[AI] Da Skrapperz- Ork Air Waaagh! Project Log

[Easy e]

Greetings,

This is a Project Log about the building up of my Ork Air Waaagh, Da Skrapperz led by Boss Iron’Ead. 

The Ork Air Waaagh! was the first Aeronautica Imperialis Squadrons I tried to scratch build.  As such, it has been the victim of many starts, stops, and continues.  The first iteration had a bunch of Fightas and Fighta-Bommas made out of sculpey.  However, I soon realized that the scale was wrong.  They were too big….



Only one of those sculpts has survived into the current Air Waaagh!  From there I tried again.  I scaled down the models a lot and came up with these….





Aircraft that size had been the basis of the force for a long time.  However, as I played more and was exposed to more aircraft it became obvious that my existing ork fightas were just too small!   However, the Fighta-Bommas I made were about the right scale. 



Then, as the War over Zephyrus Campaign rolled out I knew I needed some transport craft.  Therefore, I made the following:

Warkoptas….


And a Buzz’Ard


That means my current Ork Air Waaagh! looks like the following…





Not the best pictures.  The basement does not have very good lighting. 

The current roster is:
5 Fightas
2 Fighta-Bommerz
2 War Koptas
1 Buzz'Ard

Anyway, this log will detail their expansion as a fighting force in preparation for upcoming events.  Typically, Da Skrapperz are my OpFor when I convince someone to play games of Aeronautica Imperialis with me.  They are primarily used by my main gaming buddy.  In this thread, I will expand on the units available in the Air Waaagh!, fluff it out, and generally get it ready for the upcoming Airspace Campaign.  Expect to see me build new aircraft, paint aircraft, and generally just fluff out the list as I expand on the thread.     

Watch this space for more fun stuff. 

[Gun_wun]

Right on Easy E, I’ve always liked your stuff and well  please don’t distract me.  I played my first game of Aeronautica a few weeks back and really liked it.  I left the table thinking it’s time to build some planes.  I’ve got to check myself as I’m building a Ork BFG fleet and I need to stay focused.  Please keep the pictures coming and I’ll keep trying to resist your temptations!

[Easy e]

Thanks Gun!  Give in to temptation!   

The first thing I wanted to work on was some Waaagh! Bommerz from the War Over Zephyrus campaign.  This campaign was the first Airspace campaign, and I didn't get time to make any of the Bommerz then. 

Waaagh Bommerz look similar to Ork Fightas except for the bomb loads, and are differentiated from Fighta-Bommaz as they do not have turrets.  However, they can take the powerful "Big Bombz" to take out harder targets. 

Here is some of the fluff from the Airspace Aircraft Compilation:

Orks are an anrachic and violent race. They are always competing to see which Ork is the best, which tribe is dominant, and who can give orders to who. As a result, they are constantly squabbling with each other. Rival ork warbosses wanted to be able to hit small, moving targets with their bombers. In their petty civil wars, such an ability allowed you to take out key enemies and leave the rest of his boyz around to be incorporated into the winning tribe. Once the orks started looking outward, they saw that the bombers they built for their own squabbles could be useful in attacking their enemies too.

Like all ork aircraft, no one design is universal. Each mek has their own version of the Waaagh! Bommer. The only sure way to tell, is if it has a large load of bombs and no turret in the rear. Many ork pilots also attach air raid sirens to their aircraft, so when they dive it makes a long wailing sound.

Waaagh! Bommers are primarily used to attack AA defenses in support of a Buzz 'Ard raid. However, they have also become feared by many vehicle crews facing off against Orks. Waaagh! Bommers are a support craft, but like all ork airplanes carry a lot of firepower. Only a foolish fighter jockey would think of them as easy prey.

After reading the description, it was pretty clear that the Waaagh! Bommer was the Orky equivalent of the Stuka.  Therefore, I knew that I wanted the Waaagh! Bommerz to have their landing struts hanging down to differentiate them from other Ork aircraft.  I got to work. 

The first thing I did was to try and build the main fuselage and cockpit.  I sculpted the wings and tails as individual pieces.  After baking/hardening, I then attempted to secure the extra bits to the fuselage using adhesive.  I used soft clay as a support while the adhesive dried. 

Here is Waaagh! Bommer 1....



and the second one....



You can see that the second one had a much more elaborate and delicate tail array.  i wanted to try to mimic the Marauder Destroyer tail, but in a suitably Orky fashion. 

After the wings and tail control surfaces were secure, I then went back and attempted to secure the landing struts.  This raised the aircraft up when sitting on the ground. 

Here they are finished....


 
Two Waaagh! Bommerz built.  You might also be able to see the ordinance I attached to the undersides of the wings. 

Until next time. 

[Easy e]

Da Waaagh! Bommerz have been painted! 



Some people ask me why I don't paint them Red.  Well, there are a few reasons for that. 

First off, when I started Orkz way back when WAAAGH! Da Orks was the sourcebook for fluff but didn't have an army list; everyone knew that Red Onez go Fasta.  However, Orks were also grouped into Klans and each Klan had a preference for certain styles and colors. 

