Bit more work done, the assault ramp I think fits the profile a lot better, looks a bit less like the indented rander front and a bit more like the thunderhawk with a flush ramp. It'll get a strip of styrene to cover up the recess where the tracks were and make it flush with the rest of the hull. Cock pit was lifted slightly and forward sensors added. Assault cannons added, may go back to pop them loose so I can magnetize them for switching out with lascannons.
The canard wings got dropped a bit lower so that when looking at it head on or from the side the hurricane bolters clear over their top (just barely) with a fire control system built into the targeter it should in theory avoid shooting off the wing. Kinda like the mechanical cut off on old WWI biplanes that shoot through the spinning prop. Maybe not the best fluff but really couldn't figure out a way to make the nose look balanced without the wings.
I'll be working in a bunch of vertical thrusters in underneath, probably casting some landspeeder engines or something. The thunderhawk is basically a giant brick and there's no way it'd ever fly given it's design, this I wanted to capture some of that look. It's basically just a reusable drop pod with nubby wings. Some of the new NASA and military transorbital designs like the X-19 get all of their lift from the body and have a complete wedge shape that don't sport wings other than stabilizers. So the theory is that it's kept a float with a combination of repulsors and pure brute force of teh engines. Marine vehicle designs IMO seem to be all about the brick look. (even if unrealistic to fly)
I'll be removing the teeth type indents along the bottom, it's hard to see in these pics but I already dremmeled away the circular studs/posts on the armor that form the axle points of the tread flywheels. Later on they'll be filled in with greenstuff to just be a flat spanse of armor. Along with the indents being removed it should give a lot smoother profile and hopefully lose some of the ground tank look.
The heavy bolters will likely be added as a belly gun, I'd considered placing it on top behind the cockpit but afetr some thinking I realized that helicopter guns ships are generally used against ground targets, and a top mounted weapon implies a seperate air superiority or AA role which doesn't seem to fit in with the character of the design. IMO it's more about being able to strafe the LZ than take on air targets like a fighter.