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With the winter holidays, I have more time:


This model reminds me how much I hate painting flesh and metal. Zooming in shows how much I need to fix!

I think you're being a bit hard on yourself, it looks like a solid paint job to me. Higher than the average table top standard easily.

EDC

Cheers!

Just a sneak (well not so sneaky) of my main winter project:



Picked it up from Ebay earlier this year. It's 99.9% complete (just missing 2 tiny parts that I can make myself out of brass tube). Didn't come with the certificate, but did have the case complete with key and undamaged. I will paint it in the colors of my brother's Blood Angels. Didn't feel right to make it into a Sisters of Battle looted vehicle!

Day 1: Working on the Cockpit


The side panels are all pinned, you can see the marks I made for drilling:



For extra strength I greenstuffed the inside extensively:

The back edges haven't been glued to the side panels yet, so no greenstuff there yet. I need to pin the back plates first.

Also worked on figuring out how to use the internal support structs:

They are used to support the entire model AND they support the top plates. It all fits very badly (especially the top plates will have huge gaps). It will need a lot of filling.


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Day 2: Internal support structures and more side panels

Added 2 more side panels to the cockpit:


All those side panels, and there are 4 in a row on each side and a bunch on top, need to be pinned twice.

The bottom pannel is in place.


But it had a lot of shrinkage or just didn't fit. I had to fill some big gaps. Compared to the rear panel of the cockpit it was like 2mm smaller. First I thought I had assembled the side panels crooked! I used some plasticard to fill the gap.

Pins, pins everywhere!


I had to enlarge the hole a bit. You are supposed to fix the front landing gear in there somehow. The instructions are very unclear. There's no flat surfaces to easily pin it too. I will have to improvise something!

The internal support structure looks like this:

To support the top plates I spaced two every time, so each plate has its own support instead of having to precariously balance them halfway. It will also need to be pinned to the side panels for extra rigidity.

It fits into the Thunderhawk like this:


Again, many gaps. But I will just put some long pins through the side panels into the support structs to keep it in place.

The engines will be supported by the engine carriage:


This will attach to the brass rod I threaded through the other support sections.


Lastly, there's some more side panels:


Most of this isn't glued yet, just half-pinned. The complate fuselage:



More tomorrow!

Day 3: Internal woes and engine trouble

I spent some time with the engines while waiting for greenstuff to harden:



The engines consist of 4-5 midsections, none of which fit properly of course. I had to sand, file, sand some more and generally curse GW before they'd fit. And even now I'm not sure whether they are straight or not.

The intake/exhaust bits were simple in comparison, just needing a lot of greenstuff to provide any sort of surface for later glue. The Thunderhawk comes with 3 different exhaust bits, I've taken the wide-open ones for now but I'm not sure I will go for that. Once the model is more complete I'll see how it looks.

I pinned and glued the end bit:


I then fitted the entire internal support structure and pinned it in place (I must have used a whole packet of brass rod by now, like 1.5m):



The entire fuselage is very rigid now, if not entirely straight... I pinned about 4 support structs from each side, so 8 total. You can see the pins in the side on this photo:


The way the model is now riddled with pins means I have to cover them with purity seals...


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Measuring from front to tail it's 30cm atm.. I haven't dared measuring its weight yet though..

Day 4: Upper hull frustrations

Finished the engines:


Despite my best efforts the main engine (the taller one) is slightly crooked. When in place under the hull it's not that noticeable though.

Assembled the main cannon:

Many gaps and crappy connections. Much filling. Will sand thoroughly when hardened.

After much gnashing of teeth I assembled the upper hull:


As you can see it's made up of many separate pieces that are supposed to fit at angles when tiny tiny TINY surfaces. Many space marines were offered to the dark gods before I managed to assemble it. Because the parts were, naturally, warped a lot it's not quite perfect.

Judge for yourself!



I had to cut some pieces to fit.

I suspect that even with perfectly cast pieces it would be a supreme challenge to build the lower hull and still have the upper hull fit perfectly.

Tail fin:


An easy piece in comparison. Just a few pins for the top/bottom. The flaps were just glued in place.

The wings:

The wings are basically to pieces of warped metal that are supposed to be glued together. I did my best, next up greenstuffing!

Landing gear:


The front gear was a bit of a mess with greenstuff. Even with pins it wasn't that stable. I will have to clean it up. Also, the way it connects to the cockpit is just stupid. There are only 2 1mm edges where it was supposed to connect to.I cut/filed until I had 4 points of contact.

Fit of the landing gear and main engine:


Fit of side engines:



For the upper hull I applied greenstuff liberally after it was in place. I couldn't reach it easily so it won't win no beauty pageants!


You can see the holes I drilled for the rear landing gear as well as the plates covering the engine carriage. More sub-1mm connecting surfaces...

Once fully assembled/painted I hope most of the greenstuff will be invisible!

Good god it is a monster.... I admire your tenacity sir!!! This looks like the Magnum Opus o a lifetime of modeling.

It's a very 'heavy' project, that's for sure! It measures about 32 cm now from front to tail. I'll have to weigh it when it's complete!

