Plastic Thunderhawk Gunship

[Brother Carpenter]

Think your heat effect is very nice. I'd keep it on the TH. Maybe the other flyers have less orbital manouvering and their exhausts stain different.

[Straidex]

Inspiring work! Looks cool, thanks for the detailed process photos. Look forward to see the full finished version.

[Brother Christopher]

On 4/22/2025 at 11:11 PM, Brother Carpenter said:

Think your heat effect is very nice. I'd keep it on the TH. Maybe the other flyers have less orbital manouvering and their exhausts stain different.

 

I'm glad you like it! I appreciate your feedback a lot, as always! And thanks for a reasonable fluff explanation.

 

On 5/5/2025 at 2:47 PM, Straidex said:

Inspiring work! Looks cool, thanks for the detailed process photos. Look forward to see the full finished version.

 

I'm glad you like it. Since I'm home-dwelling hobbyist, sharing with this community is the most social interaction within the hobby that I get and posting updates is a source of fun and motivation.

***

I've been away for a short holiday, then work happened and other hobbies took priority. Somehow, I couldn't get around to painting this thing here. I even took a small detox and started painting my only AoS model - just for a break from painting black. It seems that this short excursion into the realms of blues helped a lot since I got reinvigorated and did some work on the rest of 'major elements,' the S-foils, tail thingy and main uber-gun mount-thingy.

 

 

Tentatively, I have to admit that I'm amazed by what, I think, is my patience. Take for example the greebles on the battery packs or targetter for the lascannons - looking at them, I'm impressed with how much work it had to take. Something that I honestly don't remember. But the result is quite insane (please note that the lascannons themselves were not scratch-built).

 

 

 

 

And, as usual, I haven't forgotten about doing some small free hand details here and there:

 

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Looking at it painted, you wouldn't know it wasn't forgeworld resin.  The level of detail is astounding - "insane" is accurate, but in a good way. 

 

Yeah, I find pallet cleansers of painting something different can be very helpful.  When I first started painting, working towards a sisters army, I would paint a sisters model for myself, one for a friend (either a marine or an ork), and then random mini from my collection (typically from necromunda or the old Warzone mini game), all of which were in very different colours, and that really helped keep me painting.

[Brother Christopher]

14 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

The level of detail is astounding - "insane" is accurate, but in a good way. 

 

Yeah, I think I must agree here. With the finish line so near, I must admit I haven't appreciated the amount of work this took.

 

14 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Looking at it painted, you wouldn't know it wasn't forgeworld resin. 

 

Actually, all those years ago, when the older Thunderhawk was available, looking at the quality of those casts actually pushed to start making this model. In the photos I've seen, their resin always looked worse than plastic kits. And not having to compete with plastic-level-quality really boosted my confidence. And here I am, many, way too many years later...

 

14 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Yeah, I find pallet cleansers of painting something different can be very helpful.  When I first started painting, working towards a sisters army, I would paint a sisters model for myself, one for a friend (either a marine or an ork), and then random mini from my collection (typically from necromunda or the old Warzone mini game), all of which were in very different colours, and that really helped keep me painting.

 

Being this close to finishing the Thunderhawk, as well as my OG Tempalrs, I begin to dip my toes into, what I'd call, Better Hobby Management. For the better part of my 40k experience, I just considered the army/collection as a single entity and a duty that has to be done.

 

Now, with the Thunderhawk, OG Templars, Primaris and some auxiliary projects (board games, AoS dragon-riding dude), I think I'll try to shuffle between these and take better care of my hobby-mental-health (if that's a thing). Thanks to GW doing what it does, I finally understood that I shouldn't even dare trying pursue the current rules and stick to what seems cool. The drawback is that Kill Team teams seem now very, very appealing. Getting a couple of sets of 10-15 models per army trying out new painting styles seems like something I'd love to try in 3-4 years' time.

[Rusted Boltgun]

I'm finding that 'crop rotation' is helping with my hobby, especially when combined with a couple of challenges on here. The KT challenge in Spring, CtA in the summer, the rest of the time is my own and I work through more Kill Teams , terrain, etc

I can see it really helping with a long term project like this, hoping to avoid burnout. 

 

If you are looking at Kill Team, have a really good look at the rules as there is a lot going on in a game and some Teams have a heavy cognitive load in a game (I don't play that much but listen to the OUaKT podcast). I really enjoyed KT21 though (yet to play the new version) and building/ painting the teams is very satisfying.

 

It must be great to see the gunship project nearing conclusion and all the parts coming together after all your hard work - savour those moments!

