Der Panzerpuss! - Wot an Orky Tanker!

So I had an idea.

You may or may not know that Too Fat Lardies have released a jolly old knockabout tank game called 'What a Tanker!' Ostensibly it's a World War 2 tank combat game with the twin emphasis of having to make difficult tactical decisions while locked up in a tin can with a big engine, a big gun and 4 smelly blokes and having a bollocks load of fun. Obviously this appeals to me. I then pondered how I could lure my chums into playing such a marvellous game. Why of course we could use silly sci-fi tanks and play at BOYL18 while drinking till we're sick.

With that in mind I scurried to the shed of woe's and rescued a battered Predator from below the spiders webs and mouse droppings. At the same time I scavenged bits from elsewhere until I retreated to the house.

The added advantage of cobbling together a looted predator for my Orks is that every Blood axe commander needs a bit of imperial technology in order to smush his foes. So I'm doing myself double service by getting this beauty up and running. Der Panzerpuss will count as a Panzer IV for playing our game and will serve with my Blood Axe army the rest of the time.

I like to think that this particular tank was on perfect running order when it was delivered to my Warboss as a payment for some nefarious task. The Meks took one long look at it and decided that it was no where near orky enough. Several days of 'upgrading' later and this marvellous beast 'Der Panzerpuss!' was born.

The boys forget that a solid tank can provide decent cover and stand in front of it instead.

As with all these things, there was fair amount of placement of parts and standing back to admire the layout before final decisions were made. The original dozer blade never wanted to stick and the gun was just too wimpy. I also decided that the doors were not inviting enough for your average Ork. The sponson were jettisoned as they would be pointless in What a Tanker and if I ever get round to make a twin for this one (there is another Predator in the shed) then he can have them to make him stand out.

The basic build was completed including the first orky rivetting i've had to do in nearly ten years. I was so excited I couldn't hold may water and decided to spray the whole thing desert yellow before I'd even drilled the hole for the turret to sit in.

I duly drilled out the top with a big old Forstner bit the next day. Thats what your day job is for after all!

After scavenging much blu-tak (and leaving a lot of work hanging precariously on walls) I layered up stripes on the body and the turret in order spray a second camo colour over the top.

RED!! ( Cos we want it to faster and be camouflaged, obviously)

And so this is how it earned it's name cos it bears a striking resemblance to one fat but very loved, fake cat.

After that it was on to weathering it up to make the transition between colours a bit less eye searing and them detailing. Job Done as they say. Can't wait to see what the rest of the boys come up with.