Brother Christopher

Congrats! That's well deserved :)

More progress! I'm very, very close to finishing the main part of the fuselage. The feet and tail are mostly done and ready for assembly; I've also started painting the front wings. I'm very much tempted to add more to the paint scheme - maybe more patterns or colours or more grey stripes, bits and bobs... but I'm doing my best to keep the vehicle relatively plain - even though the model is very special to me, in-universe, it's supposed to be a workhorse landing craft.

@Grotsmasha That's what I tried but it didn't always work out. I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that this is a scratch built model and the plasticard, well, was exposed to different kinds of treatment - maybe there is the very slight unevenness that somehow affected how the tape adhered. For example, I noticed that I had more problems with sections of the model where the top layer was a 0.25 mm layer of plasticard glued on top of the main model. I don't remember having similar issues when doing stripes on GW's original kits. Regardless, thanks for the advice! Here are the promised photos of the updates and fixes. I figured that this is the best moment to post them since they're still white and it makes it clear what I added. Sorry for the white balance, which is all over the place, in the photos. I used auto settings without giving it much thought and, well, now I see that it struggled. Then again, these should do as WIP shots.

I've already tried some masking tape but it was a bit problematic since sometimes the paint got under it and other times the glue ripped bits of paint. I'm postponing the decision till I get more done. Right now, it isn't bad. I think that my mistake was to attempt to paint a brighter grey line along the edges to set it off from the black; while the stripe is quite okay, the line is more way more messy. Thanks for your time! I'm glad you liked the build! *** So, in terms of progress, painting has stopped and I got back to finishing the fuselage, i.e. adding missing details, dealing with the remaining gaps and trying to refine/fix some of my previous mistakes. Surprisingly, the process takes longer than I expected and is a bit draining and annoying. Unsurprisingly, while doing it I'm messing the paintjob up. The extremely good news is that the landing gear is sturdy enough to support the weight of the model. That was one of my two biggest concerns, the other being the connection between the front and back sections of the craft. Since I built the cargo bay all those years ago and it's a hollow construction, I couldn't find a way to properly reinforce it. Luckily the reinforcement/support structures I've added seem to be enough - the entire thing appears to be sturdy. I'll post photos after I finish this stage of plasticard work, hopefully today or tomorrow. The next stage is to paint and attach the tail.

Thanks for the reassurance! The damage/chipping/weathering will be the final step, once I get the whole thing assembled and painted to more-or-less the level in the previous photos. I think I might've gotten a bit overzealous yesterday and made my life - again - slightly more difficult. I 'installed' the rear landing gear without finishing some of the details on the underside so now, I'll have to watch out for the 'prongs' while handling the model. But I count it as something positive, I'd even dare to say passion-driven :D If time permits, I should finish the bottom plate today and glue it on. That'll leave me with some minor plasticard work (gap-filling and greebling). As you can see, the original model has a 'frame' or 'skirting' (I don't really know how to call it) along the edges of the bottom that I still need to recreate and will cleverly use to hide some of the misfits (yeah, it would've been more clever to avoid these issues in the first place).

I made some progress. The part of the hull that's already assembled is semi-finished: I think I did most of the edge highlighting. Metallics needs some touching up but I'll get to that after I attach the tail and bottom. I also started painting the rear landing gear. One complaint here: I do regret not doing a better job prepping the sub-assemblies. Painting the whole thing is a bit annoying because the length of the model - it's pretty unwieldy. How do you find the paint scheme so far? I think the stripe turned out okay. It's not perfect but I can't seem to do a better job. I think I'll try to add some gradient or drybrushing since the colour seems a bit flat.

