Spikes are Hard

Modeling the gubbins for my big trakk has proved a bit more difficult than I had originally imagined.  With my winnings from the last game, I purchased a big shoota and shoutas, as well as making it extra spiky.  My original plan was to simply create some plasticard plates covered in spikes and simply attach them with magnets.  The problem was trying to decide where to attach them to the vehicle.  There aren't a lot of big flat areas on the ork halftrakk, especially a rather stripped down version like mine.  There are a few flat panels by the driver and toward the back, but that's also where a lot of the details on the model are, and I didn't want to stick a magnet in the middle.

In the end, I decided that rather than stick spike plates directly to the flat panels on the trakk, I would make some bigger plates that could hook over the sides and hang down over the windows.

I used some bamboo skewers for the spikes themselves, which I sawed off in my trusty mitre box.  Actually attaching them to the plasticard proved way more difficult than I had expected.  Super glue wouldn't stick to the wood, wood glue wouldn't stick to the plasticard.  After trying every glue I had in the house, I ended up borrowing a hot glue gun, which worked great (although it got tiny strings of glue everywhere, which was a pain to clean up).  The best part is that if I accidentally broke one off, super glue would stick to both the plasticard and the blob of hot glue around the skewers, so repairs were easy.

I had similar difficulties with my big shoota.  The problem wasn't just where to install a magnet, but how to get my gunner in place.  Although I was quite pleased with how my converted spanner turned out, I managed to make him in perhaps the least compact pose possible.  I didn't want to make a second model for my spanner when he was in the gunner's seat (since that's where I was hoping he'd spend most of his time) so I had to make a turret that was big enough for both his outstretched arms and his bulky base.

My final solution was appropriately ridiculous.  I basically just kept adding parts onto the normal Ork Trukk turret until I ended up with something that was big enough for my spanner boy but still fit onto the model.  My spanner now has an elevated perch from which to gun down those dastardly Gorkers that keep trying to wreck his precious trakk.

In order to balance out the weight of the shoota, I pounded out a big bar of lead, which you can see toward the back of the turret.  I covered it in green stuff just so I woudn't keep touching it while I worked.  Perhaps not the most elegant solution, but it now sits quite nicely in the passenger seat.

Now I just need to finish my shoutas and one more spanner boy, and I'll be ready for the next game.