Manta Gunship, this is a link to a project

Reciently Ive had trouble in painting my manta air wing, to be blunt, I really really hate painting. I get very frustrated and unmotivated to do any hobby work, so too keep my creative juices flowing I started a project thats been on my mind for a couple of years.
I want to do for the Tau manta what the US air and army did for the Huey helecopter. Take the best elements of the airframe and equiptment and make the Cobra attack varient.
I believe Ive got a working concept and ive started on the model.
Below is a link to where Ive started posting, I was hoping to get more feedback before bringing it to this site but not much has come of it.

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=93716

im not sure if that link will work, but thats the site address, if you want to find it the old fasion way, the site is Heresy Online, the section is Hobby, the post titeled Manta gunship.

I will be updating the site tonite with the pictures from this weekends progress. so check it out and let me know what you think.

I updated my project post over at herysy online. its still a early mock upof the underside details. I added several twin ion cannon turrets to illustrate the some of the armament changes ill be adding to the finished aircraft. I may add up to ten ion cannons, many to cover nearly all angles of attack or defence.
Ive also been thinking about the stats for the craft for AI and the unit cost. cost is a tricky one. and one that has me trying to calculate the cost of a transport. ive looked at all the transports in the game and im trying to work out what the cost is per unit of transport.
ill suptract the trasport cost from the base price of a manta, then add in the cost of the additional weapons and subsystems.

I'm testing posting pictures from my droid, and showing my progress on the gunship
It will be ready and unsed in the battles this fall.


That worked. Ok let me post two more shots, the wings are pinned and I started work on filling in the body with milliput. Also notice the drone, its a milliput copy, more drone varients are now possible. Fitting for a ion cannon drone has begun.



Ok that's the current apperance. The first coat of milliput will form the backbone so to speak for later applications.
M still writing up its stats and costs and ill open debate on the topic soon. But for now I've got to run, breaks over. Cya

I updated my thread over at Heresy online. follow the link at the start of this thread.
When I get home tonite Ill post some of the pictures on this site just because you guys should be seeing what evil comes from my yard first. I have a few pictures I didnt post there that I will here. but for the most part if you want to follow the comentary it will be in heretical format. im a bad heretic.


Im looking for names for the beast.
Ive googled aggressive fish names and Ive got a few that I like but Id like to hear other names.
so far Devil Ray is leading as its already a sub species of manta, and its um Heretical.
Koi sounds nice and believe it or not some species of koi are very aggressive. ( just not well armed to take down large prey)
Lion fish, I like it but i dont like any name that ends with the word "fish"
it makes it sound too much like the devilfish.

Names can be from other languages, I looked up many Japaneese fish names and I like some, but they all make me want to go eat sashimi.

Lastly, Ive gotten off my butt and started the book work on quantifing the stats for the beast. Ill post them when thier complete. thier still in progress because I can still change some of the over all hull design and add or remove weapon hard points. At this time the gunship is using all of the base manta stats for number of weapons, fire arcs, ammo, speed and what cards it can use.
As discussed in older posts, ive added some serious firepower that effect all arcs and ive been thinking on how to integrate one system that was left off AI but is listed in forgeworlds Taros campaign book, The manta is protected by a energy shield. I want to integrate that to AI rules, and fortunatly the Eldar have paved the way with their holofield save. I will list the gunship with a 5+ or 6+ save vs damage to simulate the shields effect. I think the blue boys will need it, now that hte uppidy elves got a D-cannon flying around. lol

Feed back?

Ok, as promised, I have a few exclusive shots that will only be posted here.

One of the ideas I was working with was inspired from the klingon bird of prey, I like the variable wing position. and I mocked up the gunship klingon style .





The last shot was of the new nose section just as it came out of the mold. in the back ground are the other items I made during that casting. The protector had huge gaps but I think I can fix it.

Now that Ive filled in the bulk of the gunship ill be making another mock up with weapons soon, they take time to set up properly.

enjoy.

Looking good so far I like the Klingon version too!

The recast process seems to be very hard and above all very LONG !

Molding and casting seems like a full time hobby of its own.

It is indeed. I think I put in about a 100 hours of hobby per hour of game play.

Its been a while since I've posted at all let alone a picture. The Gunship is progressing and may be furnished in time for the fall campaign. I've added more milliput to the underside and have been having a hell of a time evening out the wings and center body. The shading will show that I'm close but also how far I need to go before I'm done

The 2 card cut outs are the anti grave plates that will be mounted under the wings. The center body rear needs to be thickened.

That thing is a beast.

I hope World Bleeder has been thinking up some way to deal with it.