Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Some Background... I may not complete this project. It's a hobby and I have a busy life, but I enjoy the occasional model conversion / kit bash, etc. When I seen the Stormraven (SR) on paper, I thought 'flying landraider' then thought 'mini-thunderhawk'. When I saw the new model, I seen a lot of potential and plenty of opportunty for changes. I picked two up, and I'm now trying to bring some of my vision to reality. Unlike many, I really do like much of the model's fuselage and overall concept. In my mind's eye, I don't 'see' this thing flying any better than a Thunderhawk, but that said, its a fictional game and I see potential in the piece to have fun with on the modeling table... Execution may be another thing all together - hah.

My Significant Dislikes:
T-shaped tail fin that looks like it came from McDonnell Douglas MD-82 EC-HFT
Tail fin horizontal component is backwards from what I see in modern avionics engineering of jet fighters
Turret - too large & tall, should not have an exposed man, looks like something the fruity Eldar would do
Intake / turret housing - again, way to tall and screws up the profile I have in mind

Major Appeal to Me:
Star Trek Klingon Bird of Prey style, flat side forward wings
Nod to the thunderhawk nose
Dual high propulsion engines
Wing and nose mounted thrusters

Most of my Ideas below are Inspired by:
Thread(s):
- Major Tom's photoshop of a SR idea
- Another with meltas replacing lights on side, cockpit dropped down and engines/wings moved forward
- Another that discussed predator turret vs. razor back vs. forgeworld razorback turret as replacements
Star Trek Bird of Prey for the aggressive low wing mounted flat side forward wing design
Star Wars X-wing for the front shot X appearence
Aliens Dropship for the front shot X appearence
Modern Day jet fighters for their canted out dual tail fins
Forgeworld's Caestus Assault Ram for dual-plane main wings and 'layered metal' appearence
Forgeworld Razorback turrets lower profile and technical designs

Possible Ideas (which may or may not see light of day...):
Generally speaking, keep weapon mounting points close to standard positions for gaming / LOS purposes
Lose the stock tail-fin
Give it modernized dual cant-out tail fins
Move cockpit down to nose more
Lower the profile, eliminate or completely rebuild a newer lower profile styile intake
Side mount Meltas from nose to allow space for cockpit adjustment
Lower profile / recess turret - possibly redesign and move forward

OK, enough talk... here's the idea.

I played around with some different plasticard ideas and even considered mounting the dual tail fins with flat side forward to match the lower main wings. However, after looking at so many modern avionics and prototype jet fighters, it's clear to me that 1. dual wings play a significant role in arial navigation, 2. tail fins tend to angle away and back from the front of the plane and 3. the cant out design seems to be quite prominent amongst jet fighters. It also looks better to me.

I wanted to incorporate the original SR tail fin into the redesigned tail fin, but once I abandoned the flat side forward, I was going to have to scratch build.

In scratch building, I went with a thicker stock core shape for the form factor. Then I used a thinner stock plasticard to create a template for the various 'cut outs' and now 'building up' the core. In the end, it should be about the same thickness of the main wings.

My daughter was kind enough to hold the two WIP tail wings in place so I could get a feel for how the thing looked...

Very nice, I'd been considering doing something similar with mine. Looking like I might have to go through with it

Looking good. The simple act of removing the tail fin improves the model no end IMO.

CommK,

Lol, When I get the tail fins done, it is entirely possible that I dont like them. I also like the model with no fin. For now, I like where its going. I am in total agreement though, the stock tail fin has to go - no matter what.

Not bad so far, Rob.
Probably my only concern would be the thickness of the fins.
I don't know how they compare to the original, but they look pretty thin. There's a kind of imbalance between them and the wings.

I agree with you that it looks better without the T fin, but...
It's still a chickenhawk to me. LOL

Eric

Those x-foils sure look locked in attack position

I think your work so far has a lot of potential. Just the simple act of removing that tail has improved it quote a lot.

I'd agree with MagickalMemories that the new fins look like they could do with bulking out a little bit more. Other than that, I look forward to seeing how you progress

I second all the hate for the original fin. Even just breaking it off would have been an awesome conversion.

Dual rear wings are coming along. Thickness added.... I was going to add more detail on the under side of the rear wings. But the more I looked at it, it didn't seem meaningful, so I only added the front most notches, cleaned everything up and test fit. Hates where I am at.

Looking better with the added thickness - though I feel you should do the underside as welll, but I'm a bit OCD when it comes to those things, so feel free to ignore me

Flinty wrote:Those x-foils sure look locked in attack position

It's a trap!

I've got to say, Rob... I'm surprised.
It's really not like you to half-ass... err... decide against putting on details that, while unnecessary, would look appropriate.


