Project Thunderhawk

[maverike_prime]

So some notable progress on it today, got the pilot seats built and painted.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1461thumb_zpse0e7f8ea.jpg

 

I took the pilots from a Land speeder, and split the parts in half, and affixed them to the board and back console.  I used 1/4" squares for mounting under the seats of the pilots. I was then able to glue the center console in. Using a bit of painters tape over the clear window section I was able to prime the model and paint these sections today.

 

Gonna try and find the bits for the rest of the pilots tomorrow.

[maverike_prime]

So got some more work done today. You know one of the things I dislike about scratch building projects like this is that I can work on the project for multiple hours and only get a small section complete. Not exactly a complaint just a point of annoyance with the project. As a point of comparison, in 8 hours I can build a complete Land Raider kit, fill in all the seems, clean it up, and probably get started on painting it, and by get started I mean getting base colors down and started on highlights.  I've been working on the Thunderhawk for a bit over 8 hours today. And the most notable piece I finished is the canopy.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1466thumb_zpsfc368116.jpg

The Canopy is actually made out of 3 layers of styrene affixed to one another both for strength and for the bonding plane to... well actually exist. The first layer is .02mm thick styrene. Then there's a layer of .05 mm styrene on top of that is just slightly larger then the  .02 layer, This larger layer is principally what is actually holding everything together. And then ontop of that there's a layer of .01mm  sheet styrene on top of that that is cut to create the panels you see. And then of course there's the 62 rivet details on the canopy. The rest is pretty straight forward and speaks for itself.

 

I was also able to add some more material to the cockpit of the craft to help fill in space a bit more and got the torsos of the pilots built. Gonna get 'em primed tomorrow I think. I used the weapon firing arms from the Space Marine vehicle accessory sprue as the pilot arms. I decided to get a little adventurous with the left side pilot and made one arm with a pointing finger like he had taken one of his hands off the yoke to push a button on the control panel.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1467thumb_zpsf476ea82.jpg

[maverike_prime]

So got some more work done on... well a part of the thunderhawk.

 

Anyone care to guess what part of the thunderhawk this is?

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/engine-cowlingthumb_zpseca4cbaa.jpg

 

Any guesses? Well I'll save you the trouble and tell you. This is one part, of one engine on this birdie. Specifically this part:

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/thug-guard02_zps086491ae.png

 

Now want to know the really twisted part?

 

Well, yes there's the point that I have to build 2 more of these things. But beyond that point. This one part is built out of 88 separate pieces of styrene. Yup. 88 pieces. So now I have to make 2 more of 'em. That'll mean I have to cut out 176 pieces and assemble them. I'm sort of tempted... in a weird I want to torture myself sort of way, to actually count up the number of pieces of styrene it ultimately takes me to build this monster. And then I'll have to at least double that because I want to build a 2nd one that I can convert to go with My Chaos Forces.

[ImperialTemplari]

Why don't you make a mould and cast the other pieces?

[deathspectersgt7]

Looking Good, look forward to seeing more.Tried doing something similar years ago but no patience.

[maverike_prime]

Why don't you make a mould and cast the other pieces?

 

Several reasons. First, the finished component as you see it here is an extremely poor candidate for casting. There's no way to break the mold to accommodate all of the angels of the part, at least no way it can be done with a two part model. Too many over hands and under hangs. I would have to break the part down into smaller individual components. And by smaller individual components I mean I would still have to cast 13 pieces, 6 of which would require 2 part molds to accomplish. The resin I have on hand isn't suitable for such small parts. I would need a resin that can be vacuum degassed and then pressure cast. Both operations would require hard ware I do not have available to me. When I was working on the thunderbolt build I did attempt to use casting for producing multiple parts. And I learned how how un-ready for the process I really am. As it stands now, I don't have the financial resources to invest in learning the process and acquiring the hard ware to accomplish such an effort.

[maverike_prime]

You know what I dislike the most about working on one of Pataroch's templates? The level of details on it! I'm not saying he's done a bad job with details in his templates, or that the detail is a problem. No, something quit different. The sheer amount of detail he puts in his templates is staggering compared to most other scratch build templates out there. As an example, look at the diagram showing the construction of the pilot deck:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/100thanderhawk01-4thumb_zpseb40dbeb.png

 

 That lists 40 separate components to build that deck. So whats the big deal right? Well, here's the thing. Most of those components are in turn made of several pieces. Like the center console between the pilot seats. One component. That is made out of 6 pieces. The pilot seats? 12 pieces each. The computer console behind the pilot seats? 16 pieces.

