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Mek Shop •
Tater Titan - project finished on 3/2/2009
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With Apocalypse out, I decided I needed something BIG for my Orks. After all, superheavy
Battle Reports
vehicles are what Apocalypse is all about.
Tactics
One of the members over on The Waaagh!, who goes by the handle of burna_boy, suggested
the idea of using a Mr. Potato Head as a basis for making a Stompa. I just had to get in on
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such a crazy/stupid/genius/insane idea.
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 After a year and a half of
work, this beastie is finally
complete.

Why so long?

Well, I only worked on him

when I felt inspired to. I put
so much effort into this
thing, I didn't want to half-
ass any of it by rushing.

It's been a long time coming,

but he's finally finished.

Hey, at least I beat the

release date of the 'official'
Games Workshop Stompa
(only by a week, though)

Click on the image for a

larger view.

Concept and Construction

Some of the examples in the
original thread were a bit
static in my opinion. A
Stompa should look like it
can actually stomp!

While the body shape is

perfect, the feet of the stock
spud are stuck together.
Something needed to be
done...

I decided to chop open the

body and rig up my own legs
while still retaining the
shoes. The first step in
building my "Tater Titan"
was to make the stance a bit
more dynamic.

I turned the body around, so

the 'butt-hatch' became a
'belly hatch'. The pot-belly
look really suits the stompa
model.
I used PVC pipe for the hip
axle held in place by a
foamcore frame within the
body. The legs are a mockup
using foamcore with some
Imperial Tank wheels as
ankle joints.

The legs will be reworked

using plastic tubing and tank
wheels, but the foamcore is
good enough for this stance
test.

I'm not sure yet what's going

into the belly hatch. Either a
BIG gun, or an assault ramp
for a mob of boyz.

I might keep the belly

modular so I can swap in
whatever I want.
Here's a mockup of how I
intend the thing to look, as
well as a boy next to it for
scale.
Here I've started on the
business end of the 'choppa
arm'. I've also made some
improvements to the feet and
legs.
Here's the choppa arm in a
rough placement of where it
will be on the finished
model.
Here's a shot of the 'stompy'
foot and leg. You can see I'm
starting to replace foamcore
with actual plastic parts.

I'm using 12 guage copper

wire to hold the parts in
place as well as provide
structure.

12 guage wire is good stuff,

pliable enough to be formed
and bent into shape, but
sturdy enough to hold weight
and retain it's shape.
Here's a shot of the 'standing'
foot and leg. I've used copper
wire here too, as well as a
length of coat hanger running
from the foot, through the
leg, and up into the body for
support.

Once this thing is mounted

on a base, it should be pretty
stable, the coat hanger will
provide an anchor and the
copper wire will tie it all
together.
Here you see the arms are
coming along nicely. There's
still a lot of detail work to be
done on them (wires, pistons,
rivets and other gubbinz), but
the structure is pretty much
all there.
Here's a close up shot of the
'choppa' arm. It's basically a
huge version of the chainsaw
choppa carried by the slugga
boy you see in the scale
shots.
Here's a close up of the gun
arm. I loved the idea of a
massive gatling cannon,
something that would unload
rapid-fire death.

Now that the Apocalypse

book is out, I may have to
redesign the gun to fit in with
the specs in the book. Either
that or just come up with my
own rules for this guy.
And just so you all know that
I've gone absolutely, 100%,
batshit crazy...

... I'm making this beasty

poseable.
Here you can see I've got the
face pretty much done as
well as some armor plating.
I've also done some more
work on the feet and legs,
bulking them up and adding
some detail work.

The feet are going to get

more armor plating to give
them kind of a steel toe boot
look, but not to worry, the
shoelaces are STAYING!
A close up of his cute little
mug.

This is his "Angry Face"...

... and this is his "Sad Face.

That's right boyz and girlz,

he's not only poseable, you
can change his expression
too!
A concept I've been toying
with is making his right eye a
gun slit with a big shoota
poking out.
For those of you interested in
seeing some of the 'worky
bitz', here's a shot of the
innards.

You can see the PVC pipe

I've used as the axle, the
foamcore support struts, and
the copper wire holding it in
place.

The foamcore struts have

been cut to fit into 'feet' and
'mouth' holes of the original
potato head toy.
Here you can see the interior
shot with the coat hanger bit
running up from the leg and
into a pin stuck into the 'arm
slot'. You can also see the tab
on the foamcore strut that fits
into 'foot slot'.

I've actually used the 'ear

slots' for the placement of the
arms. I think it gives the little
guy a more hunched over,
'orky' appearance.
And another shot of our
favorite spud.

Ain't he cute!
Some more progress has
been made. I have started to
cut a hole to make room for
the belly cannon.

I also managed to get myself

the classic bowler hat for
him.

I think it adds a nice touch.

More work has been done on
the metal plating covering
the body.
The
engine/boiler/smokestack
assembly has been started.
Another shot of the boiler
and the armor plating.
Riveting this thing is quite a
chore.
A face only a mother could
love!.... well, maybe not.
It's been awhile since the last
update on the guy, mostly
because I was getting a bit
burned out on building him.

There was also something

not quite right about him, but
I couldn't quite place it.

After taking a long break and

coming back with a fresh
perspective, I realized I
wasn't too happy with the
rivets on the main body.

I decided to strip them all off

and start fresh.
As you can see here, the
rivets are no longer made
from white plasticard. They
were a bit too large and too
uniform.

