Decisions, decisions...

So, where am I at, hobbywise?

Before my vacation, I was cheerfully focused on my Orks. During my vacation I had fun painting a character for the Iron Kingdoms RPG. A nice little palate-cleanser before returning to work on my Orks, right?  .... Wrong.
I've been back for over a week now, and my interests are so over the place, I'm getting nothing done...
The fire to work on my Orks has died down to embers. I'm looking at my stash of IKRPG-suitable figures, because I had so much fun on the one, I'd like to do more of them. And because they share a setting, I've been looking at my Khador stuff as well.
I got Space Marine last week on a Steam Sale (I've been eyeing that game since it was released but it was never for sale at a price I found acceptable. Until now.) My son saw a bit of me playing it, and thought it was very cool. But he can't play the game yet. So I am contemplating if I can throw together a tabletop skirmish game of Space Marine with him before the end of his summer holidays (So, effectively, sometime the coming week.)
Which means I'm looking at my notes for a IHMN/ItEN mash-up again. And, because of the game's graphics and character design, I've done some more on my True-scale Space Marine test model. Which is part of my Inq28/=I=Munda project. But for the marine, I need parts from my box of marines for my 40K/Space Hulk Howling Griffons. So those have been dragged out as well.
And to top it off, next weekend I've committed to a game of 40K. For which I need several miniatures I pulled apart for refurbishing before my vacation. So I really should be finishing those. Oh, and read the latest edition of the rules, as it will be my first game of 40K in over 4 years...
Aaargh!

The sane, sensible thing to do, would be to ignore the distractions and knuckle down on those refurbishment mini's and start reading the rules.
But with all the ideas and various enthusiasms floating through my brain, I can't find the focus.
Such a fun, relaxing pastime, this hobby of ours... ;-P

See you soon, hopefully with some progress to report.

Rosy the Riveter meets Tony Stark...

Or to use the proper terminology: A female Ironhead-Field Mechanik for the Iron Kingdoms RPG.
(Or, according to TVtropes: a "Wrench Wench"...)

Here she is, without her signature equipment:

 Just carrying her most basic toolset, nothing more...
The model is Privateer Press' Dirty Meg mercenary solo. She's unconverted, so I can still use her as such.

And here she is with her signature equipment, a.k.a. her "Field Workshop":

This is the more involved of the duo of miniatures, both painting and conversion-wise.
The body is from a Privateer Press Khador Field Mechanik Officer, with the shoulder plates replaced with those of a Rhulic heavy Warjack. I bought a second Dirty Meg from which I carefully sawed her head and the big mechanical contraption she carries on her shoulder. The latter is mounted here, on her left shoulder:

Additionally, I carefully carved the index finger from the model's right fist, and sculpted a pointing finger in it's place.

Here is a size comparison between the two versions of my Mechanik:

She doesn't have a name at the moment, as I built her mainly for the fun of it, instead of for a clearly planned character I or someone will be playing. Hopefully, someday I'll get to find out who she is. ;-)

Summer Slow Down

Not  much news so far...
I've stripped the old flock off my Meganobz and Warbosses bases, and have glued new basing material on. This means the regular Warbosses are ready for their paint update, they don't strictly need any additional converting. (Not that that's ever stopped me before!)
The Meganobz/Megaboss are a different story...
Prior to rebasing, the Meganobz all got 1mm plasticard shims under their feet, so that when (if?) the new plastic Meganobz arrive the old metal ones won't seem too small by comparison.
I also want to give them 2 shoulders pads, some of them already had a single one. Part because I never really liked the bare, poorly protected shoulders, but also to bulk them out a bit more (again, because of the larger plastic Meganobz).
They will also get proppa bosspoles, all of them. Scratchbuilt ones.

The biker Nobs are still on the modelling table as well, but having all six of them there at the same time seems to be somewhat overwhelming, as I've barely worked on them. Maybe if I just leave one of them there to concentrate on and put the rest away I might get more done on them?

Turning over to my painting table, maybe my efforts there will cheer me up:
The Stompa is still standing proud in his bare primer coat, and it's Grot Riggers are still only semi-painted. Wooo, progress! ....Ahem.

Actually I've been spending my hobby time on other things than building and painting, as both my Codex Orks and Red Waaagh! arrived over the last two weeks, and I'm busy reading and digesting those.
Much more pleasant sitting in the garden with a cool drink and a book than sitting in my hot hobby den bent over tiny parts slipping through sweaty fingers...
In fact, I've been selecting being outside over hobbying quite regularly lately. The "curse" of summer, I guess.

What is green, canned and potentially very bad for you?

Well, this little fella is!

I present to you: Kneecappa, the favorite Grot servant of Morgrub Nazblitz, da Flash Dregga, Warlord of Waaagh Nazblitz. Warlord Morgrub is so fond of Kneecappa that he has even gifted him with his own grot-sized mega armour.

He is built from plasticard, using the template originally designed by Drabber over on the-waaagh.com, and greenstuff for the grot's arms, legs, rear torso and head. As well as various bits and bobs and wires from the bits box.
I started building him before GW ever released plastic grots. If I were to build another, I'd simply use an extra plastic grot head, instead of making a greenstuff mold of a metal grot noggin.
Ruleswise, he'll count as my Warboss' Attack squig.
I know scratchbuilding and painting his was a lot of work for a simple 15pt upgrade, but the main point was the fun of the build and the silliness of having a grot in mega armour. As a bonus, he neatly explains why a mere "squig" would provide an extra power klaw attack, as well a being able to survive the amount of damage that gets thrown at a megaboss...

