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've worked on two of those blasted metal thunder hawks and I want to warn you that if your engine support struts are straight and even then the engines will not fit in them. Don't glue all of the engine mounts until you've test-fitted the engines in the curved parts.

Thanks elsuive! I have indeed tested them, and so far so good!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And thanks shasolenzabi, fingers crossed it will all be enough!

Hello! I've been slowly grinding through this project this last week! Lots of tedious work this time around, but I also got a lot done in terms of build. As stated before, one of the major structural problems inherent to the metal T-hawk are its landing gears. Of course, this is easily dealt with by just placing it on a heavy-duty flight stand. I'm not really one for flight stands for my big flyers, so I wanted to be able to have my T-hawk in the landing position without fear of having its landing gears bend under its own weight, especially the front one. The solution I used was to drill straight through each landing gear and run a thick brass rod through it.



For added support for the front landing gear the brass rod I used was kept extra long so it would join to the roof of the main hull, not that you can tell from my pic!



After dry fitting the two halves of the hull I stumbled upon a real dilemma. The back landing gears are too short! My first thought was that I put the front landing gear on incorrectly, but from what I could tell I did do it right. Looking at other people's builds from online I saw that this issue was common and that some people just fit the front landing gear deeper into the T-hawks hull than what the instructions say. My join was pretty darn sturdy, so I didn't want to rip it out and redo it. Instead I opted to lengthen the back landing gears using thick plasticard. I think it turned out well enough, and I'm sure no one will notice, hehe!



Here are the two hulls dry fitted together!



At this point I want to glue in place the two outer engines, but the instructions are all over the place as to how they are positioned. As such, I'm going to build the battle cannon assembly and compartment next, because I foresee the positioning of the engines having an effect on the placement of the mini-wings that fit over it, if that makes any sense.

That is too ridiculous. Keep it up!

Thanks Mythos, it is pretty ridiculous, the things we do!

DUDE!

This is freakin epic! I love the daily updates...good luck and I look forward to more.

Great work! It's very impressive.

Lovely looking model there mate! Really nice to see it coming together!

Thanks Zeke 169, Stormwall, and MagosBiff90, I appreciate y'all coming down and checking out my updates! Today I got the primary wings done, which was pretty straightforward for this model! The kit came with two pairs of the old metal "crayon" Whirlwind launchers. I don't know if this was an original part of the kit or if someone added it later. Regardless, they make for nice missile pods, which I've magnetized in case I change my mind about them!



Next, I'll be working on the top compartment of the secondary hull where the main battle cannon is located. I tried getting it together thinking super glue was all I needed, but since I'm unable to sprout a second pair of arms, I'm going to go ahead and pin it together. Here are all the main pieces laid out:



Fun times!

This is great, I remember when it was first released, I just drooled

The way this thing goes together is crazy.

Not to be overly silly but, imagine playing with this when it is done like the airplanes from when we were kids, you know... Running down the hall holding it above your head while going "vrrooooom."

I think you'd kill someone! I mean, I've already seen what a metal dreadnought can do in a car crash! (We have a guy with a plus shaped scar from a pewter dreadnought at our FLGS. He wrecked, it flew from the back of his car, grabbed a chunk of his head, and kept going. Hit the pavement. Worst that happened was a scratched primer coat and the base losing attachment on of the legs. He however was bleeding like mad. (Can't make this stuff up. The dude really has a scar with four finger grooves and a crater in between them.) Anyways, I wonder just how heavy are these when they are done?

Sorry for gushing OT. This is still going to be amazing. Surprised you got the wicked cool crayon launchers with it, amd the wings turned out swell.

@Calibanite Lion: Hehe, yup, that was my reaction as well way back when!

I agree Mythos, this kit is not for the lighthearted!

@Stormwall: Hehe, I'd have to do it with both hands and cradle it like a football!

Yeah, I believe it! Wow, that's pretty insane! I remember an old joke at my FLGS about how you could make the metal dreadnought into a weapon by putting it in a sock. It seems it wasn't far off from the truth! If I'm ever driving with my T-hawk in the back I'll be sure to have it kept in a securely fastened down case! No worries, I'm quite the fan of off topic discussion, and your story certainly pertained to the weight issues experienced with this model! Thanks, everything is slowly coming together! Here's what I've done today, all put together from the last pic:



Now that I've built this section I have a good idea of how the secondary wings fit over the engine. Also, now that I've looked into this matter more closely, I see I was working off of the wrong assumption. I assumed that the tubing that run down the engines are meant to be positioned along the top, but this seems to be wrong. I've realized that even looking at GW's original WD pics only goes so far, seeing as there are build inconsistencies between the three they built for Games Day. So, looking at the MkIII Epic model, you can clearly see that the tubing is positioned right above where it connects with the wing, here is a pic from the web:

http://www.elisanet.fi/henrikki.almusa/gw/epic/ultramarines/thunderhawk_1_2.jpg

That is a cool gun top. It'd work on it's own for terrain.

