The Green Ripple

Over the past few days I've finally had a chance to finish off the Ork project I was hoping to have wrapped up by February (yeah, I'm ever the optimist when it comes to self-imposed deadlines). The whole army was a blast to work through and although I'd like to eventually add a dozen or so more gretchin and maybe another few boys, the army is pretty much complete. As a note of gushy fanboyness, I can't say thank you enough to both Kev Adams and Paul Bonner for being massive inspirations for this project, and also a massive thanks to Pob and Melon for flowing me some excellent models that help kickstart and finish off the project - you guys rule!

We've seen this battlefield before surely??

As I tend to do with all big projects, I saved the best thing for last, finishing off the classic 1991 Battlewagon donated by none other than the Melon which thankfully didn't need too much repair work doing to it. Considering this kit was launched around the same time as the original Rhino, Predator and Land Raider, it's a much more complicated and interesting kit to construct and comes with a shedload of bits such as wrenches, oil cans and spades. Sadly, I was not able to do much with the original plastic axles and had to replace them all with some heavy-duty brass rod. That unfortunately means that the driving compartment was not able to be painted up and occupied, but I did get to make up a cool little scratch built door!

Battlewagon!

I love this thing so much. I decided to place it on a base to give it a little extra height, plus it fits in with everything else too. Originally I was going to do something with the mast (why does it have a mast?) such as adding some rigging or pennants, but decided against it as it'd make it difficult to get models off the deck area. Here's the mob's acoustic backup 'The Squigsters of Mercy' borrowing it for there upcoming tour.

Azzbutt and his sweet ride.

I can safely say that I've made my peace with the evilest of the primary colours, yellow. Infant, I'm kind of enjoying painting it! Although the majority of the colour scheme is a dirty, musty tone, it still took a fair few layers to get right. The only thing I'm not completely happy with is the paintwork on the flames. Thankfully, the chips and damage help cover up the shonkier bits, but I still can't quite work out how to get the perfect 90's 'Eavy Metal style flames on the go.

Rammy end.

Not unsurprisingly there were a few bits missing, which is to be expected for a kit of this age. However, I was lucky enough to have some good bits floating around, so instead of scythes on the front wheels,  I got to use these old goblin shields with appropriately fitting moons on them as hubcaps. The headlight came from some unused Imperial Guard tank parts and work surprisingly well with the rest of the kit.

Don't you open that trap door!

I know it's lame, but this is probably my favourite part of the model! A little scratch built door to the crew compartment made from sprue off-cuts and a handle. You can jut make out one of the rad little glyph plates that come with the kit too, the moulding on those pieces was so sharp and crisp.

IN THE TEMPLE OF WAAAAAAAAGH!

So that the end of those guys for awhile! I'm stoked to finally have a little Ork force to be able to use in mini second-edition campaigns and hope to pit them against some of my other armies soon. The next projects to finish off will be a small force of Lamenters Space Marines, the rest of the Chaos AOS army and some scenery that's been languishing in a cupboard for months. Will hopefully have all that done before August!