Sokar Pattern Stormbird - Imperial Fists

This has been on my bucketlist since the day I saw it back in 2016. I've always been a sucker for massive Warhammer "Miniatures" I thought I'd start to document this monster of a build here before I do too much and start to forget, so I'll update this blog as I go! 

Unpainted Stormbird in the cabinets at Warhammer World

The Stormbird in the Exhibition hall. Although mine will also be Imperial Fists, I won't be copying this scheme but doing my own thing.

Whenever I go to Warhammer World, I always gravitate to the Titan cabinets and then to see the Stormbird and Thunderhawk! I've always been fascinated by these models! 

Stormbird Lands safely from Nottingham, 26th of November 2023. A pretty awesome day at Warhammer World. The staff we met we're all lovely to deal with and the Miniatures on display always jaw dropping!

I really do wish they would come with the certificates like the Titans! If I could change one thing about the way Forge World is right now it would be that! If a kit is say over £550, it should come with a Certificate. It makes it so much more special, and from a modelling point of view, we could put the Certificate number on the model too, like we do with our Titans! I wanted to give a honest review here of the model kit. I've researched the kit heavily online in the run up to pulling the trigger on it and already I disagree with a chunk of the information I've seen. I want to do a fair none biased review. I am in no way connected to GW in any form and I love that, because it means I can be brutally honest. When they are good I'll give them credit but when they downright suck I'll call them out for it. 

This is currently the BIGGEST model you can get for the Adeptus Astartes, and it comes in two of the big Red boxes we know and love, like both the Warlord and Warbringer Titans. The Sokar Pattern Stormbird is a dedicated Space Marine attack lander, developed from the much larger patterns in use during the Unification Wars. Deployed as a specialised, High durability orbital assault craft, it can function as a mobile bastion and fire base on the battlefield, and the design precursor to the more widely produced Thunderhawk Gunship. 

One of the first things that I disagree with other people on is the instructions that come with the kit. Released in 2016 it comes with the newer full colour highly detailed and step by step instructions. This is luxury compared to old Forge World!

I've seen reviews that say these instructions aren't good enough, but compared to the older models produced by Forge World, these instructions are a huge upgrade over the photocopied A4 sheets you used to get, basically loosly showing you the parts of the kit and then a photo of the completed model saying, yeah, build it just like we did that one. Yes, I do agree that it doesn't tell you where the glue contact area is etc but you're going to use common sense here aren't you, you're going to be dry fitting everything multiple times before glueing anything.

I think it really does depend on your experience with Forge World resin as to how much fun you will have assembling this monster of a model kit! If you have worked with a few resin models there's absolutely nothing here that will come as a big shock that I have found so far. No haha gotcha moments so far at least! 

Preparing the kit for wash, theres a lot of it to get through! I do much prefer washing big resin kits over little fiddly pieces tho.

Houston we have a problem, the kit is bigger than the sink! Haha, I always do the scrubbing in a washing up bowl, our sink drainage also has a guard on too making sure any small parts that potentially could be missed in the bowl can't escape down the drain! I personally think this is safer, as many barriers between you and a plug hole is a good thing, and I've never lost any tiny pieces of resin doing it this way! I also always wash it with the casting feeds and gates still attached. Something else to hold while scrubbing the mould release agent away from the resin. It's labour intensive but vital part of the build.

The kit (which was produced in January of 2023 according to the QC sheet) Actually had a lot more release agent on it than I've been used to on more recent models, it was very greasy to the touch but it was only resting on the surface, it hadn't got into the resin itself like some of the older lockdown era kits *cough Reaver Titan 2661!! I use a mild washing up liquid that specialises in tackling grease. I do it with a nail brush, and takes no prisoners with release agent grease. The kit came up beautifully crisp and clean. 

The next thing I'll be clear on is I won't be building the model EXACTLY step by step how Forge World suggest. Simply, I want to have a fully painted highly detailed interior, I plan to put it on a flying stand too as I worry about its 7kg bulk constantly resting on that landing gear which does look a little flimsy, in the reviews a lot mention them snapping, and I want to add magnets here there and everywhere so we will have sub assemblies going on here throughout the build. If you just follow the step by step instructions by the order they tell you, you'll not be able get to much of the insides once its fully built, and its a chunk of lost kit opportunity.

So you'll need those trusty Irwin quick grip clamps, you'll also need HEAT, I can't stress that enough. A hair dryer works great for me. One of the things that really almost stopped me buying this model was nearly all the reviews i read (and YouTube vids i watched) so many of them pretty critical about the kit.

