Gamesday 2011 Runtbot and Thunderhawk

 The Runtbot made first cut in category 4 Large Monster 40k.  I'm really happy with that and I think the model shows improvement over my entries last year.  I got a lot of one on one time with the judges afterwards for some really helpful feedback and am looking forward to next year.

Project Thunderhawk arrived intact to the Last Chance Qualifier for Armies on Parade.  It did not move forward from there but I think it gave a lot of folks something really rare to see and enjoy.  I'm going to continue working on the project as the actual painting needs to be completed.  There are a half a dozen flat arts and the actual finishing shading etc  to be done although that will take place at a bit more leisurely pace than I've had to maintain until now.

I did pick up a lot of new toys at the show and will start some projects for next year's demon as well as diving with both feet into the Dark Eldar Update and finishing up the Gargantuan Squiggoth.

I'm still traveling so will be back to regular updates once I get home!

Full Metal Thunderhawk Hangar.

 Construction continues at a fevered pace.  Major wood component fabrication is complete.  The bay floor has had insect screen epoxyed onto it to provide some texture and balsa faux doors for the main hanger are complete.  There are two smaller faux doors that will appear in the scene as well as a small tower and some conduit/duct work for the opposite wall.  These smaller components I'm thinking will be started Wednesday.  The two hangar bay walls detach for transport/painting.  Placement of the model in the scene should be done later today so holes can be sited for fastening wires and for electrical attachments.  That should follow up with backside routing of channel for the wiring.  Once the woodworking portion is complete the outside of the display box can be finished with sealer and interior detail construction can begin. 

The heavy bolter sponsons are on although some modelling remains to be done to extend the ammunition feeds to actually connect with the underside of the weapon mounting.  Tail assemblies have been reattached and paint repairs are underway.

A problem with the primer not having bonded well with the underlying metal caused the paint to crack off in large flakes where it had been damaged in the deconstruction process.  This is causing larger areas to need repainting.  Hopefully I can get the cockpit canopy on this evening and begin paint detail clean up and repaints where required.  Many areas just need to be redone completely.

The other current project is, of course, the Runtbot.  The Runtbot base is almost ready to have the masking tape removed although this may be a bit tricky as I seem to have constructed a portion of the scene on the masking tape... oops!   A few areas on the Runtbot itself need revising and highlight touch up.  I'll do this tomorrow if my allergies cooperate... Achoo!

Clock is ticking... back to work I go!

Electro Goblin Raid delays Project Thunderhawk!

You may recall that Project Thunderhawk was damaged during my recent move.  I had just finished the major repairs when someone innocently asked me "When was the last time you turned it on?" 

I grabbed a battery and hooked it up.... nothing.... discovering that the battery was, in fact, dead gave me some momentary relief...whew.... unfortunately the new battery was also unable to ignite the lights... DOH!

After some testing it seemed that there was a short in the system.  Most likely between the power couple and the first circuit board.

With no other options presenting themselves I began tearing down the model to get to the offending worky bits.  Ultimately the entire upper wing assembly, gun, casemate, and upper hull had to be removed.  The short is still being chased down but has been isolated as directly related to the power couple itself where it passes through the hull.  Hopefully the electrical issue will be solved today and I can begin reconstruction. 

The display base is coming along with basic wood cutting and layouts done.  An experiment with floor texture was largely successful but I'm still floundering around exactly how the on-off switch will appear.  I'm strongly leaning towards a disguised switch involving one of the servitors that will appear in the scene.

 Hull and gun in dry dock getting the joint scrape treatment.

 While its torn down may as well actually solder the wire joins and delete the various wire nuts >.>

Busy couple of days ahead!  Darn Electro-Goblins!

In other news the Runtbot Base is built up and primed and should get base coats done today as well.

Some pix!

 I finally managed to transfer some pictures from my smart phone (apparently the phone is waaaay smarter than I am) I'll get some project Thunderhawk and runtbot status pix up tomorrow.  For now here are a few shots from Geekfest 2011

A massive Green Tide Apocalypse formation charges across the table.


The Ravenwing flanking the Green Tide!

 True line of sight.  Imperial Guard peer through the windows looking for targets.

An indecisive die roll!

Back in dry dockp

Project Thunderhawk is back in dry dock. 

I had initially thought the beastie had made it intact but I appear to have been mistaken.  The main gun and entire upper gun housing was torn off and one of the wings knocked loose and out of alignment.  I've no idea how that came to pass but there it is.  I've also managed to misplace/lose my camera so will be a little bit on pictures.  I've begun repairs and layouts for the scenic base as well. 

In addition to resuming work on the Thunderhawk I'm finishing up the Forgeworld Runtbot.  all that really remains is the base so it should be relatively easy.  I'm raiding my nephew's bits box to create the junk pile--- thanks dude!

Geekfest 2011 was a smashing success and the Corpulous Prime arc of our story project is being wrapped up in after action reports with the aim of generating a campaign rules set (errata is nearly complete then I'll intergrate it into the main body of the rules) and some fiction related to our individual 40k forces. 

Worky bitz

The major task today was detailing the cockpit.  While I was doing that I came up with and interesting idea for lighting that I'll test tomorrow and see how it plays out. Basically I'll mount a 5mm blue LED inside the center console drill out an indicator light and drill a hole to illuminate the under dash area.  If that leaves insufficient glow I'll add another hole  to allow more direct access to the seats.

Other tasks were filling gaps in the Battle Cannon and the turret housing section, base coating the forward heavy bolter array, and working on the Runtbot display base. 
The Battle Cannon promises to be a chore.  Its not really round, even after a tremendous amount of filing.  the two halves are also not well cast and seem to really be only distantly related.  I'm going to add some wire piping to even out some of the details that are unbalanced looking and see how convincing I can make it.  Ultimately it may be easier and more visually satisfying to just fabricate a replacement barrel.  Because the model is rare I'm inclined to keep to the original parts as much as possible and have limited wholesale scratch building to  things not included in the original design... like the cockpit and the search lights. 

A Runtbot, a cockpit, and lots of green primer.

 Today I started laying out the display base for the Ork Runtbot.  So far I have the wooden core and the vague idea that the Runtbot is standing on a scrapheap.  Tomorrow I'll base coat the core and dry fit the major components.  The major fitting aim is to create a socket for the game base to sink into that disguises the removable game base... at least from the front.  I'd like this to look like its permanently mounted to the base but still be easily removable. 

Project Thunderhawk saw a lot of progress.  Several sub assemblies got a primer coat of green and more interior spaces got the flat black treatment.  The heavy bolter forward mountings were assembled and had some minor sculpting adjustments.  Mostly to continue the power cables which basically were just hanging out there.

The major work of the day was looking into a cockpit solution.  I discovered that the nose of the Thunderhawk can accommodate the lower chassis and cockpit of a Landspeeder.  The great thing about including the entire floorboard of the Landspeeder is that the cockpit assembly becomes enclosed and there is ample space on the floorboard to secure a LED mounting.  This should allow me to aim the LED very precisely.  At the moment I'm aiming for a blue illumination under the control panels.  If that doesn't go as well as imagined I may do a few fiber optic strands to more directly illuminate sections of the panel. 

Tomorrow, in addition to working on the Runtbot base I'll start painting the cockpit, drill the LED mounting hole, and look for an actual windscreen to replace the metal one that has been removed.