Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk

[Blackadder]

The Nose Gear Continues:

The following chronicles the manufacture of the nose gear:

I barely had room for the light module bitz on the foot pad although everything else fitted with room to spare. still have so detailing to do on th top surface of the landing pad and the tread on the underside. but I am winding down for today and considered it time for an update.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/qatEePo.jpg[/url]


Still can't make up my mind whether to cant the gear forward or make it vertical.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/k4tFtCO.jpg[/url]


The detail inside the gear well is pretty much complete but I still need rivets etc on the reinforcing framework.

[interrogator_chaplain]

Cant it! CANT IT!

[Blackadder]

She's Got Leggs:

Okay the landing gear is installed, the nose gear at this time can retract but not the main gear. There seems no problem that even un-reinforced the spindly struts can support the massive weight of the model, 3 kilo of styrene.

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


Now that I have length of the struts established I can go ahead and beef up the main struts and make them retractable. I also need to design torque links so the pads do not swivel.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/c4wBfv2.jpg[/url]


The front landing pad has a spring loaded strut extension which facilitates stowing so the pad can lock in when retracted.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/qeEr64X.jpg[/url]


Here we see the ground clearance allows for a belly hung LandRaider even though I have been apprised T'hawk transports do not carry LandRaiders.

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


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


The forward cargo maw can comfortably disgorge an 'slick' Rhino (Sorry, the only Rhino I have is a cripple Chaos model) with plenty of headroom and side room to spare.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/wKxHFc5.jpg[/url]


The ramp angle is a bit too extreme which will have to be remedied with fold-able ramp extension tracks.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/QW7zeKz.jpg[/url]

[interrogator_chaplain]

Thunderhawks can carry Land Raiders, but just not technically the Thunderhawk variant you have. But stuff 'em, call it a prototype/archaeotech relic and if they argue, call down a curse from the Omnissiah on them.

[Blackadder]

My contention is that necessity and innovation is rampant in front line conditions When I was in the military we did a lot of things not officially sanctioned and as long as it got the job done nobody complained. Of course things might be different now with equipment costing millions of dollars but I doubt it.

My version is capable of slinging a LandRaider and the design of the underside of the hull seems perfect to receive the large rhomboid shaped tank Its just that the FW version T'hawk is too undersized to take advantage that capability. My model dwarfs the LandRaider enough to make this possible. Whether I will actually hang a 'Raider underneath remains to be seen.

[Kirkanos]

Do you already have a system for holding the Land raider in place?

This is looking fantastic by the way!

[Blackadder]

Probably Waldo-like arms and magnets.........

Slimming Facets?

One of the features that really did it for me on the 3D model was the beveled edges of the forward fuselage. Somehow it relieved the boxlike appearance of the FW prototype and particularly on my over-sized model lent a slimming appearance to the overall model.

Not so with the rounding front heat shield; I still have to work on that.................

[url]http://i.imgur.com/tttZ1WX.jpg[/url]


I took a few of the same shot to show the relief of the facets of which I believe came out rather satisfactory.

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


I know I'm gonna get some heat on my rendering of the Heat Shields from T'hawk purists.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/mG4cwi8.jpg[/url]


I just have to dress these curves............

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


Egad! Curves on a T'hawk?

Blasphemy!

[bloodangel 83]

Nice work. Cannot wait to see you start painting this beast.

[Blackadder]

Thanksgiving Week:

Well I've received orders from the 'Top' aka Ms BA that I have to clean up my mess because company's coming and my room, "My Room!" looks a mess and she'll be ashamed if any one is brought in there Yada, yada, yada......... Of course I'll be bringing people in to look at my pastime pursuits so I'm complying.

First order is to get all the models in one piece because, I know what it looks like when in pieces but hardly anyone else would so I gathered all the Thunderhawk pieces from the various corners of the room and assembled them and waddaya know I think its time start painting.

First off sorry about the flash in the first image because it the only one that shows the ball turrets.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/sbDssF2.jpg[/url]


The high level front view shows the various ages of the styrene because this model has taken an inordinate amount of time to produce and the older styrene has yellowed.

Note in the foreground the interior walls that when wired will finally be glued into place. I built those walls over four years ago; Gad!

[url]http://i.imgur.com/dP9MYPz.jpg[/url]


Still to be done is to beef up the main landing gear struts but that shouldn't affect painting. also note the various shades of greasy hand yellowing chronicling the various stages of building over the years.

[url]http://i.imgur.com/WR52vfi.jpg[/url]


This calls for another martini; Skoal!

[40kGamer]

Damn fine work mate! Very inspiring to see such amazing detail on complete scratch builds.

I completely understand the clean up your room for company directive. You'd think at our age we'd be past that sort of thing but such is life.