[Brother Christopher]

I think that if I ever go the KT route, I'll just focus on painting the teams (miniatures and colours of all flavours!) just for the fun of it, without playing the game. But that's a huge 'even if' - probably, it'll take years and GW will manage to release a new edition or two of that game :D

 

***

 

On the TH front, I'm doing the last bit of soul-searching in an attempt to find a colour for the weapons. I'm considering 'graphite' (see what I've come up in the photo below) or red.

 

 

Red is a great, contrasty colour. However, I'm tempted with keeping things more subdued with the almost-black casings for the heavy bolters and rockets.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I quite like the "graphite". I suppose the other "Black Templars colour" is cream/white. I'm not sure how well that would go though.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, I was thinking a heavily weathered white - so white with a bunch of scrapes and charring.

[kabaakaba]

IDK how it's looks all together but, think guns should stand out a bit.  May be leave them graphite but add some bronze or copper? It's very common for imperium to use metals as a decorations. Me use them a bit to much tbh. Also I feel pain(working a lot with wiring) when see cable harness with wires of same colours.  May be you could make one more two of different colours. Also it's add a bit of colours to ship.

Also any respectable aircraft( and yours is definitely respectable) have small markings and signs on all that small doors and hatches you have all around your gunship. I think it could add some "live" to it

That's not a criticism of any sorts, you make amazing work. Just few thought I have. 

The Emperor Protects!

Edited June 2 by kabaakaba

[Brother Christopher]

14 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

I quite like the "graphite". I suppose the other "Black Templars colour" is cream/white. I'm not sure how well that would go though.

 

I'm glad you do! I'm also not sure about the brighter colours and am a bit apprehensive about going with them, especially since the main secondary colour is grey.

 

13 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Yeah, I was thinking a heavily weathered white - so white with a bunch of scrapes and charring.

 

That would probably look cool but, at this stage, it's out of the question: I can't imagine working up to achieving a nice white on these bolters on a black primer - the plastic was quite porous. That's why I felt like trying a darker, 'weathered' look might work.

 

12 hours ago, kabaakaba said:

IDK how it's looks all together but, think guns should stand out a bit.  May be leave them graphite but add some bronze or copper? It's very common for imperium to use metals as a decorations. Me use them a bit to much tbh. Also I feel pain(working a lot with wiring) when see cable harness with wires of same colours.  May be you could make one more two of different colours. Also it's add a bit of colours to ship.

Also any respectable aircraft( and yours is definitely respectable) have small markings and signs on all that small doors and hatches you have all around your gunship. I think it could add some "live" to it

That's not a criticism of any sorts, you make amazing work. Just few thought I have. 

The Emperor Protects!

 

Thanks! I don't take what you wrote as a criticism at all. I did some more work on the bolters following the initial idea and will post photos soon. I've obviously added some silver/steel metallics and specks of red so at the moment I feel I'm on the right path. However, I'm quite short on imagination and will have to fit the bolters onto the model to see. 

[Brother Christopher]

Okay. This is awkward. I think it's done. All the bits and bobs are painted. I've also added some minor weathering/scrapes. It looks like the only thing left to do is glue the remaining parts together and seal the model.

 

And it's done. Just like that. To be honest, it feels really weird and... sudden. I think 'sudden' is the right word.

 

The plan for now is to do what I've mentioned above and take a long, and well-deserved break. I might revisit the model in the future by adding some more weathering and/or details (Imperial eagles, scrolls or decorative shields).  Optionally, I might actually repaint the heavy bolters red or beige but at the moment, the almost-black look is somewhat okay (right?).

 

I do hope that I'll find some time tomorrow to varnish the wings and weapons and to take proper photos of the whole model. For now, here are some photos of the last batch of parts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kabaakaba]

That's what I want from you) a bit of colours and metals on weapon make it's look waaaay better. Also don't think red could be better then current variant. God work. Waiting for completed build like it's my ship)))

Edited June 4 by kabaakaba

[Firedrake Cordova]

Good to see it finished  

 

When it's all assembled, it might be worth sending some photos in to WD - they've been showing some more "customised" things of late in their reader's showcase section.

[Marshal Mittens]

Amazing that this project is drawing to conclusion and it looks very good. Its always been pretty inspiring. 

[Brother Christopher]

1 hour ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

When it's all assembled, it might be worth sending some photos in to WD - they've been showing some more "customised" things of late in their reader's showcase section.

 

This is an absolutely crazy idea, something I haven't thought of but it sounds cool - I might just do that. Thanks for planting the idea in my head.

