The Skullhamma, pt. III

So, when we last left the Skullhamma, I'd built a ton of components that needed to be added on. This is how they all connected together.

Running down the left side I placed the sponson, the armor plate, and then two more armor plates custom-made to this side. All four of them fit up into that slot on the hull I mentioned before (where the model's actual side skirts were supposed to connect) and also rest against the wheels. Their all good and solid. The brace on the back of the sponson is from a Basilisk model, if memory serves. Note one of the plates is "broken" to give a good view of that mismatched wheel.

The other side is the same, but different. The replaced wheel is in a different position, so my broken plate is, too. It's probably worth noting, too, that in the GW Skullhamma model the two big shoota sponsons are both on the same side of the tank. Seriously, go look. I like silly Orkiness as much as the rest guy, but I'm not going to openly handicap my super-heavy from the start. What I did instead was mismatch the two sponsons--the port one is half an inch farther forward that the starboard. This actually worked really well with the different armor plates, and it's a nice Orky touch that takes people a few minutes to notice.

It was also about this time that I glued a ram from the old Ork Trukk kit on the front. This was just a random thing I did for more detail, but it turned out to be a lifesaver. If you look at GW's model again, the big skull in the front has two huge tusks that give it a real savage look. I spent hours figuring out how to mount some on my model, because the underside of the hull has a really steep slant. In one of those "right in front of you" moments, I finally realized I could just mount them straight to the ram. They're made from the side-skirts of the actual tank model, cut and trimmed a bit rough with an X-Acto knife, and detailed with a few rivets, of course.

I glued the four smokestacks in the back. I played around with the placement a bit first to get the maximum randomness, if that makes sense. It's also hard to tell in this shot but I used some of that rounded sprue from the T 74 model to create more tubes and hoses in the back. I was actually tempted to build a small boiler and have grots shoveling coal into a furnace, but I think I might save that idea for later.

So, barring a few last minute details, the model was pretty much done at this point. You can see how it measures up with a Land Raider and a Rhino from the Alpha Legion. As I said at the start, it's not quite Baneblade-sized, but big enough that someone would have to be a bit of a jerk to challenge using it as a super-heavy. Fortunately my friends and I don't invite any jerks to our Apocalypse games.

There were still a few last details. A big skull and crossbones banner from the old metal Nobs box set went up on the back of the turret. The poles are more whittled-down sprue. A few random handles here and there for transport purposes, and some spikes from an old plastic Rhino. I also took a leftover piece from those side skirts, heated it over a burner--

(Helpful Hint - kids, always get Mom or Dad's permission before melting plastic on the stove)

--and that let me bend it over the muzzle as another armor plate. And a few more rivets. I decided to put them on the big skull, too.

An old metal Predator hatch fit really well in one of those turret-sockets, so I didn't even glue it in place. Plus somewhere down the line I'd love to replace it with a Stompa mek-captain, who I think would look very nice on top of the Skullhamma, especially with his cap.

In the other socket I used the spyglass grot from a Zzap Gun set. I dug around and found a large square fantasy base with a diagonal slot. It took a bit of wiggling, but I got the grot up through the socket from the inside. His base fit against the inside of the turret and glued right in place, and I braced it with a cut-down piece of sprue just to make sure it was rock solid. I also tossed on another grot (made from a very old Warhammer Fantasy snotling) with a hammer on the back near the engine, so he looks like he's doing random (and perhaps unnecessary) maintenance.

There you have it. A very passable Skullhamma tank, more than intimidating to Terminators or even a Dreadnaught. I'm probably going to paint it with a lot of red (for speed!!), blue to represent the Deathskull origins of my Orks, the Tekboyz, and a fair amount of bare metal and rust. Expect pictures sometime after I pass my next work deadline.

Now I just need time to play a game with it...