Thursday, June 14, 2012

Review: Storm Talon

So, today I'm taking a look at Games Workshop's latest entry to the "Aircraft" category the Space Marine Storm Talon!

Let's begin. I have to say, in comparison to the Storm Raven model I am rather underwhelmed by the Storm Talon. First off, the box is way bigger then it needs to be.

At first inspection of the model, I see that it's entire contents  occupy less then 1/2 of the inner volume of the box. I know it's very petty but this really bothers me. If you look at the Predator model that model fills the box to the brim. And frankly, that's what I was expecting from this model. A predator with wings and jets. The model just doesn't live up to that expectation.

Though in comparison to the Storm Raven, the Storm Talon the part density of the Storm talon is much higher. You can see very little wasted space in this kit so that's a plus.

Now moving onto the finished model.

The model is surprisingly small. Once again I was expecting something more akin to a predator size and mass. Instead the model just seems to be closer to a beefed up attack bike. The engines on the sides of the main body do rotate about 80 degrees so you can make the Talon appear to be flying forward or hovering which is nice considering the rules for the unit. Which leads me to my next disappointment in the model: The "hover jets" on the belly of the craft.

They are literally just plastic thruster nozzles glues to the bottom of the craft. I was really expecting the model to be somewhat more involved with these hover jets. Swivel mounts like the Storm Raven VTOLs perhaps. Instead they are literally just suck on the model.






 The Twin linked assault cannons on the chin mount are my second biggest point of annoyance with the model. These cannons really seem like a throw back to the older style of assault cannons found on the dreadnought and the previous version of the Baal predator. Big, and clunky and not particularly well thought out. Honestly, a single Assault cannon from the Raven Guard or LandSpeeder sprue with a targeting array would have worked much better for this model and I think helped to give it a sleeker profile.

The weapon pods on the side are kind of nice and are over all the best part of the model. They are well designed and look very comparable to the Typhoon launchers from the land Speeder and the missile launcher from the dreadnought, helping carry the idea that all these units are from the same force and share technology. I'm somewhat tempted to adapt the design for a Razor back turret by attack them top to top and mounting it side way:


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