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Hi guys,

I thouht I would keep a blog of the building and painting of my Thunderhawk gunship. Sadly I didnt take as many photos as I would have liked (I got carried away in getting stuck in).

My objective of today was to clear the flash from all the parts and make sure that everything was there and see what bits needed sorting.

So this is the bags of the stuff



Tools I used were sharp Knife, Sandpaper (lots of grit types) clippers, hacksaw and coffee....lots of coffee



I went through it a bag at a time and cleared all the flash off which left this lot!



Most of this is infact the same shape as Dragons Teeth so going to be using it to make scenery nice little bonus.

I do have some inperfections with the moulds I was rather annoyed at this as for the price you would expect it to be perfect! Both SM pilots had very little detail on their faces so I decided to get rid of them and put SW heads on as it fits my army better.



The stairs inside the hull look to be too short, from the instructions it should go up into the command deck




One Lascannon was a little bent but some hot water soon put it right





Finally layed it out across the table to ensure everything was where it should be





Theres a few air holes in some of the parts and the upper hull section is a little warped that stops it from connecting to the lower hull snug so plan to get that sorted before paint prep.

More to come soon

Looking great so far, nice job cleaning up the pieces.

Have you considered switching out the torso on the pilots to a more SW looking torso?

Grass4hopper wrote:Looking great so far, nice job cleaning up the pieces.

Have you considered switching out the torso on the pilots to a more SW looking torso?

I did think about it but it dosnt look that easy to cut the torso's off and TBH I am a little fearful of fething it up lol

Forgeworld are very good about replacing parts that are slightly warped if you can't fix them. They don't ask that you send anything back. Friend of mine got a cobra and the cannon was warped, they sent him a new one, so he is turning the original cannon he received into a terrain piece.

Good luck with this beast!

Good luck indeed, looking forward to seeing this finished.

Wow, that thing looks huge! Good luck with it!

I am following this intently. Cannot wait to see more.

I was thinking about getting one of those, but they're a lot of money. Do you think it's worth it?

SpectralAnomaly wrote:I was thinking about getting one of those, but they're a lot of money. Do you think it's worth it?

I was umming and arrrhing quite a bit before I decided to get it but then thought "what the hell only live once". The kit is is very nice the size of the thing is quite something the photos just dont show how chunky it is. The only down side for me is that there is loads of nice interior detail however your unable to see it because you cant remove the top.

I am thinking of putting some magnets at the back of the hull behind the bulkhead so the top can easily be removed.

Didn't get too much done today as we had to go to our Wedding Rehursal. However got thinking about Grass4Hopper's post and bit the bullet.

Heres how they turned out!

As you can see I managed to cut the Torso off from the belt, my fear was the belt being left and I would then have to alter the normal SW body as well.



Here they are in the Cockpit, they are not in the final positions and the one on the left will be looking ahead as the chap on the right checks the control screen. I am thinking of modeling his hand so that it looks like he is pressing the buttons on the centre console.

Looks a lot better with the SW torso's, will make it much more characterful.

Right long time no see and all that.

I am now a married man and have been rather busy!

Finished spraying the hull of the Thunderhawk (between rain showers) and just started on a wing.

Now my question is do you think I should put black and yellow warning stripes on the flaps? I am trying to think of ways to break up the amount of grey.

I think some black and yellow would work well to break up the monotonous grey, but only if it will fit well with the remainder of your army as well.

I am thinking of hazzard lines on all the vehicles on the army like on the assualt ramps for landraiders etc. So far my SW force is very small (only just got over 1500 points) and hasnt got a single tank yet lol

Ok heres the attempt, needs some touch ups to get the lines clean. However I am thinking they might be too thick.

What do you think?

Looking good those warning strips look awsome they would look even better weathered.

Been playing with warrning symbols by the flaps and engines the sort you get on modern jet fighters. However I am not sure I can do them justice. Any views on this as a concept? I may see if I can sorce some decal sheets that are a simular scale.

Despite the fact that it's a space wolves t-hawk , I'm looking forward to watching this develop.

Those lines look freehand, try using a straight piece of card or even tape and the lines should come out perfect =)
Good luck!

Looking good the decals are a nice idea.

TyRaide wrote:Those lines look freehand, try using a straight piece of card or even tape and the lines should come out perfect =)
Good luck!

Yeah I used some car masking tape (its designed not to mess up paint) however I think the brush managed to get under it.

Going to tidy them up a bit.

Some quick updates,

Decided to redo the warning stripes on the wings as they looked a little too fat. Got some inkjet decal sheets so going to have ago at making my own warning symbols for the jets etc.

Got some main colour on the interior just need clean it up a bit and get some detail on there.

Trying to juggle this, work and car shows is quite a challenge lol.

GREAT START! I actually NEVER pictured the TH for the SW's, which is pretty sad I know, but regardless looking SNAZZY!!! They look really clean, the warning stripes that is.

And, If I may make a suggestion, I'd use a lot of runes on the ol girl, cause Space Wolves LOVE those runes. Also, It would REALLY help to make it look wolfy, since putting fur on a ship that crashes through the atmosphere just wouldn't make sense.

Right spent thismorning making the grey on the inteior a bit more neat after the badab black wash, also painted the jets and intakes on the engines. Plan to start adding some more SW details to the interior like wolf tails etc.









Aquila is actually brass think the flash is reflecting off it.

Been making some progress over the last few evenings when I have managed to tear myself away from either World of Tanks or Battlefield lol

I have managed to get most of the metal detail on the main body of the Thunder Hawk as well as finishing the interior hall and ceiling. Getting shots of these was a bugger due to the lighting, will take some better ones tomorrow before the sun goes down.

Its looking good mate!

Daston wrote:Been making some progress over the last few evenings when I have managed to tear myself away from either World of Tanks

My hubby is absolutely addicted to that game. If you should ever come across a Zed_209, either say hi, or blow 'im up. Your choice.

Paintjob on the Thunderhawk is lookin' good. Looks like a time cruncher though.

bunnygurl wrote:

Daston wrote:Been making some progress over the last few evenings when I have managed to tear myself away from either World of Tanks

My hubby is absolutely addicted to that game. If you should ever come across a Zed_209, either say hi, or blow 'im up. Your choice.

Paintjob on the Thunderhawk is lookin' good. Looks like a time cruncher though.

Thanks, I have soooo much to paint after this its unreal sadly I keep spotting things on ebay lol

Will keep an eye out for him.

WANTS THIS IT DOES!

Another busy night highlighting and some test fitting, not happy with the front hull section, seems to be a bit of a see-saw and I cant work out which part is stopping it from sitting flush all the way around.