Blackadder's Marauder Destroyer: A Kit WIP

[Blackadder]

Blackadder's Marauder Destroyer: A Kit WIP




You know what the Blackadder needs, another project that's what............




Or the hole in his head examined.




Well a few years ago I decided that its a toss up between me and the government who can spend my money more stupidly so if I'm gonna waste my earnings it's going to be on something I enjoy.




Every year at Christmas I treat myself to a Forgeworld model, Hey Free Shipping; better than paying 15% of the model cost right? 15% outrageous!




Anyway this year I've given up trying to buy a used one on ebay and bought a Marauder Destroyer, the sexiest flyer in the Imperial Navy (IMHO). I had to get one before either they were discontinued or worse still ruined by reissuing them in plastic.




You don't see many threads about building Marauders, like Zero that I know of, so here goes:




First of all, Where's the certificate of authenticity? Doesn't FW distribute them anymore.




Second, there doesn't seem to be too many parts, maybe a couple a dozen, piece of cake. actually 42




http://i.imgur.com/gpwiPhI.jpg

So I spent a few minutes unpacking and documented all as I went along.




To bring my total up to the minimum required for free shipping I ordered a few bitz to flesh out some of my scratch builds Brass etched Eagles and a full set of Hellstrike missiles and a Chaos Decimator Butcher Cannon.




It strikes me that FW would sell a lot more products if they would standardize their shipping rates instead of basing shipping on the cost of the items.




http://i.imgur.com/HXN6N26.jpg

So here are the only discrete parts bags that come with the model, everything else Hull, nose gun mounts wings, engines et al is just tossed in a large bag catch as catch can.




http://i.imgur.com/9Qlb9Md.jpg

All the major components seem to have survived shipping and the inventory seems to be complete and there is no visible warping but I won't know for sure until I clean off all the mould vents and dry fit it all together.




http://i.imgur.com/dNXGrqT.jpg

And finally a closeup of the 'Raison d'être' component that makes a Destroyer a Destroyer; that nasty looking forward gun array.

 

[Meph]

Cool, that'll be nice to see. These models are rarely seen indeed. Any idea yet on how you are going to paint it?

 

[Blackadder]

Probably the same scheme as the Thunderhawk..........Thanks for the reply,

Basic Mould Vent Removal:


True to form Forge World provides the barest minimum of documentation to build the model so this thread will serve as a tutorial on what to do and not do as far as construction at least, painting of course is up to the individuals taste.


http://i.imgur.com/GJERuKj.jpg

Here we have the basic hull components ready to have the mould vents removed.


I've decided first to cut the vent from the aft end of the fuselage first but you can see in the closeup below that the vent might be mistaken for the actual end of the hull on both the top and bottom sections........


So where does the hull end and the vent begin?


http://i.imgur.com/hu5bWDd.jpg

Studying the accompanying documentation it appears that the vertical furrow just aft of the rivet row is the end of the fuselage but being a somewhat experienced FW modeler I take nothing for granted so I am going to cut off the obvious vent plug and leave the extension attached until I can see how the top and bottom fits together.


I don't cut off any more than necessary (That's what the Mohel said...) because you never know what that extra bit of resin may be needed for............... I'll address that statement further down the page.

 

[Blackadder]

Don't Cut Off Any More Than Necessary:


This is no joke, back when I was building my Tyranid Harridan the wings are extremely heavy and the wing roots had these nice hefty vent plugs attached. The idea is to cut them off and then I guess epoxy the wing root into the shallow socket in the carapace.


Well I wasn't too satisfied with the overall wing attachment anyway because in the first place it was physiologically untenable. The wings as presented on the model could never flap were it to be an actual living animal so I put the model aside until I could sculpt a believable wing shoulder but I still wanted to display the model assemble as FW intended until I made the modification so I carved and shaped the wing vent plugs to fit into sockets I drilled and carved into the carapace.


http://i.imgur.com/4X0Kjgj.jpg

With the plugs in the carved sockets the wings hold on their own without the need for gluing and the model can be disassembled whenever I want to make the changes which are still in the design stage.


http://i.imgur.com/Ro7UJVA.jpg

But the point is had I just arbitrarily cut off the vent plugs I wouldn't be able to have the wing affix and lock in so well so be sure before you cut them off willy-nilly.


http://i.imgur.com/8sKDLAX.jpg

 

[Blackadder]

Mould Vent Removal 2:


So cutting off the wedge shaped vents and leaving a bit of the plug attached to the actual model is the way I went.


http://i.imgur.com/YRifw79.jpg

Flipping the hull pieces over to reveal the interior shows the incredible thickness of the resin which I suppose is necessary to keep the model from warping during the curing stage and also to counterweight the massive castings at the front of the model.


http://i.imgur.com/Myi07Lp.jpg

Next I cut off the flash and the filling vents for the wing roots as it appears the wings surface mount to the lower hull wing roots although it is difficult to determine what is model and what is vent plug dross without referring to the single sheet of model documentation.


http://i.imgur.com/dylbClm.jpg

The vents and sprues are very precisely crafted on this model and it may be hard to determine what is actual model and what is needed to be removed so take your time and make sure that you don't remove other than that which is intended....


http://i.imgur.com/W2GFSXS.jpg

Utilizing my razor saw I cut the final bits of what I determined to be vent from the wing root leaving the rough excess unfinished until I see how the wings look before I commit to the final sanding.

 

[Blackadder]

A Minor Discrepancy or Two:


Okay aside from two minor cracks there is also a few minor discrepancies.


I won't repair the tail skid right now because it will just crack off again, the other was a brittle piece of vent on the tail that I trimmed and glue back into place.


Employing my utility knife I pared down most of the flash and the moulding discrepancies. A strong bladed utility knife is just the thing for shaving down resin as a sharp blade can cut through the resin as if it were stale cheese.


http://i.imgur.com/36LxHI6.jpg

Now for the discrepancies, the red arrows show that when in place the top half of the fuselage is less wide than the bottom by about a millimeter. I am thinking of cutting the bottom part in half lengthwise and re-gluing it together so it matches the top fuselage piece in width. That shouldn't be a problem and I can disguise the cut easily but before I do that I need to check the width of the tail piece.


http://i.imgur.com/SfuZfFl.jpg

The other discrepancy is the top half of the fuselage is also a millimeter shorter than the bottom which can be seen when the rivet rows are aligned indicated by the red arrows.


http://i.imgur.com/iZoLz4G.jpg

More fun and games from FW.

 

[Meph]

Ah well, that's what makes it a hobby and not a toy.

 

[Blackadder]

I've got no problems with repairing FW's deficiencies but I am approaching this thread for the benefit of new/would be modelers who might think a simple kit of this type would be easier to assemble. With only 42 pieces instead of say a Warhound this could be considered one of the easier FW big models.

Now for all around easy large kits to build I would recommend FW's Bio-titan kits or Chaos kits where moulding discrepancies might be dismissed as an act of God.

 

[Meph]

Don't forget the orky stuff. they just throw everything together.