This colossal monowheel warmachine is the work of long-time Warhammer 40k player Michael De Lucci. Since he started kitbashing models he’s found himself using more and more plasticard and fewer and fewer parts from official model kits, eventually leading into a total scratch build made with scrap cardboard, pins, and mechanical genius befitting an Ork.
Like many gamers De-Lucci first played Warhammer 40k in the 90s, and his first Warhammer 40k faction was an Imperial Guard tank regiment. He got back into the hobby of building and painting miniatures around 2017 with the launch of 40k 8th edition.. Though he made some early kit-bashing experiments as a youngster “they were generally pretty bad” – but he’s picked it back up in recent years.
After “putting a plastic gretchin in a toy car with a little modification”, he progressed to “modifying GW kits, kitbashing with a pile of parts”, until eventually “the ratio of kit to plasticard changed”, and he was using the kits “only for details”. His biggest scratch build previously was a half size Warlord-class Warhammer Titan built “using a sprue frame, plasticard, and pipes”.
De-Lucci was collecting recycling when he “got the idea to try building something entirely from cardboard”. The inspiration for this monowheel “came from the film Mortal Engines”, which features massive mobile towns – one of which was built inside a giant wheel. “I love the chaotic design of Ork machines so the idea was to match the size and weapons of a Stompa”, he says.
The big wheel is obviously the centre of the model, with “one side with the main weapons”, while the opposite side looks like “my favorite Monopoly piece, the battleship”. After that “it’s just random pipes, exhausts, and armor panels stuck on haphazardly”.
While he would ordinarily “stick a load of rivets on for the aesthetic”, De-Lucci judged that would be way too much work on a model this size, and “used a jar of pins” instead. Not only do they look the part, they “also held it together a bit better”.
The wheel can actually be removed for painting, which was “the hardest part” of the build. It’s also the part he’s most proud of: “everything else is something you can see in some form on other models that you can buy”, but the wheel stands apart.
If you’re inspired to create your own ramshackle doom machine, De-Lucci recommends you don’t “overthink it once you have the main idea in place”, particularly if you’re building an Ork vehicle. “Just start sticking stuff together and let it grow naturally”.
We’ve seen quite a few cardboard and papercraft vehicles over the years, but surprisingly more of them have been for the crisp Space Marines than the rough-edged Orks. Check out this excellent oversized Space Marine dreadnought, and this remarkably well detailed Space Marine Land Raider.
Source: Wargamer
