WH40K - Ork "Deff Dread" Dreadnought

This is my Dreadnought.



I built it pretty much out of the box. For a while I was tempted to reverse the body, putting the engine boxes on the round surface and painting the flat rectangles as armoured 'glass'. But I decided to keep it as is.

Before building this, I had seen another player's model and decided that it was a bit too spiky, so I have trimmed most of the spikes off. I also thought the four armed arrangement was very crowded on the model. It's cool, but a bit too busy for my tastes. I also wanted 'plenty of dakka' so I attached Big Shootas (machine guns, basically) to the arms. I also put some spare resin exhaust pipes on the engine blocks, instead of the original pieces.



The model comes with the option of using either claws or ends on the feet. I glued the claws on and added the bigger end pieces as well, to make its feet as big as possible. The Dreadnought is posed to look 'stompy' and the base is just scraps and bits from the bottom of the bits box. I use cheap superglue like an Ork Big Mek uses rivets. (More is better!)

The model is a lot more dynamic and detailed than the old metal dread, and fun to build. A lot of spiky bits!

WH40K - This always happens...

... you spend a while converting or scratchbuilding something that does not exist in the production range of the game you are playing. Three weeks later, they make that kit. This always happens to people I know who put a lot more effort into their models than I do - particularly with realistic military scale models.

I was inspired by cheap pieces of hardware to use this plasterboard (drywall) screw as a 'drilly bit' on my Deff Dread and a conversion of Ghazghkhull Thraka. Sure enough, the new GW Killa Kan kits have drilly bits!

Actually these kits, and the new plastic Deff Dread, look really good - and whichever way you build them, you would have plenty of interesting bits left over for your conversions. Now I am tempted to buy them!

WH40K - Deff Dread Close Combat Weapon

I dug my old 'Deff Dread' out of storage. (That's the Ork version of a Dreadnought walker in Warhammer 40,000. There is a new plastic kit coming out soon that looks rather good, but it was about time I finished this one.)


Deff Dread with claws from two battlewagon kits, and the old chain axe (in black).

For a while I had wondered what to use as the fourth Close Combat Weapon, as the 'chain axe' looked a little too small. Then it hit me: a plastic screw of the type used in plaster board.



Deff Dread with new CCW


Close up of 'Da Drilly Bit'

When it's painted, I hope it will look like an auger or 'Da Drilly Bit'. The idea is that the Deff Dread grips the enemy with the big claws, bashes it with the chopper and while it's at it, has a go with the drill to see what's on the inside. An elegant combination of mechanical curiosity and extreme violence.

WH40K - Ork Deff Dread with four CCW

I bought an Ork Dreadnought (or Deff Dread as they are now called) a long time ago - I think when they were about 60 AUD, rather than the current price of 95 AUD! I never built it, and eventually used some of the bits - the buzz saw blade went to one of my Cyborks, the Burna to an ork boy in the Burna Mob, and the top hatch on the side of my Looted Wagon with Boomgun (originally an old Predator Destructor).

I finally built the Deff Dread with four Close Combat Weapons, because if I left the guns on, it could either shoot or fight, but not both. I would rather that the Deff Dread ran up to the enemy and got stuck in!

The plastic arms are from the Battlewagon kits. The big choppa is from an ancient (1990?) Ork walker thing, made by an Australian company called Inquisition, which I don't think exist any more (No relation to the GW game Inquisitor, or the Inquisition in WH40K). They were crude but imaginative models. The black weapon is the chain axe choppa from a Warboss, and the Grot and hatch are from the Trukk and Battlewagon kits. I think the Grot's head is from the plastic Gretchin box.

WH40K - found a body for an Ork Stompa

I have been collecting bitz like a true Mekboss, just in case one day I have a project that requires some special part I have been saving. Case in point: I have plenty of weapons and bits that would suit an Ork Stompa - but haven't seen anything to make into the body that is more inspiring than a flowerpot. Until now that is.








I found this in Toyworld, for about $40 (Australian dollars). The body is roughly cubical, black and metal details painted on yellow plastic, and the head, arms and tracks pop out. The tracks I will probably keep, the rest of the stuff will have to make room for guns, armour and gubbinz. When? I don't know... but it's in the bitz pile now, ready for the Next Great Project.


Incidentally, while searching for pics of the WALL-E toy on the web I found this. If it isn't a battlewagon, I'm a Squig.

WH40K - Giant Killer Robots...

... Ork style.

This is supposed to be an Ork Dreadnought, but it is a little too big. Made from an old metal Space Marine Dreadnought torso and spare vehicle bits. The arms are Ghazkull's, with legs from an old plastic epic scale Titan as the upper arms. The gun is from a Heroclix Mechwarrior, so it can swivel.

Looted Sentinel. Not in the Codex but could be used as a Killer Kan. Just a regular sentinel, with armour plates and an old minigun type weapon, with a tank wheel as an ammo bin.