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wow!

Just wanted to post in this thread so I can come back to it if I ever get off my lazy @$$ and try to emulate your excellent work.

How awesome is this blog! Great work in the most fittingly warhammer 40000 way. The Hercules tank is my fave. A lot of inspiration and ideas that I hope to somehow in spirit translate to my Legion project. I always intended to do a mk 1 rhino, but why not more ambitious and bizarre, RT era marine kit.

How come nothing is finished though?? Paint, paint, paint!!

He won't be able to paint for a while. He's gone back to school and its sitting at home.

The Hercules, as a tank is mentioned by name in fluff. He and I discussed this thoroughly as he worked on it, just to develop more background as far our own fluffish concept. The notion we kinda came up with was that it was a Pre-heresy design. That its size and dimensions was a compromise in design, that as marines moved more to rapid strike force and could no longer deploy Fellblade/Baneblade class super heavies the Hercules was the heaviest possible vehicle that could be carried on the readily available Thunderhawk transport (but not easily). That the Hercules with its lascannons is what the Land Raider Terminus Ultra attempts to mimic in a smaller package. That as fewer Hercules tanks were available and the STC template lost to most Forge Worlds, the terminus was more widly built ad-hoc to fill the Hercules' role.

I'm planning on eventually doing the big Inferno cannon variant, the one in the far background of the GW image of that battlescape.
He got me the toy he used as a basis for his. Its going to have a large inferno cannon in the turret and two redeemer cannons for the sponsons, with a twinlinked heavy bolter in front. The rear I'm going to gut out and mount the fuel tank section of the new Hellhound (it actually fits perfectly in the space available.)

Wow, there's been quite a lot of traffic on my thread in the last 12 hours. Thank you everyone for your kind words. Sadly, as we speak, the Pacific Ocean stands between me and my creations. So there won't be any painting for a year or so. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop building. I have a possible commision, as well as a project I've been wanting to do since last year, but my Death Tank ended up taking its place.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vkRZX6UIbGk/SOjN08vFshI/AAAAAAAABjE/nopwUe4sRCA/s1600-h/BA+Thunderhawks.JPG

The Flying Brick of old, a Mk I Thunderhawk Gunship, for all we know this is what the Storm Raven is going to look like.


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Another quick note on my Razorback, I said it in the original post, but just in case, the white resin parts are NOT made by me, but by Chapter House Studios. It's a fairly easy upgrade kit to work with, I ended up sticking the second armored section on the back (like it was intended for the mkI Rhinio), which was not intended by Chapter House Studios, so it took a little extra work to get it on there. I just wanted to showcase the weapons options I made for it.
Cheers!

Good, maybe that will give you some time to think about those Storm Bolters!

I'll be starting my T-hawk EVENTUALLY. Got some more work done on the Skullhamma last night, and my Mek is almost done, used it in a game today, and he's a winner for sure.

I'm glad to hear your stuff is coming together, send me pics! Well, I'm thinking of a new Rhino variant that might be up your alley, think Land Raider Terminus but with Stormbolters. Any Rhino can have 2 stormbolters, so why not a variant with 6 stormbolters. I can see two on the front hatches, and a cool turret with 4 mounted on each side, like a Macharius tank. This is definately 6 times the awsome, I'll post some design ideas soon!

Heliodore wrote:I'm glad to hear your stuff is coming together, send me pics! Well, I'm thinking of a new Rhino variant that might be up your alley, think Land Raider Terminus but with Stormbolters. Any Rhino can have 2 stormbolters, so why not a variant with 6 stormbolters. I can see two on the front hatches, and a cool turret with 4 mounted on each side, like a Macharius tank. This is definately 6 times the awsome, I'll post some design ideas soon!

I don't think we can be friends anymore....

I was able to snag the old OOP extra armor kit off of the electronic bay. Included is the above top panel, however I have heard several ideas as to how this was meant to be used. For example, you use it along with the extra armor parts to give your mkI rhino an armored top, and the round part is where you put the capula/ hatch, and SB from the old IG sprue, or you use it for the 2nd edition predators as an alternate turret mount. So, is there anyone out there with a pic from a collection or an old White Dwarf showing how this piece is meant to be used?

A shout-out to Ninjabiscuit for answering my question and posting up pics, thanks!