Will you be magnetizing the gun so you have the option to swap it out for the laser?

Yeah, it is pretty cool by itself Stormwall, the old T-hawk hawks really had that Gothic flying fortress look down!

@Zuul: Hehe, too late for that, the cannon is pinned down and glued pretty securely at this point. I might have considered it if this kit had come with optional weapons. The easier thing, at this point, would be to just make a turbo-laser destroyer out of tubing that will be big enough to place over the metal cannon.

Well, it took some doing, but i got the two outer engines in place! I drilled a hole straight through the secondary hull and middle engine for the brass rod to go in. I then drilled matching holes into the two outer engines, so in the end, it is the brass rod that is taking most of the weight of the two engines instead of the thin and easily bendable braces. You can't really see in the pic I took, but that's sort of the point, this fact is pretty well hidden from view thanks to the way the hull and wings are constructed.



Also, after a dry run, I found that the position of the tubing running along the top of the engines doesn't get in the way of the mini-wings if positioned on top. This is one instance where I opted to just follow the pics in the instruction manual. I had already glued the front part of the engine in place so as to have the three nubs around it positioned in a "Y" shape. By having the tubing run right up against the wing the nubs become misaligned. Looking at GW's pics and other builds there doesn't seem to be a single way to do this, even the pics in the instructions are inconsistent, and knowing what I know now only came about because I worked this far into the model. Furthermore, the mkIII Epic model only has two nubs, so looking at it's engine construction may not have been the best bet either, oh well, what's done is done!

I'm glad the structural reinforcing is going well.

Amazing, not often you see these being built nowadays - thank you for documenting in such great detail dude

Thanks Mythos, this kit really needs it! In fact, I'd say the most challenging aspect of this model is the structural reinforcing! I can only imagine the horros that await anyone who manages to put this model together with super glue alone!

Much appreciated Ruglud! These kits are certainly getting harder to find, although, I just saw a reasonably priced one on ebay just now. Yeah, looking at other people's build online, no one has really documented their build process very closely.

So yes, hope everyone had a relaxing Easter. Now that the holidays are over I got back to my T-hawk. Hit a couple of minor setbacks having to do with the undercarriage and one of the engines, but fixed that up and moved on to getting the wings on!



Tomorrow will be a big day as I will finally be connect ing the front and back hulls together. For this job I'll be busting out the two-part epoxy!

I always was a little horrified by the little guys in the wing heavy bolter turrets. Talk about drawing the short straw on the crew assignments.

Hehe, I always thought it was interesting that a lot of GWs fluff describes such weapons as being "slaved" (as opposed to manned). Makes some sense now!

This is getting exciting!

 Heliodore wrote:
Thanks Zeke 169, Stormwall, and MagosBiff90, I appreciate y'all coming down and checking out my updates! Today I got the primary wings done, which was pretty straightforward for this model! The kit came with two pairs of the old metal "crayon" Whirlwind launchers. I don't know if this was an original part of the kit or if someone added it later. Regardless, they make for nice missile pods, which I've magnetized in case I change my mind about them!

For some reason I think I remember them being on a metal Thunderhawk, but it may have been Fred Reed's conversion. This is what the original box shows;





Yup, Fred Reed's conversion

You are making excellent progress on a model that looks completely insane to build.

From what I remember the missile launchers came with it. The rules had them as an upgrade.

That is one beast of a flier. Nice update.

Hehe, I'm getting pretty excited as well!

@Dreadclaw69: Yup, I've got the WD that features Fred Reed's Chaos T-hawk right in front of me! It's pretty much what convinced me to go ahead and use the Whirlwind launchers on mine. Reed got his T-hawk for being named Manager of Year in 96, and according to his interview, he was just handed a big bag of metal parts! So it's hard to say if the launchers were included or if Reed got the bits on his own volition.

@Mythos: What I read was that GW never released rules to go with their metal T-hawk, and I've certainly never found any. They were selling it as a collectible/ centerpiece and not as a gaming piece, much like how they told Armorcast to stop including rules for their resin kits back in the day. The closest thing to official rules at this time would have come from Citadel Journal #10, which was from 1995, and this indeed had upgrades for various kinds of missiles. I have no idea how widespread Ctadel Journal would have been at that time.

And thanks Warboss_Waaazag, I feel pretty good about how it has been progressing. Not perfect, but good enough!

So yes! Today I glued the two hulls together, and that's pretty much it, I want to let the glue dry as well as possible!






Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks Stormwall, should be done by the end of the week!!

That is seriously impressive Heliodore. Wow.

There were GW events where these were used as part of the scenario is what I recall.