42 replies to this topic

[Anvilborn]

after the recent theft of a case full of the bearded ones of awesomeness I found myself bereft of most of my beloved artillery (love things that go bang!)...so instead of chasing down replacements for OOP bolt throwers, organ guns, etc i decided to have a crack at scratch building a few arty pieces for the army...but the thing that hurt the most about the theft was the unit of OOP hammerers that were in the case (they were the first ever Dawi i ever bought way back in the early 90s when i discovered WFB)...

anyhoos, enough of the rambling...

first attempts were organ guns...one based on a gatling gun concept and the other is a little tank-like contraption...painting was rushed as i wanted to use them in a campaign game a few days after i started work on them (and lets be honest, my painting skills aint that great)...





please excuse the poor photography skills

next will be some sort of bolt thrower design and also thinking about making a mortar as a substitute for a grudge thrower...

Edited by Anvilborn, 01 December 2011 - 02:17 PM.

[Grabgold Thunderbeard]

Hey these are both great, I especially love the gatling gun but I also like how the other one is tracked.
Very cool.

[Griswald]

Sorry to hear about your loss, that's very depressing.
Yet, you've risen, like a glorious phoenix! These are pretty awesome war machines. I like the style of the tracked one- perhaps you should revisit it with a more substantial boiler? Or, is it not steam-powered? forgive the assumption.

[Skrum_MountainSmash]

I think there was a silver lining because those OG are fantastic. gattling gun is my fav though they are both epic. any chance you can give away how you made them?

[Anvilborn]

thanks for the kind words

@ Griswald - i kow what you mean about the boiler and it was something i contemplated...but in the end i wanted a full enclosed machine, with minimal parts showing (keeping it very tank like) and also i didnt have the bits handy to do justice for a boiler and ensuing parts...maybe the next contraption will have a proper boiler...as for the tracked idea, i stole that from one of the Nick Kyme novels...there is mention of a steam tractor being used to pull an artillery train for the Throng and i just loved the notion of tractors being used by Dawi, better than the silly wheels on the steam tank used by those so-called 'engineers' from the Empire...

@ Skrum - it was all fairly basic really...but i will give u a run down on each one...

The Gatling Guns - gatling guns, eagle icon, gun mounting piece & satchel are from 40K ravenwing land speeder set i scrounged from a mate...the wheels and axle from a dwarf plastic cannon...balsa wood was used for the timber frame sections...dwarf talismans were from the my bits box...laid the forks back from the axle and glued the small base plate at the end...then glued another piece of balsa over the top of the axle to form the platform the gun mount would rest on...another piece of balsa glued to the front to essentially cover up the axle area and also a place to mount talismans...then the gun mounts was glued into place...then the guns & eagle icon were glued into place...and finally the satchel & talismans were glued into place...

The Tank Thing - track based is from a Warzone figure...other parts were from a 1/76 tiger tank kit, cannon barrels from a pirate range i cant think of and everything else is balsa and plasticard...used the turret based for the tank as the base for the tank body, glueing it to the track chassis (the chassis has a large hole in the middle meant for the original mini) ...then built the basic shape of the body out of balsa, then overlayed with thin plasticard...next were the various bits & bobs attached...i glued the tri-barrel configuration to a plasticard base and then pinned it to the main body, i then greenstuffed what is meant to be a leather housing around the part it joins to the body for a bit of extra support...if i ever did this model again i would build the body out to a larger size, but its current size has about the same footprint as the organ gun it represents...

another comment i had from a local player is that i should have put a gun shield on the gatling guns...but when u look at examples of original gatling guns from the 19th century they didnt have gun shields...so i figured the design would be new and thus gun shield would be a development down the line...

something that did amuse me was after i made that model i was reading the lastest Thanquol novel (know thine enemy!) and there is mention of automated gatling-like sentry guns being used by the Dawi...nice to see the gatling gun concept in official GW literature...plus it made me think of the movie Aliens...and that is always a good thing, lol

[Squergi]

I really like the concept of the upper organ gun, it's really nicely done and the paint job is great. The second one is a bit over the top for me but perhaps your engineers are really ahead of their time! Well done and I hope you have motivation to build up a second army

[Anvilborn]

I really like the concept of the upper organ gun, it's really nicely done and the paint job is great. The second one is a bit over the top for me but perhaps your engineers are really ahead of their time! Well done and I hope you have motivation to build up a second army

thanks

although i lost 90% of the artillery, the loss on the case only accounted for less than 20% of my actual infantry collection...i still have hundreds of the bearded ones at home...at one stage i went a bit stupid and had in excess of 600 infantry figs, now its down to about 400 i think (passed on some of the plastics to my local club to give them another club army for ppl to use)...so dont have to worry about starting a new army, just bits to replace really

as for being over-the-top...that was kinda the plan, i find the more recent edition models, particular the plastic stuff, pretty boring so wanted something a little over the top to jazz up the army...plus if ever stolen again it gonna be hard proving its not mine

[Squergi]

Indeed nice thinking! Oh and good to hear that you still have the majority of your army left, I guess you'll be looking after them extra careful now! What kind of a douchebag would steal someone else's carefully prepared army anyway >: (

Edited by Squergi, 07 November 2011 - 01:04 PM.

