flashback friday: supashokka dakkawagon

A few weeks back, I was rummaging through several old and/or incomplete projects and thought it might be nice to try and record them all in one place. Once a week, I'll try to dredge up an old project to share on here and reminisce. Next up, the Supashokka Dakkawagon!

WHAT WAS IT THEN?
I created this beast back in 2009 for a Battlewagon Konversion Kontest on Da WAAAGH Forums. It was originally envisioned as a giant, multi-tiered, single-chassis flatbed vehicle in service to a massive cannon - a wheeled, Orky version of a German railway gun. Thankfully I never quite got the chassis to match the vision in my head, because what I ended with was a mobile fire base on steroids pulling an Apocalypse-sized Shokk Attack Gun on a ridiculously tiny gun carriage. It's one of the most succinctly Orky creations I've ever made.

The Supashokka is made from a plumbing fitting found at the local hardware store. I took it apart, reversed the tube, and slapped half an M&M container on the end of it. I then added various bits, plasticard and wires 'till it looked suitably crazy. The carriage is entirely scratch-built above the treads, has a magnetic "trailer-hitch" for attaching to the Dakkawagon, and allows the Supashokka to rotate horizontally and change elevation.

The Dakkawagon is actually my favorite part of the piece. It's just so beefy and dakka-laden that I can't help but fall back in love with it whenever I pull it off the shelf. It's armed with four Big Shootas, two Rokkit Launchas and three Zzap Guns. It's like a mini battleship. In fact, I've never called the front ram section anything besides a prow, and it's magnetized to be removable for transport/storage.

In the four years since I built the thing, I've lost track of all the little easter eggs and references I put into the Supashokka Dakkawagon. It's juvenile, but the one that stays with me is the hand-glyph behind the gunner and the license plates that read, "Two in the Waaagh, One in the Warp"

The Supashokka Dakkawagon actually hit the tabletop once in an Apocalypse game using a data sheet of my own devising. I honestly don't recall how well it performed, but I remember having fun with it.

WHAT DID I LEARN?
I learned the importance, particularly with Orks, of letting a build flow organically. I can honestly say that, aside from the big gears holding up that piece of plumbing as a cannon, the final result looks nothing like what I originally envisioned. The gun carriage, the prow, the placement and configuration of the weapons all just happened as I tried to balance things to my aesthetic.

Coming in 2nd in the competition, I also learned a little humility. There were some fantastic builds I was up against and there are several builders on Da Waaagh that should be designing kits for a living.

WHERE IS IT NOW?
Sitting, primed black, on the highest shelf above my desk. Digging it up in pictures made me realize what a great test bed it could be for several air brushing and/or weathering techniques. When I get serious about learning how to use weathering powders, I know the first model I'm looking to.