So yeah, you have times where you can work on these for several hours and get everything assembled.... on only have like 3 small sections built. It's a bit disheartening at times. That being said I have been working on the project today and gotten some work completed on it.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1491thumb_zpsa5b999b3.jpg

 

I finished building the canopy cover. Now I'm sure you're saying "Wait, what? I thought you built that a while ago." Well, yes sort of. See if you look closely at this new image you can see that I'm put in the clear plastic planes for the canopy. It's a solid part so I count that as building. I had to wait until I got the primer on the piece and decided to go one step further and put down the base coat for the piece. The Thunderhawk is going to join my Blood Raven army so it got the maroon color needed for that.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1496thumb_zpsbe817a23.jpg

 

Here is the ceiling of the Embarkation deck. Here is where that level of detail comment came from earlier. Everyone of those boxes are made using at least 3 pieces of styrene each. And then there's the piping between many of the boxes. Oh and I had to pass the wires for the LEDs though the pipes too. Yeah.... lot of work. Not a lot to really show for the effort.

I've been working on other stuff besides just the pilots and  ceiling of the embarkation deck for this bird though.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1501thumb_zps5a424e88.jpg

 

This is the inside left wall of the Thunderhawk's embarkation deck. There's not a lot to say about it that you can't see from the pictures themselves so I'll just let the picture speak for itself, you know being worth 1000 words and all that. The ribbed cables I'm using are from Dragon Forge Designs.

I've also started working on the engines. Well one part of one engine. See the model uses a series of 6 half-tube sections around the engines. One of the top of the wings, one on the bottom and then 2 along the bottom of the main hull. Here is my current state of progress on this point:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1503thumb_zps9ddeea92.jpg

 

Yeah... lots of small parts and sections. The capping on each end is a section of "House siding" paneling from Ever Green plastics wrapped around the end of the half tube and glued in place. I needed to use clamps to hold the piece down long enough for the glue to set because my hand would start to cramp after a couple minutes while still failing to hold the piece in place properly. Once that was glued down I went back with smaller strips of 1mm thick styrene and then glued those down along the edge of the siding piece. It gives a rather nice mechanical look to carry the idea that this is a working machine I think.

The piping isn't even half done yet and it still a lot of experimenting as I go so I've had to start over several times. The center pipe running along the back of the tube was accomplished by cutting strips of .01mm thick styrene, gluing down one edge of it to the pipe and then rolling it around the pipe and gluing it down once I had reached the desired thickness.

 

Remember when I posted this a couple days ago?

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/engine-cowlingthumb_zpseca4cbaa.jpg

 

Well I got some work done on the thruster nozzle that attaches to this part, buuuuuut I'm not all that thrilled with the end result so far:

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1498thumb_zpsbcf8a087.jpg

 

It's just... so plain, There's nothing there. So working on that. The catch is I'm trying to accomplish fixing this with out ordering anything right now. See Plastruct is crap at filling orders. Last time I ordered it took me 5 weeks to get my order and when I got it in there was mold on it. They also require a $50 minimum for private orders, but they only supply 1/19th of their entire catalog to distributors like Hobby Town. So... yeah. I have one maybe worked out:

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Warhammer/Thunderhawk/SAM_1500thumb_zpsee7f75a0.jpg
Basically there is a raised edge along the outer perimeter of the panel. It adds some to the piece, I'm just not totally sure it works well enough. Any thoughts from anyone else?

[Blackadder]

Interesting thread, I wasn't aware someone else was building a scratch T'hawk on this forum. I particularly appreciate the skill involved in your delineation of the detail of the interior. I shall be watching with interest your lighting circuits.

 

Kudos. 

[maverike_prime]

Interesting thread, I wasn't aware someone else was building a scratch T'hawk on this forum. I particularly appreciate the skill involved in your delineation of the detail of the interior. I shall be watching with interest your lighting circuits.

 

Kudos. 

 

haha oh Blackadder, you just made my day with that statement. I've been following your thunderhawk project for a while now myself. And now you're following mine. Ah... irony. or maybe it's stalking now adays.