I present to you Ork Stormboy 2. This model (drawing influence from early 20th century German infantry) was designed by Alan Perry and was produced by Games Workshop beginning in 1994. Circulation lasted until about 1998 when the next iteration of the Stormboy was released.
There are some that categorize this piece as belonging to the era of production known as Oldhammer while others Rogue Trader. In fact it isn't exactly either. It's technically from the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40k. However, the plastic components can most certainly be traced to the Rogue Trader era.
This is one of many Space Ork models cast without arms. As such, this model was "supplied with a plastic Ork arms sprue and weapons sprue as standard." The arm sprue was released around April 1990. It was used extensively throughout the Space Ork range until GorkaMorka was released in 1997 at which point, the plastic arms were retired. The weapons sprue saw no less than 3 iterations throughout the 1990's. Since I won't be using any of those weapons here, the subject must be addressed elsewhere...
While digging through my bag of Space Ork arms & weapons, I came across the gun and knife you see pictured.
They are from a Space Marines sprue that also had shoulder pads and backpacks. I recall picking up 10 of the knives at the auction some years back though I can't remember why for. I'm not sure how I came to possess the gun; I have zero Space Marines. But as soon as I saw it, I knew what was going to come next...
Home Boy needs a base! So I got this idea to use some of the plastic-card sheets and whatsits I have collected throughout the years. To execute my idea I just needed a 25mm square base from the stash...
Would you believe out of all those bases, there isn't a single 25mm square? So. Dumb. There are sizes I've never even heard of in that lot. I ended up chopping a 25mm x 50mm base in half.
Basing materials:
Now that I've collected all of the components, It's time to prepare for assembly. This entails removing all of the mold lines on the model, hacking up some plastic (and mdf) for the base, and drilling holes for pins. The goal with pinning is to make sure that all the pieces are "well and truly stuck". Would you believe there's something in the way of guilt when taking a file/knife/pin vise to a model that's almost 20 years old? That and some serious nostalgia. Anyhow, I had to use extra caution working with the gun, as it is my only copy. Surprisingly, at the time of writing, a single replacement goes for around $10 at the auction making it more valuable than the figure itself.
Now all that's needed is to fill a few gaps and he's ready for the brush. All stuck together:
Oh and I took that stupid bird off of the gun.
