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I started this a bit ago but figured Id show some of the work on this site for feedback.
I started off wanting to have an At-x-10 tigershark but job stuff happened so savings for that went kaput.
Well with my increased free time I figured why not make one. Note this actually covers work that goes about 2 months back till present so the time stamps on posts has nothing to do with when it was actually made.

So I started wondering what materials to use. I hear people using bondo and such but what can I do cheaply. Ive built RC planes and frankly didnt feel like balsa structuring something. So I finally decided to try several materials.
The central fuse is made of home bake clay. the engines are made of delerin, because its what the shop had in about the right size saving me some clay carving time. The wings were made of wood for one section and two different types of clay for the other sections. But after I made one wing I didnt want to make a second so I made it as symmetrical as possible so I could cast it. I had a bit of casting material left over from a project at work that no longer required it and I had just enough resin to do two wings. very tight by volume but just enough.

So the first picture is after epoxying (sp?) the central fuse pieces together I then epoxied the engines to the fuse.


Then I built a single wing as symmetrically as possible out of wood, fimo and whatever else I had on hand. I was mainly trying different materials to see which scratched better for my purposes.


Ok so skip a bunch of steps and the castings which went ok for an amateur I gathered all the parts. We see the drone bay door, the seeker missle rack which will be magnetically detachable, the Heavy RG's, just expanded normal RG's, and the wing pieces sitting in their proper positions. I ended up scratching the turrets and cannons aswell out of clay. Everything is held together by tape at this point. Oh and I plan on taking some Ion cannons and magnetizing the RG's and IC's to make them interchangeable in the design

And a bottom view of the bottom fuse being glued in place with the hole for the drone bay which I ended up giving up on as a worthless waste of modeling time.


But then it was pointed out that I left a lot of finer details out so I added them
First I modeled the pieces in clay, then made a stamp of them out of clay, used a knife and tinny drill to fix my stamps and then made a bunch of those stupid fine detail parts that I so hated.


Finally after some detail work fixing the crapy casting job I did on the wing parts I primed the pieces.



Next Installment, the Barracuda and Moray




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Having drones a fairly decent job on the tiger shark I then decided to try some remoras.
Again the biggest pains is finding good pictures online and then taking the time to draw them correctly and get the scaling right.
However I decided to do this one mostly out of FIMO.
So I drew it up then cut out the pieces and cut out the fimo to match. Baked assembled and then drew in details.
One caveat is the base is a machined acrylic because I felt like it and the barrels are damaged dowel pins I found in the trash. I love shop trash.



Then assemble all with pins and epoxy. The missile was a failed attempt to do resin casting in clay since I ran out of RTV and am not buying any more. and it used about the last 2CC's of resin I could scrape out of those bottles. I had to shatter the fimo to get it out and in the end epoxied and shaved the pieces of the nose. after doing one I wasn't going to try another. But I have missiles from another sky-ray kit that I just built a Rhead out of instead. Ill use these if I decide to do more drones. For those who dont know buy the sky ray rather than hammerhead, it has all the parts for everything (HH, Skyray, devil). I hate working with this resin. I think ill stick to carving out of fimo from this point forward. its easier and not that hard.


And Primed with a drill up its ...aft



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So again, same old same old
find pictures
draw it but again this time its all out of clay. except the engines, shame on me
Draw the parts, reverse them when necessary and then start shaping your clay around the drawings.


And yes once I get going good luck stopping me to take more pictures along the way.

skip a bunch because its more of the same
I learned with the remora that Fimo to Fimo must be epoxied and pinned lest it break apart too easily

I didnt bother sculpting the bottom because it is rarely seen on the table.