It all made the kit seem a lot more daunting and I initially approached my own build already in a very negative mindset before anything was even glued together. In my experience, the thiner the resin the more at risk it is to some slight warpage. Usually the big thicker parts don't warp in the same way but are just as susceptible to things like slippage. If you have worked with resin you know full well what to expect and what to look out for! So yeah, honestly some things will need a little heat to get them to meet up properly. A hair dryer so far had been enough to fix any problems and I've been really happy with the dry fitted results so far. I don't think you need to be a masterclass model making expert to use a hairdryer! I wanted to be honest here, and get out of the mindset of 'this is a bad kit' It's really not, at least not yet!!! It needs some careful thought and planning and a lot of dry fitting with heat where needed. As does any big resin model. 

The kit is very detailed, theres detail hidden all over the place, it reminds me of the Titans in many ways when you keep finding little hidden details! I genuinely love that about these big Forge World kits, I feel like I'm getting my moneys worth from these kits that they didnt hold back on design, you find things that they didnt need to include them, but they did anyways. My Warbringer sprang to mind, i remember pretty much decalaring the model finished but kept noticing things id missed and i spend another couple of months on it! The kit that kept on giving! I will paint every nut and bolt on this thing! 

Just dry fitting fting this thing I began seeing bits of detail of interest, and had ideas for how they could be painted, and also ideas for how I'd save as much as them as possible from being perminantly hidden forever! 

Love these details on the lower deck, they would normally only ever be visible if you don't glue the doors on! Will come back to this as I have ideas!

seeing more of the maintenance panel on the lower flight deck through the open door hatch! I don't know who the designer of this kit is but hats off to you! It's amazing.

The nose and cockpit will need some gentle persuasion with heat to fully line up. It's not as bad as I first thought it was going to be. If you come at this kit with a calm mind and and no preconceptions of dread you'll fair much better with it! The reviews I had read and watched negatively impacted me at first!

Boy oh boy, I do love this thing, the main fuselage is highly detailed, I love the airframe spars and that panel behind the flight deck has a little winch on it! These are the little things that go above and beyond for me. They don't have to be there but someone put a lot of thought into it and have filled almost every part with detail. I appreciate it all! 

The Inner structure has juat as much detail if not more than the exterior. I know that when the side doors are open you'll hopefully still see a lot of this stuff and I was already making plans in my head about ways to access it as much of it as possible before anything was glued down and forever lost! I wouldn't want anything to be unreachable and getting left unpainted! I want this to be model that I take my time on and savour the build. 

Sokar Pattern Landspeeder? I glued the arms on to the pilots clad in Mk4 Space Marine power armour, lined them up and glued their hands to the yokes now. This means they will line up as intended and i'd be able to paint the pilots separately and give myself plenty of room to paint the cockpit without the yokes or pilots getting in my way! 

Love the access ladders to the lower flight deck. More above and beyond details from Forge World. It's the little details I love!

The eagle eyed will notice the original doors are just blu tacked on. I was on the look out for Legion Specific doors for this. They are the Land Raider type, rather than the Rhino type that Forge World sadly put out of production. A decision I don't fully understand. With more affordable, more plastic Land Raider varients out now more than ever previously before with the standard Mk3 Phobos varients currently being usable in the current Warhammer 40k setting (including the Crusader and Redeemer varients) and the 30k Proteus and Spartan currently all available in plastic for the first time. The Stormbird and Thunderhawk still in production too that use those doors, its one doors fits all, kind of feels like so much lost sales and supplying customers what the want. The Land Raiders are everywhere at the moment! They are forcing us into the 2nd hand or 3rd party domain of 3D printing or dreaded recasters! I would happily buy Forge World doors for every tank I own in all the Chapters and Legions i collect if only they'd just let me! 

(I've used these 4x2mm n52 magnets in the nose and doors)

It was also this stage I started to magnetise the nose section and cockpit so the lot could be removed. I'd hate to never see those details again by perminantly glueing it shut! It's more of a display piece than a gaming piece. FIVE 4x3mm N52 Neodymium magnets in the nose allows the piece to be removed and is strong enough to not fall off by itself. I had the magnets left over from the Warbringer build anyways so it's not an extra expense at this stage.

It was at this moment (Still nothing structurally glued) that I realised how massive this thing really is! The weight too!! We are definitely in the ballpark of Warlord Titan in size and weight! 

Bingo, fell lucky, secured some legit FW doors found for a reasonable price too, they are the much older ones rather than the newer varinet, I have seen crazy prices attached to these on the likes of Evilbay! Thanks to an Instagram friend for the heads up on these, and thanks to the friendly legit non greedy scammer seller on Facebook Marketplace for being so cool to deal with!

Definetly gives that it that more special feel to a model I'm more than likely will ever get to do just one of. (Said that about a Titans tho I know)

I'll have to make some small changes here, for an orbital craft probably wouldn't have wide open vents to the lower deck and I'd imagine the purity seals would burn up or fall off!!!! I'll have to get busy with the miliput just for OCD reasons.

