Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I have thought about making a Thunderhawk from scratch but i want to make it different. I then came across the idea of having a large internal bay like a bomber. But inside the bay would be a large rotary missile launcher like the ones used for the cruise missiles of today but with Manticore missiles, maybe 6 of them on a rotary launcher inside the Thunderhawk.

Sounds cool. Manticore missiles might be a bit big, physically, but once you've done the model you could easily count them as any of the Imperial missile types.

How long is a manticore missile, i do not have the kit.

It does sound intriguing.

On a depressingly sad practical side though (sorry), will all the hard work that goes into this not be covered by the fact that even on a flying stand, you will not be able to see inside the missile bay?

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440252a&prodId=prod770022a

They are almost as long as a chimera. I don't know how big a Thunderhawk is in those terms, but it might be a squeeze to fit 6 and a rotating mechanism.

I could, however, be entirely wrong, so definately give it a shot

Yeah, I'd say the are about 4" long witha diametre of just less that 1".

As for numbers depending on whether you wanted an actually moving rotary set of missles you could get away with only 3 missiles if you position depending on how you fint them and the apeture of the missile bay.

The flying stand would not be attached direct to the underside of the bomber, but probably a 3 point stand on the wings and front of plane, id have opening doors to show the detail and also have the missile bay rotating.

The thunderhawk is 3 inches across and 4 inches high, so it has a large internal volume. which can be used for the bay.

Rockin' Make it. Alternatively, buy an £80 Stormeagle, and use that

A T-Hawk is a bit big for a bomber, the Stormeagle is probably more like a B1-B anyway. But if you want a B-52 in 40K yeah either a T-Hawk or Marauder.

Storm Eagle Missiles are absolute MF, especially if you roll a 6 on the d3.

I was looking online at the B52 bomber and the B1, id estimate something 40k in scale would be along the lines of the B52, so maybe the Marauder. The gunship would be a last weapon of choice, the city killer, multiple nukes in one plane.

My local GW store manager has built an alright looking Thunderhawk out of several 40k vehicle kits. Im not sure if he's made this up or copied another from else where, but its very good looking.

Made from ‎2 stormravens, 1 vindicator, 1 leman Russ turret sprue off the website.

It came to be just a small amount shorter than the forgeworld £400 thunderhawk (the maker said its only about an inch less) and cost him much less in the seperate kits than the forgeworld beast did.

He would show anyone who goes into the store how to make it if they want to buy the kits required too which I thought was nice of him.

edit; that piccy is from before the Leman Russ turret got mounted.

Thats a really nice version. Probably quite a bit lighter than the FW one as well

My local GW staff isn't that cool, by a long shot.

2 Stormravens and a Vindi, instead of 400£... hell yeah!

Having scratchbuilt a T-hawk myself, I can totally see your rotary mount for the manticore missiles fitting inside the main hold. That thing is roomy. If you are still worried, the hellstrike missiles from the Valkyrie kit are still nice.

That was made by your local manager??
I remember the Manager of the Lynn store telling us about that, AND giving us instructions etc on how to build it...IF we bought the kits.

Which store was it?

Oh...and the idea f a rotary missile launcher on a T-hawk sounds awesome! Subbed

that plastic assembly is quite good. My only crit would be the wings are too small.

Yeah the kitbashed thunderhawk isn'nt quite upto official dimensions.... its a bit skinny and and a bit shorter than the forgeworld resin piece. But for 25% the price I think this is better xD (some assembly required hehe)

The ork bomber kit has lotsa Rockies, might be a better size for what your doijng

Cheers for the input guys, im going to finish my FW Thunderhawk then start on this one , as it will be entirely built from styrene sheet. Ill have the resin one for measurements but it will be changed in many way, there will be no tubolaser on the roof. And it will have 4 engines on the wings,

Have a look on Coolminiornot and look for the converted inquisitor thunderhawk. My idea came from that but instead of a Spooky type AC130, its going to be a long range, high altitude missile delivery platform. It could have either the rotary missile launcher or a single deathstrike inside it.