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Awesome!

stonned_astartes wrote:'I tried it with a huey hog but there just wasn't the room.

Reckon that is what saw blades are for, is it not?

Red Harvest wrote:Coming along nicely. I'll be interested to see how well that bubble cockpit works out. Normally Imperial stuff lacks curves... And everything is better with curves. (read into that what you will )

Is there more than one way to read into that?

I was actually thinking a traditional (Imperial wise) cockpit style (straight sides, sharp angles). Reconsidering now, will have to at least give a try to the bubble one. Extra points for reusing some more of the original model, but tough to repurpose clear acrylic rounded shapes...

 STG wrote:
Awesome!

Thanks!

Some more on the mail hull, stern shaping up:



Turbines need fans. Well, one fan at least:



I must have some self loathing issues: Just 'cause, hinged cargo door:



Comments and suggestions are, as always, welcome.

Cheers.

 Littletower wrote:

stonned_astartes wrote:'I tried it with a huey hog but there just wasn't the room.

Reckon that is what saw blades are for, is it not?

Haha i suppose you've got me there, though I'm going to try a Hind nil 24 next as its more keeping within my armies aesthetic. (Also it has twin turbines already).

Really good progress though, and how are you going to secure the rear door when closed?

Looking great Littletower! The hinged door is pretty cool.

@stonned_astartes: Looked the Hind nil 24 up. I'd surely look great in your army, probably even straight out of the box. And the canopy is rounded to boot

As to holding the door closed, so far, friction is being enough. Might add a bolt before build's end, just to be sure.

@ckig: Thanks! Some working parts are always needed, !

 Littletower wrote:
@stonned_astartes: Looked the Hind nil 24 up. I'd surely look great in your army, probably even straight out of the box. And the canopy is rounded to boot

As to holding the door closed, so far, friction is being enough. Might add a bolt before build's end, just to be sure.

Impressive.

Yeah well that was the plan, but i'm thinking take the blades off and add some bigger wings. Already got the punisher cannons.

Nice work, LT. Really tidy incorporation of the engines.

Moving parts ftw.

Show off!

Seriously though, this is looking great. Amazing skills.

EDC

Excellent progress so far, looking good.

Quite lovely!

You are an evil man

I was a n the basement and saw my sins knock off GIJoe helicopter and thought of this thread and making a thunder hawk sized marine flyer out of it

Thanks all, gents!

@Dr H: Indeed! Next time (As if it were going to be one, ) I'll try to have the fans turn too!

@Teophony: Maybe it's a matter of English not being my first language, o maybe it's just me, but, how does you thinking about chopping up your son's toys make me evil?

Thinking about putting up some rule around here for those cases, though: toys not used for a certain time can be rightfully be reclaimed for conversion material... certain time, being variable, of course, depending on the potential usefulness of said toy for the current project...

Poorest of progress updates:

Managed to cut out and open up in half the tail boom, without loosing fingers or stabbing myself in the process (sounds easier than iti was, actually):



Rough (very much so) mock up of how it should go:



(Cockpit is not glued to the main hull yet, just temporally held in place with a couple screws to better grasp the size and proportions of the thing).

Thanks for stopping by.

You know Lt... with all the modifying you do, it does make me wonder if you wouldn't be better off just scratch-building the whole thing from the start!

Looking fantastic by-the-way...

Your evil because it's my sons toy , most of the time it's the toys from my youth or clearance bin toys I grab, some things are sacred....not many though

@Gits: Good point. Probably right, too.

Short answer: Just to see if it could be done?

Less short: Curved shapes are hard to scratch-build; I'm trying to use/keep as much of those from the base model as possible, mingled with the sharper edges of the hand made parts.

Longer, and definitively more ramble-y: Question made me wonder a bit about the why of this (started with the scratch-building, ended up with hobbies in general. Just because, I guess. I'm all about efficiency in RL, and definitively efficiency flies out of the window when talking about this. Surely, getting an actual model would be more efficient than trying to build one from scratch, or chopping and regluing one into some other thing, as is this case.

