Stormraven 'Burning Star' WIP

[Tynskel]

Ornithopters kick butt!

[Herald of Nurgle]

Riiiiiiiiiight.

WIP shots? How to? Etc etc? That's just too insanely well done for me to comprehend it with just the end pics :P

[Tynskel]

I will be getting Sentinel Legs that will act like 'bird feet'. They will be sticking out- the idea is to make the Stormraven look like it is about to land. The legs will be eventually magnetized and will carry a dreadnought!

As for the Land Raider, I am working on a Datasheet and I will be creating a 'servo-arm' with all sorts of drills n' such-- a mobile repair facility for combat repairs.

[Tynskel]

How to...

The Stormraven is a little complicated- but basics:

The fuselage is made from the valkyrie kit, along with the cockpit. I originally tried to fit space marines into the cockpit, but after hacking away, I couldn't make them fit with the canopy. Oh well.

I dremel out the rear 'front' of the valkyrie and used plasticard and Rhino Top Hatches to create the rear doors. (I'll post a shot of the rear soon).

I dremel the cockpit at ~45 degree angle, then used the top piece of the valkyrie and attached it to the fuselage through a series of pins-- so the 'neck' won't come off. I used a series of plasticard panels to rebuild the bottom half of the cockpit and the neck. (see picture 2)

The Valkyrie tail supports that attach as to the side doors: I sliced them in half- then attached them to the normal mounting positions. The side doors are the inside side hatches to rhinos (I am still debating attaching the exterior rhino hatchways). I attached the engines to the Valkyrie struts- covering up the slicing of the struts and they ended up becoming a great mount!

The wings are from the Gundam DeathScythe-H (which I have converted into a Knight Titan Lance, still work in progress too). They mounted onto the engines- I drilled out holes to place the wing mounts directly into the engines, so they are pretty solid.

I am having a little bit of trouble with the wings-- I want them to be moveable, however, they are not stiff and automatically fall into the position that you see on the mounting stand. Does anyone have any hints on how to get these stiff?

The Skulls mounted on the top of the Stormraven are cut from the Basilica ruins.

I will be mounting the Blood Strike Missiles on the outer wings. Currently, the weapons are glued in- however, I might purchase magnets and take them off and have the weapons swap. Although, I generally like Typhoons, Lascannons, and Hurricane bolters- a little pricey, but helps make the Stormraven fulfill the gunship role quite nicely.

The land raider doors were cut from the Mechanicus ruins and plasticard fitted around them to make them look like they are mounted into the hatches. The antennae are from Battle Fleet Gothic, and I cut slots for them to fit into.

[Tynskel]

Rear and Side Shots of the 'Burning Star'

Also a shot of the Knight Titan Lancer WIP---

I will be eventually getting an Eldar War Walker- use the cockpit- replace pilot with 'tech priest' and replace the gundam head with the cockpit. Right now, the Titan still looks too 'gundam-ee'.

[Tynskel]

Overall:

I was trying to capture the image of a Raven about to land. I hope that's what people see...


I also wanted the stormraven look like it could work. One of my biggest issues is how does the dreadnought survive entering from orbit? The wings can fold under the body and shield the dread from the heat of entry. Also, the Stormraven is supposed to be quite maneuverable, and theoretically, Ornithopters are supposed to be more maneuverable than your average craft (however, extremely difficult to fly-- but that's why they are Space Marine pilots!).

Lemmy know if you guys have suggestions!

[DelphicFist]

I like that you've done something far different than all the other stormravens. Good stuff.

I'm thinking Dreads can survive reentry no problem.

[RebelGrot]

First off you need a wow - WOW! - you did say you were thinking up something different! It looks great, it's very nice to see something which isn't a Patzgcrux version (much as I like his) etc

I also wanted the stormraven look like it could work. One of my biggest issues is how does the dreadnought survive entering from orbit? The wings can fold under the body and shield the dread from the heat of entry. Also, the Stormraven is supposed to be quite maneuverable, and theoretically, Ornithopters are supposed to be more maneuverable than your average craft (however, extremely difficult to fly-- but that's why they are Space Marine pilots!).

This is the very reason I've not even put knife to plastic yet - I am WAY too confused!

Everyone uses the Valk jet turbines - ok in an atmosphere but what's pushing you along in space? Then there's exposed weaponry - entering from orbit do you really want your nice deadly bloodstrike warheads getting that hot on your wings? Lascannon fluff has barrels overheating and needing changing reasonably regularly, especially after being the leading edge during re-entry I'd imagine! Valk sliding doors - surely not pressure sealed against the void? So on and so on.

Out of all that I think the dreadnought might be kind of ok - give him a flared edge to protect (or wings or such in your case) and he should follow in the slip-stream fairly comfortably. You could always armour the leading edge of it's cradle - my plan was to have more of a full back piece for one to 'lie' on that'd fit with the lines of the Raven (rather than skinny clamp 'legs') and force any burning atmosphere around it.

I can't think of any solution to your wing flop. Are the joints screwed hinges or sort of lumps in sockets? If the former maybe you could add a washer or something to tighten the joint? If the latter then I'm really not sure - some sort of adjustable bracing? Not very helpful I guess!

Keep it going anyway dude, great to see it coming together. Keep us updated.

[OCdt Mephiston]

Cool? Yes. Space Marine-like? No.

This is in my humble opinion a beautiful conversion that should have waited for the DE codex...

[Tynskel]

heheh, thanks guys.

1) The thunderhawk n' Stormraven have cermite plating- which is why they are Melta resistant, the dread doesn't- which is why I am trying to make the body more functional.

2) the joints are more lumps in sockets- the plastic on them is super springy. I have been trying to fill junk into them-- I tried the 'blue' stuff part of 'green stuff'. But that's not working. Oh well! Your ideas sound cool- you should run with it!

3) My thought process went something like this: 40k borrows a lot from Dune (Jesuits-Sisters, Mentats- logicstatiticians, Navigators- Navigators, the robot wars, ect ect). Ornithopters used widely on Dune, and I figured, why not? Especially since the Aquilla Lander by Forge World is an Ornithopter too!

It does have more of the sleek edge that the eldar have, that's true- but I kit bash more than I create. Do you have a suggestion for different wings that could still give the impression of a bird?