Final Liberation: Oldschool Ork Tanks

Hello there!

After seeing the neat image of a Rogue Trader era Battlewagon at From The Warp, I was overwhelmed by memories of the oldschool Final Liberation game. This PC game from 1997 was a faithful recreation of Epic Armageddon for Windows, and I loved it back in the days.

What I really liked about the game was its encyclopedia with computer-generated images of all Imperial and Ork units. I've searched my harddisc and found out that I still have them around - so I thought I could share some:



This, ofcourse, is the Battlewagon, armed with Autocannon. While I don't like the old 40K Battlewagon at all, this one looks pretty cool.



This is Bonebreaka, armed with a Deathroller and a more powerful Battlecannon...



...And this is Bonecruncha, replacing the Battlecannon with twin-linked Autocannons.



Third tank is my personal favourite - Gutrippa, armed with Battlecannon and klaws, a specialty of the Goff clan.



Finally, this is Giblet Grinda, the only Ork super-heavy tank available in the game, armed with five turret-mounted Autocannons and a Deathroller.

While the modern-day Battlewagon certainly looks great, I miss "real" ork tanks like these. The good thing is, it shouldn't be hard to convert a Bonebreaka or Gutrippa out of a Rhino chassis! I'll have to try that one day.

Well, that's all for now, but I can certainly post more of these oldschool images later. So see you soon!

Simple Combi-Plasma Conversion

Hi!

I have been recently working on converting Sternguard Veterans and I needed combi weapons so... I decided to convert some as well. I used a very simple technique and the result looks pretty decent so I decided to share :)

Stuff needed: 1 Bolter, 1 Plasma Pistol, Tools (hobby knife, files, plastic glue)

1) Take a regular bolter and a plasma pistol. Cut off the hand holding the p-pistol.



2) Bolter: Cut off the part marines usually hold in their hand, as seen on the picture below. Be careful when cutting as you may easily damage the clip, which we don't want to remove. Cut off the gun barrel as well, but don't throw it away - we will need it laters!

Plasma pistol: Split the pistol in two parts, as seen in the picture. Basically you want to get rid of the cooler-like looking part and its surrounding area.



3) Again we are going to cut the plasma pistol in half, or what has left of it. This time we need the part with the larger gun-barrel. Ever noticed those little cooling holes on the front of the pistol? You want to cut it in such a way that the piece will have three of these holes on each side - see the picture.



4) File the cutted areas and glue the pieces together. Don't forget on the bolter barrel! Be careful when glueing as any excess glue may damage the detail of the model!

Here's the final result (sorry, I forgot to take a final unpainted picture, but this should be good enough):


Size comparison to the combi-plasma from the commander box:


As you can see, the weapon is pretty compact, so it should work with most of those classical marine poses you can do with the generic marine arms.

Thanks for reading! Comments and criticism is most welcome, as always!

Edit 02/03/2012: If you are interested in more combi-weapons tutorials, here is another one: Simple Combi-Flamer Conversion

Stripping a metal Veteran Captain

Hi there!

I'm thinking about starting up a converted Sternguard Veteran squad - and I realized I have a Veteran Captain model (*1991) lying around; with a new paintjob it could be a worthy addition to the team. Now this is the first model I ever had - my father bought it me more than a dozen years before I actually started collecting - so it's paintjob wasn't that good (I remember we had only few colors at home and didn't know anything about priming:), especially after all those years.


Now I have already tried to correct the paintjob (unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, stupid me) and played him in my only Ultramarines tactical squad, but it seems more logical now to start anew and use him in my Genesis Chapter army - I paint better now, too, so the result should be really worth it!


The only picture of the corrected paintjob I have.

Anyways, onto the stripping. There were actually many layers to strip down - not only the original one (which was actually rather thick), but also the new ones from those corrections.

I used a Nail Polish Remover mixed with water (1:1 solution), old toothbrush and a needle. I soaked the parts in the solution for about a hour, then started brushing it. It didn't remove all the paint, so I repeated the process two times, soaking for 30 minutes only though. If something couldn't get removed with the toothbrush, I carefully used needle instead. I think the result is pretty good:




Looks almost like out of a blister - oh the memories!

As you can see, some of the paint is still there; I'll either repeat the process once again, or play a bit more with the needle. Right now the model is having a nice bath in a warm water with soap, to remove any possible leftovers of super glue in the cloak area.

One final tip: use gloves when working with the Nail Polish Remover. It can quite irritate your skin.

Anyways, back to work. I think I'll exchange the model's backpack for a new one. Since the model will be neither a captain nor a sergeant in the squad, it doesn't really need a cloak, and it will look better too (that old backpack is proportionally pretty different from the new ones). Not to mention how annoying the metal cloak is - it falls off all the time.

As always, any comments are most welcome :)

Warboss Burstahed finished!

The warboss and his retinue proudly proceeded through the battlefield - only to stumble upon a falling back squad of red space marines. The bloodthirsty greenskins quickly assaulted the tactical team with their choppas and power klaws, and the fight has begun.

One nob has turned back though - only to face the four meters high chimera of green muscles and cybork technology, Warboss Burstahed himself. The Warboss laughted maniacally and shot the foolish nob to leg with his kustom shoota; there can be no remorse for the weak.

The eyes of one the marines met with the disturbing gaze of the greenskin leader. The holy warrior aimed his bolt pistol right to the face of the beast - too late, for Warboss Burstahed has already launched his attack. He grabbed the marine around neck with his razor-sharp power klaw and slowly snipped his head off.

And more beakie heads shall fall this day, the boss thought.

Alright, sorry for the badly written fan-fiction above, I guess I'm in that poetical mood again. As indicated above, I finally have my Warboss painted! Kudos to my girlfriend, as she has done a large part of the paintjob. Anyways, to the pictures:



Note that his skin is pretty dark. I like my Orks darker - especially Nobs, and the Warboss should be even darker, right? I might add a bit more highlight later on, though.

You might have also noticed the ponytail. I think it adds a nice piratic touch to him, as a Bad Moon should have.



I love those holstered guns. They have a golden coat, pity it can't be seen well on the picture.



And here is the shoota. I have already tested the Warboss in a small game and I have to say the model rocks. Not only it is already modelled with a power klaw, but it also has a twin-linked shoota, cybork body and hard armour as well! That's a nice setup for a starter-box warboss. I might add an Attack squid laters, if I ever get one.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one! Next to come: Tactical Squad and/or Lootas.

Rhino (nearly) finished!

Hello there!

My Rhino is nearly finished so I thought I'll share some of the pics. Only thing it misses now is the tactical arrow and the Genesis Chapter logo - these I'll finish laters, when I'll have more time (you know, summer - plus I need a pause from the vehicle for now).



Note that the Storm Bolter turret is detachable (as seen in previous post).



As you can see, we (me and my girlfriend, that is) were pretty heavy on the weathering, again. I really like the ancient look it makes.

Here is a picture of the inside:



Well that's all. As always, any feedback is most appreciated!

I have a lot of stuff to finish now; one tactical squad needs just one last soldier; one lootas squad waits for the last man as well; and my AOBR warboss is waiting here for a basing, I think I'll do that as first. So, see you soon!