posting front (TWO ishoos in a day? What madness is this??) since I'm going to be spending some time building another two Grot Tanks, then I really should paint some of this stuff up. I might have a go at open tracks on the other tanks - if I come up with anything cool I'll make a point of turning it into an ishoo.
Cya.