21 replies to this topic

[MetalMammoth]

Inspired by Brother Cristopher's amazing Plastic Thunderhawk project, I decided to build my own - but not as a tabletop model, rather an interactive toy in a videogame.

I originally boasted it'd be done in a week, ended up taking 6. Or 7....

 

Since it's not a videogame forum, I should explain a few things;

 

Who knows about Minecraft? The game where you can build stuff from big, meter-by-meter blocks. Well, those blocks are voxels; not in-game models, rather a bit of code telling the game what shape to draw.

After it's decade of success, many similar games were created, and the better ones sought to add something new to the formula. Some of these games let's you build more than stationary stone castles; Moving, functioning vehicles, after some fashion.

 

Trouble was, the building blocks are usually pretty damn huge, so if you want to build something that's not absolutely colossal, it won't look very good.

But then came one of the latest such titles, called "Starship Evo", which offers some really tiny blocks to play with, as well as finely adjustable moving parts, so I dove in, and made this:

 

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Yes, the graphics are so goofy they make Warhammer Adventures illustrations look savage, yes that world looks like the landscape from Teletubbies, but it's still fun*.

43 meters long, weighs a colossal 293 tons, and flies slightly above 1300 Km/H.

 

The Thunderhawk can fly, shoot it's weapons - the heavy bolter turrets can even track selected enemies or be taken direct control of, the ramps open and close, the landing gear folds out and back in, the attack wings can be raised, and there's even a weapon rack that I filled up with boltgun-lookalikes I built.

 

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I even made a Land Speeder to have something I can carry in the assault bay, but the game being early access (nowhere near finished), the maglocks just don't work, and it falls through the floor. I'll just have to give it some time to improve.

 

 

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If, by some miracle of the Emperor someone here is also playing, I've shared the files on the game's Steam Workshop page, so anyone can download them.

If this is your first time hearing about this game but feel tempted to purchase it (I mean, 17 EUR for the game and a free, digital Thunderhawk is still 500 EUR cheaper than ordering one from Forgeworld, if all you want to do is enjoy the model) - Make sure you know what you buy first; It's going to be a good one, but so far it's really-really-really not finished. There are many bugs, and there is no content; nothing to do, besides build for the sake of building, and fly for the sake of flying. Sometimes you can find something to shoot at. Keep that in mind; I wouldn't want anyone to get disappointed.

Edited by MetalMammoth, 08 February 2021 - 11:59 AM.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Fine work on the Thunderhawk. The Land Speeder seems disproportionate, the heavy bolter too big, the engines too small.

[MetalMammoth]

Well spotted! It was easy enough to scale up the engines, but the heavy bolter's size was kind of a neccessity.

 

 

I've also adjusted the chassis a bit.

 

Aaand, does anyone know how these things land? I had to omit the bottom assault cannon and made the bottom fin a lot shorter, because they make profoundly poor landing skids.

Edited by MetalMammoth, 30 January 2021 - 09:04 AM.

[Syrakul]

Beautiful work! I can imagine the hours that went into this, and it looks like a very tidy replica.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I've also adjusted the chassis a bit.

It looks better in this image. I applaud your efforts.

Aaand, does anyone know how these things land? I had to omit the bottom assault cannon and made the bottom fin a lot shorter, because they make profoundly poor landing skids.

The grav plates keep Land Speeders and other skimmers (antigravity vehicles) PERMANENTLY off the ground, as noted in Dan Abnett's Brothers of the Snake. For comparison, look at repulsorlift vehicles in Star Wars movies- they don't need landing gear because they'll never touch land, unless by force (i.e., they crash).

[MetalMammoth]

Cool! Thanks.

 

Sadly in this game they plonk down dead on the ground as soon as the player exits the vehicle, then flip over if the bottom's not even. I'm not saying it's techno-heretical scrapcode that favours the Emperor-damned Tau who have landing skids on their hovertanks, but the Devilfish I'm going to build next will not have to face this dilemma......

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Sadly in this game they plonk down dead on the ground as soon as the player exits the vehicle, then flip over if the bottom's not even.

Mojang should fire the idiots who programmed such bugs into what is supposed to be an antigravity vehicle.

I'm not saying it's techno-heretical scrapcode that favours the Emperor-damned Tau who have landing skids on their hovertanks, but the Devilfish I'm going to build next will not have to face this dilemma......

The Tau stole this technology from humanity, its creator and rightful owners. Proof? Compare the Hammerhead gunship to the light tanks from the 1982 film TRON.

Edited by Bjorn Firewalker, 30 January 2021 - 11:34 PM.

[MetalMammoth]

I've been having too much fun to stop, so here are some more stuff;

 

 

-The Devilfish I've mentioned.

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Pretty much every moving part functions; Turrets move, hatches open, weapons shoot, landing gear folds, and engine tilts.

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Some Pulse Rifles, though this Fish only has room for two on it's weapon racks...

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After such vile xenos tech-witchery, I wanted to make something as Imperial as Imperial gets without making a hovertank out of the Golden Throne, so here's the next best thing:

Adeptus Custodes Dawneagle jetbike. A bit large for the player character, but it'd be on-scale for one of the Ten Thousand.

Turned out a bit sluggish with only 360km/h top speed. Functioning Hurricane Bolter.

