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So I just went and bought the Metal Brick on ebay, should arrive in a few weeks, so I do have a question, does anyone have any info or builds they did to stop the saging, I really could not find any Videos instructions on how to build the thunderhawk at all.

Kind regards

William

I wonder, could you build it, then fill it with resin for strength? I would look into doing something like that if I was going to do one myself. And it goes without saying: I would pin it like a madman.

Hmm, maybe not do much filling it with resin, but what about that expanding spray insulation foam? Not sure if that would really do much. But the usual advice is to pin the hell out of it.

the lead monster.

much painning is in your future.

ive seen pictures of people also using a steel plate in ite centre to mount and spread weight when mounted on a stand.

Not mine, but Shandara has some nice in progress shots of his metal TH:
http://www.gwhobby.net/forum/index.php?topic=221.msg392982#msg392982

There is a kind like a expanding glue.

Its expandy foam but very sticky.
But not sure what change make strength wise.

Ok, i also thought of foam but it could extremly heavy, and i am a fit guy, 5kg is nothing to me, already thinking about pining and micro welding, i thinking a steel plate with with a structaral steel internal frame like a fish or boat frame, microweld may be the best option, need to look more into once it is infront of me, need to grab on the steel structure which is internal somehow

I don't actually think foam would help all that much. Foam is more useful when you have strong skins which aren't capable of transferring shear from one side to the other - stuff like carbon fibre or glass fibre skins on the wing of an aircraft.

Unless I'm misunderstanding how the thing goes together.

If you can get a steel plate in there, especially if the long axis of the plate is aligned vertically rather than horizontally, that should work.

Soldering perhaps? Find a suitable low melt solder and a temperature controlled iron with a bit of power to it, combine with pins for stability during the process. Will also fill gaps, use a 99 degree melt and can undo it by boiling in water if needed?

I have to agree with you guys, Soldering is what I read up on, most post regarding it says to difficult but is usually better then glue and perhaps doable on bigger models (like this), it may not be bad with the amount of metal involved, as alot of this thunder hawks seem to fall apart, metal plate is also a must, and extreme amount of pinning. haha, ahh well. I need to buy the correct solderer though.

Stare at it then cry a bit.

Then probably an ass ton of pinning is probably your bet bet.

Soldering could work but you need to be careful. also no open flames doing it with propane will probably make you very sad very quick.

you could also build up a sub structure out of plastic or wood, then epoxy it together.

Personally, again myself, I would not even build it.

It's ugly, it takes an act of what ever got you believe it to keep it together, and for me it's a collectors item, and would almost seem wrong to build.

That said, I would advice in a very strong two part apoxy and pinning, get some brass rod, and a drill and some vice grips and a steady hand.

My first tip was to sell it off, hopefully at a profit?

Make a dread sock out of it.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/684128.page

 Desubot wrote:
Soldering could work but you need to be careful.

DO NOT DO THIS.

The metal that miniatures are cast from has an extremely small temperature range between "completely solid" to "molten puddle on your desk", and the melting point is at a very low temperature. It is theoretically possible to solder miniatures together but even the slightest error in temperature control will destroy the model before you realize that anything is wrong. Soldering cheap and easily replaceable stuff is stupid. Soldering an expensive OOP collector's item is really stupid. Just light some hundred dollar bills on fire and get the same end result.

You are aware solderinf metal kits is a technique that's been used a while? If a 90 degree melt solder will stick and you have a temp controlled iron I'm not seeing the problem, before mine broke I found it worked well and can be a lot easier to remove if you muck it up than glue.

Horses for things horses run round of course but there are a whole slew of kits out there held together with solder, it's far from uncommon

leopard wrote:
You are aware solderinf metal kits is a technique that's been used a while? If a 90 degree melt solder will stick and you have a temp controlled iron I'm not seeing the problem, before mine broke I found it worked well and can be a lot easier to remove if you muck it up than glue.

Horses for things horses run round of course but there are a whole slew of kits out there held together with solder, it's far from uncommon

Thing is not many people know how to solder correctly, and that miniature is not one to test on.

leopard wrote:
You are aware solderinf metal kits is a technique that's been used a while? If a 90 degree melt solder will stick and you have a temp controlled iron I'm not seeing the problem, before mine broke I found it worked well and can be a lot easier to remove if you muck it up than glue.

Horses for things horses run round of course but there are a whole slew of kits out there held together with solder, it's far from uncommon

Ether way I agree with Peregrine its not really worth royally fething something up.

Reinforce it with plastic or wood and 2 part epoxy it.

Agree it takes practice, and equipment, but until mine broke it was by far the best way to put kits together that had trouble with glue.

Main downside is the lack of a weak point at the join, i.e. drop it and it will more likely break than pop apart.

Doubt I'd practice on a thunderhawk, but its a useful technique to know.

on the plus side you then have the kit to add lights


If not going for that I'd go with pins and superglue, epoxy works but if it goes wrong is a swine to remove, least superglue isn't that hard to get off again, maybe a few 'pins' that look closer to roofing nails given how heavy that must be.

I'd be more worried wreaking it with a drill than a soldering iron, and I *know* I'd wreak it with araldite, probably stay in one bit, just not recognisable.

Either way looking forwards to see it

Im sure if the glue job goes bad, a quick bath in acetone would deal with it pretty quick.

i dont think pewter is effected by it. though if its an older model maybe it might with the lead(?)

Dont worry my first attempt aint going to be the thunderhawk at soldering, i got a few pieces of veterans, dreadnoughts etc i will try soldering on first, if i master it i will post a few videos, if i dont then glue is the best option with reinforcement, brass rod sound great, and the reinforcement with plastic, instead of steel frame may be better. Vice grips also look helpful thanks for that. Well lets just wait a month until it arrives, and then fun begins. Thanks again everyone

I prob tape While building asking for suggestions along the way.

Id watch out with vice grips.

dont want to mar the surface.

You can get a whole heap of small clamps from a hardware store that have rubber grips to avoid damaging the surfaces. A few bar clamps and a couple of spring clamps are useful. You can also use a bit of that non-slip rubber sheeting and put it on the clamping surface to help prevent the clamp slipping off if you're clamping on a weird angle.

Nice, watching this topic with close interest.
Did the one you buy have a kitty in the display pics?
I was dying to go for one, but the customs fee of an additional 20% scared me away. I'm so glad someone who's actually gonna build the kit picked one of these up.

Yep, the one with the kitty, though ge wouldnt include it, ill do an update after it arrives.

Do a diorama of some tech priests trying to put a T-hawk together?

Someone did one a year or two ago and had a blog on Dakka. Try and look for it.

Well it has Finally arrived, I will post a video about it tomorrow, the box is falling apart and is a lot bigger then I thought, thinking what have I gotten myself into, never give up, never surrender.

Well, don't expect any sympathy here - the entire thread is essentially "don't do it!"...so...good luck!

There are metal thunderhawks? How old are those bricks? I've never even heard of them until now.

Very small run of them from maybe...1999-2000? A while back.