A new project given to me by one of the local guys to model and paint, hopefully it will be instructive to those who haven't got one of these rare beauties. I will try and post at least three to four times a week the progress on this(as the moderators allow) and soo the Adventer begins.....

You are my Hero.

Some of the back story on this model, it was cast twice due to mold failures, was partially assembled and had green Testors paint applied on part of it as a test, first priority is a bath and stripping the enamel paint off. Then I have to take measurements of certain parts to figure out how much wire I need. I gave the rough estimate of 30 led lights, the tank/battlesuit bay will have lights, the troop bay, and the Aircast Navigators/ Weapons officers will be lit, as well as having landing lights and running lights. And I'm thinking of lighting the Blacksun Filter as well. http://40kpainting4hire.blogspot.com/

Oh man, this will be fun to watch. Good luck!

Subscribed

Soory was busy yesterday with a local tourney, today is bath day, with a mix of Simple Green and water to get rid of the little bit of paint, loosen the glue, and clean off the Mold Release. Whoops, the other project too.....

Your overlord doesn't look amused ;-).

Seriously, great project. I've always wanted to see this model done, looking forward to your progress.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Am I correct in saying...

If you but the model from Forgeworld at £900 you also get the Plastic Tau Models inside it? i.e. Crisis Suits, Hammerheads etc? I remember reading in the FW blurb that you do.

Anyone? lol

Holy moly! How are you going to mount that beast? It's huge!

i'm going to have fun following this

wow.
I have no words to describe the epicness of this!

Well, I always wondered what one looked like unbuilt.

It does come with the plastic models, as well as two part legs for the crisis suits, the client is going to use the legs to make his suit posed very dynamically. And yes this beast will be mounted, I am going to make an Imperial Ruin that will act as its flight stand(reinforced of course) The unfortunate downside to resin is it is HEAVY, this model empty weighs 28 lbs. And the Overlord is never amused.....

This is going to be awesome.

Having had to base a Tiger Shark I'm willing to bet you'll need at least a concrete slab to weigh this bad boy down!

Watching with great interest!

P.S your overlord is almost the exact opposite (colour wise) to my own little evil genius!

This is one of the biggest WIPs I've seen. Will be following.

I shall be keeping watch on this as well.

Good luck to you with the build!

Here the Overlord is still unhappy. When I received the model, one of the Drone carriages was bent, and the drones were glued in place, this is no longer the case....

Wow!

Awesome Dude!

okay, got some more work done over the last couple of days, here's a pic of some of the work, for more go here. http://40kpainting4hire.blogspot.com/

I have myself thought about purchasing a Manta once or twice (not to long though ), and have often wondered what the quality of the cast would be (seeing the mess they sometimes make of normal sized models). At this price you'd expect them to take better care of allowing the model to cure properly in the mold, I dont think it gets bought that often that they really need to hurry.

I'm going to keep my eye on this though, it will be no doubt be awesome to see this get constructed .

Suuuuuuuuubscribed !!

Got some more done on the Manta. Getting closer and closer...

this is going to be fun to watch!

Nice, I've want to watch someone build one of these. Saw an awesome scratch build a few years ago.

Ohhhh the sanding.... If you haven't worked with resin before, I highly recommend a dust mask, or respirator when sanding something like this. I had to get rid of a lot of mold lines, this accomplishes two things, A; it makes the model fit together like it is supposed to. B; it looks sooooo much better when all the mold/cast lines are gone. I started with the Dremel, and smoothed out the rough spots with a hand sander. I will do finish sanding with a very fine grit(2500) sandpaper to give a smooth finish. this will make the paint job pop!!!!

You know the stuff your doing is pretty hardcore when you have to bring out the dremel!

Yes, to the mask. I'm pretty sure resin in your lungs in cancer causing.

@jabba, apparently it only causes cancer if you live in California, I guess if you live anywhere else it doesn't . "has been known in the state of California to cause cancer, use with caution'"

Nice, I was born in California but now live in Oregon, I wonder if it affects me.

Well considering that now you live in Oregon, clean air helps, unless you live in Portland, then it's just salt air, and constant rain. But you might get cancer from the rabid slugs(state bird of Washington) or the mold (state flower of Washington) I wonder if California cancer affects other countries, mmmm..........

