Penelope's Blog!, UPDATE: A Tale Of Three Trukkz (and lots of rivets) Rating Options

[Penelope the Won...]

Big Important Edit: So this thread started just as a showcase for my Lootaz, but then evolved into my army blog. As such, I should probably throw in links to my Nobz and Battlewagon, as they'll probably make a reappearance at some point.

I came to a couple of conclusions recently;

1. I had a handful of spare Boyz.
2. I had a large bitz box full of an interesting assortment of guns.

So I did what any self respecting Deffskull would do, and built myself some Lootaz!

Please ignore all paintjobs, as these are built from parts scrounged from a variety of sources. As all Lootaz should be.

Group photo:



This first one is the one I'm most proud of, packing a combination of fish'ead Crisis Suit guns, a 2nd Ed Bolter, and a backpack power supply.





This one has a gun which is rather less impressive (the main weapon being torn off an earlier version of my WIP Battlewagon), but the pose I'm quite happy with. I think of it as the Ork is biting onto the bar to stop himself losing his grip due to the awesome recoil!





However, I didn't just want to emulate the GW models. I figured, why shouldn't the Lootaz carry their guns in front of them? Hence here's one boy trying to poor over the top of his comically oversized gun:



And I also figured, why should all their guns necessarily be in one piece? So this boy is packing two separate, smaller Deffguns, which in game terms obviously count as one (and are in fact connected to the same power supply backpack):



Now, those of you keeping count will have noticed that I'm one short of a Codex legal unit, so stay tuned for further developments!

[burad]

Great idea. Now i know better how I'm gonna do some flash gits.

[Shadow]

Hmm, lootas will always be a difficult one, as in order to get the feel right you need to manage just how much 'dakka' you put on each model. now the one problem everyone has when first building these guys simply is; "that gun's either too big for the boy, or positioned so the centre of gravity would cause him to topple over."

now without wanting to loot your topic, or steal your thunder in anyway (because these do look like pretty nifty lootas mate ) I'm just going to use one of my lootas as an example for what looks....right? well



the problems and solutions in short can be seen by looking at the GW loota model which I based my designs off of. looted guns are big hulking things that require lots of ammo/energy/proppaness and this would all weigh the poor boy down. in order for this to work then they spread the feel of the gun around the boy him self, and so you get a kind of 'loota gun suit' that the git would wear. he's effectively got a bit on his shoulders, a bit in his hand which kills things, and something to power it all on his back, and occasionally something in his offhand to balance it all

the main idea then is balance, to make it look like something an ork can run around with, rather than fire once and kill himself from recoil or over powering or something equally unfun

erm. to clarify
1. whilst your array of bits is impressive, it does look in some of the models like their just 'holding' the guns rather than looting them? if that makes sense
2. you need to keep the model looking balanced, shoulder mounting is key to making it so it won't fall over.
3. well, big exo spiece of panzee dungal suits work, and it looks like you've based it a bit off the gw designs.

heres more of my pics if you want to look. hope this is helping atall...
gun 1, gun 2, gun 3, a top down view, so you get an idea of what I mean by frame

[Penelope the Won...]

Yeah, I get what you mean by a "frame". I think the worst culprit in my guys is #3, the one with a gun based on a Multimelta. I think I may try a slightly different approach; make a sort of exo-sk.eleton over the arm, so it looks like they can carry the gun, but with the weight carried through to a frame, as it were. Kind of like a mega-armour-lite, except instead of carrying lots of armour it's carrying a really zogging big gun. Watch this space.

[Mad Grot Docsnik]

Well, I personally think you've done a bang-up job, Pony. I am really quite happy with the multipart deff-gunz where you've used them and your one-pieces look about right size-wise. Now I could niggle and say that some of your joins aren't entirely square, but that's always an issue when cobbling together these tiny weapons. The one thing I don't like is the miner's backpack on the lad far right in the first pic. But that's personal taste. And I agree with you wholeheartedly that fish'ead weapons are indispensable when making lootaz. They are nice and square-fitting and can fill gaps very well.

[GorkaMarkos]

I like your models. There have been some good comments about modeling on this thread, but don't feel like you have to replicate the harness like the new GW models. The original loota models from second edition are still cool looking and look more like your creations than the 4th edition lootas. I use the second edition models and the new models along with my own conversions all in the same squad and they all look good together because they are orks. It is best to have variety. As long as they are easliy identifiable from other unit types you are doing fine. Have fun shooting your opponent off the table!

[Penelope the Won...]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

I've modified the one who had the miner's backpack. He was the weak link really, as the others all had their guns and backpacks somehow linked, and he also had the most front heavy gun. As such I've replaced his pack with a power supply, and given his trigger hand a bionik helping hand.



Here you can see the power plant, and the link to the gun:



And a look at the bionik support.



Now, I don't think I'll replicate this on any others, as this was the only one who looked like he really needed it, and its pretty fiddly. (Plus I'm not sure how good it looks.) But I think it works on this guy.

I'm trying to get a real mix of looks in my mob. The homogeneous appearance of the GW Loota mob is a bit weird in my eyes. Every Loota should be individual. While there's a few things that are common (i.e. guns cobbled together from stolen weapons), they shouldn't all be built to the same formula. Hence a few oddballs in my squad. I may give the one packing a big shoulder gun (the heavy bolter/autocannon combo) a bit of a harness style thing though.

