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Howdy All,

I've been puzzling over the craptastic chin turret that comes with the Stormtalon kit, and have been trying to come up with a better solution. After poking through my bits box, I came up with a quick solution.

Parts you'll need.
Chin turret connecting parts from the Stormtalon kit.
Cupola turret ring from any SM vehicle kit.
Gun/sensor bit from a Storm raven kit.
Assault cannons - I have a bunch from RW Landspeeder kits.

Here's the video of the basic fit.
http://youtu.be/mRv79_tdXB8

That looks sick!

Alright, after some futzing around, I've found a "better" solution. I'll put together a quick vid once I get the kinks worked out, but, until then,

1/2" internal diameter PVC coupling. I found a coupler fitting for cold water pipes that is 22mm outside diameter, which is the rough diameter of the chin turret recess, as well as the internal diameter of the Stromraven nose turret piece. Some fitting is needed to get the PVC to fit into the recess - I've done a rough cut piece, and now that I have a general idea of how it will fit, I will probably make second, much cleaner one.

Hey! Video added!
http://youtu.be/vjvdlN-GhOs


Upon further investigation with my calipers, the chin turret recess does in fact narrow. From about 22mm to about 21mm. So beveling the PVC component is necessary to get a good fit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've got the chin turret mostly sorted out. Now onto the landing gear. Trying to figure out where a realistic set of landing skids would work on the Stormtalon. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

The landing gear (wheels, skids, whatever) can perhaps be modelled in the "up" (flying) position rather than the "down" (landing) position - the "up" version has the advantage that you merely need to imply some folded pistons and wheels/skids rather than needing to model them in great detail, and also means they can be tucked safely away in part of the model where they're less likely to get knocked off.

That's looking much better than the standard turret. Every time I see a Stormatalon I think:

Hey Mods, this might be better suited as a in the blog section instead of P&M.

Anyway, here is today's process. Not much, just a few minutes with superglue and magnets
http://youtu.be/dTpqh0TxXWg

Alright, today there was no work on the chin turret. In fact, on that front, I'm pretty much done with figuring out the final look. Nope, today was about fiddling with the engines.

here's the video.
http://youtu.be/KiXkPisC5r0

Alright, all that is left to do is final clean up and sanding, and then painting.

for the record, the parts I ended up using to make the chin turret were

1/2" PVC pipe coupler (exterior diameter 22mm), cut and beveled to fit the chin turret recess.
2 landspeeder assault cannon barrel sets.
nose sensor/turret piece from a Storm Raven kit
cupola turret ring and hatch from a Space Marine tank kit

I'll probably continue to tinker with the nose turret, and possible come up with some variants.

Anyway, here is the last video dedicated to the chin turret. all of the future videos will be about landing gear, and painting.

http://youtu.be/vD5EjU0A2OU



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and if a Mod sees this, can you move this thread over to the P&M blog sub forum? I can see this turning into something more than just modeling a new turret on on Storm Talon.