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Hey DAKKA DAKKA,

I have recently been invited for some Apoc/Campaign games and well I have gotten bitten by the scratch building bug, after seeing my friends Megalith =O.
So since i play eldar and im sitting around 3k points i thought i would like some really neat stuff...however im not to fond of some designs for eldar heavy supports.
After a long while of thinking about this and consulting friends, I have come up with a few ideas that i would like to build and im starting my first one this week.



So the Big White Airship, Name the Pegasus, in the center is the model that really brought on my inspiration.
the person who made this model is not me but his thread is linked http://eldar.arhicks.co.uk/miniatures/eldar/craftworld/pegasus_1.php

So from this inspiration i spent about 10 hours designing my own ship shown below



Now this drawing is to scale and i completed it last night. I have also completed a side view and am working on the front view.
some dimensions for this ships are:
20" wing span
16" nose to tail length
5~6" tall from the ground up

as far as rules for this ship me and my friends are still debating on what would be fair (im trying to work a Sonic Lance onto this just for some Hell storm fun)

I have worked first hand with balsa since i was 10yrs old and i feel i am comfortable with making it out of balsa.
however after seeing the Pegasus up top i noticed he used Plastic Card.

I myself have not worked with Plastic Card or Lexan but i was wondering is there a way to heat the material and be able to bend and cool it to get it to take a shape?
if so I would like to just build the framework out of balsa and then make the shell out of Plastic Card.

If anyone has ANY experience with plastic card or lexan please leave some feedback and tips I would greatly Appreciate it

Plasticard is sheet polystyrene, which definitely takes to heat forming (it's the most popular material for vacuum forming, after all). Honestly, though, unless you have a vacuum forming rig, I don't think it's the right material for the job. What you want to do can be done, but it's tricky. For simple curves, flat armor cladding, fins, details, etc. it's great, but you'll have a much easier time if you just use filler (Bondo, spackle, etc.) and sandpaper to finalize the shape and finish of your balsa form.

http://volpinprops.blogspot.ca/2010/06/budget-build-mini-vacuum-former.html

Bam. I used the same demonstration and some googling to put together my own vacuum former as well. If you use say, expanding foam over an armature of wire/chicken wire, shave it into appropriately shaped pieces and go over it with some resin or something that you can smooth out to give an even surface... I mean, it takes some dedication, but in the end it's worth the quality of work you can pull off.

Vacuum forming is pretty handy if you want to make a few of them (more than you want to hand build...but less than what would justify making molds for). It is a bit more than your average user needs though.

Normally if I have just a few Eldar (or Tau...and others from other systems) style vehicles - I will figure out the basic design in a 3D package. Once I am happy with the curves and size - I'll go ahead and figure out how to break it down into cross sections to create "rib" templates. These get printed out at full size and glued to sheets of Formica laminate (you can generally get these for cheap/free as off cuts from cabinet maker shops). Cut out the ribs and then use a temporary adhesive to glue them to foam blanks of the appropriate thickness (they make a foam safe spray that you can get at craft stores). You will need two ribs for the next step - so make sure they are positioned properly.

Once the ribs are in place - use a hot wire cutter to follow the ribs and cut out the blanks. The Formica is thin enough to allow pretty good accuracy and it is also able to withstand the heat of the hot wire cutter. Remove the ribs and repeat with the next section. After all the foam sections are cut - you will then want to go ahead and start gluing them together.

After all the various sections of foam are cut and glued together I like to reinforce it some. For this I use a very simple fiberglass skin. Continuous strand surfacing mat is ideal as it takes curves quite well and has little texture. Soak the mat - drape it over your foam blank (bottom side first) - let cure. After it has cured, remove the mat that extends pasted the middle line (I generally use a pair of kitchen shears for this...they are strong enough to handle surfacing mat). Flip it over and repeat for the other side.

Once that core is complete - you simply need to work the details. On Eldar vehicles this usually entails the plates, gems, weapons, intakes... The core itself is solid - so you can add items where you want with whatever adhesives you prefer. You can drill it, cut it and grind it to create openings in the skin for mounting the intakes and cockpit. Remember though - dust masks and all that when cutting/grinding the fiberglass skin.

On making the various details (like the panels on the Eldar vehicles) - I will use regular plasticard. These are first sketched onto the surface and then I make templates to cut them out of plasticard (paper for one offs...Formica if I think I might be doing more than one). Flat areas can simply be glued in place - as can normal curves. If you have compound curves (which Eldar vehicles tend to have) - I will tack down one corner of the panel with an epoxy and then use a heat gun to warm the plastic and shape it to fit.

Chances are pretty good that you will still have a small amount of normal putty work to do - to blend the surfaces together - but if you were paying attention while designing things and were careful not to cut too large of holes...it isn't anything more than you would have when putting together a normal model.

It sounds like a bit of work - but it really isn't too bad. Because the ribs are reusable you can make several vehicles which are identical...or nearly so. It also is rock solid. I have dropped them from the second story window and the superstructure itself was unharmed. Oh - and light too, the scorpions which I built weight just a little more than a pair of wave serpents.

Vehicles like the Orca can be done with interiors as well. You just need to plan ahead with your ribs in order to leave the space for them. Probably have done 30 or so vehicles using this basic method - and it is really the only way that I would want to do these types of vehicles anymore (I've done vacuum forming and carving/building up from scratch).

Okay, I read through all the replies and I honestly feel that each of these methods would bring me out of my comfort zone.

So I will probably build the entire thing from balsa and maybe for later projects I may consider the different methods because well i do need to make a Seer Council on JetBikes so that might be great for making some molds

On the current projects notes i decided i did not like the first concept that i drew up because seeing it next to the Pegasus made mine look not even like an eldar kinda thing so i took it a bit simpler and let me know which concept you all like and why, I would appreciate it