It's dark out now, but I should really try to get a size comparison pic with him next to an Ork Boy and a Meganob. He's only half a head taller than a normal Grot.

A bit of an update

So, what have I been up to?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's been more Orks...

There is a bit of a distraction due to the Warmachine Tactics beta, which has slowed down progress a bit, but here's what I did get done:

Painting Table:
-Though work on the alternate Gaze of Mork head has stalled, the Stompa itself is now primered.
-2 Meks (one with KMB, one with KFF are also primered.
-The Grot riggers for the Stompa, as well as the gun crew for my classic Lifta-Droppa are on the painting table.
-Speaking of Lifta-Droppa, it's also primered and ready for paint.
-Along with the other Grots, Kneecappa the Megagrot is also encountering brush and pigments...

Workbench:
This is getting cluttered, it's occupied with:
-5 Nob bikers I'm converting  and otherwise working on as/when the muse strikes.
-The stagnated Gaze of Mork stompa head build
-The last two unbuilt metal Meganobz I had in my stock.
-A half painted Meganob Bannerbearer (Which hasn't been possible rule-wise for quite some time, hence the long term half painted status) who is getting refurbished and updated.
-My painted MegaBoss, two regular Warbosses and my three Meganobz who have had their bases stripped and are awaiting refurbishment along with the previously mentioned refurb jobs.

You may be asking: "Refurbishing, what does he mean?"
Well, I started my Orks way back at the transition from 2nd to 3rd edition of 40K. As a result they still had the old school goblin green bases covered in green flock. Plus I was rather sparse with my chosen clan's signature colour, yellow.
When I started my second painting and modelling push on my green horde, in anticipation of the previous Ork codex getting released (around 2007-2008 I think?) my skills and tastes had changed.
I wanted more of the 2nd ed and Rogue trader style to my Orks, plus the tatty green bases were starting to annoy me.
So alongside building and painting new units, most of my old units also passed my workbench, to have their bases stripped and redone, the paintjob touched up (with more yellow) and small conversion added to give the lads more character (clay pipes for shroom-tobacco, bright yellow mohawk and goatee squigs, forage caps, stuff like that).
This process of updating, or refurbishing, isn't yet completely finished. I had several units still to update and upgrade. These include, from the top of my head: My Meganobs and Warbosses (who are now on the workbench), my Kommando's (the classic 2nd edition ones, I love 'em!) and I believe there are a few vehicles I still need to take a look at. Other models won't get refurbished, as they are no longer useable under the newer rules. They will remain a relic to my army as it used to be. These include my converted Weirdboy with Minders, my Snotling bases and my first 10 Gretchin, who are on Gorkamorka bases.

See you next time!

Pedal to the metal!

The buggy, it is finished!

Here it is with the twin Big Shoota in place:

The grot crew for the Stompa has arrived, so I can proceed on that one. I'm currently building the Gaze of Mork for the swap-out head. It'll still take some building though, before that is finished. I'm currently contemplating starting paint on the Stompa before the second head is finished and just adding it at a later date.

All this greenskin activity was spurred on by rumours of a new Ork codex and the first new releases. I'm finding the current ork releases a bit of a mixed bag though. The flash gits look really good (but are spendy, even for GW), but I'm far from convinced by the "Walkin' Fridge" or G/Morkanaut as it's officially known. I got a real kick out of seeing the old weirdo artillery return, but again the realities of high price and low utility dampened my thrill (the difference between the guns is in fact no more than the nozzle of the gun and the gubbins on it's spine. This also means that to kitbash several guns out of one kit, to mitigate the price point, you'll need to scratchbuild effectively the entire gun!).
So far the theme, for me, seems to be "Nice, but...". Especially since a codex Orks is yet to be (officially) anounced, I'm in a wait and see mode, not really capable of getting really enthousiastic.  Am I getting jaded and cynical (I mean, even more than before?), or is this release just less exciting and fun than it could be? Has GW's "slow burn" approach to this release drained the hype and excitement instead of building it? And is it affecting sales? I know I'm holding off buying any new Ork kits until I have a codex and know what all the new Ork releases will be before I choose where my money goes. And this attitude seems to be mirrored on a fair bit of the fora I visit. That could be a distorted view, caused by the usual vocal minority effect, but I'm not sure. I'm not exactly seeing the fora flood with new kit WIP threads either.

In the end, it did give me a reason to have fun modelling  and painting little green men again and I'm quite happy to be doing my own thing, regardless of GW's plans and schemes...

Anyway, here's Kneecappa the Megagrot to wave you goodbye:

(He's nice and pristine white now, but will be primer black soon...)

Buggy tech...

I said I'd grab something from the WIP drawer while I was still working on the Stompa.
Well, this is it:

Yup, a Kustom Ork Buggy.

I got this model in a semi-finished state from a friend some years ago. It was basically just a detailed chassis and a separate gun in a box of parts. I added the wheels and their suspension/acles, the fuel tank in the back, the crew and magnetized the gun so I could swap it with the rocket launcher.

I really like the hot-rod look to it and intend to emphasize it with whitewall tyres, red hubs and perhaps some nice bright red flames painted onto the front (should be enough to give it a red paint job ruleswise).

I really like it's look and hope I can find some more classic car scale models in the future, so I can add more vehicles like this.

Work on the Stompa progresses slowly. I'm still waiting for the replacement Grot crew to arrive. And I've set myself the task of converting an Eye of Mork for it's head. I'm still collecting ideas and suitable bits for it, but I seem to be close to a final concept.

Kneecappa, the mega-armoured attack grot is done and ready for primer, but refuses to be photographed on account of being small and mainly white plasticard...