Eric

Also, @ Cpt Rex,
I find your avatar creepy. VERY creepy. It looks like a reversed image of the tattoo on my left forearm... only with less sharpness and detail.

half assed? WTF?

You cant even see the under side of the wing and I added the detail for the indentions on the front of them. I just didn't put the line work for the seperated plates. Frankly, I don't think it's needed or visible.. so... unnecessary work in my opinion.... <shrug>

anyway, new stuff:

I attached the new tail fins. I decided I'm painting windows and don't want 'plastic' windows visible. I'm also not going to paint the driver... yeah, cutting a corner (Eat dung Eric) My reasoning is I don't like plastic visible on an otherwise fully painted model. To me, the medium clashes. Also the purpose of the model like a landraider, predator or rhino is the vehicle. The driver is just a necessary evil like gunners, engineers, servitors etc in warengines. For me, I want the focus on the vehicle, not the driver. So, my window will also be painted - no driver needed.

The intake cut down was a straight forward. I assembled the full intake first, then figured out where I wanted to cut it. I use a metal ruler for straight edge and cut right below the natural intake vent profile. In the sample shot, you can see where I'm contemplating attaching it.

The turret is still a work in progress, but I figured out how I'm going to initially get some lowered profile. Again, no driver this will be a pure weapon turret design. I started with the default bottom turret piece in the kit, reversed it, cut off the default 'front' lip of the bit, sanded it a bit to get a flat horizontal plane. The assault cannons are the standard in the kit, but I rotated them. I also sanded the shield down so I could make three meeting points for stability. I'll have to do plenty more with it to get it looking proper, but I wanted to get an idea on the height and general look.

I decided to add sponsons on both vehicles because I like the way they look. I also use the upgrade when I field the model. So, their in - no conversion. I also went with the default mounting of the meltaguns on the front mount. After looking at the model in person, I like the lights on the side of the ramp and with what I've got in mind for the turret, I dont think I need to do anything with the cockpit after all. So, default melta is staying. Here's the pics...

Half assed?
I think you misunderstood. I never said "half assed."
Not entirely. LOL

Also, you should know that I like the idea of painting the windows. I agree re: mixing mediums. Probably the only time I *might* differ would be on FW models.

Assault cannons & intake look a lot better.

Still don't like the chickenhawk model, but yours looks LOADS better than standard, already.

Eric

Your cloudpelican has ears. Jutting ones. Its not trying to look like one of those fruity eldar, is it?

Eldar tend to have exposed crew, rounded metal and soft lines on their vehicles. I do not feel the tail fins create an Eldar feel to this vehicle.

Chicken hawk... cloud pelican... lol. In a game where there are hovering pyramids, Dark Eldar jet ships with ... umm sails, Eldar vehicles that have no visible way they could feasibly turn or control a bank, thunderhawks that hardly look like they could fly or land... or take off... I'm suprised at the verbal lashing the storm raven receives. I guess I'm one of the few that actually like the look of the model.

The irony, I don't even own a blood angels or Grey knights army... I'm doing this because I really do just like the model. <shrug> Different strokes for different folks.

Moving on, I have to mount the intake, figure out the turret assembly so that it 'works' and then make the other stormraven match. The conversion work is relatively minimal overall I suppose.

Tac

Lookin pretty darn good. I quite like the turret-it looks a lot more reasonable than some of the cut-down ones that I've seen. Do you think it would be possible feasible to magnetize the weapons with that turret arrangement?

I believe the joke in the above post wasn't that it looked like an eldar vehicle, which it most certainly doesn't....it looks like an eldar with its brand new big ol' pointy ears

I'll look into weapon swaps for turret. I suspect it would be easiest to cut away the barrels under the shield, magnetise there, and then make each weapon mount under the shield.... just thinking out loud though... I'll look into it.

Great, I made a flying eldar head... lol, aswome. :-/

I am really diggin' the wing conversion....Its simple conversions like this that make a person wonder if GW crossed all their "t's" and dotted the "i's" before releasing the model. Your version is definately better than theirs!

Great, I made a flying eldar head... lol, aswome. :-/

Ah, Rob.
Knowing your disdain for Eldar, this statement really made me laugh.

Eric

Messed around with some turret armament swap ideas over the past week. It's all a bit fiddly and tedious work, so progress may not look like much, but it all takes time...

Cut up the assault cannon mock up turrets to create a turret base with sheild housing.
Created a cylindrical extension for the assault cannons so a magnet could be insert later.... came up with a slightly extended weapon system based on some research.
The turret base required some stability, so added an stabalizing shim between the base of the weapon frame bases under the shield.
A plasticard rectangular piece with 2 chamfered corners (barrel base) was made to provide a common shaped insert for each set of weapon barrels. Two corners were chamfered so the insert would fit into and under the front of the shield housing.
Clipped all the weapons and cleaned them up at a common point so I'd have a relatively standard mounting point onto the rectangular insert with chamfered corners.
Each weapon set mounted on at a 90 degree angle to maintain the lower pofile and keep all magnetic points the same.

