Although I have started one of the battle wagons, I have had some frustrating setbacks, so I have decided to work on the Guntrukk for a bit. I have never made one before (just imagine a non-fast AV:10 trukk with a Zzap gun on it). I know they are not the most popular choices in a KoS army, but I thought it would be fun to model.

In essence, I scratch built the basic form an an OOP rhino kit, to suggest that it once was a looted rhino, but ended up being so damaged that it had to go back to the mek's shop and now has a new role. I really wanted to get the point across that a Zzap gun is a very dangerous yet unreliable weapon, so I added a lot of cabling, as well as having the exposed battery on the rear left. I put two hand wheels up near the turret hatch to suggest that the gunner might even have to crank them to get the gun to shoot.

There's still a lot of basic forms to make before I really get into the detailing (lots of rivets, repairs and battle damage). I ordered some cool Verlinden resin wheels with chains on them... seemed very Orky to me. They would like the extra traction and noise it would make, as well as the chaos the broken chains flying in the air will make. I hope those wheels work well, scale wise!

The soft stowage was made from greenstuff, and then later cast up in resin. My thought is that Speed Freeks would always be on the road, gypsy like, so their trukks would be their homes, therefore loaded with stowage.

This looks like a stable and reliable gun, right? ;-)

Next up is trying to work out the drivers compartment up front (at least some sort of vision slit), and finding a place for the grot rigger(s). I am not sure what to do with the flanks.. perhaps some cobbled armor plates?

2/23/04

OK, not too much to add to the Guntrukk. I am still waiting for the wheels to come in the mail, so I don't want to fiddle too much with the sides until I know what sort of room I have to work with. I detailed the top and front some more. I added a driver's compartment, it is hard to make out that I used a preforated metal mesh for the window. The teeth came from Oddballz, who had it left over from a FW looted rhino kit. I added a blower intake to the hood for added interest.

I added a stikkbomb chukka, made out of a dreadnought chukka and two frag stikkbombs. I can't think of a better place to put it. I had it on top of the drivers compartment, but it comes too close to the Zzap barrel. I cut a small hatch up top for a grot rigget to poke out of, I scrtachbuilt a hammer for him to hold, it might come in handy. I sp[rayed black primer in the hole, so none of the white plastic will show through when all is said and done.

2/28/04

I finally got the resin wheels. All in all, they're pretty good. Larger than I expected, but a little narrower than ideal, but they'll do nicely. I was hoping that there'd be a little variety in the way they chains were hanging, but on the positive side the detail is very crisp... some of the chains holes are completely open.. I have no idea how this was accomplished with a mold... perhaps it is a fluke, and the resin just didn't fill in.

So, I enlargened the wheel wells, attached the wheels, and built up the basic forms for some fenders. I added a spare wheel, too. I think the flip side will have a small hatch with a clan glyph on it, I don't want it to look too much like an access point because the tank already resembles an old razorback... I don't want opponents confused.

A bit more bulk was added to the chassis, right under the driver's compartment.

I still mean to shorten the shafts on the stikkbombz, though I haven't gotten artound to it, yet.

3/3/04

paint!!!! After a few last bits of detail (headlights, more stowage, side door and glyph, etc), I then put on about 200 rivets, nuts and bolts, and primed it. About time, too, as I was starting to lose steam with it. I took these pics in fairly low light, so it has washed out a fair bit of detail:

3/11/04

sooooo close!!! I just have little nitpicks and cleanup left, which is my least favorite aspect... but most important. I am always slogging my feet at this phase. A few more hours and I can move on to something else.

3/12/04

I'm calling it done! You can see more images HERE.