Grot Tank – Orktober 2022
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About the Project
For this year's Orktober, I wanted to create a mini diorama featuring grots/gretchin/goblins, and a grot-scaled tank. I also wanted the diorama to convey that this was a proud and experienced tanker crew, driving an armoured vehicle that was capable of dishing out a bit of real damage. The two main kits I'm using are a Meng 'World War Toons' Sherman tank and a box of Gretchin miniatures from Games Workshop. The goal is to have it built and have a build video up on YouTube before Halloween.
Related Game: Warhammer 40,000
Related Company: Games Workshop
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Completed
Details of the kits I'm using
I’m using two main model kits for this diorama:
- Meng WWT-008 World War Toons British Medium Tank – Sherman Firefly
- Games Workshop Ork Runtherd and Gretchin for Warhammer 40,000.
I’ll be using some XPS foam as the base, and decorating it with some flock, tiny stones, and some of the following:
- Woodland Scenics clump foliage
- Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Scrublands
- Green Stuff World Tall Shrubbery
- GamersGrass Static Grass Tufts – Garden Flowers
Placing Grots on the tank and working out the layout.
I worked out the best positions for the Grots on top of the tank by blu-tacking them in place. This also helped me to work out the best angle for the main gun to be pointing in the diorama.
The unused gretchin minis went into my bits box. At this point, I discovered several more gretchin parts in the greenskin section of my bits box. How many boxes of these little maniacs have I bought over the years?
The little guy with the bugle is from the Snotlings Blood Bowl team, as is the rock-wielding nutter hanging off the side of the tank! I built a tiny platform for him to stand on by glueing a small piece of ork armour under the running gear.
The World War Toons tank goes together without glue, which is perfect for kit bashers like me! It’s a lovely wee kit, with loads of detail.
I also started marking onto a square of 30mm XPS foam how I’d like the layout to look. This step helps me to get a feel for any foliage I need to add and also gives me a better idea about the narrative I want to tell with the diorama.
Next up is the painting step, and I want to go with lots of olive drab armour, muddy tracks, Bad Moons yellow battle colours, and mixed green foliage.
Planting some shrubbery and getting everything primed and washed.
I used some tiny trees and shrubs to help me decide on how to angle the turret.
I then primed the kits with Tamiya fine grey primer and washed everything with Nuln Oil. This helps to get black shading into all the nooks and crannies, and means that I’m not worried about missing some tucked-away grey bit later on.
Tank and terrain painted, and a problem with shrubs.
I have the tank fully painted and weathered, but it’s not glued in place yet.
I placed it temporarily on the base to make sure the muddy tracks in the dirt are well placed and looked natural.
This also helped me to decide on the trees and shrubbery I would use. The little saplings in these pictures just didn’t look right to me, so I’ll pluck them back out and try some smaller shrubs and clump foliage instead. I don’t mind the extra work – I’d rather that all elements are right, instead of settling for something that looks a little wonky!
I’ll get the grots in place next, and see what final touches the diorama needs before I call it done.
Painting and construction are complete!
Woohoo! The painting is complete and I was able to get everything attached to the base, with no breakage (apart from the Runtherd’s temporary arm amputation).
For the grots and runtherd:
- Glued the minis onto temporary plastic bases.
- Primed them with Tamiya Fine grey spray primer.
- Washed everything with Citadel Nuln Oil.
- For green skin I used mostly Green Stuff World’s Acid Green.
- Eyes are painted white then I use GSW True Blood to make them bright red and shiny. For me, the shine is key to adding a sense of life!
- At this point I lost track of the dozens of colours I dipped into, mixed, tried and rejected, etc. I swear I’ll keep better records inth future. I will say that I mostly used GSW Dipping Inks, Citadel Contrast, Vallejo Game Color, and AK Interactive Intense.
The tank was:
- Tamiya fine grey and nuln oil again.
- Vallejo Camo Green for the metalwork.
- Citadel Typhus Corrosion and GSW Orange Rust for the rusty bits.
- Ammo by Mig Starship Filth and Engine Oil for making it greasy and grubby.
The mud is:
- Vallejo Thick Mud – European and Brown
- Mixed grass flock from a model railway store, might have been made by Javis.
- Garden Flower Set from Gamer Grass.
- Scrubland Base Ready mix from Geek Gaming Supplies.
- Green Stuff World Tall Shrubbery.
Next up is the video on YouTube! Coming Soon!
I’ll share a link in the next update.