 

******

Brothers, I took some photos but I'm not particularly happy with how they turned out. I think I've wasted time taking them but, at the same time, I really wanted to have something to post. So better something than nothing, right?

 

It turns out that there's more planning and effort required if you want to take good photos of a model this big. Unfortunately, today the natural lighting wasn't good at all and I couldn't quickly fix the photos in post processing. I will want to redo the photos some time later, and do it properly

 

Regardless, here are some the pictures I managed to take between my other real life responsibilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a link to the imgur gallery.

[TheArtilleryman]

Already commented in the 12MOH thread… but just omg well done. Indescribably good.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks great - really impressive!

[W.A.Rorie]

Damn, that it is so  sexy, well done

 

 

[kabaakaba]

Hm, what's it's size? I mean height width and length?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Those photos are better than anything I can get, so I wouldn't be too down on them.  Work for better, sure, but more than good enough for the purpose of sharing here.

 

That's one damn sexy beast (well, as sexy as a flying brick can be ).  I think the amount and colour of the iconography is just right - I particularly like how the grey stripe adds a point of interest while also helping to draw the piece together.

Edited June 5 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Teetengee]

this is incredible. You've really accomplished a feat worthy of pride in it. Well done

[Brother Christopher]

On 6/5/2025 at 3:24 PM, TheArtilleryman said:

Already commented in the 12MOH thread… but just omg well done. Indescribably good.

 

Thanks, I've seen that. I can only say that I'm humbled and extremely glad you liked it!

 

On 6/5/2025 at 8:09 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

Looks great - really impressive!

 

Thanks, as always! 

 

On 6/5/2025 at 8:19 PM, W.A.Rorie said:

Damn, that it is so  sexy, well done

 

Thank you very much!

 

On 6/5/2025 at 10:05 PM, kabaakaba said:

Hm, what's it's size? I mean height width and length?

 

Approximately 47 cm long, 43 cm wide and 18 tall (measured at the highest point). In other word, way too large!

 

On 6/5/2025 at 11:04 PM, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Those photos are better than anything I can get, so I wouldn't be too down on them.  Work for better, sure, but more than good enough for the purpose of sharing here.

 

That's one damn sexy beast (well, as sexy as a flying brick can be ).  I think the amount and colour of the iconography is just right - I particularly like how the grey stripe adds a point of interest while also helping to draw the piece together.

 

I have a decent camera so the photos have to be good enough  But I'll need to figure out how to deal with lighting; maybe, I'll finally get a soft box.

 

Thank you for the feedback concerning the colours and details, too. I can't stress it enough how I value the opinion of other members. One can sometimes get too excited with one's ideas and, in the end, overdo thing. And your feedback is especially valuable since I very much like your work. I'm meaning to say that you have a good feel (taste?) when it comes to all-things-hobby, especially custom stuff. In other words, I treat your feedback as a compass guiding in the right direction.

 

Please, mind that I'm not meaning to say that I don't value feedback from others! On the contrary!

 

On 6/8/2025 at 1:11 AM, Teetengee said:

this is incredible. You've really accomplished a feat worthy of pride in it. Well done

 

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I feel a mix of pride, relief, disbelief with a small tinge of regret (?). After all, this was a bit pointless and set me years back on other stuff. On top of that, the model is large and unwieldy and difficult to display.

 

Having said that, my heart knows that this project was the quintessence of 'oldschool' hobbying, before 3d printers and plastic Horus Heresy kits. While reason tells me it was a bit pointless time sink, deep down I'm at ease knowing that I managed to pull this off. And, on top of that, I've learnt a lot in the process. Most of the things I've learnt aren't valuable in the sense that they are strictly hobby-related; regardless, as silly as this might sound, the various experiences - both good and bad - helped me understand soem things about myself; how I think, how I process things, how I (mis)manage and (mis)organise my time and how stubborn I can be (as a true Templar should be!) - insights that translate to real life, too.

 

***

And once again, special thanks to @Firedrake Cordova, @Dr_Ruminahui, @TheArtilleryman, @Brother Carpenter, @Rusted Boltgun and others for the continued support! As you well know, it was invaluable throughout the lifetime of this project!

[ZeroWolf]

Glad to see that you finished it, and it's just as impressive as I thought it would be  You've proved yourself tremendously with it!

[Brother Carpenter]

Oooooh What a thing of beauty it has become.

You can be extremely proud of yourself.

+1 on entering it in White dwarf. Just seen a tank transporter there that looked cool.

 

Now go unwind with some purple marines