With another week passing by, I just wanted to share some progress. Between work and life, hobby time is limited but I managed to do more work of the unrewarding type. Interestingly, I'm really not one to dwell too much on negatives. The pains and frustration of the last couple of weeks are definitely fading and I'm soon to forget them. At the same time, I've clearly learnt the lessons from these episodes and with that experience I've went through the next stage of the project without much frustration or hindrance. Unfortunately, I don't have time to take proper photos to show the extent of work but I'm pleased to report that the majority of the vehicle is assembled and prepped for painting. with the rear, I encountered similar problems as with the front but I've been expecting them this time and took, what I see, appropriate measures. As such, I've planned the assembly into stages. This time I didn't struggle with a 'rotten core' but I still encountered problems with fitting parts together. The most jarring and, frankly, unexpected part was where the rear starts to elevate - it turned out that either due to the papercraft template I used or my lack of taking into account the thickness of the plastic, I ended up with a 2-3 mm difference in height. Luckily, I had a heavy-duty file from a non-modelling project. The file was very useful in fixing the issue. The sides and top fitted very neatly - almost perfectly; the rear was a bit more problematic but it must've been by design. I ended up with some gaps but I think I did a way better job at filling them in than I did with the front section. Also, I bought the Vallejo putty @Firedrake Cordova suggested - it seems like a great resource. Even though these were my first attempts at using it, I feel the results are satisfactory. It also - it seems - helped a bit with addressing the damage to the front. On the painting front, I basecoated the side panels, undercoated the top and back, marked the grey stripe along the sides and started painting the landing gear. I think I'll go with mostly black 'feet' but for the recesses and pistons, I'll go with a grey (plus some metallics).

The xenos are pretty dope. I particularly like the skin, it turned out very realistic. The whites and yellows also appear to look excellent. I have limited experience with doing proper bases but I suppose that a coat of PVA wouldn't hurt at all, just to be sure that the larger rocks stay in place, particularly should you transport the models.

I, Brother Christopher, finally embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and pledge, as a Plodding Along Vow, to complete one scratch-built Thunderhawk Gunship by the end of March 2025.

Firstly, thank you for all the kind words and support. Also, many thanks for the feedback regarding the 'damage' and ways of dealing with it. As @Rusted Boltgun put it: it is frustrating but I feel that at this point, I'm almost past the point of caring too much. I think that I just have to accept it what it is: a project that has been going for way too long. I want to press onwards and see where I land. In an attempt to do so, I started preparations to work on the rest of the model and discovered that I left notes in 2020. And I felt that it wasn't that long ago. @apologist Thanks, I think I like the sponsons now - or at least don't dislike them. They should be okay with the guns installed, though I still have this luring feeling of annoyance with my poor design. Adding bling of the type you mentioned surely is a solution and I'll bear that in mind. Right now, the plan is to continue painting the rest of the model and give myself time to breathe and think. If I'll still be annoyed with these kinds of defects, I'll have to make some relatively hard decisions: whether to go with the rule of cool (i.e. bits that you suggested) or take the more realistic route that @Dr_Ruminahui mentioned (i.e. go with a more austere aesthetic forced by the use of the craft). I don't want to come of as overly frustrated/annoyed with with the imperfections. I'm noting these issues because they are disappointing in the sense that I intended the model to be more like a mint plastic kit. Of course, the justifications for the texture all of you mention - blemishes, battle damage, marks of repairs - are perfectly fine and I feel I'm close to accepting them. The issues I'm having are not very rational and stem from the fact that I sometimes find myself too set in my ways and need more time to process change. @Firedrake Cordova Thanks for recommending the putty - I'll make sure to look into it. From the video you posted, it looks very useful. The only putties I've used before offered a similar messy finish, like Milliput. *** In the meantime, I did some more work on the highlights on the front section. I also primed some parts that make up the rear of the vehicle. The plan was to paint them while they're not assembled and later glue them onto the "core" of the rear of the flyer (basically a large box) and then assembling the front and back sections. However, eventually I decided to correct course and I will be putting the rear together way sooner, hopefully, today. This way I'll be able to address the inevitable problems more quickly. While most of the parts fit together nicely, I've discovered one substantial issue but fixing it shouldn't be that difficult (I have no idea how I missed that during pre-assembly!). And with the most recent putty-related issues, I know to rely on plasticard to fix it. In 2025, this project is a comedy of errors :D On thing's for sure: the vehicle will be enormous!