The rivets you see now are

made from the spear shafts of
a bunch of fantasy orcs (yet
another project waiting for
me, oh man...). I sliced the
spear shafts into small discs,
kinda like slicing sausage
only reeeeeally small.

I think they came out a lot

better this time around.
I'm also starting to add some
cables and hoses to various
parts of the stompa, as well
as getting the small rivets
done on various parts of the
body, weapons, feet and
engine.

I gotta tell ya, the detail stage

of a project is the most
tedious...but also the most
important.
Here you can see a bit more
detail added to the ejection
port on the main kannon as
well as some detail work on
the iron gob.
The feet have also been
largely finished.

I had to redo the toe spikes

since I wasn't happy with
them the first time around.

I've also added tread to the

bottom of the shoes and
some 'style stripes' to the
sides to give them that
running shoe look.

After all the plasticard work

was done, I slapped on the
rivets. These were made
from plasticard using a small
hole punch.
Here's a close-up shot of the
belly kannon, complete with
a co-axial mounted big
shoota.

The 'belly gun' mount is

modular so I can create
multiple weapons for it, that
way I can tailor this bad boy
to whatever mood I happen
to be in.

The arms on this thing are

also modular. The tater titan
will probably have several
weapon loadouts in the
future. I really want to make
a 'toaster' weapon
configuration, all with big
flame-belching weapons, as
well as a 'zapper' model with
a bunch of crazy looking
energy guns.

First things first though, let's

get the 'dakka' configuration
finished.
Another round of detailing
has been done to this bad
boy. Along with more
riveting, the weapons and
powerplant are pretty much
finished.
Here's a shot showing the
gun arm and a couple of the
'grot rokkits'. These little
one-shot-wonders add a lot
of character to the machine
as well as being pretty
effective anti-tank weapons
in their own right.
A shot of the powerplant,
showing the second exhaust
stack.
The chainsaw arm and
another 'grot rokkit'.
Here's a close up shot of the
engine exhausts. The large
exhaust pipe on the left is a
chimney from the Games
Workshop Manufactorum
kit.

The compression chamber

and small exhaust in the
middle is from the Chemical
Plant kit by Pegasus
Hobbies, just like most of the
other engine bits.
Here's a close up of the
chainsaw arm, showing some
engine and exhaust bits.

The exhaust pipe is from the

same Chemical Plant model
kit I mentioned above. The
vent plate is a Forgeworld
piece.
The other side of the
chainsaw arm, as well as a
menacing shot of the 'grot
rokkit'.
Here's a close up of the gun
arm. I did quite a bit more
detail work on this baby.
Hyraulic pistons on the arm,
tons of rivets, a heat shield
for the gattling cannon, and a
mounting rack for a 'grot
rokkit'.
Rear shot of the gun arm.
A close up of the 'grot
rokkits'. They're custom built
from plasticard, some bits,
and the shells from a 1:35
scale Sturmtiger model.

There's a "How To" for them

in the Tutorials section.
Here we are! Construction on
this beast is complete. I've
added a base made from
MDF board. The foot is
attached to the base with
liquid nails and wood screws.
He's not going anywhere.

He can now stand on his

own, no more propping him
up with the cap from a bottle.

I've also mounted a twin-

linked big shoota to the hat
and carved in a whole ton of
dings, scuffs and scrapes.
Here's a close up of the big
shoota on the hat.
And an aerial view as well.
Here he is all dismantled and
ready for primer.
 One last dramatic pose
before paint.

Painting
Here he is after being primed
flat black.

Word to the wise: Make

DAMN sure you paint any
pieces of foamcore with a
brush before you break out
the spray paint.

The propellant in spray cans

eats styrofoam (which is a
component of foamcore). It
had been so long since I'd
worked on the legs, I
completely forgot there was
still unprotected foamcore in
there.

His legs were so wobbly that

his 'stompy' foot actually
came clean off. Some
superglue and liquid nails
fixed him right up, and then I
touched up the primer.
Here all his metal pieces got
a liberal drybrushing of Tin
Bitz.

I left the hat alone. I want it

to be a slightly different
color than the rest of the
titan.
After the Tin Bitz coat dried,
I gave him a drybrushing of
Boltgun Metal.
You can just make out the
Tin Bitz below the surface of
the Boltgun coat on the teeth
and gob.

I think it produces a pretty

convincing rusty metal
effect.
Here's his chainsaw arm,
looking extra choppy with
some paint on it.
And the gatling cannon.

I couldn't resist doing the

brass effect on the shells in
the ammo drum.
Here we see more paint on
this bad boy. Right now I'm
just blocking in the solid
colors.

That's why he's got that

saturated "explosion-in-a-
paint-factory" look.

Don't worry, he'll look all

dingy, dirty, and beat to s**t
by the time I'm done.
Side angle showing more
colors.
I'm still working on how to
put some color on the rear of
this thing.

Eh, something will come to

me...
The other side with colors.
Here I have the painting
stage all but completed. The
weathering and battle
damage are all done as well
as the rest of the detail work.

After a year and a half, this

beast is finally ready for
some dullcoat varnish and
some glamor shots.
Another angle of everybody's
favorite spud.
Side shot. I really like how
muddy his shoes look.
Back shot showing the
engine and exhausts
The gun arm with the Grot
Rokkits
Here's the lighting effect on
his eye. After two days, three
seperate attempts and
countless washes of various
green colors I'm finally
happy with how it came out.
Close up of the gunner.
Grot Rokkit on the right
shoulder. Preflight checklist
complete and ready to ruin
somebody's day :-)
The other two Grot Rokkits,
"Smiley" a