Pudding Wrestler's Perfidious Projects: New Buggies

Well, the codex has arrived at last (seriously, who renames a whole month after the codex and then releases it three days after the end of that month?) bringing with it some new toys for the orks. I'm a bit miffed that things like Warbosses in Mega Armour are now relegated to index only status, but can GW make up for it with new toys?
Yes and no. While I relish the opportunity to build new things, I think GW's offical models are over priced and I don't really like the fact that they completely lack customisation options. I also think some of them feel like they were designed with Speed Freaks in mind first and 40K second - they have rules that feel right in a racing game, but don't sit well in a battle game.
But my biggest gripe lies with the Megatrakk Scrapjet (no strike that - I biggest gripe is with the terrible names which I can never remember...). GW have made some big mistakes on the model:

• Orks would never take a jet engined vehicle and then use the jet to drive the wheels instead of generating thrust
• If it was thrust based, tracks would make no sense because they don't free-wheel

So I decided to have a go at fixing all of this, and save a flipping great wodge of cash by scratch building one. (Non Australian readers note - the Scrapjet and all the other machines cost $77 here, while in the UK they cost 27 pounds. 27 pounds is roughly speaking $50 in Australia...)

Anyway, enough bitter waffling, time for pics! There will be a video soon when I have also completed a Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy (a name even odder than the Scrapjet since it means the vehicle is both a truck and a buggy...)

Behold it's mighty body, wrought from a Target Fighta (actually, I have three of these now - two I bought from Target last year at $14ea, and one I found at an op shop for a few bucks a few months ago - this is the op shop one)

Mighty wheels are from an op shop monster truck. And I just noticed that the rear axel is a bit out of alignment so the right rear wheel is cocked in the air... I swear this was okay when I glued it all together... sigh...

The mighty jet intake is made from plasticard wedges glued to a large washer to get the shape right. The drill bit is the tip of a pen with plastic strip spiraled round it and a whole bunch of little teeth things.

The rokkit cannon. It's hard to make it obviously rokkit-y, so I added a belt feed of rokkits.

The mighty jet exhaust is, as always, a hose clamp. I love those things. Note that I have built the vehicle the way any Ork mek would - THRUST POWERED! Okay, so the rules say it's one of the slower buggies, but that's just because it's so heavy. Clearly.

The turret is half a kinder surprise egg. I added green stuff welds to fill the gaps.

The driver is just a normal boy. I was going to give him goggles, but I could not find my spare Stormboy bits. Oh well.

Come back soon for the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy (it's probably 50% complete...) and video of them both!

Video for Hippos: Orky Coaches

Behold the fruits of MFH 26 (and not 25, as the video says...) I will try to get some still pics and detail shots soon, along with the gunners once they are painted.

Modelling for Hippos Ishoo Twenty-Six: Orky Coaches

Last week I was a t a bit of a lose end - I'd just finished painting the Morkanaut, Big Mek on Meky Squig and four Meganobs, and I felt like building something. A bit of thought lead me to the inescapable conclusion that what I needed to build was a trukk. Or two. Or in fact, a vintage seaside touring coach to go with the vintage seaside splendour of Orkness. Or two. Certainly two.

Here's Grot to show you how to build one of them. Because two would be greedy, and the second one's basically the same anyway.

And there you have it Hippo Fans! An Ork Trukk which looks like it could actually cary twelve orks at a time. Now if you will excuse me, I must finish installing ladders on the second one and get to painting.

Pretty Pictures: Meganobs, Iron Squig Killa Kans and Big Mek on Mekky Squig

Time to share some more pretty pictures! This time, it's the Iron Squig pattern Killa Kans I've been wokring on, the Mega Nobs which were the subject of the last ishoo of MFH, and my Big Mek on scratch built Mekky Squig. There are a whole lot of pictures, so let's get under way.

Three new Iron Squig pattern Killa Kans, including the fabled Orkparatus of Kwalish.

The fabled Orkparatus of Kwalish - so called because the goofy claws remind me of the Aparatus of Kwalish from DND.

I may need to retouch the older Killa Kans to match these newer ones - my vehicle painting technique has evolved a bit.

Ooo look - an engine.

The mighty chainsaw jaws of this one are made from a pair of Killa Kan CCWs.

I've kept the grotzookas basically stock, I rather like them.

Ah, periscopes. How I love them.

I rather like this one's crazy bug-eyed look.

Gnash, gnash, gnash it goes.

This is really the only one with a face. A very buck-toothed, crazy face, but a face none the less.

Time for Meganobs - this is the chap featured in MFH 25.

His engine is probably the simplest, but I rather like the shape of it.

There's really not much you can do with the posing of the killsaw arm from the nobs box. This is about as dramatic as it gets.

The right-hand kill saw is from a Mantic kit.

Ah, exhaust stacks. What ork could bring himself to leave home without them?

The other killsaw-ist.

He does not appear to be friendly. Happy, but not friendly.

This is probably my favourite of the engines.

Ah, the ork who started it all, and continued it by looking like Claptrap...

Behold his mighty engines!

And how his mighty klaw shadows his mighty face!

Here we see all four together, and I am reminded that I really want to have about ten of them...

This is my new Big Mek on Mekky Squig. I saw a painting online of a warboss riding a mechanical squig, but I already had plenty of warbosses, so I decided on a mekboy. He will count as riding a bike. Until the 8th ed codex comes out, when he may change over to something else. Who can tell?

Here's a closer shot of the mek himself.

I really do love jeweller's chain...

To help him blend with my bikes, he's fitted Winged Huzzork wings to his squig.

Note kustom forcefield projectors made, as always, from wire wrapped around tubes with domes on the ends.

The mighty Power Hammer. No rules can encompass it's glory, so it's just a choppa... sigh...

The rider was painted separately from the squig, and the two only glued together about an hour before these photos were taken.

Once more, the kind of face only a mother, or a mek could love. And since orks are fungus, and have no mothers, this is a good thing, or no one could love it.

Well, there you go. I'm not completely sure what my next project will be, but I'll have to find out tomorrow when I start it...