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I recently came into possession of a thunderhawk. Now my first thought was I should flip it this kit is known for being a huge headache to assemble correctly and its not amazing in the Imperial Armour books.
And with the building of my iron warriors legion and the new rules in the Crusade Army List I can run what amounts to a 13/13/13 hp9 thunderhawk due to flare sheilds, ramjet grid and void-crafted hull.
I figured I would make my friends cry a little with a surprise at the next Apoc game.
I still might end up selling it after its all said and done but how often does someone get to do a Thunderhawk, I had to take the challenge

A awesome looking model when done up right, or in the case of the one I acquired a giant ball of resin wrapped in unmixed greenstuff. And I am not kidding literally every major component from the wings to the fuselage where held together with greenstuff, and not the normal cured green hard greenstuff no that would hold together well this was literally unmixed jammed in and painted over greenstuff. So much so I was able to disassemble the entire model with less than 5 lbs of pressure, downside a gum like mess of yellow and blue gunk over every part.


Here are some pics after it is disassembled.


Luckily the kit is complete with the exception of the thunderhawk cannon, which is no biggie since I am planning to run it with the turbo laser anyway.
The heavy bolter turrets are in need of heavy repair and one of the wing let lascannons is missing a barrel, no biggie.



So Step 1 will be stripping the model:
I use Castrol Super Clean its a big purple jug often found at walmart in the automotive section. Make sure to wash you're hands after comeing in contact with it as it will cause minor chemical burns if you do not.
It does slightly stain resin but it does a amazing job at killing paint.


And into plastic tubs:



Ill update after the stripping is done.

Neat! looking forward to seeing it back in one piece and built properly.

What bastard molested that beautiful model?

Yeah ouch... that model has been through a lot.

Good luck restoring it though!

The Techmarines are gonna be mad when they find who did that to that glorious construct...

Can't wait to see what you do with this, subbed!

Good luck on the restoration

I've got to question... who the heck has the pennies to buy one of those.....only to totally ruin it with a lack of knowledge that kneadatite needs kneading. ...mind = boggled ; I cant imagine what kind of person splashes that kinda cash on a figure they clearly know nothing about building.

You joke, Mrs L. wanted to get a 1:48 scale helicopter kit for her dad, a model of one from his old squadron you see...

Took me a while but talked her out of it, kit is resin and etched brass and I just *knew* I'd end up getting it half built dumped back on me to sort out.

This poor creature may be the same, bought for someone as opposed to by someone, and for someone who has no idea what a resin kit is or what to do with it.

That said, it seems to have found a suitable home

Dude, you should cut/clean you fingernails.

You do realize that they are clean, it just appears they are long? Out of a molested thunderhawk that costs half a grand at least probably, and in ONE picture he has a single nail showing.
edited by motyak

Looks like OP edited the picture to one where his fingernail isn't showing. It wasn't just long, there was clearly a brownish-yellow stain underneath.

I don't know about that, since I saw this tread when it was made and it only had the kneadite picture with the engines showing his hands as per before. The irony is that the OP talks about washing his hands after stripping the model so... even if they were, they're not now...

I think you were looking at the wrong thread or something. Either way it is rude to point out. Now I guess if we are to discuss this more take it to PM to not derail this thread.

Since it's Iron warriors does that mean you'll have plenty of extra armour bolted on?

I must say the unmixed green stuff made my day.

More proof if necessary that model kits aren't for everyone.

 Stormwall wrote:
I don't know about that, since I saw this tread when it was made and it only had the kneadite picture with the engines showing his hands as per before. The irony is that the OP talks about washing his hands after stripping the model so... even if they were, they're not now...

I think you were looking at the wrong thread or something. Either way it is rude to point out. Now I guess if we are to discuss this more take it to PM to not derail this thread.

Do you really think I am going to send you a private message about somebody else's fingernails?

Dude, your fingernails look fine.

I can't even imagine how much money it would cost to buy enough GS to hack a THawk together! How on earth could any retailer let this guy walk out of the store thinking he was going to use GS to glue his model together?

Sometimes I think the FLGS employees see them coming...

Guys, the topic is still important in this subforum. And I don't believe fingernails are the topic.

But seriously how can a games store employee let someone walk out the door thinking green stuff is for glueing?

