Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The origin of the Rapid Assault Force

Well. It has begun. The first plane for my Rapid Assault force has rolled off the production lines. I bought the Forgeworld Chaos Hellblade Fighter after I returned from the Battlefoam Wild West Shootout Tournament back in October 09 (so long ago).



After an overnight soak in some cleaning liquid and a thorough scrubbing with an old toothbrush (and the tweaking of one of the Hellblade's bent wings), the plane went together incredibly easily! Only 11 parts with no real hassles at all. If only they were all like this. I started wondering how many more I should acquire.

Anyways, after assembling the Hellblade it was time to get started on the Locust vector-fighter. Early last year, Thomas Wynn and I discussed the possibility of converting (somewhat enmasse) the fins from Drop Pods into Chaos fighters, later dubbed "Locusts" by Mr Wynn. We sketched up a few things and the project went on the Back Burner™ for over nine months. Recently I asked Thomas if he still had the sketches. Turns out he'd turned some of the sketches into cut components. He'd worked out everything for the flat plane of the wings, so I now get to work on building up the rest of the beast (engine, weapon mounts, air intakes, running lights etc), then we can go back to the computer-aided drawing board.


Here's a comparison shot. They'll actually be pretty close in overall length, but the Locust might appear a tad bulkier. As you can see I've started building up the detailing, the cockpit...


...the air intake, and underbelly.


And here's a final shot of the work thus far.

Until next time.

Cheers
Dave

6 comments:

  1. cheers dave this thing looks awsome. OO and go 5 hellblades for the rapid assault makes a nice looking wing.

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  2. Nice!

    This looks like a super fun project, I'll totally be following the progress of the "Locusts" (looks great so far!).

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  3. Heya Dave! It's been a million years but perhaps you remember a tattooed kid working out on the West Coast Trade team... It's me! I've just gotta say that I've been diggin the hell outta your blogs.

    I do have a question though... Somebody from somewhere told me soaking the FW resin bits in soda overnight will strip the release agent. Does this wacky idea have any merit? What do you use?

    Hope all is well man

    ~ dan b

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  4. Hey i just realized that ''ve got some bitz like what you used for the wings. Well this is an idea what i'll later have to try out!

    (A question: What about skimmers? Valkyre variants? Cuz theire stats and wep options far better than a standard chimera? It's just an idea. And i have to say i'm thinking on something alternative in that category, and just wondering maybe you got something in your pocket for an idea like that too).

    Anyway just wanted to say: This is a pritty nice Plog!

    Keep this up! :)

    Matyilinko - from Ammobunker

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  5. Hi guys

    @Rogue Valley - 5 sounds like a good number ; )

    @Mr Esty - Thanks!

    @dan - sure I remember you dude, how have you been? I typically use Coca Cola to soak my FW stuff in and haven't had a problem. I was out of Coke in the house that day though : (

    @Matyilinko - I'll be using these as Vendettas. As you point out, they are far superior to Chimeras, and they look cool too.

    Cheers
    Dave

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  6. I've been great... Got myself back in school, and workin on a teaching degree. I'm also puttering around with the idea of grad school, which will essentially mean I'll be kissing away the next decade. haahaa

    I still do a lot of hobbyin also. My plague marine army has grown to about 10k points fully painted, and there's so much more to be done. Hit me up with an email and I'll shoot a few photos over! I've even got a pair of hellblades all finished up... superdanozborne@gmail

    Oh ya, and Jason Craze and I have become pretty close buddies. He's pretty much given up on gaming hobby stuff for motorcycle hobby stuff now, but every so often we get a game of Warmachine in here or there. You know how that guy is... All of nothing baby!

    ! dan

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