epic scale stormraven conversion tutorial - tommi ojala · epic scale stormraven conversion...
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Epic Scale Stormraven
Conversion Tutorial By Tommi Ojala (Garoth)
Introduction & Planning
The idea for this conversion
originates from the comments
on the first pictures of the 40K
scale Stormraven (as seen on
the right) when those came out.
There were lots of comments on
how it looked like the front
section of a Thunderhawk with
wings and engines added on.
People also wondered if it
would be possible to convert a
Thunderhawk form Stormraven
by stretching it up. While the shape and detail of the Stormraven front section is quite good for such
conversion, the scale will be off by some degree. You can get a craft that looks like Thunderhawk, but it will
be about 2/3 of the size it should be.
Luckily that 2/3 scale factor was not a problem for this project, as Epic scale Thunderhawks are readily
available in two different scales. The resin model from Forgeworld Aeronautica Imperialis range is 95 mm
long, where as the metal model from GW
Epic Armageddon range is (pictured left)
60 mm long. So roughly, the GW one is
2/3 the size of the FW one. The natural
question seemed to be: Could I start from
a GW EpicA Thunderhawk and cut it
down to Stormraven shape? The idea
seemed plausible.
The idea was to make this conversion
simple. There would little or no scratch
built parts and as little green stuff work
involved as possible. The overall
silhouette of the craft would be quite
close to what it should be, but I decided not to worry about details that much. Therefore I decided early on
that front section of the GW Thunderhawk would stay as it was. That meant that placement of doors and
guns would not match to the original model and the front heavy bolters would have to suffice for hurricane
bolters and so on. I also decided to limit myself for the parts that you get in the GW Thunderhawk blister,
so the people could replicate this conversion without need for any additional bitz.
Step 1: The Main Hull
The first step is quite straight forward:
Take a modeling saw (I used the current
GW one) and cut the top part of the
Thunderhawk main hull away, and then
split the hull as shown in the image.
The rear part of the hull will not be used
for this model, but the top part will be
needed.
The next step is the file off some of the
details on the top of the hull. Those are in
the way of the future top turret of the
model.
Also some detail need to be filed off from
the bottom. These might come in the way
of your magnet (depending on the size
you use). Also the model will stand better
while you are working on it if these
details are removed.
Step 2: Top Part of the Hull & Top Turret
Next part is a bit tricky. You will need a
piece of plastic sprue to act as a filler
piece. It does not have to be an exact fit,
some green stuff will be added later on,
but the better it is, less GS will be needed.
The aim is to get a piece that makes the
top of the model to be on the same level
from the filed down roof to the end of the
piece. At first I cut a slightly longer piece of plastic sprue than what would be needed. Then I cut/shaved
away some of the “top side” of the sprue (the narrower side), as the sprue was too thick. The filler piece
would glued on so that the flat (and the widest) side would on the top, so keeping that in mind, and cut one
end of the filler piece to have matching angle to the rear part of the main hull. As a final step, after some
dry fitting, I cut the filler piece to proper length.
On the left there is a picture of the filler
piece before it was attached for a better
view.
Next take the top part of the main hull
and cut the main cannon away as shown
on the left.
The cannon will not be needed. The other
part’s cutting point is filed flat and…
… and it is glued on top of the main hull
so that the parts match on the rear.
Next step is to add some guns for the top turret. The original model comes with a choice of three: Assault
cannons, plasma cannons or lascannons. Sadly, the Epic Thunderhawk model does not come with any of
those. Deciding to stick on the rule of “use only the parts that come with the model” I used the wing heavy
bolters instead.
I cut the backside of the heavy bolters flat
to fit the turret and glued them on.
Step 3: Tail Section Part 1
The tail section is made from the fins that would normally go on top of the engines.
The tail will be quite different from the
original model, but this one is easy to
make and only components from the
original model are used.
I simply glued them at the back of the
main hull part. Some kind of supporting
structure (like parts of plastic sprue) could
be added, but I managed to glue this
together without one quite easily, Green
Stuff will be added in the next step
anyways for support, so I thought that
there was no need for it in this step.
Next some green stuff was added to fill
the hole from the previous step. Also
some GS was used to hide the plastic filler
piece that is under the top piece of the
hull, and the partial eagles of the sides
were disguised as panels of some sort.
After the GS had cured I filed all GS areas to ensure that they were as flat as possible.
Step 4: Wings Part 1
Although next logical step would be finishing the tail section, I moved on to the wings instead so I could
attach one of them on before finishing the tail. That way I could see the postion of the engines and match
the postion of the tail accordinly.
The first step for the wings was the file off
the top sides of the wings flat.
As there would no weapons on the end of
wings, the weapon mounts had to go
from both sides.