Here's my lazy attempt at a pre-heresy dreadnought. The body and legs come from the old rogue trader dreadnought, the arms are from an Eldar wraithlord, the front sarcophagus and CCW are from the ven dread kit, the power plant is off the chaos dread, the assault cannons are from the landspeeder kit, the groin is from the basic dread kit, shoulder pads from the IG tank sprue etc. Pretty much had all these junk bits laying around. I still want to add some guitar string here and there to finish it off. Overall, just passing the time.

Looks good

I love your monstrously huge tanks, they are riveting. and the dread is cute - I made one myself recently cos they are so hard to get hold of.

Thanks Bryce!

And thanks Weetyskemian as well! My monster tank took forever to rivet, haha! 'Cute' is a good word to use, hopefully he can lull his enemies into a false sense of security!

Well now, with the premature unveiling of the stormraven, I felt motivated to finally start this project, so it is very WIP, just getting the basic shape together. You can see the Epic MkI Thunderhawk Gunship model next to my dreadnought above, so that's what this guy should end up looking like, more or less. Of course, I will be changing some things. For instance, thinner wings, twin-linked heavy bolters on the wings, and an actual view port on the front etc. Just one pic for now!

I'm hoping this turns out well. The MK1 preheresy thunderhawk it is the ultimate in flying brick technology.

Indeed, once done I plan to chuck it through the window of my local GW store!



Anyways, slowly progressing as I let the wood glue dry. Thinking on it, I will attempt to make the wings as thick as they are on the Epic model, this will allow for me a base from which I can create two layers of foamboard allowing for the lasgun turrets to swivel while being kept securely in place. This will make more sense when I get to it!




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Here's a better shot at the old Epic model I keep talking about:

I think its important you give the wings that slope.

The large turrets on the wings but tucked into the body, are those what where you're mounting the twin heavy bolters?

*drool* i want one of your thunderhawks... and that mk3 dreadnought. they look amazing, keep up the work!

Thanks YtraelVladinhurst!

@Mythos: Those large turrets are where I'm putting the lascannons, I'm also thinking it might be better to have it seperated from the body. I'm scaling those turrets down compared to how big they are on the model since I'm just putting a lascannon on it. I'm chalking it up to mold limitations, unless you think otherwise. I could only justify making the turrets larger if I also put the twin-linked heavy bolters on there as well, a la the mkI Razorback las/plas turret, but I'd rather have the TL heavy bolters under the wing to mesh with the more recent T-hawks. Thoughts anyone?

You mean lascannons not lasguns?

Great pre-heresy conversions! I love these epic models brought to regular scale. Keep up the great work

Yes, lascannons, corrected!

Thanks Commander Cain!

Moar please. Hopefully we will have the resin casting rig up and running soon, been spending most of my time with the new pewter setup.

I remember using those epic models, now that I think about it, it would make more sense fluff wise if these were considered.... What are those pre-heresy pre-thunderhawks from the HH Series?

Hey Aramus, long time no see I heard about that from my brother, good luck! I'm going to need some good sized Aquillas for my T-hawk, I would rather avoid cutting them out of plasticard. So, where are my Little Debbies?

@jabbakahut I believe that was called a Stormbird, and I kind of see what you are saying, but they were meant to be massive! Maybe 3 or 4 times larger than a T-hawk. The model was called a T-hawk, but I don't know if the original Epic rules reflected the modern perception of the Thunderhawk or something bigger:


Below is the most popular pic from the rogue trader era, I've seen online some great attempts at scratchbuilding it:


I personally don't like the turbo fan look, I think it makes it look more like a Squat vehicle than Imperium/ SM. If I ever make a Stormbird I will base it off this more obscure Rogue Trader era drawing:


The HH novels give brief descriptions, but nothing you can really use as a guide.

For the top of your thunderhawk, the "textured" grated section, when I've done terrain I use this pvc knitting mesh stuff. What were your plans?

I was just planning to use tiled plasticard that I can easily get at the corner hobby store. I have a lead on something even cheaper I may use, but that grated section looks tiled up close, I imagine it was meant to be a skylight for the cockpit, since a front port was nixed in favor of giving the player a place to put his/her chaptter symbol. I will be adding viewports to the front!

Anyways, I've done some more work, made the wings thicker, adapted the wings for the turrets (placed there for visual aid), added more sides to the back, and cut out the hole where the assault ramp will go. I was mulling on whether I should even bother with a working assault ramp. I figure if i screw it up it will be easy enough to close it up again!

This is looking AMAZING. Keep up with the great work and that is the biggest troop carrier and tanks ive every seen.

I have a request.... what the back side of the epic model look like, can you post a picture?

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Oh, and thanks Comisarmilo!