An Ork and his deffkopter

The base colours, inks and some of the highlights are mainly down now on the orky deffkopter. Fairly happy with how it's looking at this stage so when I come back to it later it'll be finishing off the highlights then getting stuck into the battle damage, of which there will be lots. 

Have some pics! 

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Orks: bloodthirsty killers or just adorable?

So you guys, I have a bit of a confession to make concerning the Games Workshop Orks, or indeed Orcs. Whenever I see one, I basically see this: 

AND I JUST WANT TO MUSH THEIR FACES even though they're giant slobbering green skinned monsters. I know, I know. Anyway, so here's an Ork in a cobbled together attack helicopter, or 'Deffkopter' as they call them because why not.

These show a test fit of the head and arms that will otherwise be kept off while painting for ease of access. Aaaaaagh he has a little hat and goggles! You are just the CUTEST little filthy alien scum, yes you are.

I really couldn't resist the lure of that flappy little hat so I immediately painted up the head. I love the detailing on these guys; as well as the aviator hat and goggles he also has rings through his lip and left ear, just to show how 'down with the youff' this Ork is.

So here's the back mechanical section of the Deffkopter. I went with a motley patchwork look of three metallics - bronze, steel and tinbitz to emphasis the patched together nature of Orky vehicles. It looks okay pre wash...

But it looks fantastic once I applied a thick layer of the earth tone ink over everything. I seriously just dolloped it on using a big brush and I'm very happy with the oily, grubby finish. It also really smoothed out the bronze paint especially. Games Workshop do excellent inks.

That's me for now, I'll be carrying on with this and also some more of the Assault on Black Reach collection of Orks. Because they're adorable.

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Orks and Librarians

So in a burst of activity I painted a test Ork and finished off my Librarian, FINALLY. 

I went with the Goffs scheme for the Ork because, well, chequered patterns are cool I guess? Also the other colours just didn't do it for me. Fairly pleased with how he came out, I'll be trying out a bunch of different green to brown skin tones on some others.

BUT SEE I also finished poor long suffering Librarian guy! He's been lingering for ages in an almost finished state, so to make up for that here are some photos of many angles.

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Horus Hearsay

And now, how to convince a fellow Space Marine that the Warmaster has turned on the Emperor, by Ben Counter!

(Paraphrased ever so slightly from Galaxy in Flames)

SCENE: The chill void of space above ISSTVAN III. An occasional orbiting SKULL floats past because grimdark. TARVITZ has just been saved from certain death by GARRO who shot down several fighter jets intent on his destruction. He now must convince his battle brother that they have been betrayed. 

TARVITZ: So you remember the stories of Terra you told me, right?

GARRO: Indeed, it is hugely old, brother. Like old as balls. But feel free to get to the bloody point about why I just shot down several Imperial fighter jets who were chasing you down. Brother. 

TARVITZ: But Terra was well trashed and the Emperor took that apocalyptic wasteland and he built an empire from the ashes, right? 

GARRO: Indeed he did, brother. The glorious shiny Emperor founded the Imperium there and this is why I fight, brother. To stand against the darkness and rediscover ancient glories like soft toilet paper and daytime television. Now about those Imperial fighter jets that I just murdered on your say so…

TARVITZ: Well basically that is what is being betrayed here. That whole thing you said.

GARRO: No! 

TARVITZ: Yes! So what will you do now?

GARRO: Well if I were a sane man I'd verify your massively outlandish statement in some way for starters, but instead I'll just assume that the only person who could possibly be behind this is Horus our beloved Warmaster because frankly he's a petulant highly strung manchild imbued with the powers of a demigod and also any kind of serious investigation would seriously eat into our pagecount. I guess my next step will be going to get Rogal Dorn or Magnus involved who will surely not rip me a new one for presenting them with a laughably insane tale based on pretty much no evidence whatsoever.

TARVITZ: Don't worry, you'll get your own book rights based on the chase scene. I mean I'm sure you'll get away just fine. 

END SCENE.

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Painting Station Review

So after three months of waiting, my painting station arrived! By the Emperor's withered testicles!

My friend and I ordered one each back in the misty reaches of April from the Polish company Hobbyzone. Their prices were very reasonable, though initially they didn't have a setup for delivery to the blasted wasteland of New Zealand. We haggled for a bit and they agreed upon a cheaper delivery price, which would take longer to arrive. I was in no hurry and promptly forgot about it for the most part.

Look! Boxes!

And inside, everything had survived the three month travel ordeal pretty much unscathed. One corner of the base had a slight bit of wear, easily fixed with some tape to stop it from deteriorating further. 

The instructions were easy to follow. There was a lot more gluing than I anticipated, but that's not really a complaint so much as just an observation.

Now for anyone else getting one of these stations, there's three pieces of wood that act as support beams for the shelves that you have to bend and fit into curved slots. One of the beams was 2 cm too long for the slot and so had to be cut to fit, and then it's just a matter of being very careful as you glue then bend it into place. Just slot one side in and then bend the rest into place in increments and you'll be sweet.

I then employed a ton of old fantasy books to weigh them down overnight while they dried. My house smelled pleasantly like my highshool wood-working class.

The next day! I glued the three main frames onto the back support piece and waited for most of the afternoon while they dried, then adding the two side pieces and giving it another couple hours. I also added some tape just to keep everything in place, but it held up fine by itself while it dried. 

And then it was just a matter of gluing the shelving frame down onto the base and weighing the sucker down with a bunch of books for a few hours. I noticed that the whole unit wasn't quiiiiiite flush in places, some of the measuring or possibly component cutting was a bit off in places, but not enough that it caused any major problems. 

And here's the station ready for action!

And here it is with all my paints, tools and stuff in place, ready for use.

All in all I'm very happy with the finished product. It holds my paint collection very nicely with a bit of room to add more, plus brushes, small water cups, decal solution and some tools. Most importantly it provides an easily mobile station that I can pack away under the table with lots of surface area for models.

The cheap plywood material was a bit of a concern and I ended up running masking tape all along the bottom edges and corners so that it would have some protection in the long term, but I think that's what you get for the low price and I don't really see that as much of an issue.

Would definitely recommend it! 

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