Ork Warhammer 40k Gundam Conversion

Starting with a cheap gundam model, with a little conversion and paint I created a warhammer 40k ork based on ghazghkull thraka.

Step 1: Construction

After putting it together, its a bit smaller then I thought so might be quite difficult to modify. But very nice construction, I've only made models that glue together before so its impressive so see something with this much articulation and no glue, it all just fits and fits together well.

Step 2: Thinking

For ideas I was thinking about a military look at this point, so i looked into tanks and armour plating ect. Still unsure i decided to make it look more realistic and grounded to try to add weathering and wear to it.

Step 3: Weathering

I started with something straight forward, starting with scuffing the surface to matte the finish, using a pin vice and small drill bits to create holes and carving with a scalpel to make deep v-groves and small scratches.

Step 4: Modifying the Rifle

To me the rifle looked a bit short, so i added other parts from the kit to it, to make a stock. Even using a piece of the sprue for the end, then filing the text off flush.

Step 5: Undercoat and Wash

This is a real simple and quick way to bring out the detail, not only from the model but from the weathering i added.

First a light spray of white just to dull down the colour on the plastic. Then a wash made from black with a little brown, watered down with just water and a little dish rinse-aid so it flowed easier.

Then using an old brush and some white paint i drybrushed over the top to clean up the wash.

Step 6: Ideas

I was thinking about making this into an ork in some sort of mek suit. Maybe base it on Ghazghkull Thraka so it can even be playable on the tabletop. I got a bunch of parts online like the ork head shown in the picture. Just holding it there with tweezers and i can already see it taking shape.

First the legs are too long so i wanted to make them much shorter and stompy looking.

Step 7: Concept Sketches

I made some concept sketches based on the features of ghazghkull thraka, this way the mini could be played on a tabletop as that character and i would have a guide as to what details i should aim for.

Step 8: Adding the Ork Head

I got myself some styrene sheets and tubes, as well as some warhammer 40k ork parts to add as details. The head and other grey pieces i add are those parts.

Because the gundam, the 40k parts and the sheets and tubes i got are all styrene, it means i can use a weld bond glue.

Step 9: Legs

The legs for orks in big armour suits have much shorter legs then the gundams hero proportions. Even after i took the size down they were still a little too long. So i decided to try to make my own.

With the tubes i roughed out how they would stand.

Step 10: Boxing

The suits for the orks are very boxy, the hands sit inside metal boxes that are then attached to guns and weapons.

Step 11: Carving Icons

The suits are also plastered with ork icons. I looked up references before sketching out onto the card and carefully cutting them out ready to glue on.

Step 12: The Jaw

A big part of orks are these decorative jaws that they have as a part of the suits, as with most ork stuff, bigger is better. So i wanted to make a large jaw with large pointed teeth.

Step 13: Claw

I wanted the left arm to be a claw weapon. Again with orks, bigger is better.

For the single claw I sketched out the shape i wanted onto the styrene card then cut it out using a blade, and drilled any angles to avoid overcutting into the shape.

For the other two I wanted them to be slightly bigger, so I used the shadow of the first to make the other. Keeping in mind the shadow would be bigger depending on the distance. I adjusted the distance until i made a claw that was about 10% larger overall. Then using this second claw as a template i made the third, so the pair would be slightly larger then the other.

Step 14: Gun and Grenades

For the other arm would be a twin gun and for the top, these small stick grenade launchers.

For the two gun barrels i made a small rig to keep them in-line as the glue dried.

For the grenades i used a toothpick and some tubing. Using superglue because of the wood.

Step 15: Pauldrons

I wanted to curve some more plastic for the shoulder pads, for some reason this attempt wasn't as easy. The plastic didn't heat evenly and the texture bubbled in places.

I made two curves, one more extreme then the other so i could make the pauldrons two tiers.

Step 16: Boss Pole

I did get this skull on a pole to stick on the top of the model, but it was just too small and didnt look right. So i didnt glue it in and want to make something a bit better.

Step 17: The Base and Feet

I fixed up an old base that had holes in, I decided to try corn starch as the medium and superglue as the binder. Making a thin paste i could fix the holes on the base. But not before gluing patches of sheet to the underside so the paste didn't just fall through.

I made some feet roughly with some sticks i cut up. Gluing them to the base with the legs as a guide so i knew how far apart they needed to be. I then Drilled holes into the at the right angle, again using the legs as a guide, then glued toothpicks into the holes, which then could slot into the hollows of the tube legs.

Step 18: Jaw Icon

Some more icons made in the same way, draw it on, cut it out and glue it all together.

