Thunderhawk Gunship - Part I

 

More speed required; quick, paint it red!

The Aeronautica Imperialis scale Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship (to give the entire title) has been recently released, and naturally I had to pick one up. It will of course be painted in Blood Angels colours, and will very likely be considered the centrepiece of any Aeronautica squadrons I end up collecting. This is not foreseen to be a quick project.

The model itself is wonderfully detailed. Casting processes and CAD designs really have improved over the last few years, and Games Workshop was correct to wait for now to be releasing such things.

Assembly was fairly good, not much cleanup required, and everything fits together well. It's difficult to put pieces in the wrong spot or the wrong way around, and I was impressed with that aspect. The front foils, and the tail, have to be glued in place carefully or they'll be leaning off to one side too much, but that's really the only assembly issue I had.

Oddly enough, the kit doesn't come with wing attachable bombs, even though that's an option on the included rules sheet. I still have spares of those from the Thunderbolts, but it's odd to give an option that the kit can't provide. The missiles are all there, and I suspect will be what most people want anyway, but given that some tournament rules are "the model must represent what it has in the game" then this might annoy some people.

The landing gear can be either up or down. I have it in the down position because I like it for display that way, but I haven't glued it in place. It doesn't look suitable for magnetising to swap around either, not without a lot of hassle and far more experience in such matters than I currently have, and that's also a shame. I'll just be using blu-tac for now; I can always change my mind later.

So with this model, and Project 20 Marines, and a couple of other things in the works, I'm really getting bogged down in any feeling of progress. Fortunately a lot of it is Blood Angels, so I am familiar with the colours, I will be using the Forgeworld paint scheme for reference, and I should be able to swap around projects to keep interest going. Expect things to be a little chaotic for the rest of the year.

-- silly painter.

Imperial Navy Marauder Destroyers - Part III (Showcase)

 

Flying in very tight formation.

Skipping straight to the showcase of the Marauders, here they are. I was busy of late and had little time for posting any works in progress, but there's really not much different to how the Thunderbolts were handled. The canopy, trim, guns, all the same.

What is different with the Marauders comes down to the flying lights, exhaust soot, and varnishing.

The red and green lights are incredibly simple. Corax White, and then either Spiritstone Red (for the red of course), or Waystone Green (for the green funnily enough). And that's it. The gemstone paints really give a bright and glossy finish when applied over white, and it's a very little detail that really adds to these models.

Exhaust soot is much more apparent on these when compared to the Thunderbolts. More engines and some kind of vents on the upper wings couple with a greater wingspan to fill with something interesting just make it more natural to add black exhaust staining. This is again very simple: Abaddon Black drybrushed on. That's it. Obviously the brush cannot be overloaded, but it gives an excellent weathering effect that gives an appearance of an aircraft that's seen a good deal of use.

Next up is the varnishing. I attempted to use Vallejo Premium Airbrush Matt Varnish. It didn't give a matt finish. I possibly didn't shake the bottle properly, so I will attempt it again at some point, but using a brush managed to tone down the worst areas. At least there's no frosting.

About the missiles: painted exactly the same as the Thunderbolts, and I think better to have them than not. Makes it look a little more capable than a simple bomber. The missile heads are possibly too bright, but it provides a little bit of framing for the rest of the model and works ok.

In wrapping up I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on painting Aeronautica scale models in general. It's not something that fits my usual style of painting very well - details are simply too small to pay much attention to, and careful blending and edge highlighting is pointless. What really works well is the panel highlighting with the airbrush, recess shading to outline it all, and effects such as the exhaust soot. Some details really do help (such as the strobe lights). Drybrushing is sufficient for most of the model, or a simple base, wash, single highlight. I started to go beyond that in places and it was simply a waste of time - and I was beginning to lose motivation despite liking the look of them. It's the difference in scale that impacts things the most - it differs how light is expected to behave to the eye. The airbrush steps, and weathering, are the most important for aircraft. Titanicus is the same scale, but not familiar shapes and so they can be painted more like a Space Marine. Aeronautica Imperialis needs a slightly difference approach.

Let's see how I get on with the Thunderhawk.

-- silly painter.