One of my Devilfish in the tank bay for size comparison, BTW, with Seekers underslung, and every option on the troop transport, it fits nicely in the landing gear chocks.

Wow I never did truly appreciate how large the model was. I had seen some pics before but that one from your living room really drives it home.

Makes me wish I really did have one for our Deathwatch game that ended up with the final battle taking place on top of one leaving the atmosphere. But then again it isn't like I could have hid the model to make it a surprise then.

What sort of clearance does it have between the top of the cupola on the Devilfish and the floor above it? Could you have a Skyray in there for example?

Seriously, it weights something like 20lbs. I would be impressed just to see one in person. Looking good, the more photos the better!

Please, for the love of God don't drop it. Great work so far

Going to have to subscribe to this one.

Can't wait to see it painted!

@Atma, there is enough room for a Skyray, it actually fits better than a Hammerhead or Devilfish, plus the middle will hold 8(or 9) battlesuits. I have a four by eight table set up in my studio for projects, and it takes up a third of the table, now mind you, that is JUST the Manta, the client is playing with his army that goes inside, so it isn't in my studio at this time.....

And thank you to everyone for the compliments

Good luck good sir.

getting the lights and some pinning.....

That's looking outstanding! If I had a few grand just lying around, I'd drop some money on one. Definitely looks like a great undertaking. Working on a 1/48 B-1 Lancer right now myself (36" long, 33" wingspan), so I can appreciate the amount of work (read: gap-filling and sanding) that goes into a kit of this scale!

oooooohhhhh a B-1, I love that plane, I knew an Air Force guy in Rapid City who was a tech on the radar for that beauty.

holy cow, subbed.

Wow, I never really appreciated how big the Manta was before seeing the photo with the Devilfish for scale. I'm impressed you decided to take this project on.

One thing that confused me - is the model pre-owned or new? There wasn't any paint on the separate parts in the first few photos, but bits turned out to be bent and glued.

the model is for a client who partially modeled, and partially painted. I stripped what paint was on it, and had to break apart some of the parts didn't fit quite right. For me it is more than just a commission, I also have a love of both the Tau, and aircraft.

I cut away some channels for the lights, and drilled some pin holes. This thing is so heavy that I thought reinforcing it would be prudent. I don't want it to fall apart 6 months after my client has it.

looking good. Have you worked out the specifics of the stand yet? Are you going to with a piece of steel or a very thick piece(s) of acrylic rod?!!

well, me and the client have talked about using 2"x4" pieces surrounded by either an imperial building or perhaps making a Styrofoam hill ......

http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_T34000


Angle iron brackets are used for heavy duty applications.

Both brackets are drilled or slotted to accept a T30800 saddle clamp.

Ohhh boy...this is gonna be REALLY fun...good luck, and may God give you all the strength and patience you need for this. Looking forward to the overall product.

The manta when shipped came in not one, but two large packages. With it came 6 devilish, 8 battlesuits (and 8 Forge world leg sets), 2 hammerheads, 48 seated firewarriors, 2 pilots, 4 seated air caste crewmen, and an Aun in seat.

This is the album containing pictures from when I first received it in the mail.
http://s888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/hurumordae/Manta/

In that album you can get a good idea how much excess comes on something this large.

This is an album showing the instructions
http://s888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/hurumordae/MantaBook/

The most common questions i get is why did I buy it, and why did I paint it before adding primer.
1). I bought it mostly because I used to play with a group with ALOT of superheavys, and the fact of a few months prior finances had me unable to afford much until I got a promotion at work that opened spending money (though sadly the intention of the money was saved for another reason then the manta, but a reason that was no longer valid by this time).

2). I had a tau color-scheme I had been running since I was 16 (back in third edition) and I was unsure if I wanted to take the same scheme and redo it, or if I wanted to go a different route.. And the paint I had chosen to do this test run I knew could easily be cleaned off.


Once it is complete I am planning on holding a Apocalypse planet strike game for its first game.

I know many people who have never purchased, or built a Forgeworld model. I know cleaning this pretty up of sprue lines has been an effort. The Manta will make the 7th Forgeworld kit I've done, and possibly the most challenging, the fully realized interior with lights will look awesome when it finished though.....

