Blog Tk'ya'pyk's Modeling Attempts (Scratchbashers Beware)

Instead of getting things lost down in the "What are you working on today?" post, I figure I should start posting pics of what I'm tinkering with in here. I have several armies at the moment (mostly 40K alas), including my Grot-themed Ork army, a very LARGE (and OLD) Renegades and Heretics force, a very tiny (and mostly unimpressive) Chaos Marine army, my Seraphon, and a bunch of gnolls that I'm trying to work up into some kind of AoS force.

Lately, I've been working on the Grots while I think about things to do with my Seraphon (because right now most of my Seraphon need basing and getting them ready for primer/paint).

 

As mentioned in the "What are you working on today" section of the forum, I've been modding Squig Hoppers!

Mork came to me in a vision! He said, "Whattya gonna do when da dakkajet's broke? Gotta do sommat 'bout dem stupid Tau and Eldar gits and dey're floaty tanks! Da grots loik hoppin round on squigs, roight? Why dun ya give dem ROKKITS so's dey kin hop HIGHER?"

Thus were born the STORMSQUIGZ!

Which are basically squig hoppers with slugga pistols and rokkits glued to the squigs.

Ready to give my opponents the squig-hopping equivalent of a drive-by-slugga-attack before chompin dem gits!

Well, except for the guy on the left here - I somehow misplaced one of the squig bodies, so one of the Stormsquigz is actually just a grot with a rokkit pack holding a squig.

Mork bless da rokkit squigz and all wot flies wif da rokkit squigz!

 

Ironically, the Grot-themed army came about because about a year ago I was A: broke, and B: desperate to do a 40K army that WASN'T Chaos-themed. I have... well, I HAD an extensive bitz bin from doing my Renegades and Heretics army and various Astra Militarum forces over the years, so I tried my hand at making a Grot Tank, just for fun.

After that I built another...

And another...

Aaaand well, you get the idea...

 

just love them

Gr, Imrahil

 

Lovely! I also have a few grots that are on years of back-log to make some kind of mechanised pirates (with a few flash gitz) alas mostly as half-built embryos of conversions
Keep 'em ladz komin'!

 

@Crowsfoot: Kind of a rust-with-watered-down-red paint job. I'm working on trying to tone down the shiny on the weapons and treads. I used too... shiny... of a metallic on them and it just looks wrong.

Anyone up for more pics?
After making those first four Grot Tanks... I made more! Grotzooka and Big Shoota:

Kustom Mega-Blasta attempt #1 (I have since changed the weapon out):

Skorcha:

Grotzooka and Rokkit Launcha:

Mind you, these are OLD pics. I have since re-weaponed a few of these.

Then, just for a change... I built a MEGATANK! I call this one the G.M.S. Moar Dakka!!! (Gork an Mork Sez: Moar Dakka!!!)

Basically it has 7 Big Shootas and a Shoota on it, for a total of 23 shots per shooting phase (unless we have a mutiny issue, but that's a matter for the Big Mek to take care of).

 

Then I made MOAR TANKS!!! Twin Skorcha:

Different Kustom Mega-Blasta (this one got repurposed later and is now a Zzap Gun "Grot Big Gun"). The thing in the background was once a Defiler turret, and is now... well... it got torn apart for about three other conversions...

More Skorcha:

And another Megatank! This one is the G.M.S. Blastem!!! (7 Grotzookas):

I modeled the G.M.S. Blastem loosely after the Monitor from the American Civil War. Really though I just wanted something with a broadsides attack.

 

Then, for fun, I had to convert some Grots to go with the tanks...
This is Commissar Grumpygrot. He's basically a Runtherd.

Paingrot:

Zodoff Sixlegs, my Grot Big Mek:

Aaaand because I could, a Mini-Basilisk Kannon Tank!

 

Now, you might be asking yourself, "But what will happen to this army in melee?!?" Well, the answer is they get their butts kicked. Adding a crapton (like, 50) Grots to the mix helped, but really they're just there to soak damage for a while and be a nuisance. To CAUSE damage in melee I built the Killaphracts:



Get the idea? I've been having WAAAAAAAAAY too much fun making all of these! Most of it is just sheet and strip styrene, with a heaping pile of stuff from my bitz bins and whatever orky bitz I could get my grubby git paws on!

 

Hey hey, I painted something!

Needs some battle damage and some oil/dirt washes still, but it is a grot tank with paint! Kind of wishing I'd primed some of the parts black before full assembly though. That white under the treads on this side? That's INSIDE the tread assembly, and impossible to reach without cutting things apart. Dem's Ork Glyphs on da turret, too! Dey read: "Dakka 2," 'cuz dis is da sekkund tank in Dakka Squad!

