Remembering the sequence of this build is becoming more and more difficult as time goes by, so I will just present pertinent pic's as I realize what they mean. This, for instance, reminds me of the inevitable problem of a model's base. For one thing, it was really big and just manipulating it was a problem, so, having decided to create a 'gaming base', that is a circular form with a chamfered edge, I had to lock it down, hence the 3 wooden blocks. Once held, it still had to 'be' something. I decided to go with 'industrial wasteland' and the girder, rust and general rubbish appeared.
I had mentioned before, how the base had cost me half of what I earned in the sale of the model. This was a reference to the purchase of a sanding machine (belt plus disc), without which the necessary accurate chamfer could not have been achieved. Brother, has that machine paid for itself!
I think this pic is one of the best to show the tricky things modellers do to solve a problem. My problem with the whole model was that it was just too big to support itself. Once the huge arms were attached it leaned so far forward,( not that it overbalanced), but it put stress on the tips of the arms and hence, on the shoulder junctions. The solution lay in the fact that it was an Ork and therefore would not maintain its gear very well. Cables would inevitably come loose and never be fixed, so that thick loose wire with its red mate was really a 3mm, very solid connection to the base, supplied with a false frayed tail. The junction of stabiliser and base was hidden under more industrial debris. Now the model had a balance between its forward lean and the holdfast wire at its back.
This and the following two, show some of the detail on the backpack of the model. Things to note are: the use of lead sheet as corner pieces, many bolts/rivets sliced from Evergreen rod, hand made hex bolts, 'welds' made with Kneadit on pipe joints, extra bits of random plastic tacked on with holes in them, bits of other kits stuck here and there, drilled out and joined double holes,
Here is the model in its entirety with a 30cm ruler as size gauge. At this stage the support wire was probably not even thought of, but it does show the method I used to join the arms to the body. It needed to be robust and the common method of a single pin (used to effect in small figures) would not do here. The heavy wire, (3mm), was used in a triple prong that spread the forces across the shoulder plate and so long as the holes were drilled straight, it would do the job.
Painting has begun with a black undercoat. The shoulders had been drilled out in many places to accommodate bundles of wires that the Ork would use to control its limbs, but I used them to conceal the physical junction of the arms to the body.
Those connections of wires can be seen here but I cannot describe what a painful process it was to get them there. I just remembered now as I saw these pictures. Isn't the mind a wonderful thing, that it can completely blank out experiences that we really don't want to revisit? Stuffing wires into an Ork's armpit for one.
The job completed! But there is an addition to the story----- a small (28mm) version of the big guy. As this was a commission, I would have nothing of it except the photos, so I decided to build me a little'un.
