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Author Topic: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk  (Read 15248 times)

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Offline Shas'La robo

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #20 on: June 26, 2011, 04:14:46 AM »
Can't wait to see the finished model.

Wished I had the necessary skills, time and patience to create a magnificent beast such as this.  ::)

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Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #21 on: June 26, 2011, 04:22:24 AM »
The interior to the cargo bay I consider essential to the overall function of the vehicle on the battleboard ( Does any one really load these things with space marines and equipment, hand fly it over the battle board (making "mehmmmm, mehmmmm sounds no doubt :D) and dump the contents onto the table?)

The second deck aside from the flight deck (visible thru the windows) while of interest would add a lot of superfluous work, necessitate starting from scratch thereby eliminating the good work of my son and the reason for starting this project in the first place. Plus the seam would be too difficult to hide plus the wear and tear on the model 'cause everytime it's played someone would want to see the interior.

And I'm just plain lazy

In addition I've bought a few derelict tanks etc on ebay and every one has had the hatches glued shut, the guns glued in place so they can't be moved and the access to the interior cemented and I would venture to say if I managed to win a used Chaos Warhound the carapace would be likewise.

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #22 on: June 28, 2011, 03:59:19 AM »
Right now I'm gluing on the second layer of sheathing to strengthen the hull and provide a good base for the armour.







Not really much to see for all the work involved but as a matter of interest the hull is square and true to the width of a sharpened pencil line in cross section and in length. Speaking of length I may have gone overboard in extending the aft hull I'll have to see after the forward armour is installed. I'm trying to avoid the blocky look of the FW model but right now I feel it may be a decimeter too long.

Offline Shas'Oink

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #23 on: June 28, 2011, 04:45:04 AM »
Can I ask, I know you posted the renders earlier in the thread, but what or how are you planning this thing out exactly? I mean, are you simply using the renders as a rough guide? perhaps you printed them off and are scaling from them? or have you produced plans / schematics from the renders?

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #24 on: June 28, 2011, 07:30:27 AM »
Of course you may ask, That is what I am posting this building log that others might profit from my mistakes.

 I had a rough idea of the size and shape of the model going by my son's preliminary work. He worked of of a rather poor PDF file that was grievously in error. but I promised him I would use it for the basis for the present model.

I make no plans and trust to my eye as I did with Lucie.

http://www.40konline.com/index.php?topic=203279.0

The 3D rendering gives an excellent side, front and top view and while the bottom view is in perspective it is adequate for my purposes.

I have no printer.

Offline Adasi

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #25 on: July 15, 2011, 04:26:24 AM »
Thats some pretty stunning work so far! Sod the finished product - i'm happy to keep seeing WIP updates!

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #26 on: September 3, 2011, 04:05:00 PM »
Whoops big errors, have to re-do the nose armour.

I lost track of this forum and haven't posted for a while. I can bring it up to present with the interior detail and front cargo door manufacture if there is any interest?

The interior is pretty much done but not installed as I have to finish the exterior armour first.

Strangely I had forgotten I made this enlarged image on my photo editor to plot coordinating intersections. The actual model superimposes rather well on the 3D image with the exception of the most recent work which will be rectified. It appears that 6.0 mm is the proper thickness for the front cargo door and the aligning recesses in the side armour. The image has a two pixel margin of error due to the fuzziness of the enlargement. I can live with that.



Rather poor in my estimation.



This is the goal.



With coordination lines superimposed on model



With pencil lines adjusted on model; by god that is close enough for government work.

E. Blackadder
« Last Edit: September 3, 2011, 04:10:09 PM by Edmund Blackadder »

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #27 on: September 4, 2011, 10:51:58 AM »
Corrected a few mistakes and then added some armour. This ugly beast is starting to grow on me. I can't wait to start on the wings and engines.



The lateral line belt armour and the nose section seam in place. and a start on the second layer of upper hull armour.






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E. Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #28 on: September 5, 2011, 09:11:19 PM »
I was wondering how to do the intricate double layered top of the hull armour without a seam in the finished skin. Part of the beauty of the 3D rendering is that seamless broad expanse of armour with all the cutouts in the edge and compound angles and vent fan cutout, set. Cutting this piece out of 2.5 mm styrene would be very difficult to get perfectly straight cuts and 90° vertical edges.



 My solution (if it works) is to make the substrate of 1.5 mm sheeting with 6.3 X 1.5 mm edging strips using all together 5 pieces and then after all is cut out in the substrate tracing the pattern onto the 1.0 mm single piece top armour plate. Then cutting out the square vent fan hatch in the 1.0 mm sheet and the edge cutouts will be easy. Then gluing the top and 1.5 mm substrate together and gluing the whole assembly to the top of the hull should give me the complex piece I want without the seams and knife nicked edges. (I hope)



You can see that this is a very involved section.



The pieces of required substrate to the right and one of the edge pieces tacked onto the underside of top layer.



Another view of the penciled in lines.



And a front view for no particular reason.
 
E. Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #29 on: September 6, 2011, 12:45:33 PM »
There is a lot of confusion as to what I am trying to achieve regarding the top armour plating.

Well it's clear as mud to me and I wrote it. The thing is there are two layers to the armour; a 1.5 mm thick layer I call the substrate i.e. that which lies beneath the top layer and the 1.0 mm thick top sheet that I call the top layer. I want the top layer to be in one piece so I cut the substrate layer out of 5 pieces of 1.5 mm thick sheet styrene to be exactly the size of the top of the hull. Then I cut out the 1.0 mm armour sheet's side notches and the center opening for the fans because the 1.0 mm styrene is easier to cut exactly. Then I glued the five substrate pieces to the top armour sheet to make the requisite thickness of 2.5 mm. Now all that is left is to trim the remaining edges of the top sheet to the exact size of the completed substrate that is glued to the back of the 1.0 mm top sheet.

