WH40K - Minor conversion of Ghazghkull Thraka

Ghazghkull Thraka is a character in Warhammer 40,000, a famous and brutal warlord for the Orks. The model is quite impressive - larger than any other ork figure, except for Deff Dreads and vehicles. He has over-the-top weapons and armour, as is appropriate for an Ork of his stature. Unfortunately, his weapon/arms are posed in an ungainly position, extended at his sides and pointing downwards. Fortunately the figure comes in pieces so he is not too difficult to rearrange.


I will be making some minor conversions to the figure to make a Mega-armoured Big Mek. I have enjoyed converting my ork figures and vehicles and think there is a heavy Mek influence in my force. On the table top he will still be played as Thraka, but with a name like OverDriver, or Da Big Spanna. It may be a while before I find a cool enough sounding name for him...




In this case, I clipped some of the power cables back a little, and I drilled and pinned at the joints so that the arms would stay on. I used the head from the plastic Warboss in the Black Reach boxed set, which is actually even bigger than Thraka's head. I also glued one of the hub pieces (actually two pieces) from an Ork bike over Thraka's jaw piece. It's now outrageously 'gobby'.


He also has a plastic cog glued to his chest as a sort of Mekboss medallion. I have since snapped that off - I want to make it more of a trophy on a chain (very '70s).

Since taking the photos, I have added a backpack fuel tank (from the Burnas and Lootas) trimmed to fit over his powerclaw. This gives me a flat surface to attach another 'screw' piece like the one on the Deff Dread. I will include some 'gears' and other bits to make it look more like machinery that is powered and driven by some sort of greasy engine. Orks are great advocates of the 'Dieselpunk' aesthetic.

I also added some plastic tubing pieces to his guns. I think the guns are a little underscaled so I might continue to add more ammunition, sight bits and gubbins to bulk them up.

I haven't decided whether to re-pose his legs. They are a solid unit, and it would be tricky but not impossible to neatly cut one off and place it at a different angle, but I don't think it would change the pose of the model much. I will add a 'belt' of plastic parts to give him a couple of millimetres extra height. Then I will decide what sort of base to put him on. Maybe something from Back2bas-ix.

Thraka as he appears for sale on the GW website.