In the world of Warhammer 40k, every Ork Stompa is a walking hulk of scrap metal and destruction. A bit of improvisation and Mekboy ingenuity means each of these combat walkers has its own unique look, but September 4 is officially the first time we’ve seen an Ork Stompa made out of childrens’ toys.
Chicago-based YouTuber and kitbasher Nick, who goes by CC Minis online, shared a full tutorial for the Ork Stompa on Sunday (see below). The Frankenstein-style creation is made from scraps of toy giraffe, toolbox, tractor, and Angry Birds/Star Wars AT-AT. Some extra chains, gears, beads, and odd bits of rubbish also went into the final mix.
“My first foray into kitbashing with kids’ toys was inspired by a collaboration I did with a handful of other crafting YouTubers that also are fathers”, Nick tells Wargamer. “We all decided that stealing a toy from our kiddos and making something new out of it would make for a great series of videos and give us all a new thing to play with on the tabletop.”
Apart from the primary school colour palette of its pieces, the most noticeable thing about this Stompa is the sheer amount of rivets it has. They’re everywhere, and it turns out Nick added 2,000 diamond dot rivets to the Stompa by hand. “The riveting stage drove me insane”, he says. “It took me almost a week of putting two to three hours into the model a night.”
“On top of an already-gruelling process, I decided to count each one as I went”, he adds. “It was probably 12 hours of placing a rivet, making a tally mark, and repeating the process – but in the end, the model looks pretty good.” “The rivets pull the whole thing together, and I am very satisfied with the work I put into it.” “Satisfaction often comes from the most frustrating processes”, Nick tells Wargamer.
The Ork Stompa isn’t the only toy-based miniature Nick has created. “So far I have a small (around 1,500-point) Cities of Sigmar army for Warhammer Age of Sigmar”, he says. Like the Stompa, “it’s built primarily from kids’ toys – with some random bits, bobs, beads, and other bits thrown in for good measure”.
Nick says he almost always builds models to be used in a Warhammer game. “I want to fill out my Cities army to 2,000 points”, Nick adds. “I have plans for a pirate Skaven KO army, and the Orks will likely be an ongoing project.” “Certain kids toys are made out of a great plastic that is easy to bash together and come in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes”, he tells Wargamer. “Just looking through my bin of random toy bits starts to generate more ideas.”
If you’re looking to get creative, check out our guides to painting miniatures, as well as the best paints for miniatures. We also have plenty of other stories on cool kitbashes, like these Warhammer builds made from leftover sprues.