So, the idea for this started percolating in early December, when Project Tonks was coming to its conclusion. I was trying to slow down, as it was the holiday period and I work in retail. I still felt the need to do something though, as modelling projects are therapeutic for me. After some mulling over, I was reminded of a recent video by one EarthmanBrick, whom had recently done a Grot Mega-Tank, and decided to one myself. I'd amassed a substantial selection of suitable spares that I could use for such a project, and provided that I kept focus, this would be nicely relaxing. This project would be completed in the middle of December, during my usual blog break, with this write-up obviously being published later on.
So what is a Grot Mega-Tank? Well, as the name implies, it's a Grot Tank, but bigger. They often evoke interwar-era multi-turret tanks and dieselpunk landships in design, although made of scrap to an even crappier standard than the orkish usual. These are another creation by GW's Forge World arm, although given the recent website revamp, you can be forgiven for not knowing that. I wonder if Forge World is going to be shutdown in the near future... Anyways, Mega-Tanks are beloved by kitbashers and scratchbuilders like myself, although they aren't quite as meme-worthy. I suppose this is largely due to the smaller tanks having a critical density of popular weapons like rokkit launchers, and a Mega-Tank carries less of those per point. It's current rules are also, umm, interesting. There's an obvious cut & paste error regarding the twin big shootas that nobody has bothered to fix at time of writing, and the mega-tank's extensive supplementary weapon options have been amalgamated into one generic weapon set. So, I'm probably not building this for game performance then.
My initial thought was to create a basic hull, then the turrets before free-forming the lot together. Here my bitsbox came good with a much abused "Mr. Psycho" toy, from the old Craig Charles run of Robot Wars. This had a lot of applicable detail even if the scale wasn't 28mm, and once I'd added some big wheels out the back, the size was right. Regretfully, the plastic was aged and brittle, I suspect Gold Plastic Syndrome, and attempts to remove its friction motor caused the underside to shatter. I was able to fix this to an extent, but the front right track still shows the scars. The assorted turrets where made from lids and spare gubbins, with the two largest turrets being more intricate. When I came to attaching them I had some second thoughts though. While I don't plan as such, I found myself not feeling it. So I went away and thought a bit more about what look I wanted, before going for a more landship style. I retired the two big turrets, they're OK, just more suited to a Battlewagon, and built two ones with more of a wedge shape. Something vaguely reminiscent of a battleship, ya know? The twin grotzookas therein were then revised. I'd wanted external scrap bins and tubing to feed the barrels, as opposed to merely cramming the barrels with offcuts, but space was tight. Then I remembered the Grotzooka you get in a Killa Kan kit, and replicated the shape with top-loading guns. The effects a little like an airbrush, or a kazoo, but it's obvious what they fire. With the matter of armament resolved, I then started adding armour plates and other surface detail. I also added an "observation tower" to go with it's somewhat boaty vibe. Having checked my measurements several times, painting then proceeded in my usual manner.
All-in-all, I’m quite happy with how this turned out. Its overall character and vibe is different from my assorted Battlewagons, while looming over my assorted Grot Tanks. Its pretty mega, versus your average gretchin, but ends up smaller proportionally than my ork crewed vehicles. I’m especially happy with the Grotzookas, but less so with the icons, although I had a few ideas in that direction. Good times, but I think I’ll hold off on making another for now.
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