Availability notwithstanding (just buying some things is not as simple as it may sound 'round here sometimes, no local sellers to speak of, and international shipping and customs can be a ), it´s funnier this way (well, not laughing out loud funny, of course. Entertaining?). And very rewarding if/when things work out, too.

I like painting (I actually like the end product of painting, more than the painting itself, to be honest. Painting is not a chore, not at all, just don't enjoy it as much), but I really get the most out of the building, and scratch-building even more, side of things.

So yeah, just making it hard on myself, just for kicks, I guess,

Great way to relax and "unplug" too, and certainly, cheaper than therapy!

@Theo; Poor excuse it'd be indeed, an evil man from the interwebs made me chop up the children's toys

 Littletower wrote:

...Painting is not a chore, not at all, just don't enjoy it as much, but I really get the most out of the building, and scratch-building even more, side of things....

Forgive the selective editing, but QFT. I have seen this sentiment expressed by many a scratch-builder, including yours truly.

It's the challenge, IMHO. Some people climb mountains...

I'm wondering how you will finish the inside parts of the tail booms. Leaving them flat will not do. (IMHO, of course) The way you have it now, it looks like you could pull those tail booms out a bit more and elongate the piece. I realize that it may not be like the original, but a much longer tail would be better, to my eyes. The original is way too short. A Bell helicopter (UH-1) would be something like 12 3/4" (323 mm) long, in scale, by way of example.

Self-loathing is making 'working' hydraulics for the ramp.



I love your build!

--B.

And since the mountain was right there...



Earlier WIP:



Making of the hydraulics:



(Ubiquitous N° 11 blade for scale)

Not even half done with the build, so I spend a weekend evening on the working pistons for the rear ramp. So much for efficiency!

(After all the reworking done around the door, friction itself was not longer enough to hold the ramp shut, so I added two metal strips on the top corners and a couple magnets inside the door frame).

Comments and suggestions are, as always, welcome.

Cheers.

Absolutely insane , great work on the door mechanism, your attention to detail is phenomenal.

Hee hee!

@Theo: No, no, it's not insane, the opposite, it's actually therapeutic! I know it might not always look like it, though...

@Brian: Hee hee indeed. Or should I have said since somebody put the mountain right there...

Trying to move on, wings.

Along with the Viper, I got an unnamed jet fighter plane (guessing 1/72), very basic model, which I thought could be an interesting donor for parts 'n pieces.

Hence, chopping V.2:



Still all fingers on,

(Something's awry with the pics, colour balance is off, and it's being very difficult to get the camera to focus too, though neither settings nor workshop lamps have changed. Hope it's just the weather, would hate to have to learn how to use a new one )

Thanks for stopping by.

Yay, pistons. Nearly as good a tentacles.

New donor looks a bit Mig-like...

Could be wrong.

Good work really coming to gether.

That's an excellent build!

Excellent work bud, donor looks interesting, will give a swept wing look to it. At least it will look like it should fly, unlike GW flyers which all look like Ork flyers, in that they can only stay up by prayer.

@Dr H: Thanks, Dr. Mig, yes, looks quite right. Good call. It doesn´t look so good now, though...

@stonned_astartes: Shaping up more now!

@Klaus: Thanks for stopping by!

@Cam: You tell me. Does it look like it'd fly?

Took longer than planned (doesn't it always?), but some progress:



Wings, just pinned in place for the time being, pending further work.





While the glue dried, started adding some detailing/covering gaps with assorted cut offs.

Ah, finished the cockpit interior rebuild too, seats and panels to come later.

As for the basic shape, only the bridging piece joining the two tail boom halves, the canopy and landing gear to go.

Comments, suggestions and ideas are, as always, welcome.

Cheers.

I am totes jelly. This build is coming together really well!

Heck yeah this is looking amazing

Good work, LT. Shaping up well, and is recognisable as what it is even at this stage.

This way madness lays:



It doesn't' quite work; but I have not failed, I've just discovered yet another way how not to make a retractable landing pad.

More to come.

Cheers.