Behold, Dakka Squad! 4 Grot Tanks. 3 with Big Shootas and "pintle" Shootas, and a Boss Tank with two Big Shootas and a "pintle" Shoota. They need some Nuln Oil and maybe some Argax Earthshade to dull down and shade the finishes, mind. Big gray patches on the hulls are intentional. They're metal areas that have been scraped bare during use. They're not pretty, but they're not supposed to be, either. WAAAAAAGH!!!

Note that these tanks include a great many Leman Russ and Chimera bits (from the older kits). But the truly observant will see WFB cart/cannon wheels, and one of the Big Shootas is actually an old metal Volley Gun barrel set!

 

Loving the stormquigs and the spider grot!

 

I have been tinkering with many, many things. The joys of ADD means it is hard to focus on one army or hobby for very long, so I bounce around from hobby to hobby and from army to army. For the last few weeks I've been tinkering with a Khorne-themed Chaos Marine force. I have a bunch of rather old minis lying around that I couldn't bring myself to sell off for various reasons. Old metal Escher gangers, for example.

The two on the left are such old minis. They were missing parts, so I had to give them replacement weapons using bits from the new, plastic Escher gangers. The one with the heavy stubber is one of the new, plastic Eschers, but the gun itself came from an old Necromunda force (Ratskins special character, if I remember correctly). The dog is an old sculpt from 5th edition. He used to hang out with Orion. These days he bites enemies for Khorne and hangs out with the Escher gangers who feed him the choicest scraps from their kills.

I've got 20 gangers now, if you include one resin mini from Raging Heroes and the dog. I use them as two units of Chaos Cultists - one with brutal assault weapon and a flamer, the other with autoguns and the heavy stubber. I need to add more to these units eventually, but they work for now.

 

So I have been having issues with some of my Grot Tanks. It turns out that MOST of the weapon choices for them work out great, but Skorchas? Not so good. You see, when you have a random (2d6") movement, it can be REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to get them where you need them, when you want them there. So in the interest of being... well, not stupid... I have chosen to re-convert my Skorcha Tanks. One of them became another Zzap Gun (grot Big Gun from the Index) Tank, but the other three became another trio of Killaphracts for the Wreckin' Krew!

On the right we have a Rokkit Launcha and Kan Klaw combination (this one is a tad nose-heavy, so I need to add some weight to the back end somehow...):

On the left we have a Drill and Big Shoota (yes, that drill end is a wall anchor - if it looks kind of drilly and is the right size, it'll work!):

and in the middle we have... a skorcha and... kind of weedy Buzzsaw combo (this idea looked better in my head than in reality. I may have to find a bigger chain-choppa or saw to use... ):

 

So I started my all-Grot Ork army in May of 2017, out of sheer boredom. I had an extensive box of bitz leftover from a long-gone Imperial Guard Armored Company (and the attached Artillery company), a bunch of orky bits scrounged from friends, and lots of sheet styrene and glue. Initially, it was to be a mix of Orks and Grot with plenty of Grot Tanks, but I got carried away with the plan and it wound up being all Grots. So after I'd built some tanks and a Megatank, I was chatting with a friend online...

"Okay, so I have a bunch of tanks and some grots and a mek conversion and all. What else should I add to this army?"
*watching a movie* "Hmm... Grots... You could add some sharks with frikkin LASER BEAMS on their heads..."
"You're watching Austin Powers again, aren't you?"
"Maybe..."
"That would be hilarious, but it wouldn't work very well."
"Why not?"
"Well, Orks don't have sharks, and they don't use lasers."

But the more I thought about it, the funnier the idea became. You see, Orks do NOT have sharks. But they DO have squigz. A shark is a hungry mouth that swims in the ocean. What is a squig but a hungry mouth running around on land? Orks do not use lasers (except for Zzap Guns, but we don't count those). They have dakka though, and an enterprising Mek will ALWAYS find a way to add dakka to something, right? Put the two together, and you get...

Wait for it...

ZOGGIN SQUIGZ WIF DAKKA ON DE'RE 'EADS!!!


I'll run these guys as Ork Boyz with Choppas and Sluggas. That lone Grot is their handler, armed with an electrified Grot-Prod (Squig-Prod?) that I plan to treat as a Power Stabba. Originally, I was going to field a unit of 10, dropped into action via a Gretchin Zepplin "Chinork Warcopta" mod, but trials with my early mod attempts and some proxies revealed that the Zepplin tended to crash and burn WAAAAAAY too easily for the points value, and you need a few extra squigs to soak up enemy gunfire...