Sculpt and carve some pieces for the nose



Prime and... crap forgot details oh like vents and the GUN oh well


And for a glamor comparison shot





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Ok so at this point I decided, what the hey make a manta!
This seemed to be the hardest to find decent pictures of that weren't at horrible angles
but after a while of searching and then another 2 hrs of drawing and redrawing(and I later found out I drew some parts of it very wrong... ooops. ....
Ah yes and new financial restriction. No fimo for the fuse. That would be absurd. I thought about structuring it similar to an RC airplane as another scratch built manta thread did but was too lazy. Then I realized I had some foam of about the right size.
So I cut the profile out in blue styrofoam. used packaging Styrofoam for the cargo bay as it was just the right size for 4 tanks and 6 suits.
skip a bunch and it looks kinda manta'ish


but problem... I cant prime Styrofoam. Remember the whole budget thing... not gonna buy a bunch of specialty paint for this monster. But with a half off coupon I got a single can of krylon H20 black and verified it wont melt my foams. But if I paint another ontop of this coat it dissolved through.... ok so one layer of this wont let me use normal spray paint. and H20 black is shiny. Ugh I hate shiny.

But then I thought... what kills the foam is the acetone and other Organic solvents. How about we put a barrier in there such that the diffusion of weak coats will be less than the evaporation rate so hopefully minimal etching and under etching will occur. But whats a cheap barrier. Paper is cheap but tests showed the solvents still attacked the foam underneath. what if we seal the paper with something. How about we paper mache the massive beast!


I used a cheap tacky glue, probably just a modified elmers glue, mixed 50/50 with water and started slathering the ship up in glue and paper.
But details. I want details. I went through 3 knives cutting details out of this thing as the paper and glue will dull the knife slowly and Styrofoam only cooperates with a hot knife or a really really sharp knife.
So after drawing all the details about below(this is when I realized my original plan drawings weren't symmetric... oops) And out of laziness, and because no one sees the bottom generally, I added no details to the bottom of the manta. shame on me.


But problem... once again foam is showing. Well I then added 2 more coats of my 50/50 glue water over the top and made sure to let it run in the cracks.

Then paint with krylon h20... ugh its shinny.


But using very very very thin coats of matte spray I only under etched a little and made it look a fair amount better.
Now we are all caught up. And so far I started this manta exactly 6 days ago working about 2hrs a night and 6hrs a day for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Thoughts, suggestions?

Not quite sure what comments would be useful

Well done sir!

Right now what I would most like is suggestions(other than a good paint job) to make the manta look less crappy.
Im in the process of fabbing turrets and cannons and details on the rear but after that....

Ive sprayed it matt(not shown yet) and that helped quite a bit but what else.

Also does anyone know how high the flying stand for the genuine manta holds the model? or does FW dare risk sending a flying stand with such a massive model for fear of liability.

nicely done

To be somewhat honest, i think the valk stand may do this just fine, if not, then something around 12" - 15" should do fine. (2"-3" clear plastic tubing would do this well)

The model its self looks great, i think a paint job would actually help make it stand out alot more, after details and sept markings it will look great.

This will be incredible.

Very nice, can't wait to see even more pictures and details.

freaking sweet. I need more time.. and more talent...

Nice job. It'll be nice to see them painted up.

First off, let me compliment you on the great job you are doing. I especially like your smaller projects, and once I get my tau project started will have to copy your techniques.

Concerning the Manta; the Paper Mache technique just does not seem to be working very well. When I look at close ups of your photos, it almost looks like the paper has wavy wrinkles in it. I notice this especially where the wings meet the main body and on any surface where it is flat. How much of this is from the technique, and how much is not I don’t know. I know that things are tight, but perhaps a good flat primer would help fill in some of the texture. If you have a few heavy coats you could probably even use some fine grit sandpaper to smooth it out some. If funds were less of an issue, I would say go to a local plastics place and order a sheet of .5mm thick styrene sheet (a 4 by 6 sheet runs about 12.00 last time I purchased some), as it provides an ultra smooth texture while being able to be easily manipulated (it is about as thick and bendable as paper, w\o the waves when glued down.

Great project though, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing it completed.




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You should be able to get away with a Valk stand for the 2 smaller planes, but the Manta will really need something more as it is just too dang big (and beautiful) to fit onto ANY battlefield at anything under 1 foot off the ground (more than that if you game with a lot of all terrain).

I'm speechless.. This is so great and nicely done!

Bloodyhell Mate you sure got some Sick as f88K skills...

The Forge World Commandos are on their way to your place now.

Want to sell me a barracuda or tiger shark?

