Reengineering a Nephilim

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One of the things I definitely did not like about the Nephilim is the way the front cockpit portion connects to the rear fuselage. The connecting points was basically three thin plastic parts out of box, plus a hood over the clear acrylic canopy. It’s just a stupid way to glue a heavy tail to a small head. This is quite unlike the normal Talon kit, which has long wraparound parts that glues well.

So.. I reengineered the connecting part. Took a lot of swearing before I worked out a good scheme that both allows me to take the fuselage apart to continue work on the flying stand connector, etc. and good contact for gluing shut later. Took enough time, the blasted thing…

Mix Bag of Talon, Tank and Death From Above

Well odd bag today…

First, I had been working on my Dark Angels army. Was hoping to ambush my LGS owner with these previously, but the pace had slowed.. So might as well put this up.
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Two drop pods, and no, I have no intentions to do the interiors.. Prefer them this way. Fairly quick job but I’m having wear problems and their size means it’s a bit boring to do them. I’ve not done much mods on these, just magnetized the gun and replaced the fans with more proper thrusters:
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Kotobukiya thrusters. Took a while to find the right thrusters as there isn’t much clearance to fit big thrusters.

Still need to work on another 4 of these (!). I’m not exactly looking forward to this…

Moving on… Work on the Talon progressed. Both hurricane bolters are up but not fully assembled:
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Hmm. Looks a bit over the top. Still, side view:
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Still need to add the stasis cannon and bomb.. Detailing, structure mounts.. Hmm tight package.

Finally, a recent addition to my Dust stuff:
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I quite like the look and feel of this; might pick up another. Working out an army that utilizes this, hopefully can see it in action!

Giving the Talon teeth

Not that much work on the Talon today, as I put together something else. But, at least gave the Talon some teeth.
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Plarod, platube and some Kotobukiya parts for the Gatling. Intended to be two tribarrel guns, linked together, for one Hurricane bolter, so that’s just half the armament. Total 6 barrels per weapon, so the count is correct.. Will still need to scratch built another pair.

Why not just six barrels in one? Because that looks too much like an assault cannon and the weapon description did say twin-linked….

Oh and in case you are wondering, the stand the Talon is on:
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Yes, it’s a big stand! It’s a Bandai Gundam stand. I just put it together and got the Nephilim to balance on top. Need to work a ball joint in there somehow… Then I’m good for dogfights!

Angels… Nah, more of Talons now.

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Well the Nephilim is mostly done now. Sorted the lascannons and the wee little pilot in his wee little cockpit.

Also, superglued the wing weapons pod into place rather than liquid cement. This is in case I need to do servicing on the wing spars and/ or magnets. The wings hold up well under full weight, which is nice.

Then we have the Dark Talon. Well, still a Talon… Somewhat.

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Well.. So what did I do?

  • Separated engine pod linkage.
  • Magnetized engine pods.
  • Added vent-like plate to replace antenna.
  • Replace tail with Nephilim tail and scratch built connecting parts.

Hmm still a small list. Still to come, weapons. Question really is does this guppy need a horizontal stabilizer?

And… Finally, when you really, REALLY have a need for speed…

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Angel, Rising

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Took leave these two days to do spring cleaning, so had pockets of time to sort out the Nephilim — the Dark Talon needing more time to resolve.

So what did I do with this Nephilim? Front to back:

  • Extended nose for cosmetic looks.
  • Raises forward cowl to accommodate extended nose which requires more clearance for chin weapons.
  • Magnetized chin weapons.
  • Structural buildup of wing spars to accommodate magnetized wings (for storage).
  • Magnetized wings.
  • Replaced antennas with thrusters. (Previously mentioned.)
  • Covered open port with vent-like detailing. (Previously mentioned.)

Side view:
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Angel and Talon

Just a quick update on the Nephilim and the Dark Talon:
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As you can see, I’ve replace the “whiskers” on both the Talon and the Nephilim. Didn’t like them. On the Talon, I’ve replaced it with a vent-like plate; on the Nephilim, I’ve used thrusters instead. Why thrusters on a “jetfighter”? ‘Cos I have plans…. xD

Also glued the lascannons together except for the tip — want to paint the inside of the barrel first — and glued the heavy bolters to the top hull. Turns out to be a tricky fit. Fitted the hood, deciding against making the canopy hinged; I’d have to detail the underside of the canopy which is tricky. In addition…

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The Nephilim has a pair of vents on the fuselage that is actually opened to the interior. I didn’t like that so I sealed it off with more of the vent-like plates. You can just about see it in the above pic, plus a better look at the thruster.

When you absolutely need to level a city block. Or two.

Warning: large numbers of images after the jump.

Some of you would have seen this before, this is more a reshoot and transfer to this blog.

When the Ork Bommer was released, the kit basically sold itself to me. The basic sculpt, the options, all appealed to the modeler in me. So I go a pair and bashed one box up:
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You might notice some modifications… Here’s a list, from nose to tail:
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Talon vs Nephilim

When I first heard about the Dark Talon/ Nephilim, I thought that it would be more of a Storm Talon variant. Initial photos do sort of bear it out.

But breaking the box, it soon became apparent that the Nephilim isn’t a Talon clone.. More a cousin.

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As you can see, the Nephilim is significantly longer, wider even without the wings. Engine pods were Talon pods.. Then someone went to tweak little details. Engine exhaust was Talon exhaust, but combined and simplified — the Talon exhaust was terrible as the see through vents gave room to install the exhaust wrongly and if you are picky, required subassembly painting before final fit.

Rear landing gear was eliminated on the Nephilim, and the whole upper hull was redesigned — the two kits have the same cockpit but the upper hulls are not compatible. There are some parts compatibility, but that’s more by accident then design.

Which is puzzling because why would GW spend money to tool a kit that has low compatibility? Particularly for the Dark Angels, which is popular but not great in the fan base. The lack of options in the Nephilim kit is a bit unwelcomed, especially once I realized how much option was available in the Talon kit. Ugly as it might be, but it does give you plenty of options.

I initially bought a Talon kit partly to see the fuss and partly as a hedge for the new Dark Angels codex. As it happened, the hedge failed, but I’m not too unhappy; I’m going to use the Nephilim kit to build a Nephilim, then use the leftover parts with the Talon to create a new Dark Talon.

Destroyer, compared

Let’s have a bit of fun here:

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Went to spray the Destroyer. And you get a comparison pic. 😉

To the left is the 28mm Heroic Destroyer Tank Hunter. To the right is the Targa 1/48 Tiger. Basically the Destroyer is the size of a Tiger, with more overhang for the laser…

And yes, that is a Beetle husk In front of the Destroyer. That is a Tamiya 1/48 Volkswagen, cute kit. About the size of your average compact, so you now have a peacetime reference to the size of these tanks ‘IRL’.

Incidentally used Army Painter Uniform Grey over a Chaos Black undercoat. Not too bad!

EDIT: because I can’t tell my left from my right… 😛