Step 19: Boxing the Legs

Now that im happy with the leg positions, I boxed up the legs, using standoffs i had glued to the leg tubes.

I didnt have to be too accurate as any overlap can be cut and filed down and any gap can be filled.

Step 20: Knees

I added knee pads to the legs, Then i made small hydraulic piston details using tube and left over sprew.

Then filled in the feet with polyfilla, before then skimming with glue and corn starch for strength.

Step 21: Boss Pole

I decided instead to make my own. It was pretty straight forward, using some of the sprue the gundam came on I made the pole.

I filed down its length so i could glue flat shapes to it and they would all align neatly. Then i just made a design similar to the icons i had already made, but much bigger.

I filed some other spare sprue parts to be different shapes, one hexagonal, one octagonal but it just looks round and then i also cut out some small squares. Then i cut these into short lengths and glued them on in places as boltheads and some i drilled a circle into to try to make them look like nuts.

Step 22: Back Vents

Some unused gundam parts looked like good detail, i cut them up and glued a piece onto the back as a vent.

Step 23: Twin Guns

I added to the ends of the guns with some of the spare sprues, I glued them into the gun, similar with how I made the hydraulic pistons on the legs. With this i also drilled small holes into the ends so they would look more like barrels once painted.

Step 24: More Hydraulic Pistons

I made some more pistons to be put on the claw arm. Just made of sprues this time since I wanted them to be smaller then the ones on the legs.

Step 25: Tusks

Another detail i needed was to make two large tusks, i thought the easiest way to do this would be with thermoplastic. I headed some up using boiled water then rolled it between two sheets or non-stick paper, using a board to try to keep it as even as possible. I didn’t use guide sticks each side as it didn’t need to be perfect.

Then I dipped it back into hot water to soften it again and made two blunt points each end and a slight curve in it by hand.

Step 26: Gluing the Tusks

Once cooled and hardened i cut each end off to the length needed then drilled small holes in each, this way i would pin them into the model added more strength.

To pin them i used staples i had cut to size, then drilled a hole into the model for them to slot into. I used epoxy to fix them into place as i wanted a real strong bond and plastic glue wouldn't work as the thermoplastic isn't styrene.

Step 27: The Twin Gun

I wasn't happy with how the gun looked. I wanted more details as well as having the guns shorter then they were.

I made a barrel by cutting the end off an old brush then filed it down and filed a notch out of it so it could sit where i wanted it to. I also molded one of the bullet chains from the other guns to glue hanging down out of the drum mag just for detail.

Using the barrels of two ork guns, cut at different lengths to give the eye more detail to see. I also added some small plates to break up the line between the hand and the guns. There was a little blank space too so i added a sort of laser pointer just for detail.

Step 28: Basecoating

I basecoated the whole thing black, i did this by taking apart all the pieces i hadn't glued together, this made getting everywhere a lot easier.

Once everything is the same colour I can now see spaces that could need more detail or more attention.

Step 29: Drybrushing

Using metallic acrylic and an old brush, I wet the brush in the paint then use tissue to get most of the paint off the brush again. Then brushing it over the model it picks up on all the raised surfaces and brings out all the detail.

Since most of the model is made of metal i did this to most of it. Only really leaving the horns. I let it dry then did another pass, I did this a few times until i was happy with it.

Step 30: Wires

I wanted to add a bunch of wires to add detail to the arms and legs.

I got some old USB and power cables then stripped them down, taped the ends with tape to keep the lengths together in a line. Then folded the line to make the wires two by two, then taping around all four and putting a little glue into the ends.

Step 31: Wiring

I glued the wire ends under the armour points at the back of the model with epoxy, one for each limb. Then a few small ones around the claw.

Step 32: Wiring Fixed Together

Adding some wire detail to the back and limbs.

I used old usb wire and cyanoacrylate glue to wick between the wires and keep them together.

Step 33: Flat Colour

Did some flat colours, not too sure how to add a bit more colour to the gun arm so might just end up picking a few panels to paint red or checkers on.

Step 34: Small Details

These might be the smallest thing ive ever tried to cut out of plastic, might still be easier then trying to freehand though.

Step 35: More Painting

A bit of progress with painting today

Step 36: Base Rim

Filing off years of paint layers to make the base rim smooth

Step 37: Wire Painting

i never want to paint individual wires again.

Protip, just use the coloured wires you want and weather them with a wash

Step 38: Finished

Finished with this conversion. It was quite a lot of fun and all the scratch building with styrene sheets and heat molding, works well with the ork look even when details aren’t as neat as i would like.