What goes whurr, chop, clank, zzap chop, clank, squeak?

A rat on a steam powered death machine (Natch).

A bit like this one:

The Skaven Doom-flayer*

(* another classic Citadel ‘lottery of grimdark’ name)

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this model, apart from it looks a bit like the late and demented Dwarf Deathroller from Bloodbowl.

But... I think of the Doom-flayer as something that the rat has to sit in and carefully operate, rather than stand on and ride - more like a steam train than a cross between a lawnmower and a Segway.

So I had a little think, looked at the available ratty kits and decided that I could make a better (or at least, different) one from parts of the Doomwheel kit. Hopefully mine would look more suited to the battlefields of the old world than a crown green bowls field.

Although this seems hopelessly extravagant; (the Doomwheel kit costs £5.00 more than the Grinder) there are a number of advantages:

1. It means I don’t have to work with Finecast

2. I get to make a thing unique to my army.

3. I get a lot of spare bits to work with. I can then use these bits to make more ratty contraptions of doom. I like bits - maybe a bit too much. 

4. It'll be fun. 

I started, and as usual, forgot to take enough photos.

So this is the build, about 70% in. The cockpit area has been cut out of the Doomwheel kit and the rear steering wheel brought forward so that the contraption (just) fits onto a cavalry base.

I started with horizontally reciprocating blades at the front. These looked rubbish and I had to change them for something else - But what?  

The Ork in me wanted choppas; the rat in me wanted warpstone generator. The schizophrenic evil genius in me picked both.

As they say: That which doesn’t kill you, will electrocute you with mutagenic lightning.

Sweet, sweet mutagenic lightning.

Sweet, sweet choppas.

That seems sufficient to look like it can achieve what it is meant to achieve - i.e. messy and bloody death. 

I have a ‘thing’ when I’m doing conversions - I like to give the impression that the thing I’m building could work, and it doesn’t have to rely on hidden mechanisms or (even worse- magic).

 So, using micro surgery and much patience, I stuck together a rod system on eccentric drive wheels to drive the choppa mechanism. Here it is drying in the vice like grip of my reverse tweezers.

I painted it, and the finished contraption looks something like this:

Voltik's photographic helper 'Chudders'. Helps with scale and make-up. 

I took it out against Charlie’s Empire and it got shot, pretty much instantly. I was sad.

So that's it. Just as they say; If you're meglomaniacal and ruthless enough, you can make your army of minions achieve anything for your glory. Or something.