Mebe I should take a picture?  :question:

It's hard to describe the procedure but suffice it to say here is the result. 


The underside of the 1.0 mm top armour with the two 1.5 mm edge pieces installed and the three pieces of the base armour.


The topside of the 1.0 mm top armour showing the end of the edge pieces.


The assembled top and base armour 2.5 mm thick with detail cutouts and edges dressed.


Top view of the armour assembly.


Edge on view of the top armour assembly.

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E. Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #30 on: September 6, 2011, 08:46:22 PM »

The moment of truth, does it fit?


Seems like a good fit but too much flash.


Less flash more detail.


The front edge needs trimming.

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E. Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #31 on: September 7, 2011, 05:34:06 AM »
Not much to show for yesterday's work. The secondary layer of armour is attached, the cut outs on the side 90° corners have been dressed out with file and knife and sanded clean with fine sandpaper and file so the seams barely show. This is a downfall of many of the scratch built models I see, that the corners are not clean and crisp. No amount of greenstuff or filler will give that precise intersection and it is relatively easy to achieve with the proper knife and a good clean new 'single cut file'. I use a 'Nicholson' single cut with a coarse side and a fine side that also has one of the edges capable of cutting for a nice crisp interior 90° angle cut. Invest in a file card wire cleaner and clean your file regularly to keep the file teeth from clogging.

In all, the whole of the secondary armour is out of true by less than a quarter of a millimeter which is satisfactory to me and once it is rounded in the finally dressing that discrepancy will blend in I'm sure.


The right side is the master side I do all the planning on. Always use the same side for sketching and fitting pieces and don't shift your on model plan lines from right to left sides if you can help it or you will build in discrepancies that will make your work look lopsided.


The left side pieces I cut using the right side pieces for a guide making allowances for penciled or scribed lines and dressing the two pieces to insure they precisely match one another. It's easier to do this before they are glued on than trying to correct them after they are installed.


The front view appears satisfactorily symmetrical.

Now for the front cargo door.

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E. Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #32 on: September 8, 2011, 06:07:10 AM »
This was harder than one would suspect, not just cutting out rectangles in 5 mm thick plastic but the angles are actually rhomboid shape in the front elevation and set at compound angles to boot.



Also the 'bonnet' cover plate is installed.



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E. Blackadder

Offline Shas'Oink

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #33 on: September 9, 2011, 06:16:34 AM »
I hate having to break your posts. But I just want to reiterate that you're getting along nicely. The ideas for panelling are spot on if you ask me, and the quality of the work is really going to give a fine final product. I'd like to know how far ahead you plan... are you quite meticulous in knowing exactly what the following stages are going to be... or do you sit down and model it on the fly - resolving any issues as they come along? (or something in between).

I ask because the scale of this model task appears quite daunting - I know that you had some initial thoughts and plans but I wonder how easy it is to stick with them as events unfold?

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #34 on: September 9, 2011, 07:09:33 AM »
That's a great question. I'm not at all meticulous and do just model on the fly. If I gave any thought to how much more had to be done I probably would quit right now. There are no plans other than the 3D projections and I just work on what the spirit moves me. I haven't a clue as yet as to what I am doing to the aft section or the wings but I suppose they will resolve themselves as I tackle them.

Hopefully

Regarding quiting, as long as there is an interest I am spurred along with this work so in part all the responders are instrumental in the progress of this model.

Thank you all for for your replies.
« Last Edit: September 9, 2011, 07:18:30 AM by Edmund Blackadder »

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #35 on: September 16, 2011, 05:02:26 PM »
In spite of my attempt to render this model as close to the 3D image I just can't bring myself to make the cargo door projection as thick as it appears on the 3D picture. I have to trust in the fact that these are prospective drawings and that my effort will bear a reasonable likeness when completed. Not much to show for the week. Heavy work load recently.

The cargo bay opening:


The door in place 6mm thick and it appears still not enough! Egad!


The reinforcement stringers being applied as I type; 4mm X 2mm that should be enough by god:


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E. Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #36 on: September 18, 2011, 02:43:44 PM »
A minute glimpse into a slow process. No time to work on this this weekend as yet. The 4mm X 2mm strips had to be hand cut as no precut styrene of this size is available the tiny2.5mm squares are likewise cut to order. More fun and games from the madness brought to you by:

The Blackadder

Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #37 on: September 21, 2011, 07:30:25 AM »
Before I get too deep into the aft end of the hull I'd better show where I'm starting from. Since last seen I lopped off about 4 cm and added 0.5 mm sheeting to both sides where the wings mount. Also 0.5 mm to the bottom of the hull to provide a base to glue to.

I also added a top 2.0 mm sheet to the unfinished superstructure aft end as I am fairly certain that this is the length I shall go with.


The tail base is truncated and it appears I have the correct angle but I'll have to build it to be certain.

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E. Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #38 on: September 22, 2011, 08:56:54 PM »
The cargo bay door looks good, at the end of the day you have to exercise some amount of artist's license as what the eye sees in reality is different to what it sees in a picture. Although I guess I'm looking at pictures of both... um, but you know what I mean.
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Offline Edmund Blackadder

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Re: Blackadder's Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk
« Reply #39 on: September 23, 2011, 06:17:38 AM »
The rough cutout for the air brake panels interior detail.




 


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