Cheap
and Easy Big Shootas
By Sneeky Git.
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When
you start an Ork army you soon want to add heavy weapons to give
your
mobs that extra punch. You have two choices:
Either buy ready made metal models or build your own. While the
metal ones look great, they come at a price. Conversions on the
other hand
are cheaper, give your army a personal touch and can look just
as well. Don’t be afraid: It’s really simple.
Each
of the heavy weapons will be covered in its own article: Big Shootas,
Rokkit Launchas and Burnas. For each of these there will be at
least one way of making them with nothing more than the plastic
boxed set of Ork boys, but I will also show you some other ways
to
convert them. Before you start, you might want to re-read the Tips
for Beginners.
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What you need:
- One plastic Ork sprue.
- Your modelling tools (clip, knife and drill).
- Plastic cement.
- PVA glue and sand for the base.
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Note:
Throughout
the following article we will be using some abbreviated
terms
to describe the plastic parts that you
will need to use in order to build your Big Shoota. The
types of Shoota available can be seen on the left and the
most compatable
Shootas for making a Big Shoota are SH1 and SH4. |
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| Getting started:
Big shootas are probably
the easiest heavy weapon to convert. You know how to assemble
a basic Shoota Boy don’t you?
Now all you have to do is to give him a bigger gun. In addition
to the body and army for a Shoota Boy you will need two Shootas.
I suggest SH1 and SH4, but almost all combinations of Shootas will
work. Clip the parts out of the sprue and clean them.
Building the Big Shootas:
Cut
of the muzzle of SH1 and the grip and ammo feed of SH4. Drill
out the muzzle of SH1 if you like. Your Shootas should
now look like the picture below.
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The
next step is to glue the barrel of SH4 to SH1, so that SH1
now has a much longer barrel.
Some care will
need to be taken to ensure the barrel is glued on straight and
it looks better if the metal cladding of SH4 is to the bottom.
Your Shootas should
now look like the picture to the right.
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Now assemble
the shoota boy and glue your brand new Big Shoota into his hands,
just like
you would with a normal shoota. And that’s
already your first converted Ork heavy weapon! You can now add bullets
and other details.
Here’s
a picture of a boy with Big Shoota that I stuck together with
modelling putty to see if all parts fit:
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You
may find you need to alter the arms a little to accomodate the
larger size of the exended Shoota and have the model retain a sense
of balance.
Also note that
adding accessories such as the chain of bullets or the crosshairs
gunsight from the plastic sprue can help make your Big Shoota
Boys look the
part
even more. |
Instead
of making your own Big Shoota out of plastic shootaz, you can
also
use the metal big shoota that comes with the
killa kans and dread. You don’t have to buy a complete dread
for these, you can either buy them in your hobby store, mail order
them or trade bits with other Ork players.
To get a boy
with this kind of Big Shoota you first cut of the tube at the
rear end of the metal big shoota like the
lower one on the
pic. The upper big shoota is there for com-parison.
The hole on
the side of the Big Shoota should be filled with Greenstuff,
Milliput or plastic rod to stop it standing out. To finish the
model you glue the dreadnought big shoota to your model just
like you
did
with the plastic Big Shoota in the first conversion. Just remember
to use super glue for this, as you are gluing metal to plastic.
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The metal
Big Shoota can also be used for a Nob with big shoota like the
one
on the left.
Single
hand-held Big Shootas like this often look better if there is
a strap, rope or chain on it, letting the shoulder take some
of the weight off of the wrist. There are many
other ways of representing Big Shootas. the Boy on the right
has a gun constructed from an ork Shoota and part of a Tau Burst
Cannon.
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