Greetings Terrans! I hope all is well with you and that life is being kind. I have quite an exciting post for you today – I have another skwad of Orks completed & ready for Wolf Time, and I’ve also been pushing some Greenstuff around in a pretty major way! First up the painting – this time I’ve tackled one of three Ork Warrior units that are needed for the campaign – the list shows them as armed with Bolt Guns, Bolt Pistols and Combat Accessory (these all have a small pistol tucked away somewhere on their person):
I’m happier with these guys than with the first few skwads – I forgot to take a green glaze with me on holidays so didn’t use it on the first batch of Ork skin, but I tested it on these guys and am much happier with the resulting tone… I’ll have to remember to go back and glaze the others! Also, I cheated a bit on this unit – the leader (Thrug Bullneck no less!) was already painted on hols, but I re-did his trousers & shirt to tie him in with ‘Red Skwad’ a bit better, (and I also glazed the flesh).
I also had a look ahead to some more units that are needed for the scenario – the Ork Guard Units. These Guards are a bloody pain in the arse… They are meant to have Power Armour, Bolt Guns & Chainswords – all fine and good, except I can’t find a single OldHammer mini that matches this equipment loadout! All the Power Armoured Nobs of that time have Power Gloves, and all the sculpts would be really tricky to weapon-swap on in a convincing way… I could go for some newer Ork minis, but I really don’t want to deviate from the era too much. It’s a pickle, and one that I’ve been mulling over for several weeks now!
Anyhoo, yesterday morning, I had a brainwave – I thought I’d try and attack the problem from the other angle and try and sculpt power armour on a correctly armed Ork, (funnily enough, Thrug again)… I mean, how hard can that be, right? Well, turns out that it is bloody hard – several hours of fun later, and I got to this stage:
Hmmm… I am both pleased and frustrated at the same time – pleased that the basic shape is there, and happy that it clearly reads as “Hey fuckers, look at me! I’m that mythical non-existent Power Armoured Ork with Bolter and a Chainsword that Rick Priestley wrote into the Wolf Time campaign!”, but I’m also frustrated that it is so rough. Of course, it isn’t finished yet, but I’m in totally new territory here – I’m not sure how much I can refine it, whether it should be more refined now, how to add stuff, etc. I’m basically learning as I go, and have no idea were to pitch my expectations – the uncertainty is somewhat uncomfortable. Also, I’m thinking of the bigger picture – I need 19 of these buggers! 19 re-sculpts will take me bloody ages, and I run the risk of them all looking like kneeded dog shite at the end of the process… on the other hand, my sculpting will have improved hugely, and they might end up looking absolutely awesome… Decisions, decisions!
Well, I guess the thing to do is go balls-out to finish this guy to the best of my ability & then make a decision. I have some clay shaping tools on order (recommended by Jon – thanks dude!), plus some brownstuff (recommended by Jesper – thanks dude!!), and a cable rolling tool, so at least I’ll have the right gear to take this ‘eksperiment’ to the next level. I also ordered some mould making material, so at least I can make my own ‘period’ chainswords, and maybe even try and mould whole figures! Exciting times dudes and dudettes – it all feels deliciously old-school :-)
Anyway, that’s it for today – catch you homies all on the flip-side!
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
Great work on the squad Alex, and the sculpting looks absolutely good enough for purpose.
But 19? Ugh.
Try Knightmare miniatures perhaps. They have a range if power armoured Orks sculpted by Kev Adams that might be more suitable .
Cheers mate – it’s heading in the right direction I think :-) I do actually have the Knightmare space Orks, and they are really bloody good, but they are absolutely massive next to the old-school minis… not the direction I want to take :-/
Fun and good looking green skins. Looking forward to seeing more from you and your Orks!
Cheers Mark – plenty more to come :-)
Looking good so far Alex and I have nothing but admiration for you taking on the green stuff. I’ve no doubt, as with most things, practice will make perfect.
Cheers TIM, I appreciate that mate – my consolation at the moment is that all the awesome sculptors out there must’ve started somewhere :-)
Nice work on all the orks, and kudos on the greenstuffed power armour. I too wondered about Knightmare miniatures as the answer to your woes but I’ve not got any of their space orks so didn’t realise how big they were. I suppose it depends how you think you’ll get on with greenstuffing another 19 – there really isn’t an equivalent of “batch painting” when it comes to sculpting (unless perhaps you could strike a deal with Mark of HeresyOfUs to 3d print your way to success…). If you go with sculpting I suppose it’ll very much depend on how well you think you’ll stay on top of it in the long run, on the one hand you might be an amazing sculptor by the end of it with all that practice, but equally you might find enthusiasm for the whole project is dead in the water before you’ve finished the first handful.
