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This post still under construction, I am just posting now so I don't lose my data if it crashes...


So you want a Thunderhawk gunship but don't feel like shelling out the $700 to get one, let alone a couple thousand for a small fleet? Join the club! Over the last couple months I have been toying around with making the best looking thunderhawk I can for under $30. Truth be told I made one for under $25! well by now I am sure you are foaming at the mouth so I should get on with the substantive part of the post...


Materials and tools

PVC Glue $2
Foam board 20" X 30" x 3/16" $1.50 (for all you folks that use the metric system I will get up alternate measurements shortly after I finish the main post)
Plasti-Card
Masking Tape
Razor Knife
Toothpicks $1
4 Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters $8 (ebay)
2 Lascannons $4 (ebay)
1 Star Wars Episode One -The Phantom Menace, Anakin Skywalker's podracer $8 (ebay)
1 Leather punch $5
3-4 empty Blister Packs Free
Thunderhawk Templates FREE!!! (these will be available for download at the bottom of the page as soon as legoburner gets back to me)







Construction

Step 1:

Print out the templates at the bottom of the page, and trace them on to one sheet of Foam board.


This is just a general idea of how I laid out mine, as you can see I have some pieces that did not make it into the final templates so don't copy my sheet exactly.


Step 2:

Cut out your pieces using a razor knife. I found scoring them then snapping them to be an efficient way to cut out anything with flat edges. For everything else I kept tracing the lines with the razor until I had cut all the way through.

Step 3:

Take your two nose pieces and insert a few toothpicks in them to act as pins.



TIP Here is were my trial and error experience will help. I used full length toothpicks that had only one sharp end. I was a royal pain in the ass trying to get the flat end into the foam. Then after I had assembled most of the model I realised that I need to cut some access points into the side of the T.Hawk, to my dismay the thoothpicks i used were so long that they blocked my ability to cut wholes in it.

My original plan was to have some internal room to store models, and maybe to detail it later in the future. Since I was an idiot and didn't break the thoothpicks in half I can no longer do that. So keep checking back, I am in the process of making T.Hawk version 2.0 with moving parts and internal structures.

Ok back on topic, here is a closer look at the pins.



Step 4:

Next attach the nose to the body by pushing the two together, when they are about a 1/2 inch apart add a bead of PVA Glue then finish squeezing them together. If some glue leaks out just take your finger and smooth it down.



Finish both sides.




Step 5:

Now use the same pinning technique for the sides of the fuselage floor.



After you have that done you can attack it to one of the sides.



Step 6:

Start working your way around one side of the T.Hawk until you have the body completely done.
TIP Use your masking tape to hold the ship in position while the glue dries








TIP When you get to an angled joint take your knife and cut into the paper about 1/8 of an inch in on one side only. Then take your knife and run it at an angle on the side of the foam, making sure the most foam you remove is closest to the edge. When you are done you should have something that looks like these.



Fast Forward an hour or so...



Tip Make sure you leave the cockpit area open, There is a special canopy that goes there later.

Step 7:

Put the other side of the body on. It will take a lot of tap to hold it in place while it dries.
Tip I originally used toothpicks in every piece to hold the side on, but I realised some of the plates were sagging, not to mention it was hard work poking the toothpicks through the paper part of the foam board. So I ended up only using the pins in the fuselage floor and tapping the rest of the plates.

Step 8:

Start putting together the gun deck.



Once you get the battery built you can slide the tail piece in.





Step 9:

Next take your pod racer out of its box and set about cutting off the middle area.





Then glue remove the tabs that stick out and glue down the one small wing, also glue the orange plating into the engine. I also removed the pointy features on the intake and outtake of the engine, but this is all a matter of preference.



After that glue the lager wing on each of them. Make sure to have the armor plating facing down, and the power cord facing in.





Step 10:

By now the tail should be dry enough to put the side parts on.




Next add the canard piece to the Nose, put them slightly higher than the midpoint of the nose. Also you can attack A single wing at a time. I found that the Wings will take at least 2 days each to dry, I am considering trying hot glue on the next one I build but I am not sure if it will melt the foam inside the paper. Any Thoughts?



Ignore the hole in the nose here, as I mentioned earlier I messed up and figured out that the long toothpick were inhibiting my ability to make a nice interior.