I very gently coated the manta with a dull coat and it looks more tolerable. I agree that the paper mache is a problem
I also found a new problem. the expanding foam I used to fill in some of the bottom doesn't appear to hold its shape well despite claiming it will cure rigid. so the bottom looks a little puckerd. but few will see it.
This is the present status of my armada.
There are now three drones because before I got the courage to try the manta I figured Id go back and make 2 more drones out of clay since they were so easy. though now ive run out of the pins I was using to make the burst cannon barrels and am very tired of carving those drones.. need a new source of barrels How oh how am I going to make 16 cannons? ugh.

Now I think I have an adequate ablative escort for small apoc games.


I figured for the armada I would break away from my lightning/fire/storm scheme for the tau ground forces and go to a nebula or space features for the spacecraft. The tigershark is being referred to as the black widow due to the black widow nebula on its back. It feels good to finally express the paintjob I so badly wanted to do on that tigershark.

Thanks for the suggestions Andrewdrexler! I may just put some heavy coats on it and try sanding to smooth it out.

After I finish this fleet's paint job Im thinking of one or two eldar ships or maybe actually finishing my own 3 craft designs and giving their fab a try.

good job looks damn near identical

yea wings are a bit shorter though.
I accidentally cut the wing tips off of the plans when I was cutting the clay out. oops. oh well most wont notice 3mm or so shorter wings
And on one the clay for the base chipped and broke in baking so I had to smooth the engine off a bit. I think I didn't kneed this clay well as I had to glue a few parts back together.

wow awesome!. wait, these are 40k scale right??

Yes those are 40k scale

Also thinking about the comment of how identical they look or the detail I figured since its likly going to be a while before I scratch one of my designs(as im buisy painting these now) Ill just spill on the secret for other on the budget scratchers.

Femo clay loves ink and graphite. draw out your plans then trace over the plans on both sides of the paper heavily inking or penciling one side. You can see this in one of the barracuda pictures. I had a double sided drawing.
press the fimo down onto the paper and wait about 2-5 minutes or so depending on humidity, the clay etc etc.
then use a knife and cut the fimo in the shape of the object using a very sharp exacto tracing the outer edge of the double sided drawing.
then peel the drawing off and bake. once baked use a knife to cut the detail work out so that no pencil shows. I pretty much use this for all of my fimo projects to get the basic shape. A word of caution fimo likes paper too so if you leave it sit too long on the paper it will not come off without leaving chunks.
also you dont have to heavily put graphite down. on the drones I barely trace the graphite onto the negative side of the paper so that it barely shows up except in surface reflected light. this allows me to make several models look very similar, assuming the drawings I used for all are similar or the same.
Oh you also cannot use the same drawing more than oh twice or so as the fimo oil that impregnates it will make repeated uses stick to the paper more leaving chunks behind.

This technique only allows you to get the basic outline shape and some of the surface details.
on the drones I then took some solid core wire and bent it into the shape of the first drones detail lines and used that to press the same detail lines into the other two drone saucer top. I also use drawing stencils to press basic shapes like the triangular dome on the front of the saucer and other pressed shapes like where the wings join the saucer are just funny shaped scraps I had lying around that I used to press their semi-interesting form into clay. but a lot of hand carving is still necessary to make it 3dimensional. After baking you still want to sand and round the edges and then touch up the finer detail work or sand out fingerprints.

You should also bend your plans in half to make sure you drew them symmetrically(hold up to the light). I forgot this step on when I added the detail work to the manta's plans which is why the detail work is asymmetric. I must have missed a reference maker by a cm or so when I started. gems and other surface bumps are all hand crafted out of green stuff or clay and if you look closely you can see slight differences. I usually sculpt them in batches and then bake and glue them on.
The noses of the drones were the hardest. I eventually gave up trying to sculpt this and pressed some fimo into the first one to get a crude stamp I could press into the remaining two. I lost some detail but Dont care.

A word of warning. I dont think fimo responds well to lotioned hands. My hands were drying out so I used lotion. I think this caused the clay on the second two drones to have small layers of lotion kneaded into the clay making it more prone to breaking. I believe this is why these second two seem to be a bit more brittle.

Any suggestions on the paint job for the manta? should I stick with nebulas or try some other astro based image.

I have to say… I am really digging the nebula paint job on your planes. Is it airbrushed, hand painted, or some sort of decal?