Day 5: afternoon bash

It's been clear sailing since the upper hull. Put most of the parts together (even if a lot aren't glued yet) for an overview:



Changes since yesterday involve pinning the main cannon in place, filling gaps, pinning the wings (both the tips, the wing itself and pinning it to the wing carriage) and pinning the tail fin in place.

To-do:
* Pin heavy bolters and ammo belts
* Prepare engines for pinning
* check check check and sand/file imperfections
* apply space marines icons (edged brass)
*
*
*
* find a way to make it sit on a flying stand...

Day 6: almost done!

It's a bird, it's a train...? It's a flying brick!



I still had a flying stem and connector from Dragon Forge Designs (http://www.dragonforge.com/), which I had planned to use for a Eldar Vampire Hunter. But since that's now OOP I missed the chance to buy one.




4 thick pins through the connecting block into the Thunderhawk. It sits quite snugly without the Thunderhawk wobbling so I won't glue the block to the Thunderhawk. Instead I'll keep the connector and the stem separate for ease of storage.

Here are all the separate parts for the Thunderhawk:


And this is it all put together (without glue, I still need to prime it!):




To-do:
* clean-up
* etched brass
* prime
* paint!

After this ordeal those 4 steps seem easy, no?

Edit:
Forgot to mention that I wanted to modernize it a bit to make it legal with the new rules. For that it needs 2 lascannons and 6 bombs/hellstrike missiles. I'd totally forgotten about them so I've ordered some from FW which will probably arrive somewhere in January. But they are easy to add on later.

Day 7: Priming!

I spent some time affixing etched brass markings, strategically placed to cover pins. I also glued a ton of plastic purity seals onto the body, again to cover up pins.





Some more sanding and filing later I took them to the garage to prime and voila!

Tomorrow I'll start painting.

Nice work on that beast, not often you see an original LE metal T-Hawk

I remember when that kit was first released, cant believe you found an unbuilt one in the original case.

Well done on putting that monster together, being all metal it must weigh a ton.

 hk1x1 wrote:
I remember when that kit was first released, cant believe you found an unbuilt one in the original case.

Well done on putting that monster together, being all metal it must weigh a ton.

They pop up on Ebay every so often. Most of the times overpriced, but this one was a decent bargain. It was complete except for the certificate/instructions and 2 small parts.

I'll be sure to weigh it once it's complete!

This is not getting anywhere near the attention it deserves!

Stunned you found such a complete one un-built as has been mentioned, really curious to see the weigh in. That and I'd love to see how the classic compares to FW's resin beasty in terms of size.

Great that you're doing it justice too with the careful planning and proper pinning, so many big kits and old classics end up mauled without the TLC they deserve.

Excellent job as always,

By the golden throne that is a monster! You're doing an outstanding job of making it come to life though! Very educational and well documented! Good luck! I can't wait to see the finished project

Some basecoating done so far:


Holding 5kg of metal with one hand trying to paint details isn't easy I realise!

Some further work done:




The camera makes the red far darker than it is in daylight though..

Have an Exalt good sir , I don't think I've seen a WIP on a metal thunderhawk before. Great work, truely a centerpiece.

Looks fantastic! I have to agree with Theophony, I don't think i've seen a metal T-Hawk before either

Thanks! Painting progresses smoothly:


Painted the landing gear and glued it in place for easier handling:


The front side, note the windshield wipers. This is serious grimdark!


Little stubby canards:


Hopefully today and tomorrow will see it finished. Sunday I have a tournament but hadn't counted on having it finished so I'm bringing some other list instead..

I need to get a foam tray made by Battlefoam anyways. It should just just fit.

Any chance of a scale shot next to a storm eagle or the like? Painting is coming along well

As you can see it's a good deal longer, but not much wider.

I'm copying my brother's Blood Angels scheme and I noticed I need to make the flaps blue!

Mostly done now:







I'm not sure if my weight scale (meant for people up to 150kg) is accurate at low weights, but it gives me 4.2kg

I almost didn't dare put it on the base and stem. The stem is 12" high and I think it's too much. I've pinned the connector both on the Thunderhawk and the base with 4 thick pins, but I'm not convinced.

I've ordered a 6" stem, which should put less pressure on especially the bottom connector.

I'm not even sure it should be more than an inch above the table
Nice work on a metal model that size

Gave it a final lookover and then varnished it.





I'm sure I'll find more rough spots when zoomed in, but just handling it is a constant worry that you might damage the paintjob, since it is so heavy.



I've given it a thick coat of spray varnish, hopefully to protect it.

To-do:
* Attach lascannon/hellstrike missiles when my FW order arrives
* Design a custom Battlefoam tray (it'll fit in a normal case, luckily!)
* Wait for my 6" flying stem to arrive
* Maybe apply some decals
* take it a tournament!

---

In the meantime I've started on a simpler model:





Need to convert the pilot to a Sister of course...

That is quite incredible. What a mammoth task. Really well executed and finished. Very jealous but I doubt I would have the patience to attempt the old metal thunderhawk! Perfect colour scheme as well!

That deserved more attention.

What a beast! You did a stellar job!

Thanks!

Strangely enough today my lascannons/hellstrike missiles arrived so I can get working on that.

The lascannons and missiles are in place:



Now I just have to wait for the shorter flying stem to arrive. And design a Battlefoam tray for it.

Beautiful.