Ruzzbot - Proxy Battlewagon, Part 2

Spent some time finishing up the Ruzzbot - I kept it fairly simple, going for the 'less is more' approach on a vehicles of this size. I think I may end up weathering the edges a bit more, it ended up looking a touch too 'clean' on the upper portion of the hull.

Overall I'm happy with how it's turned out - at this point I'm considering what to paint up next. It's a toss-up between more Orks (likely the Stormboyz) or taking a crack at the Hypaspists for the Adeptus Mechanicus army...  Hmm.

Ruzzbot - Proxy Battlewagon, Part 1

I spent some time working on the Ruzzbot - Holy moly was it a whole lot of Yellow! I started off by giving the whole model a fairly heavy dry-brush of Boltgun Metal and overlaid that with Blazing Orange and Fiery Orange on the parts that I intended to end up yellow. Once I had the oranges laid down, I went back over them with Golden Yellow, and did some extreme edges with Sunburst Yellow. I find that GW yellows are too translucent to cover properly directly over a black primer, but an orange undercoat has fair coverage and 'shines' through giving the yellow a nice rich glow.

Once I had that done I went back over the model and tided up the parts that I want to be exposed metal with Black and Boltgun Metal once again.

After that I started blocking in the various black flames and checkerboard patterns, though they still need highlighting. Plenty of detail work remains to be done as well, but it feels good to have the majority of it complete!

In game, the Ruzzbot is a counts-as Battlewagon with the 'Ard Case and Kilcannon upgrades, as well as a Reinforced Ram and 4 Big Shootas. The big claw is represented in game by both the Grabbin' Klaw and Wrecking Ball upgrades. I also wanted to include a dedicated-transport Battlewagon but opted to keep the points cost relatively low - 4 Big Shootas and a Deffrolla. It's intended for the Bad Moon Nobz so it will also need to get the yellow treatment!

One step forward, two steps back...

I actually had a free Sunday this weekend and got a fair bit of hobby time in (once I finished all the household chores that so desperately needed doing). As I'd mentioned in my previous post, I feel that I've not given my Guard the attention they deserve recently so I pulled out the handy painting chart (inspired by Admiral Drax) to see what I wanted to work on next.

First, the 'one step forward': At the moment there's a number of odds and bobs that need to be completed in the first and second platoons, so I decided I'd work on the two half-finished platoon command squads, the two sergeants for 3rd and 4th platoon, and the heavy weapons teams. Some of the models had a bit of paint on them already, but I laid them all out and got cracking to bring them all up to speed.

...And then the inevitable 'two steps back': After I spent a couple hours finishing up the faces and getting the red and grey fatigues and armor done on all of them, I decided to take a bit of a breather. My eye fell on the old-style Leman Russ model I'd picked up last week (knowing that it would soon be superseded by the new, less-customizable kits in short order), and deep within my lizard hindbrain Mork and Gork began to roar. Bowing to their will I picked up my tools and some plasticard and got stuck in.

As soon as I finish off and sell the Crimson Fists my intent is to work up another small Ork army - partially due to the fact that I'll need some Orks for use in my Rogue Trader RPG campaign soon, and also because they're just so darn much fun to build. Kitbashing is one of my very favorite things about the hobby and few armies allow for more gratuitous modeling options than the Orks! That being the case I decided I'd take a crack at building another Ruzzbot, and address some of the things that I thought could have been done better on my first attempt.

This version of the Ruzzbot will stand in as a proxy Battlewagon with a Killkannon, Grabbin' Klaw/Wreckin' Ball, and four Big Shootas. There's still quite a bit of detailing to do, but so far it's coming along more or less as planned. The best part about converting Ork vehicles is you really can just bung on parts willy-nilly and it usually ends up looking properly Orky!

I need to add a ton of rivets and plating to the sides yet, and add a bit more detail to the engine workings, but so far I'm pleased with the direction the model is taking. Waaagh Nazdakka will rise again! ...After I finish some more Guard, I swear! Heh...

No worries, boss - we'll make it Orky.

I've managed to get the Ork flesh done on the burna boyz and the grots, hopefully I can knock them both out this coming weekend. As I haven't anything exciting and new to take pictures of however, I thought I'd post a few more pictures from good ol' Waaagh Nazdakka.

When I'd originally started the army, the first wave of new Orks had just hit the shelves, and I'd been trawling the 'tubes for Orky ideas when I stumbled upon the Ruzzbot conversions others have done. Acting as a proxy looted wagon, the basis for the conversion was a Leman Russ kit plus a few bits from a Defiler I had laying around.

The main body is simply the Russ hull flipped forward 90 degrees. The head is made up from the Leman Russ turret sawn in half (with the two pieces stacked on top of one another) with a searchlight, a vent and some plasticard making the eyes and a strip of spiky bits from the Trukk sprue form the teeth. The right arm is made from one of the Russ side sponsons and a pair of big shootas I had left over from the innumerable Ork sprues. The left arm is made from a Defiler claw; in-game I used it as a proxy wrecking ball/grabbin' claw combo.

This was primarily a 'proof of concept' model - the nice thing about Ork conversions is you can really just jump in and kitbash to your heart's content without too much regard for whether the parts match up exactly. Bung on some armor plates and some rivets to cover any gaps and they generally turn out looking as ramshackle and prone to malfunction as one would expect an Ork vehicle to be. Nevertheless there are a number of things I'd do differently if I was to build another one - double-width tracks for certain, and I'd do more to bulk out the rear of the Ruzzbot and give it a more interesting-looking engine. All in all though, quite a fun conversion project.

Of course, I just couldn't leave well enough alone and had to build a proxy battlewagon version out of a land raider, dubbed the 'Raidabot'. The thing ended up being quite massive, just like Warboss Nazdakka ordered!