Somewhat amazingly, this is the first Orky thing I've ever painted.
This isn't one of the original metal 1980s killa kans; those go for up to $100 on eBay. Instead I got this 3D print off Etsy for a whopping $15 back in October, which is a pretty decent price for a nice chunky model.
It came with a choice of weapons, so I opted for a couple of pincers to rip up enemy vehicles and a heavy bolter to pulp the soft pink bodies of those pesky 'umies. I'm not sure if it's supposed to have four weapons but I thought it looked good enough with three and left it there.
Despite not being a huge fan of yellow, I decided that painting it as a Bad Moon kan would be the most fun, although "most fun" did translate to "biggest pain in the arse" at times.
After a basecoat of Celestra Grey I painted the whole model with Imperial Fist Yellow, thinking this would be the easiest and fastest way to get it done. Mistake. The yellow looked terrible over the grey undercoat and before I could overthink it to death I slapped on two coats of Averland Sunset, which improved things immensely.
After a wash with Nuln Oil and another with thinned Agrax Earthshade it was looking a lot orkier, and I moved on to the arms.
All the arms and other metal bits were painted Iron Warriors and then slathered with frankly ridiculous amounts of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. After a quick drybrush with Ironbreaker I ran in some of my homemade rust wash to give the weapons a nice crappy patina, exactly the thing you'd expect from something ork.
Returning to the yellow body, it was drybrushed with more Averland Sunset and some Dorn Yellow. I then went pretty much to town with wear and tear, using Dry Rust, Fresh Rust and Agrax Earthshade liberally over the panel edges and just about anywhere else I thought it would be needed or just look good.
I also used my own rust wash to add some streaks, and that's the reason I've recently got some AK Streaking Rust off Amazon.
The kan came with two hatches, one closed and one with a gretchin sticking out, and how could I hide the muppet steering this thing? He was painted just like my snotlings and Night Goblins, that is to say Death Guard Green over Waagh Flesh.
I painted the teeth on the front to look like real teeth, and then I remembered what I was painting and redid them in plain White. All the joints were painted with Neutral Grey and gone over with Abbadon Black contrast, and I added a couple of transfers I had lying around.
The base is the by-now almost stereotypical Stirland Battlemire, drybrushed with Flat Earth and with flock and tufts added.
I'm well happy with this kan. It stands out a mile on my shelf, was a ton of fun to paint and made me take a tentative step into the world of orks.
Brilliant stuff mate, yellow is always a pain in the artichoke to paint but this look aces!
ReplyDeleteActually looks in very good condition for an Ork vehicle, though I guess they must get new stuff every now and again! 😉
$15 over $100 seems like a no brainer to me, and I think this actually looks nicer than the GW one.
Cheers Roger
You're not wrong, Dave, yellow is usually a pain and this Killa Kan was no exception. Luckily it turned out fine in the end but it was a long time getting there LOL!
DeleteLovely take on a classic model. Man those 3d sculptors are giving us the goods to sort out our nostalgias.
ReplyDeleteBad Moons were always flashing their teefs about on better looking gear in those classic ork books so I like his clean look
Cheers, Dai! 3D printing really is bringing the old-school stuff back and at a fraction of the price GW charges.
DeleteI cannot state how much I like this one! I have one of the old metal ones, and it's a model I've always found interesting in terms of design. I would have loved if GW had explored this way instead of the space junk gorillas. I love the way you applied yellow here (what a pain, isn't it?) and how it turned out. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Suber! How is the metal one? I know from experience that those old metal multi-part minis are a nightmare to put together and you need a ton of greenstuff to hide all the gaps :-) Yellow is a pain but this turned out OK in the end.
DeleteI would have never guessed you haven't painted something Ork before! Even I have and I feel like I'm practically an Ork hater because I don't like them nearly as much as most people do haha. With that said, I do like the Killa Kans and I like the cheeky driver of this one a lot! I'd also say you got the right shade of yellow for an Orky vehicle too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff! I too am not a massive fan of Orks (I feel the same way about Tyranids and Tau) but I couldn't pass this model up. It's just too 1980s to not have in the collection.
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