HuruMorDae wrote:The manta when shipped came in not one, but two large packages. With it came 6 devilish, 8 battlesuits (and 8 Forge world leg sets), 2 hammerheads, 48 seated firewarriors, 2 pilots, 4 seated air caste crewmen, and an Aun in seat.

This is the album containing pictures from when I first received it in the mail.
http://s888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/hurumordae/Manta/

In that album you can get a good idea how much excess comes on something this large.

This is an album showing the instructions
http://s888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/hurumordae/MantaBook/

The most common questions i get is why did I buy it, and why did I paint it before adding primer.
1). I bought it mostly because I used to play with a group with ALOT of superheavys, and the fact of a few months prior finances had me unable to afford much until I got a promotion at work that opened spending money (though sadly the intention of the money was saved for another reason then the manta, but a reason that was no longer valid by this time).

2). I had a tau color-scheme I had been running since I was 16 (back in third edition) and I was unsure if I wanted to take the same scheme and redo it, or if I wanted to go a different route.. And the paint I had chosen to do this test run I knew could easily be cleaned off.


Once it is complete I am planning on holding a Apocalypse planet strike game for its first game.

Do you have pictures of it with the paint?

And I approve of your choice of first game. Sir, I salute you!

the first link that Huru posted does have some paint on it's wing, he was testing out the paint on the model, and ironically, it was Testor's paint......

warhamster77 wrote:the first link that Huru posted does have some paint on it's wing, he was testing out the paint on the model, and ironically, it was Testor's paint......

Ah, I missed that.

Anyways, good job with your manta so far, love the lights

well it's been awhile since I posted on this project. I have had multiple commission I have been trying to get off the table so that I could dedicate more time to this project and hopefully have it finished for Gamesday.. I added a ceiling to the main bay mostly to stabilize the upper ramp. And added lights to the main bay as well as the weapons operators areas. The upper bay also has some rear facing running lights. Unfortunately I couldn't do all six due to the way the model has to beassembled.

Looking awesome

I have put together a Barracuda and a Tigershark but I dream of building one of these. Looking forward to more updates.

Oh, this is going to be good!

subscribed

Looks awesome dude!

Interested in how you base it still haven't based my Thunderhawk yet.

okey dokey did some more work, have been working diligently trying to get it done. By my estimation, there is currently nearly 51' of wire that I have to hide. This has been providing a very unique challenge. I think plastic tubes will be my most viable option.

@_@

I have been busy with other projects, and covered a major milestone last night, here are the pics...

I am officially Subscribed!

nice to see a good update!

awesome!!!
subbed!

Love the ethereal. Nice work on the whole thing so far!

Forgeworld pls.

Here I have joined the cockpit to the upper fuselage. Due to the model being pulled hot from the molds the two pieces that make up the fuselage were warped, and I am going to have to fill a gap nearly 1/16" with plasticard and JB Weld. Now I gotta do some sanding to mesh the two together.

First, my apologies to the mods in taking so long to post, with their indulgence we will get to finish this one soon. I have been very busy of late, doing other commissions, and holidays, but we are getting closer with this beastie. After running all the wire, I had nearly 128' of wire to hide, which meant that I had to have conduit. I manufactured a space for both switches and batteries. I fit the wings on, and they do not fit the way they are supposed to. There is a 1/32" gap on the left wing and a 1/16" gap on the right, plus a 1/64" ledge where the right wing doesn't meld well with fuselage. I first drilled holes for pins, then super-glued the wings on. Then I filled as much gap with JB Weld two part epoxy extruded through a syringe. Where the wings had a ledge I added JB Weld and Greenstuff, wet-sanding it to blend it and then Liquid Greenstuff to get the pits. And then it was back to wetsanding by hand. And for giggles I have a few pics of some of it lit up. the last pic shows where the cockpit is lit(blue) the weapons bay(yellow) and the troop bay(red) as well as forward running lights. Now to finish sanding, a wash, and then prime....

What an epic undertaking - the lighting work in particular is amazing.

Thank you, each light has roughly 6' of wire. Altogether I have close to 200 hours into it, and I still have some final modelling to do before I paint.

I didn't even know there was liquid greenstuff, where do you get that? Nice use of conduits, lights looking good. That orange thing that holds the coin battery looks a bit big.

