Project Log: Marauder Destroyer

[BlueRonin]

Thanks! Fortunately, the angle of the picture makes the front quarter windshield look more hazed than it is, irl it looks like most of the actual white hazing will be covered up by some thin lining of putty (got to get lucky sometimes too). If not, I crack the superglue, make some new shields, and start over

However, I'll be getting some of that glue for sure!

In that picture you can clearly see how out of place the rear piece of the canopy is as well. I'm going to add three portholes using this strips of plasticard riveted up to look as similar to the front canopy cast as possible. I figure with a little work I can make three more window in the same lines as those on the actual canopy piece. This should not only show a little more of the cockpit, but hopefully draw a little more attention to the canopy section of the aircraft - which I can use to my advantage when detailing the area during the paintjob.

[mangozac]

Sounds Awesome! The extra portholes will definitely enhance the cockpit!

[BlueRonin]

Fiddly work, but the Navigator can now enjoy the view across alien horizons Once the canopy is attached, I'll have to perform a lot more subtle gap fills to make it all look smooth before pointing but so far I am happy with the result. I am certainly a lot happier with the look of the rear canopy now than how it looks stock.



The green stuff lined in around every window pane did exactly what I wanted it to do, but I need to get better at smoothing it out - you can even see how I neglected to use the clay shapers on the front starboard spar Oh well, once the paintjob is complete I doubt it'll be very noticeable, so I'll just chalk it up to experience.

I'm wondering whether I should go for a smooth gapfill where the canopy joins the hull, or whether a subtle "welding effect" would give the model a slightly more bulky 40k feel?

[mangozac]

The added porthole looks great! I can't believe they left that spot on the model so blank! For smoothing the putty on mechanical surfaces like this I would use a metal sculpting tool rather than a clay shaper.

With regards to the canopy-hull gap, the problem I have with the idea of doing a weld bead is that there aren't weld beads over the rest of the model, so it would look out of place. I'd try placing down a sheet of cling wrap over the hull and then filling the gap with greenstuff - I'm assuming you want the canopy to be removable? The cling wrap will prevent the GS from sticking to the hull.

[BlueRonin]

Thanks Yeah, I came to the same conclusion about the weld lines - with none anywhere else on the Marauder it would look really out of place (however, for a future Renegade Marauder...). Also, I'm not planning on having the cockpit removable, so greenstuffing the gap should be pretty simple.

I just need the Humbrol Maskol to arrive (should be here tomorrow, but I'm off to Mexico for the weekend), so I can prepare the gun turret for assemble. Then I'm basically good-to-go to start the proper assembly of the hull and wings! Exciting!

[BlueRonin]

I've started working on other sub-assemblies, and so I thought I'd line them up to take a shot of the hull. With a regular guardsman standing in front of the hull, it should give viewers an appreciation for the size of this model (at least for those who haven't seen one before).

[BlueRonin]

I finally managed to get back to my Marauder Project this evening, and since I was in the groove of resin-work from earlier I continued with prep and builds on sub-assemblies. I completed the wings, the tail section, and some details on the nose and main body - I'm probably going to continue to work with the other sub-assemblies until they are 100% built, gap-filled and ready for undercoating before I return to the main body and complete the detailing around the canopy. I've yet to insert the magnets I'm going to use for the missiles, as well.

The only challenge was making sure the engines line up right - if I simply slotted them in they would actually stick out at slightly different lengths so I had to adjust them - some green stuff will be needed right where the engine lines up with the leading edge of the wing, but shouldn't be much work. I decided to glue the rear gunmount in place, basically because I'm not a huge fan of moving parts.



The picture shows the sub-assemblies simply placed together - nice to get a view of the whole thing, though! I have 18 days to get the model table-top ready, so expect frequent updates again!

[mangozac]

Woohoo more updates and a deadline! Always good things when it comes to a project

It's great to see the shots of the whole thing coming together. From some of the horror stories I've heard you're probably lucky that the gap filling and alignment you have to do is only minimal!

[BlueRonin]

[Munkey Joe]

Wow Looks good in the pics!! nice work.

For your attachment needs.... hows about Rare earth magnets?? drill the bottom of the plane and drill the top of the stand and match magnets. using larger magnets would give you plenty of stability (I have some I can barely pull apart and Im a fairly big guy!!) and it would still allow for breakdown and storage.

Try here: for magnets. they are pretty cheap.

[BlueRonin]

[mangozac]

Great posting Sasha!

I like where things are going with the flying stand and base. As cool as it is at that height, I would chop just a couple of inches off the length of the rod just to be safe....

[Munkey Joe]

[BlueRonin]

[mangozac]

I probably would have just used something like Tamiya tape to mask the windows (sorry I suppose I should have mentioned that earlier!). Oh well, like you say: next time

Looks beautiful just primed!