Painting An Ork DeffKopta for Warhammer 40K

I picked up a total of 9 Deffkoptas from my AOBR set as well as from E-bay. The first thing I wanted to fix were the weapons. All of the AOBR Deffkoptas come with twin linked rokkits and I wanted a little more flexibility, so I used a razor saw to cut to the top two rokkits off 6 of the Deffkoptas and then used a pin vise with a 1/32" bit to drill a hole into each rokkit stub. A matching size rare earth magnet went into each hole. This will allow me to swap out rokkits for big shootas or even buzz saws. Another rare earth magnet was glued into a hole under the rear rotor to hold a bomb.

I kept a detailed log of how long it took me for each step. After preparation and priming, the 9 Deffkoptas took a total of 590 minutes, or just short of 10 hours, and I haven't done any of the weapons, though I'm still waiting on some shootas and need to figure out how I want to build my bombs and buzz saws. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my speed, but actually thought it would go faster than this. Here's how the time by phase:

  • Clean, prep, and prime figures, including magnets - Not timed
  • Foundation basecoat. Tin Bitz, Gunmetal, Mechrite Red - 110 minutes
  • Detailed basecoats. Pilot's skin and clothing, details such as the second application of gunmetal - 225 minutes
  • Paynes Grey wash - 90 minutes
  • Remaining details - 165 minutes

Step-by-Step

  1. Clean and assemble the model. I was going to glue the arms and head in after priming but decided in the end that it didn't really matter.
  2. Prime black

  3. Give the entire model a heavy drybrush of Citadel Tin Bitz with a 1/2 inch brush. Try not to get too much paint on the pilot or the cowling.
  4. Using the same brush, drybrush VMC Gunmetal over the surfaces.
  5. Basecoat the Ork driver and gunner. I used Citadel Orkhide (Foundation) and Citadel Gnarloc Green (Foundation) for the skin and Citadel Tau Sept Ochre (Foundation) for the boots and gloves.
  6. Basecoat the cowling with Citadel Mechrite Red (Foundation).
  7. Use a little bit of Citadel Codex Grey to basecoat the fur lining of the pilot's vest.
  8. Use some Ultramarine Blue and color the pilot's goggle lenses.
  9. Go back to the VMC Gunmetal and paint the rims of the goggles, the plates on the rotors, gunsites, etc.

  10. Wash everything with the typical Liquitex Paynes Grey mix. At this point, it's tabletop playable.

  11. Highlight the pilot's skin with Citadel Camo Green.
  12. Basecoat the perforated grills under the cowling and on any engine exhausts with VMC Brassy Brass.
  13. Basecoat any icons, the pilot's chair rails, cloth wraps, dags, etc, with Citadel Dheneb Stone (Foundation) and then overbrush with Skull White.
  14. Pick out the pilot's teeth and nails in Bleached Bone and then Skull White.
  15. Add a wash of Gryphonnehide Sienna over items like the cloth wrappings.
  16. Basecoat hoses with Mordian Blue (Foundation) and then highlight with Citadel Lightning Blue.

  17. For final details, use Chaos Black to touch up the pilot's vest and fan belts, pick out your dials and screens as desired, add some rust, etc.
  18. Base.
  19. Seal.

Post Mortem

I started with Citadel Snakebite Leather for the gloves and boots but decided to go with Tau Sept Ochre instead as it covers better. Also, in retrospect, I should have done some of the detail work before the wash, namely the clean up on the pilots coat, the Mordian Blue on the hoses, and the black on the belts. It would have resulted in better shading but to be honest, I completely forgot about them.

Notes

Last updated12/15/08
AuthorMichael Kan
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