Pictish Miniature Painting - FW Tau Manta Build WIP

[rick_1138]

Hi All,

 

Today is day 1 in a rather large commission that i will be working on for a member of this very forum (Valaas).

 

This is a build WIP that i will update as often as i can and if anyone has any questions etc please feel free to ask and i shall endeavour to answer them if i can :)

 

Without further ado here is the first bit of the process, the dreaded mould release removal, and with a big model, you need a big basin!

 

 

Then there were a few large pieces with a bit of warp-age, i filled our sink with boiling water and left the pieces individually to soak in the heat and then i could flatten them on a flat surface to straighten the pieces with weight on them to cool in the correct position.

 

 

Then i started to put some of the larger pieces into place to see how the fit was, which was mostly good but a few areas will need a fair bit of plasticard spacing and filling.

 

 

 

More to come on monday, but i will need a good chunk of epoxy from B&Q tomorrow and some more sanding pads for my mini sander!

 

gonna be a dusty back garden next week while i remove plugs!

 

Happy days.

 

[MithrilForge]

Good Luck with the Build, ugh resin  . you'd reckon the amount of money spent on something this huge and beautiful that it would be a premium product with out warpage and that all the seams would meet up and there would be no gaps ,....anyway rants aside, this looks to be an epic job,even though your sanding out in the back garden don't forget a mask  

 

cheers, Mithril 

[Honda]

Do you know what color scheme will be used? I'm kind of hoping it's something other than the standard Tau sand color or all white.

 

It will still be an amazing model in either case.

[Valaas]

Do you know what color scheme will be used? I'm kind of hoping it's something other than the standard Tau sand color or all white.

 

It will still be an amazing model in either case.

 

I can tell you it definitely won't be sand colour or white......

[MithrilForge]

Black and Red Valaas style 

although i do love the white tau scheme myself...probably the only one of theirs that clicked with me...must've been that awesome pic of the Stormsurge when it first came out  

Can't wait to see some paint on this Valaas  i'm saving up likes in preparation     

 

Cheers, Mithril

[rick_1138]

Updates...soon

[rick_1138]

Updates! Woo!

 

Starting to put big bits together, but mostly sanding and filling just now.

All the glue!
 

Attached the small lift piece before sandwiching the top plate and the largest single piece (Lower hull front)

 

 

I also put the rear hatch assembly together, needed a fir bit of fiddling but went together straight

 

Engine assembly laid out.

 

I also got a small commission to assemble a Fire Raptor, came in a large bag, but isnt even as big as the manta's wing 

 

[rick_1138]

Hi folks,

 

Bigger update on the manta progress.

 

Main bits are still prep work rather than gluin bits together, main work has been on the infantry boarding ramp assembly which needed a repair due to lots of bubbles and the foot ramp needed a pin replaced with brass:

 

 

 

Then the fiddliest part of the entire build, the assembly of the resin burst cannons, these were all a bit bendy and a LOT of them had mould slip issues on the barrels which are incredibly delicate, so i toke my time and worked slowly and finally got them all assembled.

 

 

 

Now it was time to assemble the rear infantry entry ramp and door assembly, this is quite a clever design and shows why you need to correct any warping first, its worth the time to heat and straighten these parts.  The door assembly has a friction fit part so the door doesnt flap open.

 

 

 

The ramp was then installed into the manta hull (dry fit only at this point) it fits fine but needs sanding as a bit tight.

 

 

 

The Rail guns are 4 parts but a lot of mould slip and mould release meant they have needed a lot of fit and sanding wok.

 

 

 

Next section was starting to fill gaps with plasticard strips and milliput for later sanding. There are a LOT of gaps!

 

 

 

I also finished the Fire Raptor build, the client wanted the cockpit done with a very basic OSL interior and the canopy sprayed clear red to give a basic light effect.  After all the horror stories i have heard about these kits, it was actually quite a good kit.

 

 

[Honda]

 After all the horror stories i have heard about these kits, it was actually quite a good kit.

 

 

Yes, I've heard that FR is a better kit to construct than the Storm Eagle. I put a SE together for a friend and it had some interesting issues with warped seams. I got it done and he loves the model (me too), but I don't have a strong desire to build another one in my lifetime.

 

Considering the scale of this model, would you consider the reconstruction effort more than expected or about what you expected?

 

Cheers,

 

 

Note: I don't do the interiors of my models, so I can see that I could skip some of the repair work you're having to do because of the customer's request.

 

However, for me, models are gaming pieces, not display models or toys to operate.

[Master Toddius]

Its not often that I get to see a Manta come together step by step. I'm going to follow this topic and wish you the best of luck. 

[rick_1138]

Progress!

 

The main build is almost completely finished, just a few small bits and then a dust coat to check for any final areas needing filler.

 

I have magnetised the parts requested by the client and then it is on to applying paint....quite excited.

 

Final wing sanding and then gluing them both on, its now a bit of a faff to manhandle!

 

20170924_124603 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

20170924_155702 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

The nose section had the biggest single gap which was filled with plasticard and milliput.

 

20170926_130754 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

Magnets were installed into hatches and covers.