Being a bit of a Military Aviation geek in a former life, I looked at some of my favourite bomber and cargo aircraft for some inspiration for the interior of this beast! 

Haz markings noted! Going in, its so me!!

Vulcan B2 bomber seat maybe i dont have minty green and duck egg blue in my paint collection but I can do something pretty similar.

Bomb bay doors offering some nice inspiration.

C130 cargo bay I think the C130 and the AC130 are perfect for what I want this aircraft to resemble.

I was planning on going full white like the inside of a lot of military vehicles but wanted to keep within a modern military aircraft look but Warhammered up a bit!!

It already had an old bomber feel to it! It's just two proper chaps with oxygen masks on from being "chocks away"

Star Wars taught us to even look back to WW2 for inspiration and everything should look lived in, used and abused. It's really how I wanted it to look.

Managed to capture what I had in my head. I knew what I wanted, and I knew what I didn't want. I try to avoid instrument panels looking like someone poured skittles and M&Ms all over them, if that's your jam, each to their own, thats what I love about this hobby!  Do it your way and there's not a wrong way!

Made a start on the Inner nose / maintenance panel. 

So much detail to pick at!!! Yeah I painted that winch!

Getting those Bomber / Cargo plane mixed with space ship vibes! Getting Alien and Event Horizon feelings so I think I'm doing something right?

I felt the contrast was a bit much on the inks and washes so went back in with a white drybrush to blend it out a little bit. I want it to be light enough to be able to stand out when it's glued together! 

Added in the piping and cable details

View from the lower deck still WIP...(Work In Progress / Wallet very much In pain) I had to order more paints and materials as its using more than I planned already, also picked up the Forge World decal sheet for the Imperial Fists.

Work on the Imperial Fists fly boys, I also did some shaving on that legion door panel! No more open vent and purity seals to keep it more in keeping with a flying oribital craft. 

Trying my best on the attention to detail on this thing. It's been a bucket list item for so so long. I want to do my best on it! Maybe it won't be the "best" Stormbird, but it will be the best i can do!

Thinking ahead of that clash from a bright flying block of yellow spaceship mixed with a very realistic if not warhammered up a bit interior, I needed them to meet somewhere more in the middle, the pilots was already looking out of place. I decided to bring in some yellow haz decking, via chevrons (shock horror) keeps it in my style too, it matches what I've been doing on my Titans! 
I've put a lot of hours into this already and I'm aware when it's fully built a lot of it will be totally hidden, or just easter eggs to be hunted out, only visible only from certain angles but that's very me too! 

How the lower level would look coming in through the side doors onto the hazard marked/maintenance deck. Making huge progress on the front half of the Internals of this monumental craft. 

Had a shocking painting day yesterday, just nothing was going right for me, I know when I have days like that, what I should do is lay down tools and walk away, and come back to it refreshed, maybe with fresh eyes, and a better mindset. 

I know that one of my biggest toxic traits as a painter is to keep pushing on in the vein hope of FIXING the problem, even knowing that, i chose to do just that, yay, and I kept on trying to force it and nothing was working out the way I wanted it to, masking haz stripes over the door and the inner and outer surrounds, wasnt the best idea ive ever had, even if you get it spot on, going over the raised and sunk down levels when you look from certain angeles it throws the lines all out of whack to the eye, it can be the same lining on curves, all it ended up doing was making me feel like the worlds worst miniature painter, all over a bloody stupid door! Just then getting into a muddled panic, putting too much paint down way too fast was making the shades too dark and the highlights way too strong and it was becoming a real unnatural looking mess.

I had to force myself to put it down and went to bed at the end of the day so cheesed off with myself.

I started to realise after my full on mental meltdown was that when the body is fully built, after all the stress the door caused me, that you won't ever see this part, ever again. I've included it here just for prosperity! 

Added the final chipping to the door... it actually didn't look too bad in the light of a new day... not that it even matters.

Thats the only glimpse it can ever offer and there will be a ball turret that goes there which will entirely block it from view! You win some, you loose some! I just think it's funny for all the stress it caused, and trying to force an idea that simply didn't want to work for me, it can't even be seen after all that, It's just a reminder that we all get rubbish days in this hobby for whatever reason. Things just don't always work out as you intend. No ones perfect... Meh, onto the next bit... I wonder what other overly ambitious things my brain can invent to make my life more difficult during this build, because my imagination far exceeds my skill levels!!

Yes...

This is the next part of the floor, accessed through the main side doors between the ball turrets, as an assault craft all the hazard stripes are pointing in one direction towards the back of the ship and in the direction of all the main assault exits. A little thought has gone into it. I guess it could get easy to get disoriented when in the thick of war, maybe these compartments get full of smoke and steam from the gun turrets and just maybe added filling up with dust when landling in a brown out like helicopters do when they set down on sand? Or maybe, just maybe it just looks damn cool!! I was torn as to whether to do the entire floor in haz markings (the far easier route) or just put them on the corregated lower sections and then still have the main inner fuselage colours on the raised parts of the floor, obviously the harder, more time consuming and higher risk for error, my brain chose that route, of course! 