Step 11:

Once the Wings are on you can glue the second smaller set of wings on. These wings can be in any position since they move when the T.Hawk is firing its Lascannons.








Step 12:

Add the weapons

Step 13:

Add the cockpit

Step 14:

Details

Step 15:

Paint

Cool wil do that then and good luck.

Well as soon as legoburner gets I will get the last pictures up. For some reason they are not showing up in the gallery. Unfortunately the templates are in that group. Since I imagine this is what most people want I uploading it to a another server, and will supply the Dakka link when it is available.



Thanks for waiting,
Chris

It looks like a winner so far. So much for Forgeworld, eh?

The templates are in the rar file at the bottom of the Original Post. It was done this way at the request of lego to reduce clutter and save some space.


There are 8 pages in the template, 7 are for the basic frame, and the last is for the cock pit and some accessories.

To print them out all you have to do is select fit to page and click the button for "landscape" printing, and change the margins to Zero (its ok if the printer puts a decimal in instead of a Zero). They were made for use with 8 1/2" by 11" printing (American Standard Size)


The rest of the pictures are coming soon, it seems either my camera or my computer is having problems, I am going to reformat and see if that works. So check back in a few hours if you need pictures of the last couple steps.


Thanks,
Chris

I believe that hot glue will melt the foam inside the paper. For additional strength, you can also glue some 1/8" sticks where pieces meet at right angles to provide some additional adhesive surface.

I will have to try that on T.Hawk 2.0

I was also considering cutting only one engine off the bar it comes with, then using plastic glue to re-attach it after I passed it through the Body.

Clthomps wrote:The templates are in the rar file at the bottom of the Original Post. It was done this way at the request of lego to reduce clutter and save some space.

The file download isn't working! I just get a blank webpage. Help!! Should you get a prompt asking you where to save the file?

OK I will host them in a different place.


The quick fix is this link, but i can only be downloaded 10 times so please use the Dakka link if you can.

http://rapidshare.com/files/239739940/t.hawk.rar.html

I am looking for a better file hosting site as we speak, if you know of one please let me know.

Clthomps wrote:...I am looking for a better file hosting site as we speak, if you know of one please let me know.

Cheers matey. Can the admins not host it on Dakkadakka?

Rar files are locked out by a security filter to prevent the risk of viruses, etc being uploaded and infecting our users (along with many, many other file types). Just attach the contents of the rar instead and it should be fine (assuming the contents are a series of images or a ppt or something like that)

OK can everyone see that?

Some people are having a little trouble with the templates,



You have to click the template to go to a page with its full size, then right click and select "Save As"

If you don't I can not guarantee that it will come out in the right proportions.

Thanks for the templates, I have some of my own but I will incorporate some of your style to my version when I get around to it. Will keep a look-out on this build with interest.

Might have to try this out of plasticard!

yep thats the way to do it i build two myself check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59hJZMZ5ahQ

nice one keep us posted.

If you don't want any gaps showing in between the foamcore, you could try covering everything with a layer of plasticard.

Wow! Great work

How soon do you think you'll get to step 15 (painting)?

I am working on it now, I have not had a chance to mess with the other pictures yet, my brother just got married and the wedding soaked up a lot of my fun time

Any update ? really can't wait to see how the rest pans out (and yes it was a shameless bump to stop this disappearing into the ether!)

Nice Thunderhawk. Looks like a winner to me. That's foamboard correct?

yup I chose it because it is $2 a sheet, instead of $50 for the same amount of plasti-card.



I completed it but I still need to paint it, the battery on my camera will no longer charge so I am waiting on a new battery to arrive (from china )

Shameless bump to inspire an update....

Great tip on using the podracer for engines, as I was stuck on what to use for them on the T-Hawk i'm fully scratch building

Right click, save as........squirrelled away until the current project pile has dimished.

Nice simple tutorial

Have you tried using thinner foamcore?

Nice

sA

So the Pod reacer parts are up to $20.00+ on Ebay. Does any one have any ideas of how to make the engine sections?
What did you use Converter?

Wow O_O this is something I might try to do on the future.

That is really good and im going to try and make it probably ill break while trying to.

i want to see this painted.