[I Rosputnik]

I don't like the apperance of the GW lootas. They feel to static for me. I've got two "stock" lootas, but I've also kitbashed my own boyz.

Interesting results here!

[Shadow]

To be honest my move to make lootas more like the GW equivalent was purely one of conveinience. I found that mounting big gun combos in anything other way looked too top heavy or might kill the poor git firing it

but like has been said, its all a matter of preference. I made mine to work with the most recent lot so that if I ever wanted to make more I can. and there are still some wicked alternate conversions out there. pretty sure NCODB did a number a while back. hit "NCODB Lootas" into the search button and have a look

shade

[Penelope the Won...]

What do you get when you cross a heavy stubber, a missile launcher, bionik gubbinz and a lot of sidearms? A really big gun.





And a better view of the bionik gubbinz:



Yes, that cable is going into his head.

In my mind this is the one who got a bit obsessive about being able to, y'know, actually hit stuff. He started off with the classic Imperial Flashlight Mk I (aka lasgun) as a laser sight, and it just snowballed from there.

I also modified the one packing the big heavy bolter based gun, to make it look more like his gun was actually lashed to him in a harness:



And also gave him a Mk I Flashlight, too. (Plus a PROPPA flashlight. )

[Shadow]

That one still seems lop-sided, but is definitely coming along

the gun combinations do seem very deadly, and that rocket launcher is always a great base to work on for these things.

have you considered less straight forward conversions? like using parts for mortars and such integrated into the gun?

[BigMek Gaudge]

I like your lootaz. I think your efforts to balence these three make them look much better. The harness is a big improvement for the one with that one sides shoulder mounted deff gun.

[Roborc]

Awesome work, "bigger is betta" I spent the time, years ago, comvertin beakie weapons (metal) to plastic boyz, talk about top heavy, . . . . .

[Penelope the Won...]

That's a lock! I'm officially not adding any more parts to these models, as it could go on forever. That's it; they're primed, and modelling on them is finished.

I always find that models like this look better when primed; the clashing different paintjobs, partly primered parts and unpainted parts all mess with your perception of the model. Having them all a uniform base colour helps really see them properly.

Group shot:



And a few quick and nasty solo shots:











Now, on to the painting! I need to pick up some fresh paints, so this probably won't start until the weekend.

[Me not Weedy]

NTMBK absolutely weedy. So weedy that it hurts me. Your weediness is painful to look at.

Your use of your bitz box pains me, I only wish that I had that much to pull from.

You are a weedy git and no one likes you.

[Tribun]

Well...now they are black...what was new? Go painting !

[Penelope the Won...]

NTMBK absolutely weedy. So weedy that it hurts me. Your weediness is painful to look at.

Your use of your bitz box pains me, I only wish that I had that much to pull from.

You are a weedy git and no one likes you.

Well...now they are black...what was new? Go painting !

You're killing me here guys!

So I decided, it was a bit pointless to keep starting new threads about my stuff. As such, from now on this will be my Offishul Waaagh Keepin' Trakk Post Fingy. (Catchy, huh?) Next project to be fleetingly touched by my genius: Grot tank!



As you can see, it's part Wartrakk, part Leman Russ sponson, all cuddly.



How'd Barry get up there?!



And here's a couple I made earlier:



It's not finished yet; still needs a few details and gubbinz, and tidying up here and there. You get the idea though!

[glomscient]

remember, a grot tank can count as a deff dread, but if they are better than mine, i will hate you.
jerk.
but seriously, the only loota that i don't like is the second one in the last singles of them. it just doesn't look sturdy enough. i have the same problem with my two scratchbuilt lootas, and i won't even be fielding them anymore

[Penelope the Won...]

Warboss Blooskull used to be very happy with his nice little Trukk. It got him from A to B (and let him krump C), it just about fit him and a couple of his toughest Nobz in if you put the boot in, and it had a nice big ram for crashing into stuff with. Great fun all round.



But then Boss Grabswag went and got himself a shiny new Trukk for him and his lads to roll in. A much bigger, much better trukk than Blooskull's.



Needless to say, Blooskull was not very happy about this.

There was only one solution to this. He hunted down Big Mek Lugnutz, smacked him upside the head, and demanded that he made a trukk "more proppa" than Grabswag's.

Lugnutz disappeared into his Mekshop (nursing a mild concussion), and the welding and hammering went on long into the night, until he emerged with the biggest damn Trukk Waaagh! Blooskull had ever seen!







8 wheels, 3 tonnes of armour, and more rivets than the Eiffel tower. Blooskull was, of course, rather pleased.

Now to show that zogger Grabswag who's boss!



On a more serious note, the new Trukk really is fantastically flexible. I specifically built my first trukk as a more sleek and cut down looking version, and that left me enough parts to make the beast you see before you. There was also a healthy dose of spare parts from an old skool Gorkamorka trukk, of course, and the gunshield from an old Splatta Kannon (which went onto the Big Shoota rather neatly).

[DEFF the smasher...]

NTMBK absolutely weedy. So weedy that it hurts me. Your weediness is painful to look at.

Your use of your bitz box pains me, I only wish that I had that much to pull from.

You are a weedy git and no one likes you.

thats a really mean thing to say the lootas are very well done and your just a weedy git having a go at a fellow member beacause you feel like it no model is terribile maybe flawed maybe weird but not flawed