Dipping when you can’t “dip” – Ork Trukk

So Dipping is called that because you’re supposed to “dip” the mini in the woodstain.  However, this is just the easiest way to get the stain on the mini.  You can brush it on in cases where the mini is too large.  This is the first Trukk I painted.

You can see the pre-stain, post-stain, and finished product.  The yellows had to be reinforced, as the stain darkens them too much.  I also added some splattered bugs!

Poindexta Smartyskull: The Ork with two Brains.

Conversion and Painting

A rather simple conversion, but a good one.  I took Ghazgkull, sawed off the bottom of the cow-skull banner, and replaced the pole with a brass rod.  I cut a brain shape and a lightbulb shaped skull out of plasticard.  I then cut a smaller circle, to be the banner’s monocle.

For Smartyskull’s head, I had a square piece of plastic left over from a Trukk conversion.  I coated this with putty, and put it on his left side of his head (seen on the right in the photo).  I then filled out the other half of the head with a blob of putty that is much more rounded.  I added some small sausages of putty to the front of the head, and flattened them slightly to make the veins.

The monocle is a simple Ork shoota crosshairs bit, with the insides and outsides smoothed.  The chain is a thin strand of putty.

Smartyskull was painted using the same dipping technique seen in my dipping post.

Backstory

Dexa was just a regular boy until he unwittingly took a bolter round to the head for his Warboss. The Boss ordered the Dok and the Mek to rebuild Dexa’s head. Dok Gillgivva wanted to use a nice shiny Ork brain, put together piecemeal from those previous owners who hadn’t quite made it on the operatin’ table, and also to install some shiny new gills. Manik Upzindownz da Mad Mek wanted to try out a new cybork brain he had made from several good bitz, including the machine-spirit thingie from a Beekie Land Raider and his best pocketwatch. As Orks often do, they came to blows until the Boss broke them up and told them to work together or else he’d smash both of them good.

So they used both brains. They had to weld a lot of armour, and use a discarded skull here and there for spare bits of bone, but at the end, Dexa had a shiny new lightbulb shaped head. Dexa got a lot smarter after that, and intuitivley knew High Gothic, as well as gained an aptitude for strategy and logic. He was smarter than lots of sumboys!

After this the Nob of Dexa’s slugga boyz met with an “accident” when his power klaw “malfunctioned,” and Dexa took all of his stuff. Dexa grew in size, as Orks who challenge thier superiors do, until the boss noticed that Dexa was a threat to his power. Luckily for Dexa, he saw the boss sneaking up on him, sidestepped the Boss’ choppa, and shot the boss in the throat, then the head twice. The Boss’ most loyal Nob stepped up to give Dexa what for, and Dexa shot him point blank.

“Anybody else wanna ‘ave a go?” Dexa inquired. No one stepped forward. Dexa became the new boss and insisted on being called Poindexta. Due to his large cranium and his flair for strategy which led them to several successful raids, he earned the nickname Poindexta Smartyskull. He rules his tribe with a combination of low kunnin and head krumpin. He has most of the major tents or structures bugged, and bribes gretchin to be his (unreliable) eyes and ears. Lone dissenters are shot in the back or cut in half with a power klaw, and groups are incinerated by a loyal Burna boy. Poindexta Smartyskull leads his Blood Axe warband through the stars, trying to reconcile the conflict between the Ork part of his brain that loves a good fight, and the man-made computer that makes him insightful, witty, and urbane. He loves to take human prisoners because he needs someone to talk to, though his nobs often ruin the conversations by butting in.

Adventures in Dipping

So, for those who read my background, you know I got into Orks a while ago, and I got a lot of Orks at once.  I was looking for a way to paint them and make them look good, easily.  I found the answer in a process called Dipping.  For those that don’t know, Dipping is a painting process that takes the hard work out of shading.  Dipping has three steps:

1. Basecoat the model with no depth or highlights.  This is a simple paint job, do not paint details like eyes.  Use colors brighter than what you would ideally want on the finished model.

2. Dip the entire model in Wood Varnish (or brush it on for larger models).  Shake or brush off excess.  Be sure to hold the model upside down for a few minutes so that the varnish seeps into the cracks.  Let the varnish dry.

3. Now that the varnish is dry, the paint color should have darkened and automatically gained depth, as the varnish dried thinly on raised areas and pooled in deeper areas.  Finish by painting small details and using clear matte varnish spray.  You can also choose to reinforce bright colors such as reds and yellows.

That’s it.  The simple paint jobs make painting fast, and the dipping is easy.  It just takes time for the varnish to dry, and warm dry weather to varnish outside in.   After much experimentation, I used Minwax Bombay Mahogany varnish.

Here are the before, after, and final varnished pics for a twelve boy squad of Orks.