Dwarfs Part X: More Gyrocopter

The next part of rebuilding the heap of a Gyrocopter I bought is fabricating a new blade assembly.  I decided to make it in one piece for strength, and to magnetize it so it could be removed for easy packing in a transport case.  I started by grabbing some scrap cardboard out of the recycling bin and sketching a blade shape that I liked:

...then I cut it out and used it to transfer the pattern to a sheet of plasticard:

The middle was a bit wobbly, so I reinforced it with a bit of plasticard, then added some Green Stuff to mount the magnet to:

Next, I grabbed some styrene tubing and build a "frame" - the plan here is to paint these with a "wood grain" effect so they look like wooden poles:

I sculpted some ropes out of Green Stuff, to look like they're tying the frame together and to hide the gaps a bit:

Next, I used some scrap plasticard and a small hole punch to make some "rivets":

Primered:

I used black paint, P3 brown ink, & Vallejo Game Ink smokey brown for the wood effect:

I picked up a pack of flight bases at my FLGS and sculpted a mounting spot for one:

Finished model:

Overall, I'm pretty pleased (especially considering what I started with!)

Dwarfs Part IX: Gyrocopter

...the next thing I decided I needed for my Dwarf army was a standout "centerpiece" model - one that I could heavily convert, try to do a great paint job on, and would generally keep the army from looking like just a big mass of troops.  It would also help if it was a model that was popular in Dwarf lists.  My first thought was Dwarf High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer:

Image from Games Workshop

...but, as I said before, cost is a big factor in building this army - I looked around the usually places, but there were no cheap used versions of this model available.  The only other model that really appealed to me was the Gyrocopter:

Image from Games Workshop

Looking for a cheap version of this model also proved tough - even pretty busted-up ones were going for a significant chunk of change on eBay.  I finally won an auction for one that was missing as many parts as were there:

Pic from auction listing

I waited for it to get here and hoped for the best.

Once the model arrived, I saw how bad it was:

Yikes.  No rotors.  No gun.  No tail stabilizer.  Busted landing skids.  Dried-up clots of superglue everywhere.  Doesn't even look like it was ever cleaned properly.

I chipped off the excess glue the best I could, grabbed my plasticard & Green Stuff, and got to work.  First order of business was to replace the missing tail stabilizer:

Next: I reconstructed some struts for the landing skids using styrene tubing:

Tying in the rear stabilizer & customizing an exhaust port:

Next, I needed to replace the main gun - I grabbed a ship's cannon I had in my bitz box from a Reaper Razig weapons pack, but it was too big - so, I cut it down, re-sculpted it, and added a mounting point:

Next up - building the blade assembly!

Mystery Project Pt. IV

The next clue to my "mystery project":

...needless to say, the "electronics" aspect of this project is quickly growing out-of-hand...

Mystery Project Pt. III

The next clues to my "mystery project" series:

...the plot thickens...

Mystery Project Pt. II

The next clue in my "mystery project" series:

Hmmm, might electronics play a role here?

Mystery Project Pt. I

If you follow my Twitter feed, you know I've been putting up photos & hinting about a "mystery project" - this is a scratchbuild project that I've decided to do for a friend of mine for Xmas.  I'll be putting up occasional pics to give hints about what it is, and will hopefully have a successful unveiling when it's finished.  I will say that while it's technically a "model", it's not really related to any miniature/wargaming universe - I guess the most accurate way to describe it would be a "replica prop", and I'm going to be using parts from lots of different sources.

Nevertheless, here's the first pic:

Wartrukk Conversion

...so one of the models I got in a Craigslist lot is the Ork Wartrukk:

I don't know when the above model came out - second edition?  Third?  Before I started playing 40K, anyway.  I've also never been entirely clear if this is an old unit that's no longer supported by the current codex, or if it's the previous incarnation of the current Trukk.  Regardless, the model sucks.  It's extremely boring, and the scale is all wrong.  You can see that I added some Freeboota touches with my Green Stuff press molds and a Grot rigger, but that was about it so far.  I decided the model needed some more attention - since my other Trukks are going to be running Wreckin' Balls & Boarding Planks, I decided to see if I could scratchbuild these to make this model a bit more interesting.

I started with the Wreckin' Ball.  I took some wooden balls I had picked up at the craft store at some point:

I randomly drilled some holes in it with my pin vise:

...then I cut the tips off of a handful of toothpicks:

...and glued them into the holes.

Next, I took a sprue of chains from a Reaper Razig weapon pack:

...and added one to the Wreckin' Ball:

Next, I need to build a mount for the Wreckin' Ball.  I took an assortment of styrene rods, plasticard, my hobby saw, mitre box & tubing cutter, and just started playing with different shapes & lengths until I got something I liked:

 Then I mounted the Wreckin' Ball to it:

Then I punched out some rivets and added them to the mount:

I added some more chains around the "spool" and mounted the whole thing in the bed of the Wartrukk:

Next, I started on the boarding plank.  I actually didn't have any craft sticks, so I took these wooded squares:

These also came from the craft store.  They're very brittle, so I just scored them with my hobby knife and snapped them off to make planks:

Then I cut two lengths of styrene "I-beam" and glued the planks across them in a haphazard fashion:

Rivets were added:

The ends were closed with plasticard:

Some "hooks" from a fantasy Chaos banner were added:

Next, a mount was made from styrene:

...and it was mounted in the bed of the Wartrukk:

(Even though the new Trukk models have a plank on each side, I thought this model would look too cluttered if I added another one on the other side, so I decided to leave it at that.  if a rules lawyer want to argue about it, I'll just say it's on a swivel).

After looking at it, I decided it needed a bit more detail, so I added some "hand cranks" for the Wreckin' Ball assembly:

A few other touches - I gave the driver a pirate hat (he is a Freeboota, after all):

(For some reason, the pirate hat with the sunglasses cracks me up).

I've also been meaning to re-purpose one of these sprues from all the Reaper bits I've been using:

It turns out it's the perfect size to use as a bumper for this model:

...and that's about it - overall I'm really pleased with how it came out - it went from looking terrible to being an interesting model.  I considered picking up a cheap toy car in a much larger scale to give it "monster truck" -style wheels and scale it up a bit closer to the current Trukk model, but I think that would be a ton of work to make it look right... maybe if I see something fitting next time I'm at the dollar store I'll give it a shot.