 

This is an incredibly delightful conversion

 

So as noted a while ago, I have three different armies for 40K. One of them is my Grot-Tank themed Ork army. Mostly scratchbuilt as the pics above show, they're mostly for fun and for letting me make silly units and figures. The second are my Renegades and Heretics (currently shelved while I figure out how to rework them in a viable manner). That whole army is essentially converted IG figures mixed with Skaven bits (pics will be posted here eventually).

The third is full of pretty basic conversions, some old reworked minis, and a bunch of secondhand stuff that I am repairing and converting. It also wants BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! Yes, I have an army of Chaos Marines. I've been working on this force off and on for years, and until recently it wasn't very coherent. Recently though, it has drifted more towards being a World Eaters force. My commanders consist of a Dark Apostle, a Chaos Lord on Juggernaut...

Because my Chaos Lord needed a new (actually old and made from about a pound of metal) ride.
For troops, because we're World Eaters I can take Berserkers as Troops! Huzzah!

These guys are converted from AoS Blades of Khorne Blood Warriors.

These guys are old metal figures (someone else did a prior conversion on them) that I'm going to convert into Champions/Icon Bearers. I also have a lot of Chaos Cultists based on old and current Escher Gangers (and a dog because why not?)

The Cultist Champion on the right is a Raging Heroes mini that I liked the look of (from their Jailbirds series).
I've also got a Rhino (someone's old secondhand conversion that needs some additions), a Hellbrute:

Again, someone else's conversion, but it is pretty much what I was going to do anyway! He needs a name and a pair of flamers built into those 'dread fists.
...also a trio of Predators:

Left-hand one is a conversion I did from a damaged Rhino using a 'Russ turret as a Predator Annihilator. I have two of the older, smaller Predators like the one on the right. All three will be fielded in a group so I can use their specialty Strategem.

I still have a lot of conversion work ahead of me, and a stupid question. Does anyone know where I can find a cheapish Khorne Icon I can use for my Berserker conversions? I need a pair of Icon Bearers...

 

So while waiting for the new Seraphon armybook to drop (soon they keep telling us, soon... meh.) I have been working on other things and running ideas around in my head. As posted up above, I have an all-Grot themed Ork army. Well, I keep thinking of things I can add to it and picking up bits here and there for cheap. I call this post "How to Piss Off Oldhammer/Rogue Trader Players."

I picked these up for a decent price:

What we have here are: One vintage Ork Skorcha (damaged and missing part of the fuel tank carriage), and one vintage Ork Wartrakk with Field Gun. These are circa 1987 minis (!!!). Says so on the bottoms of the trakk chassis. Now, Orks don't really get towed artillery anymore, and that 'field gun' is waaaaay too small to use used as a Kannon anyway (which is sad because I was hoping to use it as one). Likewise, the other gun the Wartrakk came with? That's an old Lascannon. Can't use THAT anymore. So the field gun's gun will become a big shoota on the Wartrakk, and the Lascannon will go into my bitz bins. I'll have to do some modifications on a grot to get someone to fire that big shoota. Lucky for me, the drivers are small enough to pass as Gretchin.

The carriage for the field gun will become the carriage for the Skorcha's fuel tank. This is where I piss off Oldhammer/Rogue Trader players. I'll have to do some... damage... to that carriage to mount the fuel tank to it. Oh well, can't be helped. In the end, I will have a Wartrakk and a Skorcha, both old metal minis. I'm planning to put oval bases under them because they have some heft to them.

"But Tk'ya'pyk," I hear you saying, "Skorchas and Wartrakks aren't in the codex anymore anyway! Why bother?" Lucky for me, they're in the Legacy lists, along with Buggies (those extra gun carriage wheels in the front right will become front wheels for a buggy conversion I'm gonna scratch-bash) and the Grot Big Guns I'm using as "Artillery tanks." I don't play in Tournaments, so not being able to use Legacy stuff never comes up for me! Huzzah!

Thoughts? Ideas for other things I should kitbash, other than a Killtank (on my to-do list), a Battle Fortress (thinking about this), a Grot Bomb (also thinking about this), or some Squiggoths (also on my to-do list)?

 

Part of the joy with orks is the conversion potential... da more guns, da better. I don't think the lascannon will be a big deal, especially with the legacy stuff!

You got a bunch of excellent tanks already, I would be curious about your incoming battle fortress? That sounds interesting, and of course I would be interested in what animal/dinosaur/monstrosity platform you are planning to use for your squiggoth!