I also think you are right about the matt paint masking more than the gloss did. I dont see the "wavey paper" as much now.

You should do the nebula scheme, never seen such a mural-ish scheme on anything bigger than a warhound.

Imagine how many jaws drop at the site of a manta, now imagine that manta with a whole galaxy painted on it.

Amazing work. Your proportions (liek the engines and the protrusion of the railguns) are sometimes more appealing than the FW models.

I hope to see you work up your own 3D stuff... but if you felt like updating some GW material that doesn't have large-scale FW equivalents (like an updated Eldar Phantom titan), you would have interest both aesthetic and financial from yours truly and many other fans.

And thanks for the tutorials on fimo and color!

Utterly brilliant. The Tigershark I actually prefer to the FW one. If you lived in the UK I'd be badgering you for one.

Impressive, most impressive...

Seriously, that's some fine work. Agree with Sleazy on the Tiger, the longer guns look far more intimidating.

Ok after some whining and groaning I finally hunkered down and chained myself to my desk saying I will not get up until I have 16 passable turrets and cannons. ugh.
I decided to use stirring straws and so hand selected the most round and then made a batch. glued them in quads and called them cannons.
I then cut 16 cylinders of clay, solid-core-wire pressed the line design from the best turret I made then used a tongue depressor to get the approximate slot for the cannons. did some rounding. sneered at my ugly turrets and called it good.

I then took some pine from a 1x2 and proceeded to carve and machine 6 LBIC's and 2HRG's this was far more enjoyable. I had to scratch the HRG's anyway because I ran out of real RG parts to hack.
And I realized the designs they used for these are incredibly simplistic and easy to scratch yourself. At least for the barrels. I figured you wouldn't see more than the barrels on my ship so why make any more. I then staked them to poke through the foam for placement.



Regarding the manta's paint job. do you think I should make a single space scene or perhaps 3 different objects that you shouldn't be able to see at the same scale in the same field of view. Example. Do one humongous nebula, which Id probably have to make up. Or do say a supernova remnant, A super-luminal jet from a galactic nuclei, and perhaps a nebula or if I think I can pull it off a supernova in progress. I have to be somewhat realistic about what will look good and what will look too cartoony. I tried a galaxy on the barracuda first but it didn't look right. The nebulas seem to be more "photo reproducible"
Also what colors should I use on the manta. suggestions on schemes for weapon and engine energy, vs freehand colors etc? I usually do some machups in gimp but often change it as im painting due to what colors actually seem to work together.
Should I go for an intimidating color scheme as I tried with the tiger shark, a cooler sleeker scheme as I tried with the barracuda, or a photo reproduction/tapestry of something regardless of color. I can always shift the color as I did with the shark. Its nebulas pulled from the Hubble site were orang-red-purple and blue-purple. I liked the structure but not the colors.

Ah yes and these models are 100% airbrushed. I used custom stencils to get the basic hard edges in the nebulas then just spent a long time free handing with freehand stencils to assist effects.

And as for the RG's on the tigershark, Yea I noted the way FW did theirs but liked mine to protrude a bit further. Opponents fear the RG enough, why not feed that fear. Thats also why the Shark's scheme is red to be a bit more intimidating than the others.

Suggestions always appreciated. who knows what cool ideas conversations will spark!

I think you should do a small supernova that basically looks like a bright star, then go on to doing a very small amount of blue, green and puple-hued, light coloured mists and have a bunch of other stars, wait, I'm not sure if the pic. I'm talking about has a supernova in it cause all the smaller stars in the background look similiar. Well the bright thing in the middle looks like a bright star in a somewhat dark enviornment. Sound familiar?

Wow. That's super special awesome. Very accurate reproductions of the FW models, great job. The paint job is cool too.

The fleet in formation before their first sortie
The manta is between 60-90% done depending on how much detail I want to paint into it.




And flanking the enemy in their first fight.
Conclusion. not enough RG's on the table for 2 reavers, and possibly for 1

EPIC

I think that one word description is absolutely perfect.. EPIC.

Is the Manta being held up by meat skewers?

One suggestion though, you might consider painting your bases black. They look kind of dirty as grey as they are. My eye keeps tripping over them in what otherwise is an incredible build.