 

20170927_103114 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

Then i test fitted the undertray and placed it on the kitchen table to check fit and working parts.

 

20170927_121107 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

20170927_124446 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

20170927_124530 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

The lower tray has a fair gap\height diff that needed filling.

 

20170927_185341 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

20170927_193612 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

Onto painting next week!

[Honda]

It's very hard to do anything other than sit back and watch this Leviathan come together.

 

I don't know if I would ever get a FW Titan model, but if I did, this would be very close to the top of the list.

 

P'la'e O'nn!

[Studio Silvernale]

I want one of those kits but they cost more than my car...

[Ovidius Incertus]

I guess the good thing about Tau units is that they're generally smooth, so all that sanding you have to do isn't going to ruin every rivet on the whole model...geez.

[MithrilForge]

I gotta say great work your doing great here, valaas will be very pleased, now and this does not reflect on your work here but it's relevant, the amount of work put into this and the initial cost of the model reinforces my years old dislike of ForgeWorld a supposedly "premium" version of GW's products, any other scale modeller or person in general would've sent the whole kit back asking for their money back, the quality of ForgeWorld is horrendous and we the consumer blindly accept the "that's just the way it is" waffle we've been fed over the years... I wouldn't imagine airfix or Tamiya releasing anything close to this pile of "shas"...

Sorry for the rant.

Great rescue work Richard!

Cheers mithril

[rick_1138]

Thanks all.

 

With regards to FW quality I think the issue with the Manta was that it was their first really big kit they made and I think they would have made moulds different a second time.

 

I've made a fair few FW things over the years and they're usually quite good.

 

A modern warlord titan would probably be a doddle in comparison.

 

It's also the only way we can get these kits as a manta in injection plastic would cost GW a fortune and sell very little.

 

Though yes it is a fair bit if filler!!

[Honda]

the amount of work put into this and the initial cost of the model reinforces my years old dislike of ForgeWorld a supposedly "premium" version of GW's products, any other scale modeller or person in general would've sent the whole kit back asking for their money back, the quality of ForgeWorld is horrendous and we the consumer blindly accept the "that's just the way it is" waffle we've been fed over the years... I wouldn't imagine airfix or Tamiya releasing anything close to this pile of "shas"...

 

 

Whether or not the Manta is a "good" kit or not depends on how well it stands on its own. Resin modeling in general comes with it's own set of hobby challenges. The trade off is that you get models that normally wouldn't see the light  of day.

 

From an economics perspective, resin kits cannot be compared to injection molded kits in any way. The upfront  investment for injection mold kits is quite significant. As posted above, we would never have seen a plastic injection kit of a Manta  at this scale because the economics never would have worked.

 

Back in the good old days, the  initial investment for injection molding  was on the order of 100K (USD). Assuming you could get someone to pay $2000 for a Manta, how many would GW have to sell to just break even? So how many of these have they sold? 100? So let's say that the  costs aren't that much any more and it's only half that  to make an injection mold.

 

Where does the payout come from?

 

We want  GW to make smart business decisions. That way they keep making the models we love as long as we want them to, not because they couldn't handle logistics (looks at Spartan Games).

[rick_1138]

Today is the day.  Black is the colour. Outside is the venue.

 

The main body of the Manta is now being undercoated.  Firstly a wipe down with a tac cloth to remove last bits of dust etc.

 

20171019_095710 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

First coat of the underside

 

20171019_100819 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

Then the tank bay was installed, its a bit stiff on the right hand slider so that block will need sanded down but its just a big straight bit and can be done off the build as its not a glued in part.

 

Topside then painted and left to dry, the whole thing drank 500ml of primer!

 

20171019_102904 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

Colour to go on later this week.

[Honda]

Even with good pics like yours, it's really hard to visualize what a massive beast this thing is.

 

Just amazing.

[MithrilForge]

Great Work Rick!! 

Hey, next time you take pics, can you place another tau model next to it to really show how monstrous it is!! 

I'm suprised at how quick this has come together,Well done indeed!

 

 

the amount of work put into this and the initial cost of the model reinforces my years old dislike of ForgeWorld a supposedly "premium" version of GW's products, any other scale modeller or person in general would've sent the whole kit back asking for their money back, the quality of ForgeWorld is horrendous and we the consumer blindly accept the "that's just the way it is" waffle we've been fed over the years... I wouldn't imagine airfix or Tamiya releasing anything close to this pile of "shas"...

 

 

 Resin modeling in general comes with it's own set of hobby challenges. The trade off is...

 

 

 

A badly made product...

 

Cheers,Mithril

[rick_1138]

Ask and ye shall receive

 

20171020_121805 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

 

20171020_121825 by Richard Rose, on Flickr

[Guiltysparc]

Man, that thing is thats-what-she-said levels of huge.  Looks awesome.

[Honda]

How cute, you found an Epic dreadnought to pose with it. 

[Hopper21]

Hey Rick! Looking good! The fire raptor raptor you built me is coming on!

[rick_1138]

Hi. Hope he is taking a high tally of chaos traitor filth :)