Liquid Greenstuff is a GW product, it is used to fill the bubbles and holes in Failcrap. The orange thing actually is perfect for holding both batteries, and the switches and the 8" of wire used to connect everything) I had to think like an electrician to hide all the wire, and conduit was the logical choice.

That is specfreakingtacular mate. This will look grouse once its all done up.

 Snrub wrote:
That is specfreakingtacular mate. This will look grouse once its all done up.

Here I have flipped it over and started working on the underside to fill in the gaps. One of the gaps(port wing) is 1/4", I had to use two different size plasticard. On the Starboard wing the was 1/16" gap. I really wish that FW would at least test fit their models, especially when they are as expensive as this one.

After working on my first Titan I was shocked at the issues in buying something from FW. Anymore now I just assume they are so pretentious that if you can't fix the problems in the model, then you shouldn't be building a FW model. Looks like you've handled it excellently.

Thank you. I have to say tho, this is not a model I would personally buy, and I am less than impressed with their quality control. Fortunately my client has access to someone like me with some modelling skills.

The Manta is on my list to buy one day (a long, long way down the line, once I've done so, so much other stuff... around 5-6 armies and 3-4 years down the line... after Barracudas and AX-10's), so especially with all the praise for their 'regular' pieces, and how good it's supposed to be, the standard on their most expensive model is surprising.

Keep up the good work though!

I salute you sir
Looks like it's going to be an epic build. Will be following this for sure.

That is incredible. I cant wait to see how it turns out.

 warhamster77 wrote:
Here I have flipped it over and started working on the underside to fill in the gaps. One of the gaps(port wing) is 1/4", I had to use two different size plasticard. On the Starboard wing the was 1/16" gap. I really wish that FW would at least test fit their models, especially when they are as expensive as this one.

There really is no excuse for models being cast this way. I just put together two Storm Eagles and OMG it was horrorific. The fit was so bad that I had to saw the back ramp in half and shave 1/8" off just so I could make them fit. And once they went in, the ridges were offset. I'm going to have to remove the riges entirely and put down strips of plasticard. Moral of my story? Friends don't let friends buy Storm Eagles.

I am truely in awe of your diligance and patience with this massive model and all the modelling problems that FW included in the kit for free.

@Ovion, If this is a model you want for your army, make sure that it is a purchase you truly want to make. I know here in the U.S., the price of it would buy a used automobile. I would look at getting a few Tigershark AX-10 first, or maybe some Eldar phantom Titans( I want three) . @Breotan you lucky B*****d, a Phantom and a Tantalus

 warhamster77 wrote:
@Ovion, If this is a model you want for your army, make sure that it is a purchase you truly want to make. I know here in the U.S., the price of it would buy a used automobile. I would look at getting a few Tigershark AX-10 first, or maybe some Eldar phantom Titans( I want three) . @Breotan you lucky B*****d, a Phantom and a Tantalus

At least 2 Barracuda and an AX10 first yeah.
And yes, £960 is a lot of money to sink... but I won't be till I've finished the armies I've got, built a few more and worked my way through other Forgeworld bits, such as a couple of Tantalus, 1-2 'sets' of 2 Barracuda + Tigershark AX10, possibly some Eldar titans, possibly a regular Tigershark (though it's a little disappointing armament wise) etc...
It'll pretty much be a crown on a massive collection of models when it comes to it.

But ultimately... a Manta flanked by 2 AX10s, a Tigershark and 4-6 Barracuda will look pretty damn amazing.
Strangely enough... don't want an Orca.

Tau Air Force, Aim High

this thing is so big, only part of it fits in my spray booth :-(

"You're going to need a bigger box"

I don't even want to imagine having to ship a completed one of these

With all of these miscast pieces are you sure that this is genuine forgeworld and not a recast? I would think that for such a large model that there would be at least some quality control. You expect some modeling, but this is ridiculous. I applaud your diligence.

Unfortunately... This appears to be a common problem with forgeworld..... Quality control must be a dirty word in Nottingham.

It's not a recast, I've seen several of the attempts at recasting and the resin used, this is all Forgeworld, And comparing it to the several othe FW models in the queue, they all have similar defects/bends. FW like it's parent skimp on quality control.

BrotherVord wrote:
With all of these miscast pieces are you sure that this is genuine forgeworld and not a recast? I would think that for such a large model that there would be at least some quality control. You expect some modeling, but this is ridiculous. I applaud your diligence.

