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So I got my thunder hawk in the mail from jolly ole England. And I've realized it's going to be a bigger project than I thought at first. Even with the sub assemblies this is going to take a while.


Has anyone else on here made one? Have any tips and things to watch for?

For mine, the biggest issue was the top and bottom of the fuselage wouldn't line up. Called FW and got an entire new top fuselage that wasnt severely warped.

Also, the entry hatch on the front of mine was uncured resin, so very tacky, it too got replaced quickly by FW.

Other than that it was a good build. Just take your time and be prepared for a lot of filing and heating/bending of parts.

For a model that size, make sure you wear a mask when cutting/filing/sanding; read the FW resin guide on their website.

Apologies if you already knew that, but it's always worth mentioning, resin dust is nasty stuff.

Oh yeah, knew that, and I even found my de Walt multi tool was wonderful for trimming the larger plugs

Now what sub assemblies do you find work best to paint then assemble? The cockpit detail? How far up the lower fuselage did you paint? As near as I can tell its detailed further than can be seen.

I used 5 min epoxy to glue mine together, it holds well and fills uneven surfaces significantly better than superglue.

5 min epoxy, super strength epoxy, and super glue TOGETHER is the solution for big resin builds imho.

dots of super glue for the 5 min epoxy to grab and then normal epoxy glue on the inside of the join to really make it one piece.

Then clamp the hell out of it and come back tomorrow.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I hate resin so much

Pin the wings is all I can say. I didn't and they dropped off and had to be redone.

Daston wrote:
Pin the wings is all I can say. I didn't and they dropped off and had to be redone.

Minor correction: pin everything. With the big FW models your pinning should be able to carry all of the weight and the glue should only be for keeping the pins from sliding backwards out of their holes. This is especially true for the big flyers, where you have one point of contact (the base) holding the entire weight of the model and lots of stuff hanging off of that point. You can get away with not doing much pinning work with the tanks because of the extra points of contact supporting it, but with flyers and titans you should always err on the side of more pins.

 Peregrine wrote:

Daston wrote:
Pin the wings is all I can say. I didn't and they dropped off and had to be redone.

Minor correction: pin everything. With the big FW models your pinning should be able to carry all of the weight and the glue should only be for keeping the pins from sliding backwards out of their holes. This is especially true for the big flyers, where you have one point of contact (the base) holding the entire weight of the model and lots of stuff hanging off of that point. You can get away with not doing much pinning work with the tanks because of the extra points of contact supporting it, but with flyers and titans you should always err on the side of more pins.

+1000 to this. PIN it all. For large sections, use multiple pins.

Is there a decent guide out there for others?

Other whats? FW ships?

Oh right, sorry I didn't realise you were OP.

If you want one of the most amazing builds for that model whoops, it was a storm eagle, check this out;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/507545.page

Tons of 'build FW' guides if you Google around. Surprised you didn't before embarking on a TH... supposedly QUITE the modelling challenge!!!

Decide how you are going to base it before you finish assembly.

I based one on a giant flight stand for a commission after it was built, and it was quite the challenge.

(it was on a 1" acrylic rod - yes, that is strong enough).

Also, make sure if you are ever in a warm climate, and transporting it, do not leave it in your car - had a friend do that and the wings warped under their own weight.

best of luck!