Future thinking....

Going to look at extending the turret shield and embelishing it a bit to the back. I want to hide the default Assault cannon ammo hoppers as all weapon systems will be used. I'm going for more of an automatic loading system vs. external magazines that would need manually reloaded.

I still have to determine how the turret main assembly will be mounted to the horizontal roating element. I'd like it to traverse left and right as well as appear that it can elevate.

I'm also considering making some kind of targetting system, but it may add more height than I want... thinking about something like in the reference salamander picture... I'm guessing that's just a landraider sponson bit or something, but don't have the bit so I'd have to create it out of plasticard. I may mock a crude one together to see if I like the height....

Each weapon system and the two turret base assemblies also needs to have the magnets inserted... but this is a look at what I came up with.

I'm contemplating magnetizing some iconography bits too...

I think I'm going with a black color scheme with both red and silver highlights. I want the models to work for both blood angels and the upcoming Grey Knights. So I'm thinking if I go with a Black paint job for the most of it I can highlight edges in a blue blended to space wolf grey corners. I can pick out certain plates and components for the red accents. I'll have plenty of silver on the model for all of the mechanical bits, but will add enough accents there to compliment the Grey Knights color scheme as well.... it looks cool in my head anyway.... I was inspired by the Stormraven painted shot I put below... it's grey with Red accents, but you get the idea perhaps...

I like where you're going here, Rob.
I'm really glad you decided to go with the magnetized mounts for swappable weapons. I think that, in the end, you;ll be a lot happier with it.

I like the extension on the A Cannons, too.

I think the only thing that's not sitting well with me are the lascannons. Although it matches the 'theme" of the rest of the funs (tops of the weapons on the outside), I think it would looke better if you rotated them 180 degrees, and put the tops of the lascannons on the inside.
KWIM?
Something about the inward angle of the lascannon barrel tips that just looks weird to me.

I look forward to the finished results.


Eric

Eric, thanks for the feedback.

I looked at the Lascannons both ways. I opted not to turn the bottom out because it caused a different mounting point for the magnets and it looked more Elder than Space Marine to me... So once I placed it both ways side by side I'm happy with my decision.. I also doubt the cannons will see any play lol, so may not matter.

Added magnets and forward shield extensions to the main turret housing. The magnets are underneath the white plate. I added the front shield housing exension to clean up the front edge and hide any magnetic alignment imperfections.

I also have magnets insert into all of the weapon options. The magnets were a lot of tedious work, but needed to be done.

Future thinking...

I put a marked up image with some possible weapon system stabalizers that I'd like to add. I would follow the thickness and general shape of the original stabalizers. I'm not sure exactly what I would do with the lascannons, but they need something. The mock up also gives an idea about how long I envisioned the shield housing to be... and a rough idea of shape.

Enjoy,

Nice conversion work, like the angled wings in the back.

Question: If the air intake was going to work, wouldn't it need to be free of obstructions in the front. I can imaging that a moving gun turret directly in front of the air intake would create havoc with the reliability of the air intake system.

Gitsplitta,

Thanks for the comment and question. In short, I totally agree with you...

I'm pretty sure spent shells from an assault cannon (or nose mounted heavy bolter) would play hell on the side mounted turbines as well as the intake... In fact, I'm pretty sure there's no place to store near the amount of fuel this thing would consume in order to stay aloft... but the same could be said for the thunderhawk...

I decided to go with what I thought looked cool. Perhaps in the 41st millenium, they figured out a way to have caseless rounds or some kind of incinerator field keeping all non gaseous particles out of the intake / engines... after all, they have warp fields for interstellar travel <sigh>

For better or worse, that's my engineering story. Maybe I should stick to Ork-engineering!

Great response Tactica... LOL! You're absolutely correct of course.

And it does look cool.... kudos!

Question: If the air intake was going to work, wouldn't it need to be free of obstructions in the front. I can imaging that a moving gun turret directly in front of the air intake would create havoc with the reliability of the air intake system.

Edit: Ninja'd below (my inability to read the next post before i reply)
I dont think the sheer ammount of A.cannon empties being drawn into it would do it much good either

Also, reminds me of landraider sponsons, and people throwing them on the back set.





Anyway, to finally go on topic for once
Nice to see someone going to such lengths to make something actually look as they want it.
Most will just hack away for a few hours and call it done.

Also thinking i may have to borrow a few ideas.