[Being a study on the methods and culture of the Orkoid races]
Putting Together the Adrian Woods Ork Dreadnought
by Rex Adams
Hello everyone!
I just finished putting together the Grand Warlord Wood version Ork Dreadnought and it rocks! As far as construction time, about 3 1/2 hours.
As they say, a GW metal kit is a "bit fiddly" to put together! And if it is a conversion, oowee, is it fiddly! In WD, they leave off alot of extra cutting and drilling one must do...such as drilling holes for the power claws, after you cut off the "mushroom cap" at the end of the peg, to allow for a smaller hole. The autoguns need the inside round "washer" sawed off to fit flush in the hatch plate, after you file notches on the autogun to allow it to fit inside the hatch plate. Before you can fit the hatch plate on the hellhound plate, you must grind off a bit from the three "rims" to allow the hatch to fit flush against the hellhound plate. The armor plate bends easily enough around the new "upper leg section", just file off the rectangular thingie on the inside of the armor plate.
This upper leg section will have to be sawed to fit under the gun/claw.Do this after the gun is in place. It was a need for a third pair of hands to fit the four sides together. A bit tricky, but manageable.I did all four sides at the same time to make sure the hellhound plates and squig catapult front/rears actually touch! Sounds alot easier than it is...
To make the left side (as you look at it) upper leg fit against the body of the Dread, you must file off another rectangle box on the razorback bottom...
The feet didn't feel real solid against the bottom of the upper legs, so I used part of one of the off-cuts, a piece like a cylinder with a plate on top. It's off of one of the axles. Saw close, cause you'll need that top.
I put the peg into the foot opening and the "plate" top into the slot opening in the bottom of the upper leg. I put superglue in the foot holes and the tops of the plates on both feet at the same time, then manuvered them in place, making the Dread balance. This is fairly crucial as the Dread has off-balance center of gravity.
The 4-amoured plates shown to go on top of the hellhound sides needed to be cut to a three! Depending on how you're four sides line up. The hatch could use a piece of styrene to rest on, as this would give the glue more to grab. And it would eliminate the holes at all four corners...Ah well, they're air holes!
The banner pole I added to with a plastruc pipe, wrapped it around the pole with waxed leather thread (good scale "rope") ran a length of Model RR chain around it, drilled a glued a skull at each end hanging down from a length of chain. Put a skull emblem (the new skeleton box is real handy) under it, waiting for the grimjaw glyph, and presto! The latest edition to my Ork army is ready to paint! I will put a base on this Dread, as those feet still make me wonder how they will hold up under battle!
All in all, I had a great time building it, more fun than a SM Landspeeder! After all, if it don't look quite right, don't fit quite right here and there, well dat's cuz it wuz bilt by dat Ork Mek, Blastokk! And dat's how the git wanted it to look!
Hope this helps anyone who's contemplating building a new Dread! You'll need a coping or jeweler's saw. I used a ultra-fine blade. I used Zap-a-gap supertype glue. It even says it's "Professional Grade" oooo!
It's a pretty fun project. I'm looking forward to painting it.
Now, if I can find anyone looking for a "classic Mighty Fortress" kit. It's still in the box, never painted or put together. A leftover from my AD&D days that never got started...