Modelling For Hppos Ishoo Firty: Orkified Sherman Gunwagon.

No doubt some of you recall Waaagh! Orkzenhower, part of Mad Juzzy the Flutist's Bounty, and my third Ork Army alongside Waaagh Snaggatoof and Waaagh Gruntblasta. It's the Maxmini Green Alliance WW2 US Army Orks one. In the current hobby climate I decided it was probably time to star doing something with them, so I crunched the numbers and realised that I really did not have enough of them. No problem, all they really need is a Battlewagon I thought, I'll just ork-up a Sherman. So one Tamiya M4 Early Production sherman order from Metro Hobbies later (which arrived at 0800 on Sunday - bless AusPost!) I had all I needed. Since Tamiya kits basically fall together and the modifications were not extensive, the project went very quickly and easily. How quickly and easily? Let us consult with certain experts...

You can just about see the texture of the clapboard siding in the top-left corner of the radiator...

This is how far I had gotten by the end of Sunday. You could actually fit the tracks and call it done at this point, but I wanted an open engine compartment, so onwards I plunged.

And there you have it Hippo Fans! This took three days - Sunday, and then a bit of Monday and Tuesday evenings. It's a quick and easy little project and quite effective. The key to making a 1/35 real world tank like this look right for 40K is to replace anything which is not exagerated - the gun was far too small, you'll notice I have not used any of the hand-grips from the kit as they are also too small and spindly. Ultimately, I would like the tank to be a little taller to look a bit more orky - I'm not sure if it's the Tamiya kit's fault, but it does not look as tall as I thought Shermans were... Might just be to do with viewing angles.

Anyway, I should paint up some figs to go with this beast. Until next time!

Modelling For Hippos Ishoo Twenty-Nin: Grot Tank with Rokkits

I've been busily painting the Kill Tank and Stompa for the last few weeks, and tackling such huge projects led to a bit of burnout. With things so huge, it takes so long to achieve anything visible that you can tend to feel like you're standing still (just applying a coat of yellow to the Stompa body took almost an hour - and it took three coats!). So I decided I needed to tackle a smaller project with more immediate results. And it turn out that despite my promises, I never did do an MFH on making Grot Tanks. So to kill two birds with one stone, here's Grot to build a Grot Tank!
NOTE: Lies! All Lies! I did Grot Tanks in MFH17, ut forgot to tag it so when I went back I didn't find it! Oh well, now we have a second Grot Tank ishoo about a different weapon fit...

And there you have it hippo fans! This is a pretty quick little project - I started this Friday afternoon and it was finished before lunch on Saturday. In the past, I have built one of these from raw materials to completed starting around 1300 and ending about 2200 during the Descent of the Hobbyists on the Hoodling's Hole. Obviously there were food breaks in there, and the odd bit of chat, but it's not hard to build one of these in a day, and it does not require very much material - you can probably get three of these from a single sheet of 1mm plasticard, plus a it more .5mm card, rods, rubes etc.
Anyway, I'll leave Grot Grot and Mek Grot to sort out their differences and get back to the modelling table - I've got an idea for a Skorcha armed Grot Tank banging away at the sides of my head trying to get out...