Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk

[Blackadder]

Servo Assist?

Having worked in the commercial aviation industry for a good portion of my adult life up to and including 747 jumbo jets I've yet to see control columns as robust as these on the Thunderhawk so my supposition is that the servo assists are actually in the control columns. Cumbersome but viable I suppose.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/vDZeIvU.jpg[/url]


I was hoping that the cockpit paraphenalia would disguise the fact that the pilots had no legs (being actually Rhino machinegunners) but no such luck.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/nrm8cS8.jpg[/url]


So I need a rational as to why they are lower extremity deficient.........

[url]http://i.imgur.com/2PVM0zQ.jpg[/url]

[Blackadder]

The Misery Compromise

After a futile attempt to garner a set of legs from my bitz box I settled on purchasing a landspeeder cockpit on ebay. What strikes me the most is the near miss I made regarding the scale of the cockpit accoutrements

[url]http://i.imgur.com/PHXWcja.jpg[/url]


With very little adjustments at all it will be child's play to reassemble the cockpit with gen-u-wine FW artifacts; a source of great personal satisfaction to me.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/UVyp8Hc.jpg[/url]


While I have the cockpit in pieces perhaps I'll indulge myself in a bit of pre-assembly painting....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/BLflkqk.jpg[/url]


Whoops but first I'd better file down the sprue attachment residue :blush:

[Blackadder]

Department of Redundancy Department:

Enough Blackadder enough! Too many images of virtually the same thing but ahh; subtly not......

Micro variations that only I can perceive are happening and rather than a flurry of un recorded activity I'll bore you with incessant detailed updates.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/DjW59Jh.jpg[/url]


The new cockpit revamped from the old fits much better under the canopy and the figures will be seen better duplicating the FW version....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/hpu304M.jpg[/url]


The straight on shot reveals the fit of the landspeeder crew is a dead on duplicate of the resin original.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Fahfwsg.jpg[/url]

[Lord Tothe]

Do you have a display of some kind behind that front panel on the canopy?

[Blackadder]

Do you have a display of some kind behind that front panel on the canopy?

Good suggestion, I've yet to see an interior shot of the canopy; is there a display?

I know the instrumentation is minimal on the control panels; the area between the front windshield would be an ideal place for a view screen.

[Lord Tothe]

Good suggestion, I've yet to see an interior shot of the canopy; is there a display?

I know the instrumentation is minimal on the control panels; the area between the front windshield would be an ideal place for a view screen.

I don't know what the inside of the official model looks like, but the giant panel looks like it needs some kind of display screen or gauge cluster. I am really good at giving people ideas that require them to work more. It's my gift.

[Blackadder]

Rule of the Incredibly Small:

I seem to be going to a lot of trouble with an interior that no one will be able to appreciate fully but there is a bit of fun in testing my limits besides which I wasn't even aware that FW included all this detail in their cockpit before I began researching it.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/EeS6h17.jpg[/url]


This first image overexposed as it is tries to give a hint of the just finished center and side consoles.

This next image show the detail better; I tried to replicate the FW center control panel to varying degrees of success.....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/vRpZBHi.jpg[/url]


This next shot is more like itshowing the computer monitors and control buttons....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/ojwFLpQ.jpg[/url]


Over the shoulder view where I will be applying paper green cutouts for the cockpit displays.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/1iZWvnQ.jpg[/url]


Finally, a front end shot showing the beautifully details pilot seats that no one gets to see after the crew is glued in.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/3lde8zD.jpg[/url]


I may just magnetize their little bottoms

[Blackadder]

First Try:

Today was my first attempt to paint heads and faces so after reviewed 'Buy Painted's' tutorial:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erDncOZiihc[/url]

and discovering it's gonna cost a lot of money to get all these one shot paint vials I decided to mix my own out of the paint I had on hand.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/l3jGDyE.jpg[/url]


So I started with Vallejo Model Air 71.112 Sand for the flesh base.

and then applied a Violet wash made out of Game Color 'Royal Purple' 16 and 'Warlord Purple' 72014

The head in the cockpit is a practice head from my bitz box that is pretty beat up and had a coat of Testors Enamel.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/Gu4hl5s.jpg[/url]


For ease of painting and to allow for the backrest detail to be seen I magnetized the upper torsos so the can be removed readily.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/lzhOFiD.jpg[/url]


The heads when finished will be mounted on wire and plugged into the neck recess.

[Kirsten]

good to see it coming together

[Blackadder]

The Futurama Head Museum:

"A life of quiet dignity;"

These in the first image aren't completed but perhaps shows the intermediate stage of the paint process.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/nNX5joc.jpg[/url]


These in the image below are a bit further along.....

[url]http://i.imgur.com/bOWxSS2.jpg[/url]