On the bottom side there was also lots of
detail that I filed off (marked red on the
picture). There is no need to file off the
centermost details of the landing gear
“slots”, when the wings will be cut off,
those will on the side of the center part
that will not be needed for the model.
On top of removing the details mentioned
above I also kept on filing to get a flatter
finish. The wings would be turned over so
that the original bottom side would end
up being the top side, and I needed room
to paint the chapter symbol on the wings,
so I made sure that there was enough of
flat are to do so.
Then I cut the wings free from the middle
section and cleaned the cut are by filing.
Step 5: Tail Section Part 2
One of the wings prepared in the previous
step was glued on. You can see the
positioning from the image on the left.
After some dry fitting you should be able
to find a spot where the details of the
engine meet the details on the hull quite
naturally.
Next: Cutting the tail to fit the model. The
rear section of the model is not actually
horizontal, so it means that the tail must
also be cut in an angle as shown in the
images.
Then the tail is glued on its place. From the following images it can seen how I chose to position the tail
compared to the engines. In this step I chose deviate once more from the original model as the
Thunderhawk engines are quite a bit longer than they should for a Stormraven. But keep this conversion
simpler I chose not reduce the length of the engines, therefore the model ended up having the engines to
be so long that tail entirely between then (in the original model that tail is longer than the engines). The
overall look of the craft is still” Stormraven – enough” for me.
After the tail was attached to the right
position I removed the wing, as it would
be in the way of applying greenstuff and
filing.
At this point I also attached a large
neodymium magnet at the bottom of the
plane. Normally I drill a hole for the
magnet but these ones were so big that
did not have a drill of suitable size. The
smaller magnets that I normally use for my AI planes were not strong enough for a metal model of this size.
The landing gear will disguise the magnet to some degree.
Then it was time for another round of
greentuffing to make tail fit seamlessly. I
also filled the partially visible landing gear
hole under the magnet.
At this point I also noticed that the left
side of the tail section was not originally
glued on quite right so I used some
greenstuff to fill that area for smoother
transition. After the GS was cured I once again filed off any excess for smoother finish.
Step 6: Landing Gear
Then on to the landing gear. As the rear
landing gears were glued on to the sides
of the main hull the sides of the landing
gear needed to filed flat. I filed the area
marked with the red. Remember file off
the same area from the opposing side
from the other landing gear.
The excess part above the widest part
was cut away…
…and filed nice and smooth.
Once again, after some dry fitting you
should be able to find a spot where the
landing gear fits between details on the
hull quite naturally. Note that they are
glued on backwards to fit the look on the
Stormraven.
For the front landing gear it is best to trim
it down a little by little, and dry fit in
between. It is far easier to cut out a bit
more than come up with an extension
piece after too much has been cut away.
As a next step the front landing gear was
glued on and it was tested that the model
would stand correctly on a flat surface.
This required some minor twisting and
regluing, but after couple rounds
everything was on the same level.
I also added the front fins at this point. It
is another deviation from the original
model but I felt that there was missing
something without them. There was too
much empty space between the details on the sides, and the fins took care of that problem.
Step 7: The Base
I chose to make the base ready before finishing the wings as this allowed me to place the model on its
flying stand, and inspect it more easily from different angles when attaching the wings.
The magnets that I was using had a hole
in the middle so I used that to attach it to
the flying stand. The peg was slightly too
wide so I trimmed it a bit with a knife.
After that the magnet was glued on, and
the excess part of the peg was cut away. I
originally left it on as the other magnet
had a hole in it where it would fit, but
that made the connection too strong.
Removing the stand was too difficult
when magnets needed to be pulled
directly away from each other.
I do not glue the stands on the AI bases so
that they can be removed for
transportation.
Step 8: The Wings Part 2
As a final step the wings were prepared by creating the engine casing for them. The wings are quite a bit
thicker than they should be, and therefore the engine casings would either be smaller, or would require
extensive amount of work. I chose the former option.
After some dry fitting you should decide
the slope of wings you are going to use.
That gives you the top side of the engines,
where work need to be done. Slope that I
chose can be seen from the rear part of
engine.
The area that is marked with red on
picture that needs to be filed flat.
After some filing I had the both wings
ready. I filled some gaps and dents with
GS and kept on filing after the GS had
cured. I also filed away some of wing top
that was next to the to the engine casing
to make the casing look slightly more
prominent.
After a whole lot of filing the wings were ready to be attached to the model. Like before, after some dry
fitting I found a good position for the wings where they were supported slightly by the details of the hull. It
took some time to ensure that both wings were on the same position and at the same angle, but it was
worth the trouble. The model is ready to receive some paint on it!
Here are some pics of the finished model:
-Tommi/Garoth