[Darkblade]

I'm not so sure about the tracks, but I really like the gattling gun, inspiring stuff. Painting is good, better than you give yourself credit for.

[Lord Bear]

I think their great Im about to rumage thru my bitz box thanks

[Rinn Zylra]

Spoiler alert








The latest Grey Seer Skaven novel has an attack on a Dwarf Hold. A young engineer has developed steam powered Vulcan/Gatling sentry war machines. During the first attack these gatling guns mowed down the skaven... Check out this new book. Your Gatling gun is Great!!!

[Alebelly_Cragfist]

Dawi should have gatling guns!

Same for me though, the tracks are a little too futuristic for me. I'd strap some steam boilers to it so that it looks less like it's running a combustion engine and more like it's steam powered

[Anvilborn]

its interesting how these two pieces have had conflicting reactions...some ppl love the gatlings and others love the little tank...and it generally seems the tracks for the tank version is what puts ppl off...one of the local guys didnt like the eagle icon on the gatling gun when he saw the WIP pics of it before painting...after it was painted and i explained that a lot of the OOP dwarf figs had animal motifs, talismans he came around

i have been thinking of doing a conversion for a throne of power using the same tracked unit as the base, either the engine up front like a traditional tractor (why do i get images of red-neck dwarf at a tractor pull, oh i am claiming that idea as i think i just came up with my new deathroller for one of my Dwarf BB teams - yes i have more than one dwarf BB team ) or set the engine behind the throne...main reason for this is that i hate the idea proud Dawi warriors carrying their Lord like slaves...

@ Darkblade, thanks for the compliment...i have mates who are awesome painters so i have a tendency to judge my work against theirs...when u compare ur own work to GD winners (or guys who would be if they entered GD) it skews ur perspective, lol

@ Lord Bear, i say go for it! i can thoroughly recommend attempting a scratch build...found it very rewarding and u will probably surprise urself at what u can come up with...

[Oridur]

First, I love the gatlin gun! Now in the one picture you have both pieces side by side. Are they to scale? If so then the "tank" is too small. Do the guns rotate or can all 3 fire at once? If so, recoil needs to be brought into play as well. Then there is the storage problem, wont hold much in ammunition. Need to think bigger! (plus you need room for your engine.) Overall, great job!

[Anvilborn]

First, I love the gatlin gun! Now in the one picture you have both pieces side by side. Are they to scale? If so then the "tank" is too small. Do the guns rotate or can all 3 fire at once? If so, recoil needs to be brought into play as well. Then there is the storage problem, wont hold much in ammunition. Need to think bigger! (plus you need room for your engine.) Overall, great job!

yep the tank is too small, i totally agree...it was an organic building process at the time, ie no thought out plan as such...so scale wasnt something i really considered whilst putting it together, just starting putting things together and it developed from there...it was almost a proof of concept thing at the time...proving to myself i could scratch build something...

as for ur points...i have considered these things already and have come up with the following BS excuses
1. the engine is under the main body (in the track chassis)
2. ammunition would be provided by a ammunition cart/tractor (which i did consider building as well)

as for the guns on the tank, i envisaged a rotating system...keeping with the gatling theme that i had in my head at the time...

as for bigger, one day my land battleship dream will become a reality!

[MrWafflecar]

love the Gatling gun

[Fanai Glimmerclaw]

I love 'em both great imagination

[popevaderii]

The gatling gun is fantastic, it really is! Tracked tank reminds me of the early war tankettes which would be cool if dwarfs could have steam, alcohol powered versions (maybe with special rule 'Drunken Driver', every turn you have to test to see if the driver decides to sample whats in the fuel tank with random effects if he does).

[Anvilborn]

no contraptions this time...just some thunderers...this is the first 10 from a unit of 20...i break up my painting by painting other stuff like Battletech and EPIC 40K to stop me going mad when painting units...remainder of the unit is in various stages of production...thought i would post up a pic of whats done to give me a bit of inspiration to push through and finish off the rest...also finished some movement trays for these chaps as well for when they are deployed in 10 strong units...



yes i know i didnt paint the eyes...as stated in another thread, they all blinked at the same time when the photograph was taken the highlighting it minimal as i just wanted these guys for tabletop use...characters will get more time & effort...one thing painting this unit has reinforced for me is how much i dislike plastic Dawi, terrible detail seems to be a prerequisite for Dawi plastics...and other lesson learned with this unit is dont bother with 2nd hand plastics put together by others...some of the guys in this unit are just appalling when it comes to how they were put together...but its more painted Dawi so shouldnt complain too much

i used army painter quickshade dark tone on this unit..god that stuff saves me so much time with shading...otherwise stuff would take me forever to finish...

Edited by Anvilborn, 29 November 2011 - 02:36 AM.

[Squergi]

I really like them. Even that you say they were painted by tabletop standards, I think they look amazing! Even that there's a "minimal amount of highlighting", they still look really solid and pleasant to the eye. Well done, very nice work