Project Thunderhawk... in thunderbolt form

So I'm still working on the thunderbolt model. Updates are going to be rather infrequent for the next couple of weeks due to family, holidays and work. I still work retail after all and it's still the Christmas season. Thankfully, my company is not one of the ones who are opening Thanksgiving Day so at least I'll have some time to gorge myself on turkey and stuffing.

The body is largely complete. Between the 2mm thick sides and the resin filled belly this thing is shaping up to be very sturdy. Now I get into the really interesting stuff: Everything else. I've already made an ammo hopper:

I think I've got a solid start to it. As a means of expanding my skills rather than just build a second ammo hopper from scratch I'm going to try casting up 2 of these to use on the model. I'm also going to try the same thing for the engines but first I need to build those and in order to build them I need to wait for my order of supplies to come in. Well waiting... what a drag.

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Project Thunderhawk continues... kind of

Okay so I'm continuing work on my Project Thunderhawk. And now I'm actually working with a Plasticard!

But I'm not building a Thunderhawk. Not yet anyway. Just as I did with the Shadowsword, I am making a divergent case study project for this next step of the project. This time I'm building a Thunderbolt Imperial Heavy Fighter!

Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter

About a year ago I found Eli Patoroch's library of Paper hammer templates and I was taken by the template for the Thunderbolt. Just looking at the template it's clear that the thunderbolt is a revertible Pit Bull of an aircraft. Stocky and solid, armed to the teeth. It's the Imperial Navy's answer to anything they want to kill. So I built that thunderbolt based on the template, with a couple modifications:

The Rad Dragon Thunderbolt

 Obviously the biggest modification I made is the position of the wings. This particular model is the fourth paper hammer Thunderbolt I've built. When I built the original one I put the wings on wrong and didn't realise it right away. Later on I looked at the model picture on Forge world and noticed the fubar. But I like the higher mounted wings with the downward angeling to them.

I also added the pylons for 2 missiles, donated from a Valkryie kit. If you read the Datasheet for the Thunderbolt in the Appoc book, there's a mention of a Red Thunderbolt. That is where this paint scheme came from.

So now I'm embarking on a project to build one of these in plasticard. And I had to restart it cause the first model fell apart. And again because the second model wasn't strong enough to stand up to being handled. And for a third time because plasticard doesn't bend and flex the way paper and cardboard do.

So finally I'm on the fourth version of the Plasticard Thunderbolt!

The body of the thundebolt!

In this version I used 2mm thick sheet plasticard for the two large sections of the sides, and I built an internal frame out of the same 2mm thick plasticard. Then to enforce the structural integrity of it I fill the lower section with resin after setting in a piece of 1/2" pvc piping to act as a mounting point for one of Dragon Forge's Flight Stands.

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Cultist conversions

So I've been more then a little busy and haven't had the time to commit to some of my hobby projects that I would have liked to. For the most part I've been able to squeeze out a few hours a week recently. This has lead to slow progress on most of my projects and short and simple other projects. This is an example of the later.

I've gotten my hands on nearly 100 cultist models from the Dark Vengeance starter set. So now I've got 400 points worth of cannon fodder/tar pitting/pain in the butt units to throw at my enemies. Yaah for me. I have 400 points where every 5th guy is identical... boo. So I've been working on converting the models. Not extensively, but enough to break up the uniformity of the models. These conversions consist largely of minor head and hand swaps but I think they meet the bill. Some point in the not-too distant future I hope to go back and fill in some gaps with green stuff.

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still alive

Okay, it's been a helluva couple weeks but I haven't been totally inactive.

First and foremost, my father built a case for some of my tools. This case had originally been intended for my computer tools for work. However, it turns out that I'm prohibited from bringing my own tools to work. So I had this great case, and no immediate use for it. What do I do? Convert it for use with my hobby materials of course!

my new tool case.

The case has three foam inserts that I cut out spaces for the respective tools.

The top tray houses my 'most used' tools, and these include my hobby knife, extra blades for it, my razor saw, the files, tweezers, and sculpting tools.

the middle tier of the case.

The middle tear houses my green stuff, milliput, ticky-tack, glues, magnetic probe, and accelerent.



 Finally the bottom teir of the case:

the bottom tier of the case

 

 

 

The bottom tier houses an assortment of clamps, hole punches, my utility knife and my caliper.
So now rather then having the majority of my tool shoved hap-hazardly into a drawer I have a nice case with individualized slots for many of my tools.

I've also been experimenting with resin casting and mold making. Remember that Thunderhawk I'm working on? Yeah... rather then build 4 weapon mounts, 2 separate engines, 2 pilots seats, and an assorted over pieces multiple times... I'm looking into the process of making one master version of each type of part, making molds of the master and then casting the multiples of those parts I need.

I haven't gone into the mold making yet but I've been experimenting with pre-made molds, I have acquired over the years. I've made several groups of rocks that appear to be useful as base material.

It's a rock, Jim.

 One thing I am considering is modifying a future casting to include space for a AA battery pack and thus use it as the base for a model that will use LEDs to light up in some form.
If I space it properly, I think I can make it work:

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