My warband tended to be comprised of Blood Axes and Deathskulls to form Kaptin Rotgut Grimgrodz Skullsmash Reeverz.  (Grimgrod is basically the Orky way of saying "Serious Face".  Tee hee).  Anyway, to help keep the warband together, Rotgut combined the Klanz prefered colors into Blue and Grey.  Blue brings luck and the Grey makes it harder for the enemy to see them; and that's what color the Oomiez paint their war planes.  Some unruly boyz add in a flash of Green because is symbolizes orkiness!  Others, splash in some Red for speed.  You see an Ork rides paintjob is very unique. 

Since Boss Iron'Ead is (theoretically) an underling of Kaptin Rotgut, I have tried to match this color scheme with that of my other Ork forces. 

Next up, I'm going to be resculpting and rebuilding my Ork Fighta horde.  Right now, they are too small (True Epic scale?) and I want them to be mor einline with my Fighta-Bommerz.  Plus, I want to make one fighta to look a bit 'Arder to be Boss Iron'Eadz personal ride. 

More to come!

http://z8.invisionfree.com/Airspace/index.php?act=idx

[Easy e]

After adding the Waaagh! Bommaz to my Air Waaagh! I liked how they scaled up to the Fighta-Bommaz much better than my existing Fightas.  I wanted to make a set of Fightaz that were the equivalent size as the Waaagh! Bommaz. 

Plus, I wanted there to be a big horde of them.  After all, Fightaz are the backbone of an Air Waaagh!  Therefore, the more of them the better.

For reference material I typically look at 1950's era fighter jets such as Korean war era Migs and Sabres.  However, I also used some references from other places this time such as WWI Fokker Monoplane, A6 Intruders, A7/F8 Crusaders/Corsairs, and early WWII P-40 and P-47s. 

Korean War Era Mig...


Fokker Eindecker....


I worked these similar to the previous Waaagh! Bommaz.  First I sculpted several fuselages and cockpits.  Then I bakes them in my sculpting dedicated Toaster Oven.   

After I had a selection of fuselages, I went back and made wings and tail surfaces as a seperate piece.  I then attached the various parts together using adhesive. 

This is what I came up with...


That will give me 7 Fightas in total.  My previous 5 fightaz I will use as Grot Buzzers due to their smaller size.

[Easy e]

I managed to paint up the Fightas before tragedy struck! 







You can see Old Boss Iron 'Ead's fighta out in front.  The big, blunt nosed ugly one.  Underneath it has a big Kustom Engine which I think I will use as a Rokit-Boosta.  I also want to build and paint up some rokit-pods for under the wings. 

However, I probably won't get to it for a while.  My air conditioning broke, it is summer, and Temps in my house are around 85+ degress fahrenheit, even the basement is warm!  Such conditions make sculpting impossible as the sculpey sticks to everything.  Paint also does not work very well in such heat. 

Therefore, it might be a while until I can either:
a: Replace the A/C
b: Fall comes

Both options make me sad. 

[Easy e]

Here is Da' Skrapperz all put together so far....



I'm thinking about what I should add next.  So far we've got:

1 Buzz 'Ard
2 Warkoptas
5 Grot Buzzerz
2 Fighta-Bommaz
2 Waaagh! Bommerz
7 Fightaz

[Easy e]

I made some Grot Bombs to go with my Fighta-Bommaz.  The thing about Grot Bombz is that they are kinda small....





I don't have the skill to sculpt the small gretchin heads like the FW open-topped grot bombs.  Instead, I decided to give them little canopies.  I'm satisfied with the look. 

[Easy e]

I added a couple of new fighters from the new Blood and Irongard campaign booklet.  With GW's sudden interest in aircraft they have really expanded the range. My pet conspiracy theory is that GW's interest in expanding 40K into air warfare meant that they no longer wanted Forgeworld to explore that area as well.  Of course, this is all just fanciful thinking. 

Back on topic, GW released three new ork aircraft; the Dakkajet, Blasta-Bommer, and Blitz Bommer.  The Airspace Blood and Irongard campaign adapted these aircraft into Aeronautica Imperialis.  Of course, the trick was to make models for them. 

One thing I noticed about GW's 40K scale Dakkajet model was that you could make a few different varieties of it.  That means I had a little bit of leeway in the designs.  However, they did have a few things in common; an open front air intake, lot's of gun barrels, and large swept back wings.  That means my version would need these features too.  After those similarities, they seemed to have a couple varieties of cockpits and tail configurations. 

Here is what I came up with for AI....


I made these with Sculpey (baked clay).  I tried to capture the enclosed cockpit and the open cockpit versions GW makes.  I also tried to use both of the tail configurations. I also tried to make these Dakkajets mostly red with only the Blue as a color to unify them with the rest of my Boyz. 

Boss Iron'Ead's two best flyboyz just got promoted from Fightas to Dakkajets.   

[Easy e]

I was preparing for a game with my usual opponent.  We needed some more Ork ground defenses.  So, I made a few more.



Two Grot Bomb Launchers and a dreaded Traktor Kannon.