I wanna see this thing getting built, but i also want to see just how much GS came off it too.

Poor thunderhawk, the abuse it suffered :-(

Well done for taking the challenge instead of putting it aside. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Update: 12/6

Picked up some supplies for the flying base, A wooden round plaque, some black felt for the bottom, a 3/4 pvc receiver and plug some jb weld and a steel brace.
I also ordered a 15 in 3/4 clear acrylic rod so after fitting it into the base and receiver the thunder hawk will be flying a full foot off the ground, allowing it to easily clear other flyers and most building
which is one of the most annoying parts of using it in a game.



Stripping is complete, I can not stress enough how great the super clean is. Literally 80% of the paint comes off with a tap water rinse and the rest with a pass or 2 from a soft bristle toothbrush.
Here is a example of the only drawback, : purple :this piece was not fully under the liquid.


Here are the rest of the parts:



There is still alot of glue remnant cleanup to do:


And sanding




Now the fun part, I ordered a 15 inch 3/4 da Acrylic rod from http://www.dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/sculpting_supplies.htm
I plan to affix the resin receiver to the bottom of the thunderhawk, Drill into the bottom of it and jb weld a receiver to the top and bottom of the model for the rod to rest in, this will prevent pressure from being directed to the warp
the bottom of the thunderhawk, and the metal plate along the top will spread the weight load along one of the more sturdy parts of the model. Here is a rough mock up.



I will be ordering some magnets for the wings soon aswell, there is nearly a full inch thick brace of resin adjacent to them on the main hull that is a great place to sink a bar magnet and a pair of disks in the wings will make travel a lot easier.
Also started a dry fit, overall not bad, need to sand the joints and remove the last of the glue to avoid spaces on the seams here is a rough dry fit of the main parts, ill update again when I start on the magnets.

For your wings, if you're going for a "big" rectangle on the body, use the same thing for the wings. It doesn't make much sense to lose strength by using disc magnets instead.

Looks like the stripping went off without a hitch. Well done.

Is that green stuff being applied as glue?!

hybridmoments82

The jb weld is for the steel plate and pvc receiver inside and locking the flight stand into its base, the rest of the model will be assembled with normal superglue with no accelerator.

Looking nice, its finally looking like its ment to . :-)

Subbed, im super excited to see how this pans out.

Small update.


Ordered the bar magnets for the wings and hull, and started the base and hull assembly.
For both the base and model I drilled with a Bosch paddle bit 3/4 inch, made a little hole with my exacto after measuring out the center.
Nerve wracking but easy, make sure to do it slow and if it binds reverse and clear the shavings, Also use a mask to prevent breathing in resin dust.



I jb'd the metal plate in place, and the rod into the base after drilling, I put a plastic baggie under the wood to keep the jb from adhering to my table and also to give it a nice plug to support it.

*bottom*


The JB mixes easily, I used a disposable cup bottom and a coffee straw but sorta misjudged the amount I needed so I had to mix another batch.
Its quite nice to work with, can be wiped down with paper before it sets and small amounts can be chipped off with fingernails if it gets on something it should not as long as it hasn't hardened yet.
I got some on the rod, but it came off easily after the 15 min set time.





The steel plate, I decided to scrap the PVC receiver for 2 reasons.
1. 3/4 in pvc cap is not 3/4 in internally and the screw plug is just slightly less than 3/4 which lead to over an hour of shaving the inside to make it try and make it fit.
2. the fit on the hole and resin receiver is so tight it holds it place pretty well with just the friction, and I can adjust the height based on how far in feed the rod into it,
I have some extra felt, so ill just pad the steel with some felt where the rod makes contact on the upper hull when on display.



I plan to start cleaning up and sanding down the glue on the wings while I wait for the magnets to get in, and ill make a trip down to a R/C hobby store to buy some brass rods to fix the heavy bolter sponsens.

One of the few things that warms my black heart is seeing models like this get a second chance. Amazing work so far, can wait to see more updates.

You're a braver man than I. I do have to agree though, it is nice to see this fine model get a second life. I've always wanted one myself. Maybe I can pick up some tips to do something like this myself. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see more pics.

Cool thread!! Keep us posted!

Really cool.... keep posting !
I'm a big fan of saving models that deserve a second chance, saved a few Rhino's that way.