Deff Speederz DONE!

Phew!  Long project that I have been picking away at for months.
The speeders themselves were done about 3 weeks ago, but it took longer than I thought to receive the bases from Dragonforge.  Dragonforge is a great copany and does great work but essentially there is only so much he can do in a day.

Here are the finished Deff Speederz!
There are 6 different speederz, each one has it's own custom markings and identifying glyph.

Mek Speeder

King Speeder

 Double Down Speeder

Big Blast Speeder

Lightning Speeder

Dagger Speeder

The Whole Mob

Deff Speederz compared to GW AoBR Deff Koptas

The Deff Speederz are a little big but... I like the way they came out.

A little Update

Progress on the "Deff Skimmaz"

I primed the models black and then did some masking.  I wanted to give each skimmer a personalized look, as if each pilot had taken the time to mark his skimmer.  I masked out different patterns of black stripes along the fuselage and wings of each skimmer and a circle near the front.

Once the masking was done I painted the skimmers with a base coat of Averland Sunset.  I'm just looking for coverage here, it's a first step in.  After the base coat had dried I peeled off the masks and painted the personal glyphs and the front engine intakes on each skimmer in Khorne Red and then washed the entire model with Agrax Earthshade.

This establishes a good base color with shade.  I then starting layering a watered down Averland Sunset on the existing yellow portions, this will be my "mid-tone".

You can see I've started to block out a mid-tone color in the front of this skimmer.  The paint color looks fairly consistent here, but it's not and I prefer it that way.  Because I have watered down the Averland Sunset there are spots that are obviously thinner than others.  I encourage this.  These are Ork vehicles after all and I am trying to convey the idea of "used".    

More updates soon... I hope. 

I had a little bit of time and I was able to finish construction of the 'Koptas and got them all primed.  

I am now beginning 'masking' off parts of the 'Koptas for the final paint job.  There will be some areas that maintain the black.  The circular masks I am planning / hoping to make individual icons for each of the 'Koptas.

I'm not sure how useful the Kill Saw will be in game terms ... I tend to think the 'Koptas will be best as a medium distance 'pick and move' type of unit.

Slow progress

My bitz arrived from France and Germany.. damn GW and their US bitz policy.
I've been picking away at the models when I have time, but with school back in session my progress is slow.  I'll post more pics when I have something worth showing.

Buzz Saw

I spent last week in New Hampshire visiting family and friends so not much work on the Koptas.  Before I left I discovered that I needed some bitz; which I had to order from Germany and France as GW forbids bit sales in the US .  Anyway.  I did some work on one of my 'Deff Koptas' .  

I'm not sure if he is done ... I feel he needs something else, but he is coming along nicely.  As soon as my bitz come in I can bring the other Koptas up to speed. 

Kit Bash Update

Made some strong progress today.  I felt that the front grill on the Karman model looked too sophisticated for Orks so I popped it out.  I had been thinking about what to do for the rokkits, but decided I could just recycle the rokkits from the AoBR Deff Kopter kit.  They seem to work well.  I was able to slightly modify the front grill from the Karman model and repurpose it as a rear canopy shell; also covering the hole that was there from the Karman's guns.  All in all, making good progress.

Zip Zap Zoop!

Just a little update on the Deff Kopta Kit Bash.  I started modifying the pilot from the AoBR boxed set to fit the King Buggy.  It was amazingly easy.  I used a hobby saw to remove: the kopter blades, the back of the kopter, the front missle section and the landing gear.  With four simple cuts you are left with an intact pilot.  Here is a picture after three cuts, the last cut removes the landing gear.

After the cuts I dry fitted the pilot into the speeder, facing forward of course, just to see how much more work I was going to have to do.  Amazingly, he fits almost perfectly.  The chair that is left over in the original kit works wonderfully as an attachment point for the gauge display that comes with the Deff Kopter pilot.

I had wanted to paint the pilot separately and then drop him into the craft but, I am going to need to build up around the front console and patch behind the pilot, so I'm not sure I am going to be able to paint the pilot separately.

We'll see.

Deff Kopta Kit Bash = Deff Speeders

As I might have mentioned, I'm not terribly happy with the Ork Def Koptas, for the same reason I didn't like the Dwarf Gyrocopters; the blades keep snapping off.  So, I'm going to kit bash some Deff Koptas with the AT-43 Karmans King Buggy Unit Box (which I got off from Amazon).

The front and rear guns will come off with a simple twist.  You will have to be gentle or the front grill will come off as well (happened twice).  You can glue the grill back on, it's not a big deal.  The pilot can now essentially be rotated out of the seat by pushing gently on the back of his head.  He's only held on with a single point glue attachment near his rump.  

I'm diggin' it already.  I may not have to do a lot of modification to this at all; we'll see what happens.  I am going to try to mimic the front of this 'Deff Speeder' with the front of the Dakka Jet to achieve some unity with the rest of the army.  I may add a rear spoiler or fin... 

I'm feeling positive about this kit bash, which is fortunate as ...  I bought a lot of this kit.  

The biggest question for me right now is if I add Buzz Saws to 2 of the 'Deff Speeders'.