Plamo: Scratchbuilt Ork Rok (Battlefleet Gothic)

While I left them out of the original article, Roks do fit well into the Ork army/fleet metaphor. These are akin to Mek Gunz, an inexpensive glass cannon but with some fairly major quirks. With the Mek Gunz, these quirks arise from being a crew-served artillery piece. As built by a lunatic. Roks meanwhile are crude asteroid space stations with engines on them. As built by a lunatic. Another factor is the scratch built aspect, as much like the Hammer Class, no official model ever existed, with players encouraged to raid their bitz box and dress a lump of polystyrene. While this does not actually make a Rok free, it does make them something an experienced modeller can throw together without much trouble. As I am an experienced modeller, and I had some time off, I took a swing at it, as opposed to trying to do a Space Hulk.

TBH, getting the stone effect was something I had to experiment with, and I feel I should talk about it so you can avoid my mistake. For my first prototype I didn't use Stirland Mud technical paint and it ended up looking too smooth. Fortunately, polystyrene tends to be plentiful once you've found it, so you can take a few dry runs. I painted the rocky bitz with Stirland Mud, followed by a drybursh of Zandri Dust, washed with Seraphim Sepia, and then lighter drybrushes of Ushabti bone and Wraithbone. That said it came out very well, and I've started work on more. And as this already reads like a like a how-to, here's a how-to.

 

A rough guide to Rok Building

You will need

Polystyrene, in lumps about the size of an egg. Hobby/craft shops can help.

PVA glue *WARNING* regular glue and spraypaint contain solvents melt the polystyrene producing TOXIC FUMES. Don't be a moron.

A suitable flying base.

A bits box, featuring plastic tubing, sheet plastic and Orky parts.

Suitable toy spaceships and scale battleships.

Stuff you didn't use in your last BFG project.

Textured paint I. E Stirland Mud.

Your preferred colours for stone and metalwork.

Steps

1) Prepare weapons and other gubbins separately. If superglue or spraypaint is needed, do it now and far, far, FAR away from the polystyrene to avoid producing the aforementioned toxic fumes.

2) Rough up your polystyrene, before securing your bits with PVA glue. You may wish to cut indentations to help things set in place.

3) Leave things to dry for at least a hour.

4) Roks usually end up unbalanced, so take a moment to find it's centre of gravity. Then insert the base there so everything will stay standing up.

5) Paint the rocky bits with textured paint as a base coat.

6) Once this dries it should have a sandy appearance, and you can now paint the rest. Aim for a contrast between the asteroid bits and the other stuff.

Where next? Well, I suppose the Space Hulk...