Thunderhawk Tranporter scratch build, oh my!

[ZouaveCapt]

Well, I started into this today. Made a mold from an A-10 Warthog turbine that will hopefully turn into some resin parts this evening. Going to start doing some work in Sketchup shortly. So that's where I'm at. But where am I going, you ask...?

 

This will be the first of two Thunderhawk Transports, along with, eventually a Gunship. For now, the first one. Because I am crazy, I am playing with the idea of retractable landing gear, built from CD tray parts that move the tray in and out. We'll see as the build progresses. I have seen some fantastic lighting setups for other Thunderhawks, and would like to emulate those, as well as having a magnetic grappling cable, and if I can somehow make it work, powered lift arms for holding tanks (magnetized, maybe..?). I will be posting pictures as I go, but I expect progress to be slow. But check back periodically for updates!

 

And now the part where I ask for help. Somewhere, I copied a picture of a Thunderhawk schematic, I think from an IA book. If ANYONE has that book, and a scanner, and could email me a copy of that drawing to scale everything off of, that would be AMAZING.

 

Thank you!

 

For the Emperor!

[exsulis81]

Like this one?

 

http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f252/CanisD/Shipyard/40K/Thunderhawk.png

 

 

 

 

Found it on a warseer thread where someone was doing the same thing.

 

Work in progress had this one which I am kind of fond of:

 

Work in progress

[Studio Silvernale]

For mine I used the engines from an Anakin Skywalker racer pod since it has a very sturdy crossbar between the engines that went through the body of the gunship to give it amazing support. I didn't think about using an A-10 engine.. might have to do that on my next one.

[ZouaveCapt]

Like this one?

 

 

I actually saw both of those, but the first one is the Gunship, sadly. I'm looking for the printout that looks like this:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_mFrvo0-C5s0/ScbiPwOQEmI/AAAAAAAAASU/VIjtVeFrXZo/s400/000_0171.JPG

I had this a while ago, but I think I threw it out in my last cleaning purge. :-(

 

Re: Togusa-san, I thought about doing the same, but I had the A-10 lying around, and since I'm casting the parts, it doesn't actually impact the original. I'll have casting pics up shortly. Messed up the first one, but the next one should come out better.

 

Do you have pictures of how you did the cockpit? That's the part I'm still trying to figure out... I just don't know how the inside would look. Any ideas on where to look for that?

[ZouaveCapt]

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_mFrvo0-C5s0/TQk4TPdnlpI/AAAAAAAABnc/qz4yBa2F0KU/s400/IMG_20101215_130356.jpg

 

So, this is my current work area, with my first update and progress pictures. I made the mold for the turbines, and attempted the first one, which sadly, didn't come out very well. Detail clarity was FANTASTIC, but I didn't put enough in and account for it settling as it hardened, so I ended up with a pretty significant void on the side. Will not make the same mistake again. Mixed up Waaaaaay too much RTV, so desperately searched for something else to make a mold of, ended up grabbing a barrel, but the RTV had started to cure, so ended up with lots of air bubbles. Will have multiple molds ready to pour next time in case I mix up excessive quantities again...

 

Going to make an Eldar Prism for my friend out of the resin and build an LED into it so it lights up. Need to make the resin cloudy first to diffuse the light better...

[Studio Silvernale]

I don't have pictures anymore, but what I did was one pilot facing forward and another off to the side in back like a RIO. I built my cockpit as a separate piece so I could paint it and then slid it in before finally sealing in the front plate. Just remember to cover the canopy if you are going to spray paint it after.

[ZouaveCapt]

Well, after four failed attempts to get a cast that holds paint and lacks bubbles, I am changing over to Micro-Mark casting resin. We shall see how that goes.

 

Pictures to follow tonight.