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