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I've always wanted to do a Thunder Warrior army, but theres always been a few snags in that I've never been able to find quite the right bits to properly represent them.

The big sticking point for me was always the bolter. In the fluff the Thunder Warriors had these massive proto-bolters that even a Space Marine struggles to lift. Phobos pattern got a little close, but they didn't have the front mounted magazine without a bit of hacking. So I've decided to bite the bullet and just make my own as it will be easier in the long run rather than converting everything.

So I started out with a rough concept sketch:



Next up, it was time to do a bit of 3D modelling. Most of the dimentions were either eyeballed or measured with my chinese callipers, both of which have roughly the same accuracy.



Off to the 3D printer now for the prototypes before I setup my casting rig.

Sweet! What software did you use to model and render this gun?

@Malika2 I used OnShape, its a free online version of what is effectively Solidworks. Really decent program, I'm still not really using its full functionality but I'm getting good mileage out of it.


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3D print is done, this thing is very big on a standard marine! I may have a play later on at scaling it down a bit for use with early great crusade troops. Currently this would probably work well with a primaris marine instead of the bolt carbine.

Also, my photo-cure resin is translucent. This means my camera has a hell of a time trying to focus on it and its all around a bit of a sod to get a good picture of:



Scale pic next to Anvil industy notabolter



And on a set of Mk III armour, this thing really dwarfs a standard bolter, which is what I wanted. Should look good on a larger model.

I like it, you could try using a plasma pistol. Ill try to post my guy later.

Awesome!

So, a bit of a change of direction in this project. I've been playing around with casting for a while and decided to give it a go. I've used a hybrid Vacuum/Pressure method that is giving me really good results:



I was looking at primaris marines and thought it could be interesting to do them in a retro style, so here is Beaky Marine 2.0:



Here is one of the casts compared with the primaris bolt rifle:




EDIT: If you like this and want some for yourself, I've popped them up on ebay. - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28mm-Scale-Proto-Bolt-Rifle-x-5/123946482550

This is a ton of fun. I love seeing old models and ideas given new life, and you’re doing an excellent job

Old school, new life. Complete with a beakie helmet and a bumpy shoulder pad. Awesome.

Hey, Da Generul here. I've switched accounts to this one and I'm moving this across to my main blog about making 28mm scale bits. If you are interested in more updates, check me out over there

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/781673.page#10606327