A little more Wip

Started the rear air lock door of the front

 compartment bulkhead

Made more progress in the front section of the fuselage, another haz marked airlock bulk head door which leads on the next Ball Turrets! Also started the side wall sections, the Internals on the front half is making big progress and I'm pretty happy with how its turning out. Christmas Day tomorrow so I'll be taking a break from painting.... probably. 

Quick rest from Christmas and having a bit of time to work on the Internals.

I'm still amused that after the hundreds of hours it's eaten up so far, the Stormbird looks largely unworked on externally at least!

Bad winter light, but wanted to try capture where the progress.

So pleased with how its going so far!!

Internals Coming on leaps and bounds. Moving backwards now towards the rear most cargo bay. Big enough to house a Rhino APC. I promised myself I wouldnt really start this build until 2024, and very little is actually built yet!!

Rear Cargo bay, which a Rhino APC will rest on. 

kept the haz pattern continuously onto the rear ramp. 

Its exactly how I imagined it would look. The rear air lock door also in progress. I don't think an Imperial Fists Rhino will look so out of place now. Have a couple on my shopping list luckily. 

JANUARY 2024:

First pic of 2024, nearly a month into working on the interiour of this beast! Coming close to final details and then need to make the final decision on whether this lump of resin will fly or not before proceeding on with this build. 

Added some decals to the bulkhead door frame. 

Bringers of Death decal by the door, from the Mighty Brush. A nice little morale quote! 

Wrath decal also by the Mighty Brush!

Added warning logos on various compartments in the vehicle cargo bay. 

moody shot of the vehicle bay before its glued! Various Imperial Fists decals and Warnings on stuff that does stuff ⚠️ 

Little radar thing from the Mighty Brush. Didnt really know what else to put on it! 

yeah lost my light before I could get more pics!

 I also magnetised the side doors, I was hoping they would stay closed on their own!!! Noooooo.... so glad I had to drill the resin out after it was painted! However a little touching up to do is okay. I've glued as much as I can now. The hinges are on for all the doors are perminantly on now and that was a bit fiddly for me! More of a me problem than a kit problem. Heat sorted out any gaps.

Painted the insides of the Legion doors. Touched up ant damage from fitting magnets yesterday too.

When I started back up painting Warhammer after a break from the hobby (I was just painting movie based models and props exclusively for a few years) it was in connection to our Whitby shop (Models And Movie Props) back in 2004 that brought me back, it was around that time I was introduced to Forge World by a customer actually!! Back then I had a few dream models that I didn't think I'd ever be lucky enough to do. I'd jump on the Forge World website all the time, every day and window shop! A Warhound Titan, later on A Reaver Titan was both immediate ultimate bucket list items! Around that time too the Thunderhawk gunship was obviously on the list, along with the sadly now OOP transporter version if it too. Then the Stormbird and Warlord Titan ultimately made their ways onto the list too as they were released close to each other. 20 years later, I'm starting 2024 with working on the last 2 items on that list! I just can't wait to get them complete, whilst taking my time of course! Once they are done my warhammer bucket list will be 100% completed and that's a very, very strange feeling!!

Update February 2024

After a brief gap from working on the Stormbird, progress resumed!

Mounted a 25mm Clear acrylic rod into a 14" base, and used epoxy to make sure its not going anywhere!

I then used the 25mm Forstner bit, to bore a deep hole Into the Stormbird where it will mount to its base! Not the most fun I've ever had in the hobby. Never want to do that ever again!!!

I then did a final assembly of the main fuselage with JB Weld to make sure its as strong and rigid as can be! 

I keep forgetting the absolute size of this monster! 

Acrylic rod inserted and its looking good! Confident we're onto a winner!

Boom standing well on its stand!

Wings dry fitted! I think I'm going to need about 19 gallons of paint for this thing! 

Hoping to have wings on it by the weekend. More glue on order! Like all Titan sized resin models It's been very thirsty with materials!! 

Feb 2024

JB weld supplies arrived, the bird gets in wings!

I'm really loving progress on this thing, getting the wings on is a major step!!!

On its flying stand, wings on, rear vertical stabilisers on, and front Canards are on! I've added a counter weight to the base to keep it from toppling over, it did feel secure any on a 14" base, its a big footprint, but better to be safe than sorry!

I'll Bury the base weight under battle field debris! Never to be seen again!

looking the part, hard to believe that there's still 3 bags of resin bits to go!! Landing gear, bombs/missiles, and the 4 side mounted Ball Turrets! Along with engine details.