Spotlight On... Gorgamungus!

Take a look at this!

 

This is Gorgamungus! 

He's a big gorilla that I bought from a sale that Asda were having and converted up to be an Ork Gargantuan Squiggoth. 

He was a major work of patience. I wasn't able to finish him in one go before my motivation ran out. It took me another couple of tries over the months until he was finished. 

 

The original  model came with the plastic harness thing you can see under the howdah and the cannon on top (which actually shoots by the way). I added the howdah, the armour plates, the funnels, the smaller weapons and the rope ladders.

 The howdah was made from (very) thick card with cereal packet squares cut to cover it (painted with Tin Bitz). On the sides of the howdah, gold painted plates were added haphazardly for that Orky look.

I had two goals here: to make it split level, to improve the asthetic design, and to have enough room to place the full complement of Orks on the back.

The banner was made from torn pieces of toilet paper dipped in watered down wood glue. That's Bleached Bone with a brown wash and rehighlighted and a two tone red to match the patchy warpaint on Gorgamungus's face. 

The crew add a nice touch. Both models were ones I'd created for other things and hadn't used. They fit in nicely here so I glued them in. 

The rope ladders were made from string with little wooden rods. I trickled super glue down it then bent it into shapes to get the sense of movement. 

Man! You don't want to know how many times this stuck to the wrong things! I was covered in super glue by the end of it! 

I got the Ork to hold onto the ladder by use a spear arm with the ends cut off. Glued into place and painted the same colour as the other rungs it's hard to see any difference.

 

Heh heh.  I love this little dude. 

 

And here he is with the guys on top. In the game, this guy is amazing! Not only is he really great himself but the guys on top can safely put out a massive amount of firepower while remaining immune to reprisal. 

 

Each model in the unit bears the same warpaint as Gorgamungus himself. 

The Big Shootas were from a bunch of cheap toy tanks I had lying around. Note how the gunners arms are set to hold the guns. I used two arms from the Shoota Boyz sprue that would normally hold a gun for this. They look great there but a bit weird when they dismount. I usually kill them off first. 

 

Here's  good old Spunkmeista, the Nob of the squad. Back in the days I made him I couldn't afford a real Nob so I converted him up from a normal Boy. Notice the guns attached to his waist. There used to be an accompanying model who stood behind him who was the one who actually pulled the triggers. 

You've gotta love Orks!

And I do love Gorgamungus! 

By the way, if anyone can help me identify the source of this monkey I would be very grateful as I'd love to find him on eBay and do a second (or third!) one. 

Comment below if you know!