Looking at the artwork from that era a lot of the ork power-armour is pretty similar to space marine power armour – could something be kitbashed by combining the two? Personally I prefer the modern aesthetic whereby orks and space marines are distinctly different but it would certainly be in keeping with the era.
Whatever you go for it’s certainly true that pushing your creativity and making things yourself is much more in keeping with the oldhammer aesthetic and vibe than relying on the vast wealth of compatible plastic bits we have nowadays!
Cheers mate, and yeah, you’ve articulated the scale of the challenge and the potential pitfalls perfectly! 19 is a bloody big number and the curve is steep, but I’m feeling strangely fired up for this… I’ve always wanted a good readon to practice some sculpting, so I’m going to push the boat out & see where it gets me! If if gets silly then I’ll think again & take an easier route, but he who dares and all that… wish me luck! :-D
In that case; good luck! I’ll be cheering from the sidelines mate!
🤘
That power armored ork is looking quite good, but 19 of them… maybe make a generic body next, and then cast that? Add the heads and weapons and go from there?
Cheers mate, and yeah, that might be an option! I don’t think I can create a true mould for casting due to IP, but I am going to try some homemade press moulding… a fun experiment!
Impressive painting and sculpting! Could you not maybe make use of some of the bigger figures, since it is power armour you’re after anyway (so it’s bulky)? Maybe swap heads for some smaller ones? Thinking out loud here so feel free to just put me in my place!
Thanks mate, and it’s not a bad shout – I took another look this evening, and I think some of the old-school power armoured dudes may be workable… Even some of the Knightmare ones aren’t as big as I thought (though some are Ogryn sized or bigger!)
I simply love what you did here. Pure genius. All the best for the endeavour ahead!!
Thanks Suber – too kind!! I think genius is a push, but we’ve all got to start somewhere ;-)
Great work mate and nice sculpting. You’re much braver than me. 😉
Thanks Warbs, it’s a start eh? Poor old Thrug ;-)
Nice work mate! I think you should push on through and scuplt the lot :) Your skills will be awesome by the end and worth every moment. So get those saliva glands pumping and apply spit to steel. Sculpt your way to a better tomorrow!! We stand with you dude ;)
lol – thanks mate, good to know :-) Consider those saliva glands pumped!!
Glad to hear it. By the way check your email :)
Will do mate – been a bit slow at the moment, still trawling through the backlog from hols!!
I know that feeling. I was so lazy on hols it took a while to focus when I got back. Total bliss it was ;)
Great work here Alex – both on giving paint to those old classic models and also the sculpting. It is indeed a *little* rough, but it’s not that much rougher to my eye than the Power Armour of Kev’s Ork models of the day – he was clearly feeling his own way during this phase as well. Before I saw that you’d written it I thought of the same solution – Once it’s complete, I think you need to mould a bunch of these for your own personal use only.
Aw, cheers mate – I think Kev’s work was way better, even back then, but I bet his first piece was shite! My experiment is more than a little rough right now, but a bit of file work, some liquid GS and the proper tools should help… I’m so tempted to get a mould made if they come out well ;-)
Love the sculpting; with a bit of paint on I think it’ll look good. But I do have to echo your concerns about the practicalities of doing another 19 of these chaps. Still, I look forward to enjoying (pictures of) the fruits of your labours.
Cheers mate – he’s actually looking a bit better today thanks to some trimming & filing, but I still have details to add, (cables, a power plant, rivets, etc.)
Doing 19 of ’em would be a stretch, so I’ll probably end up going for a blended approach (some sculpted, some converted)
Yo!! Like the style of your painting very much buddy. Color palette is combined well and it makes your minis looks just great. You are actually one and only guy with blog about RT, which I’m watching on regular basis. Keep it up A. Great work.
Cheers mate, I’m flattered! :-)
How’d I miss this? Marvellous job on the sculpting. It looks great.
Cheers dude – still very WIP, but it’s a start!
You got plenty of time to practice if you’re doing 19 more.