Oldhammer: Kan Recycling (Warhammer 40k, Metal Miniatures)

Oh. People really loved the Deff Dread too. Zog it, I suppose I'm back doing 40k models then. Why fight it?

I have a daft amount of Ork stuff in storage. Granted, a lot of it is some combination of broken, incomplete, obsolete and unpainted, but it's there. So, before moving onto my next major scratch project, I decided to strip the paint off a few, and bring them up to my current standard. On inspection, I had 7 of the old 3rd edition Killa Kanz, because of course I fucking did, and chose those. However, as these are decades old at this point, an idea presented itself. As these are now retro, a case can be made for a "straight build" as it were. I normally like to convert everything I can with Orks for variety, but these are old enough to be curiosities as is. So, I cobbled together 3 "factory spec" Kans from the available parts, which I'm talking about today. (The remaining 4 featuring new and/or scratchbuilt components will feature in a future post.) 

 

Salvaging metal miniatures like this is relatively easy as common paint removers work OK, but the medium can be a mixed blessing. It's very easy to strip paint, but metal is obviously heavy, and surprisingly bendy in the small bits. These Kans in particular go together with the kind of ease you'd associate with tax returns or prolonged dental procedures. The bike-pedal-shaped connector for the guns and hatch handles are a right bastard for not staying put or bending, not to mention gaps and such. A not-insignificant amount was spent trying to get things to go together, and replacing/fixing those mounts. Yes, they don't make em like they used to. Because they learned from experience. That said, I did bring some difficulty on myself, as I'd forgotten how tricky these can be, and got overconfident with my hot glue gun.

Painting and basing also suffered some minor setbacks. I ran out of both my preferred undercoat and my usual texture paint ingredient, so I had to improvise. I'd also opted to try pound shop D.I.Y filler as a basing material, which had a few teething troubles. These bases look fine of course, but are a bit tacky to the touch due to the home-made paint mix. The actual kans themselves went more smoothly, although the white proved to be a learning experience due to the small area. Otherwise, painting was quick and easy. 

 

 

All in all? A fine outcome, with useful experience for what comes next. Kan upcycling.