Porky models - Ork (9) - Head 2

It's been a while, but here's the next part of the series. I'm converting a group of 28mm GW Orks for the blog, with alternative ideas for elements like weapons and greenstuff detail, to show how easy conversions and minor sculpting can be for anyone unsure.

Extreme close-up or not, the picture quality hasn't improved much, but you can hopefully make out more or less what's going on. This is the head of the second Ork - the first Ork is here - and the arms aren't glued on yet; if you want to see those, the choppa is here, the shoota here. I'll focus now on the head only, and cover the strap, smokestack and boiler casing with the torso and legs when I've sorted and cropped the rest of the pics.

There are three main areas of change from the basic plastic head, all additions, two with greenstuff. One is the antenna, the second the cable and the third three snaggly teef.

The antenna is just a gunsight from the same kit with the detail trimmed off and the flat facings of the loop carefully rounded, pretty much as if cleaning a mould line. It's glued to the head at two points, at the base, but also to the tip of the ear for extra strength.

The cable was made in the same way as that for the first shoota, and loops in to the jaw to get a third fixing point; it's so delicate it might be best to use a fourth. Looking at it in place, it doesn't hang as well as I'd like, always possible working on pieces individually, even with a plan; I'll assume it's a wiry cable, and if it ever breaks, look at reworking it.

The teef were made in the same way as that on the stikkbomb arm. My advice as ever when building out from a surface is to get the greenstuff fixed in place firmly before the shaping begins proper, to avoid the part popping off and having to be refixed, possibly ruining the work so far. The feel for consistency and timing gets better with practice.

Practice is good advice overall. Mix up the greenstuff and go. Keep a clear picture of what it is you want in mind, but be willing to adapt to the way things develop, and stay calm and be patient if drying might help. It's seat-of-the-pants at times, but a lot of fun.

There's bags more good advice in this post at From the Warp, and some comparisons of modelling putty are linked here. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

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