Blood Angels Army Project (pic carpet bombing)

[Kawauso]

Yeah, sardines is right, but, they can fit with their armor. Take off their bases, pose some sitting and some standing tall, and you'll find that they fit.

Yeah, that's one thing that bugs me when people complain about models 'not being able to fit' in transports in 40k. They really could.

Anyone who's been inside a military APC will tell you that there is -no- space in there that goes unused.


On-topic:
That's an expensive-looking conversion, Meph, but great job so far.
Not to my tastes, but that's just me: I like Stormravens just fine the way they are.

[vman]

Very cool thread. Pics are worth many words

[Meph]

Hmm yeah, true, current day APC's are pretty cramped but at least soldiers actually fit through the doors and hatches. Any Space marine trying to access a round top hatch needs to first disconnect his power pack and then chop of his arms. And to try and access through the side doors, they have to do a perfect sideways dive, like a goalkeeper doing style jumps.

In terms of price, meh, that's OK, the SR itself was a gift, I bought some extra parts cheaply off of ebay and the hull extension kit was only about 20$, shipping included from Yankeestan to Belgium. :P

Vman; Many more pics will follow, oh yes...

[Meph]

A direction has been taken. I've layered the chin up to exactly the height of the round base. Thankfully, three layers of plasticard is exactly the right thickness.
Never mind the rough, stepped edges you see. I gave them a little bit of leeway so I can easily sand them down to a flush angle. The bit behind the turret i'll box up as normal and slope back up to the top of the forward ramp.

[Tynskel]

nice work

[Meph]

Cheers mate!


Alrighty, after a long vacation, it's time to pick things up again. i haven't gotten round to painting anything yet but I have been practicing my plasticard-fu.
The chin section is complete and I've figured out how to mount it. The whole assembly neatly slips into place and sits relatively solid during dry-fitting, so when glued it will be a firm joining. Maybe I'll add some extra internal strengthening if needed.

As a whole, I finally have the feeling that I'm getting somewhere. The sides will be easily closed using some plasticard paneling but any suggestings for details or greebles there are welcome. Same goes from the empty back section. On the sides, I'm even thinking about a plasticard wing cutout on the sides but I'm not sure if I can cut that accurately enough.

What say you?

[Meph]

Alrighty, got the top section sorted out. It's not glued on at the moments as I still need the access for the wing magnets, but it sits almost perfectly flush with the rest of the hull.
The sides have been closed up as well. First I thought to do some more elaborate paneling or a large BA wing cutout, but for the first I felt too lazy and for the second there was not enough room. The area is a bit too low and long for a large icon cutout.
I have some white a transparent decal laserjet paper lying about I intend to use for this. The little top plate is perfect for a decal with the name of the ship, and the large bottom plate seems like a good place to put some artwork. I'm thinking to use some GW art, post-prod something together in Photoshop and print out a full colour decal with some epic imagery. It will allow for much greater detail than a feehand and it will keep the visual style nice and tight.

The end is starting to get in sight for this build, yay.

[bloodangel 83]

WOW Meph, your StromRaven looks great. I like it better then the one's i seen and have. Yours looks like a mini Thunderhawk. Great work. BA83

[Meph]

Cheers mate! Yeah, it did turn out a bit longer than expected but I think to myself: "not too shabby even if I do say so myself.

[Meph]

I'm guessing that the build is about 95% complete now. Just some sanding here and there and add some extra detail.
Things done over the week:
-Magnetized the wings
-Some greenstuff gap filling
-Made the 'shoulders' for the canards to sit on. Looks better than expected.
-Added a piece to the main wings to give them the same forward sweep as the canards and tail planes. The macro perspective of the photo's does tend to distort this but all three wing surfaces now have a 10° forward sweep.

At first I thought to close the gap between the wing add-ons and the main wing using greenstuff, but actuallyI I like the look it has now. I figure it will be easier to paint those up as leading edge flaps, with weathering to clearly show that they can move, rather than to use a lot of greenstuff and excessive sanding to perfectly hide the seam. Best to hide in plain sight then I thought. ^^

Any thoughts?