I've finally made some minor progress. I finished the ramp: I also basecoated the whole front and started doing the edge highlights. Regrettably, paint didn't satisfactorily hide the poor fixed (putty- and file-work) so there is a visible -- and unwanted -- texture on certain crucial edges and surfaces. However, I can't seems to fix it. Admittedly, I managed to fix some of the issues but I'm concerned that putting more work in the attempts to refine these parts will only result in more damage. The absolutely strangest thing is that the surfaces appear to be alright. I can't feel the texture/roughness but after applying a coat of paint, the sordid fixes surface. The silver lining is that they aren't that bad and become apparent only at certain angles. In the end, I suppose, I'll try to mask these bits with battle damage or whatnot.

@Sir Clausel Thanks! I am going strong (well, strongish, minus the setbacks I encountered recently) and am determined to finish this model ASAP. Your solution would be the best and easiest to implement but for the space necessary for the guns to rotate freely. I went with my gut feeling and am in the process of adding some more details to the existing design. Given the absolutely shoddy work I did with glue, I think I'll spare myself the embarrassment of posting WIP photos, though. The good thing is that I think the result won't be as distracting as the initial design was. The bad thing is that this entire situation shows that I should most definitely refrain from designing my own models - I should stick to building stuff using existing templates and introducing minor alterations. The entire sponsons debacle emphasises my lack of foresight. To drive the point home: I realised that the exact position of the sponson mounts gets in the way of the small front wings (apparently, the proper term is 'canard') so I'll have to reposition those. In the original old model, the canards are a bit above the top panel of the sponson housing; mine are at the same level which appears to make the model look off, at least from the initial dry fitting I did. Well... here's to me trying the 'fancy' ammo feeds! I hope it was worth it. If the preliminarily diagnosed issue with the canards turns out to be true, I think I'll just reposition them ca. 1 cm higher so that they are 'integrated' with the thicker armour plating around the cockpit.

Thanks for the mock-up. That's definitely the last resort solution. I feel I want to try and make the sponsons I made work better. I really liked the design of the sponsons on the Baal Predator (with the minimalistic support on the bottom) and the weapons from the LR Prometheus and I've already devoted some time to transfer these inspirations onto my flyer. If the result of bulking and blinging this part of the model up, I'll fit the armour in the back, as you described. However, then I'll just glue the sponsons in permanently. Thanks for dropping a comment! I appreciate it. Right now, the project hit a bit of a rough patch but I do hope to get through it sooner rather than later.

That's what I'm thinking, too. Or perhaps it's not so much about the thickness of supports but the space between the bolters and the fuselage. @TheArtilleryman You're making sense and nailing the problem. I wanted to stay truer to the OG Thunderhawk that had LR-styled sponsons. But those had 'normal' ammo feeds instead of the overly fancy I opted for. As a result, they appeared way more compact, similarly to those that you posted on the LR. The thing is that mine aren't that much larger - there's a roughly 2mm difference between them and the ones on the LR. But somehow it makes an amazing difference. I definitely need some more time to consider what to do with this. To be brutally honest, I'm a bit tired of doing this cursed section of the vehicle. I think that I don't want to redo the sponsons (which would probably be the best thing to do quality-wise). Right now I think that if I just added some more bulk to the supports. The way I see it, the areas marked red in the photo below create the flimsy feeling. The area between the red squares should remain as-is to make room for the bolters. I'm considering adding - similarly to a LR - triangle armour plates (see the areas marked green) or perhaps add some targeters/lamps/stuff under the top sponson support. Would you agree that this would alleviate the problem and make the thing optically more bulky?

Most of them seem fine, with the exception of that one unfortunate guy (but it's nothing a little green stuff won't fix). Drilling barrels is surprisingly tricky. What I found to be a game-changer in this regards is something that now appears quite obvious. Next time, try using a hobby knife to make a small cut/hole in the middle of the muzzle. The mark made with a knife should help you with guiding the tip of the drill and ensuring that the hole is in the centre, where it should be.