Storm Talon Conversion- how it should have looked!

[Anvils Hammer]

hey Guys,

I love the concept for a Storm Talon, but hated the model, so I spent this afternoon hacking it up and rebuilding to make it a lot more aerodynamic and flight capable.

I didnt have time or tools available to make all the changes I wanted, but Ive fixed what I saw as the main issues, I wont get round to actually completing this WIP model, or painting it, for months most likely, but Im hoping a few people will steal the ideas!






Alterations-

Assault cannons directly integrated into the nose cone.

Rest of Nose trimmed down to make it a lot more streamlined and sleek looking.

Missile pods integrated into the top of the fuselage. Again, to make the craft sleeker and more aerodynamic. If Id used the lascannons or heavy bolters, I would have integrated them into the sides of the nose cone.

Old tail fin cut in half and used to make new engine wings, which are longer and thinner and have control surfaces, more realistic for horizontal flight. I cut off the old top fin completely and used one of the engine side fins to make a new tail upright.

Hope this provides inspirations for other people who dont like the regular Storm Talon! Im happy to answer any specific questions about the build.

Cheers,

AH

[Toadius80]

Nice job bud. Front profile is a lot better, pretty much perfect in my mind, though the tail somehow still could do with something, not sure what, just isn't quite right.
Great job :-)

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Wicksy]

Thats pretty good. You've turned a horrid lump into something worth having in an army!

[Verm1s]

Nice one. I think the general design could still be stretched out a bit more, but ya gots ta work with whats ya got.

[Freakiq]

Looks good but to be honest I prefer the original, this reminds me of a tubby Aquila Lander.

But for those who don't like the helicopter look this is a great way to make it look vastly different.

[snake-eyez]

Looks good but to be honest I prefer the original, this reminds me of a tubby Aquila Lander.

But for those who don't like the helicopter look this is a great way to make it look vastly different.

I think the original looks more like a tubby little baby Thunderhawk, and this converted one here looks more like a fighter.

The only issue with this converted one is it doesn't look suitable for the "hovercraft strike" or whatever that new special rule for it is. This looks more like all it can do is fast aerial assaults (like the ork bomber). As I said in another thread, I think the perfect look for the original model would have been like the Terran Banshee from Starcraft 2.

Nice conversion though, it looks pretty good.

[Anvils Hammer]

hey,

Thanks very much for the feedback!

Its still WIP, nothing is glued yet.

I agree, the tail does need some more work, Ive just not got many bits left and I dont want to use anything which isnt in the box!

I will have a think about it.

@verm1s, Yes I agree, I wanted to make the entire fuselage thinner and longer. but for that, I will have to make my own Gunship for my Steam Lords! I had limited time and tools so had to keep it (relatively) simple.

@Snake-eyes, the engine layout hasnt changed, its just that it looks faster! I see what you mean though, but with the engines in the "down" position, its quite capable of hovering still.

I might play with moving some of the little thrusters to the front nose.


Here are some photos showing the tail assembly and the main modifications to the base components required to make this-






Cheers,


AH

[andyg2006]

Awesome work, AH!
I kind of liked the helicopter feel for the regular talon but without it looking so much like Pete's Dragon (ie huge chin/mouth and not much else) and yours is a very nice concept and execution.

I've not got the model, so I don't know about what extra pieces you have left, but I think I agree about the tailfin.
If you have them (or can get them/make them), I think what would look cool is a set of horizontal sidefins on the back, just between the vertical ones in the tail but -instead of making them straight and level- angle them downwards and sweep them forwards so that they have the same angle and seep as the main wings on the engines, as this will reinforce the style of both sets.

[hammerbolt]

That looks much better than the original, well done.

[Urgat]

I'm just posting for a bit of constructive criticism: the missile pod emplacement is a terrible idea. Besides the fact it's not really suited to targeting stuff under the gunship, think about what will happen when the pilot squeezes the trigger... It'd also make loading the launchers very complicated for the ground teams.
Sorry for nitpicking

[andyg2006]

@ Urgat: To me, the top missiles on this make a lot of sense.
Imagine the missile pod is just that, a detachable pre-loaded pack with the rockets already inside and all you have to do is load it on top of the aircraft (e.g. via a crane) and just connect/wire it up.
Crews are going to need to be on the ground checking the landing gear, etc, so it saves time overall to have a gun on top as there's space for more people to work on the thing at once (whereas if it's on the bottom, the guys arming the missiles on the bottom are probably going to be getting in the way of the other ground crews' working).

The rockets could cold-fire (if that's the right phrase?) where they get propelled out of the tube by compressed air (giving the craft time to get clear) then the rocket motors fire up and the guidance systems (e.g. 'fire-and-forget' kind of stuff) kick in, taking them to the target?

Just a thought.

[hammerbolt]

Guys... it's 40k. If it looks good, it is good. As for working... Land Raider side doors: hands up anyone who's seen the lascannons on the rear doors, forcing the terminators to disembark smack into them!

[Anvils Hammer]

haha,

The missile placement blinding the pilot on firing has been brought up on B&C! And yes my logic is that the missiles have a "kick charge" which knocks the clear before igniting the rocket engine.

For loading. well they are marines.. I guess they just flex their biceps and chuck the missiles perfectly into the pod from 30m away!

AH

[dangermouse425]

Looks awesome, much better than the original!
RoC > Realism. This is 40k, remember!

[Phaeron Setek]

It looks cool, though I do wonder why you kept the massive bottom fin. It does nothing for the aerodynamics...

[Oxford]

I've been wondering what it would look like if you moved the rotatable engines to the ends of the wings to make it look more like an Osprey. It might be a bit fiddly to do.

Either that or move the wings to a fixed point below the engines and attach the weapons pods to them like on a Mil 24 Hind or AH64 Apache.

[crandall87]

That looks so much better. Good work!

[wilsonian]

Well done on the work A better looking model if you ask me.

[RanaldLoec]

I really like the conversion it looks allot more sleek.

Well done on the work A better looking model if you ask me.

Off topic Wilsonian is that a Skoda Octavia VRS in your avatar of a felicia I can't tell?

[DaHedd]

Much much better than the original and i dont much mind the missile placement, think of the terminator cyclone.

I actually rather like the kit, just needs something done with the rediculously over sized assault cannons. What you have done goes a good part of the way towards fixing that problem.