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Of course, now the erstwhile Custodes imitator needs a weapon; Guardian Spear. The blade is only for decoration, but the bolter shoots as it should.

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I've done lots of other Space Marine weapons, like this Heavy Bolter - Grip handled a bit weird; Unsurprisingly a human is too small to reach the front and the rear grips at the same time.

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Edited by MetalMammoth, 08 February 2021 - 10:14 AM.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Devilfish.

[MetalMammoth]

The good thing about small stuff is, they're done in a few days.

 

My latest build is a Valkyrie assault carrier;

 

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-I know, chin turret is a Vulture or Sky Talon thing, but I like to kitbash and it gives something to do to the co-pilot in the front seat - I find hull mounted weapons are best left to the pilot in such games.

 

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..... and that's the darkest green paint in the game....

 

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Canopy, side doors, rear ramp can be opened, doorguns can be folded in (they're fully functional while out, either tracking enemies on their own or taken control by a player), landing gear extends.

 

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And once I had the devilfish, it was an easy matter to upgrade it to a Hammerhead. - A huge advantage of virtual stuff over plastic, is it copies infinitely, and having built one chassis lets me have any number of variants lined up next to each other.

 

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Next up, I've got a request for the Storm Speeder, as someone finds it hillarious how the turret operator gets tennitis from his guns.

I guess his space marine name will be Brother Tennitus.

Edited by MetalMammoth, 16 February 2021 - 05:59 AM.

[MetalMammoth]

And the Storm Speeder;

 

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[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Storm Speeder and the Vendetta gunship (which shares the Valkyrie's airframe, but can mount up to three twin-lascannons, while the Valkyrie is limited to a single lascannon).

[MetalMammoth]

My latest build is a Stormhawk Interceptor;

 

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There's a break in the canopy mid-section; it just wasn't possible to patch it up. Also the Typhoon launchers got a bit too many missiles, but since the parts are this small, they'd have looked wrong with just 8.

Still, that's about the worst of it.

 

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Next to the Thunderhawk, it's sort of on scale, maybe a little too large?

 

Special thanks to brothers Reskin & Iron Father Ferrum for their advice on the craft.

Edited by MetalMammoth, 07 March 2021 - 11:11 PM.

[Brother Cristopher]

I really enjoyed your work! It's a great thing that you've posted in the Space Marine thread, which in turn led me here. It seems that you're having fun doing this and - I must say - the results are pretty damn satisfying.

 

Regarding the Stormhawk, it does seem to be a bit too large compared to the Thunderhawk. I'm not sure whether the dimensions of my plasticard TH are right but if you want, I can take a side-by-side photo of the nose part of my TH next to a Storm Talon or take measurements.

[MetalMammoth]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear it!

 

That pic would be great, if you have the time! The best I found was a Stormtalon and a Thunderhawk in one pic, but some distance away from one another.

 

By the way, how's your Thunderhawk coming along?

Edited by MetalMammoth, 08 March 2021 - 08:56 AM.

[Brother Cristopher]

I'll take the photos today evening or tomorrow - I'm away from my regular base of operations and do not have access to my Crusade's assets

 

The Thunderhawk isn't going great - I pressed pause on the project and am currently working on the bulk of my 'proper' Warhammer things: I'm assembling the rest of my infantry and bikes to at least have the assembly stage behind me. But I constantly have the TH at the back of my mind and am going to work on it over the next free weekend, whenever that might be.

[MetalMammoth]

Some new stuff;

 

A primaris marine Plasma Incinerator; The player character can wield it in his hands, shoot it, and thanks to some logic circuits, can even overcharge it for a more powerful shot at the cost of quicker overheating; Charge level indicated by the plasma coils, as they light up one after another.

Doesn't kill it's wielder though.

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A Baneblade tank, with a fully traversible interior. Every weapon is turreted; can track targets and shoot. Normally I share my builds in the Steam workshop as soon as they're finished, but this one'll have to wait: A recent game bug renders all the turrets violently unusable when a player attempts to manually control them.

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I finished this one today; An imperial Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter. Thanks to Mazer Rackham for guiding me to pics that show the original's rarely glimpsed landing gear.

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Lascannons and autocannons operational, the missiles are just decorations for now; Game lacks missile weapons......

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I was thinking about modifying the landing gear, but if I left the Stormhawk's odd rear-only setup in it's original layout, so would I stay true to this one.

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Edited by MetalMammoth, 18 April 2021 - 10:36 PM.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Fine works.

[MetalMammoth]

A little something that was direly missing from the Thunderhawk;

 

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Sadly the "mech core" that'd make it a functional, player controllable walker was removed from the game a year ago, with the promise of "It'll return some time later in a much better state" - So for now, the Dreadnought remains a poseable action figure.

Edited by MetalMammoth, 28 April 2021 - 12:29 PM.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Dreadnought.

[MetalMammoth]

Thanks! It seems good things are coming; Even smaller blocks will be added in the next patch. That means nicer details on everything, and maybe, just maybe, semi-decent power armor replicas.

[Wulf Vengis]

These are really cool. As a Minecraft player myself who used to have a bunch of crazy monuments i fully appreciate the time that went into these "little" projects.