No, that's unfortunately FW quality. On the other hand, many recasters actually give a damn about the condition of the models they ship out and charge a fraction of the FW cost creating another one of life's persistent ironies.

Okely Dokely, got some more pics done of the bottom, I decided to faintly stripe the bottom, similar to what the fish is, and just as I was cleaning my airbrush, the tip bounced into the garbage disposal(sigh) now just waiting on my replacement......

Maybe you should look at investing in one of these:

to prevent future mishaps. xD

Looking good so far though.

I thought about that, but we made a new rule that the airbrushs will be disassembled and cleaned on my work table, a long way from the sink and the spray nozzle stillwould have slipped through those small hole :( But that pic gives me an idea to make a RADAR dish....

Been a while, but Ihave got some more done, trying to get done tonight!

Awesome work Warhamster!

Looks really wicked. And the dedication is just awesome!

I saw this in person last night at the LGS and spoke to the painter. The pictures don't do it justice. The carbon scoring and chipped paint effects are top notch. Every vent has a dark streak pointing towards the tail, and the running lights look fantastic.

The Aun ethereal is also well done and is magnetized so it can be taken out, fitted to a base, and used in a normal game.

I was told it weighs in the neighborhood of 39 pounds all told.

It looks absolutely stunning and will be the centerpiece of any Apoc 40K battle.

Excellent work, love the color choice.

We Finally finished this monster. and I have a very happy client. I admit that there was more that I could have done, given time. If I am to build another, I know the things that could be done differently/better. My poor photo booth was no where near big enough, and my spray booth barely held it. I am very pleased with the weathering. At this point I will leave it up to the Mods if they want to keep this thread here, or move it to the Showcase. I hope everyone enjoyed this adventure with me.

Amazing to see how much work went into this very cool stuff

 warhamster77 wrote:
I don't even want to imagine having to ship a completed one of these

you dont ship it, you just get in it and fly there, duh.

I could see flying one of these

this is tremendous!

For the Greater Good!

Congrats on finishing it! It looks splendid! I could never get myself that dedicated to something. I would get bored too quickly and bosh it up.

Holy moly that's intense... Nice!

Thank you everyone. This has certainly been an ego boost

Looks great. I especially like the chipped paint near the engine intake. I have to laugh at how comically impractical that ramp is.

There were a lot of very impractical things about this model. Like for instance the extreme lack of bracing in the lower bay.

frigging awesome !!! great work ! love the lights , awesome job.

Thank you very much! It was as much a labor of love, as it was a commission piece. Having done it, it is not for the meek. This model whipped my butt( mostly because it is so heavy and awkward). I would like to have seen it with a flight of Barracudas and Tigersharks

Waaaaaah. I want one, so my orks can loot it. Lol.

I would love to see a looted Manta!

I LOVE this work you've done! The one thing it needs more of is some decal or freehand work to make the flat areas a bit more interesting. I get that camouflage might not exactly be practical for it, but maybe another Farsight Enclave symbol or something might have benefited it.

Thank you! We wanted to go over the top with a mural. But unfortunately the clients budget had already been met, and has said that maybe at a later time we will have that op to paint it for him. The Farsight decals don't get any bigger tho. But in lieu of a mural, we tried to do some good weathering for it. The premise was that it would be in near constant battle, with only time for maintenance and re-arming and re fuelling.

Since these are only made WHEN it is actually ordered I COULD give them a break. . . . . but they do it ALL the time!!!

There's only one problem with this. There are no ethereals in Farsight's army. I'm not sure if it really matters, but I just realized that.

 killykavekommando wrote:
There's only one problem with this. There are no ethereals in Farsight's army. I'm not sure if it really matters, but I just realized that.

Heh I noticed that too, but was too stunned with the execution of this model to mention it.

To the OP: Incredible job. The largest thing from FW i have attempted is a Thunderhawk and I gave up on it and sold it after I finished the fuselage. Love the look of FW but cannot stand their beyond abysmal quality control issues.

Thank you!. To Answer the question about the Ethereal, it was part of the model, and I figured at some point he might want another option for an HQ. He is magnetised, and has his own base. Joyous_Oblivion, you have no idea how hard it was to push through on this one. I worked a few all nighters to finish it.