What did the stormbird look like

A



B



C



D



E






A and D are illustrations from years gone by
B is fan made but is very consistent with the descriptions in the books
C is an old scratch built version
E is a scratch built version of A

Personally, I'd go with A.

Well A, C and D are all illustrations from the era of Adeptus Titanicus, the 1st Edition Space Marine game, and Codex Titanicus-so about 1989. I particularly remember C appearing in a copy of White Dwarf at the time.

All of the above were created long before the Pre-Heresy Stormbird was even created, and have only been labelled as 'Stormbirds' retrospectively. So this fact eliminates A,C,D and by extension E from being Stormbirds for me. C is actually an old childrens toy-I think its called a Starbird Intruder (my little brother got it for his birthday!) and A is just a copy of the transporter from the film Aliens.

B doesn't look anything like a Stormbird to me personally, nor does it seem to reflect the written descriptions of the craft.

There was an excellent discussion on the appearance of the Stormbird here which you may find of use.

This post has been edited by VESPASIAN on Feb 1 2010, 07:18 PM

I dunno... B looks like a sleeker, larger thunderhawk. Plus you can imagine the wings folding up just outside of the engines. The big problem I have with A is that it doesn't have anything that could resemble a folding wing.

I have added the option of 'None of the Above' to the poll choices, just incase members want to use it. It would be great to hear peoples' reasons behind their choices-especially if they chose the 'None of the Above' option.

This post has been edited by VESPASIAN on Feb 1 2010, 07:52 PM

I chosen A because it is in Adaptus Titanicus and it is what I believe it looks like
Not to mention the fact that entire piece of artwork is in the Carlisle gaming room, its so cool, it as lovely little touches such as an appocathary on bike with "give blood now!" written on his leg, and a piece of rubble with "horus sucks" and a smily face drawn on it
makes me think of the heresy every time

Just one request - if you chose none of the above, please explain why, and feel free to post any images of real life aircraft that fit the description of the stormbird.

I haven't picked one of them to vote for...

But I must say that Stormbird or not, whoever modelled E did a fantastic job of recreating A's artwork, that thing is almost picture perfect! I want one

Wow! B for me all the way – and purely because it looks like it's been made of awesome and WIN.

On a serious note, I'm very much a supporter of the liberal reinterpretation of classic ideas. Let's face it, the new Doctor Who/Battlestar Galactica is better than the old ones; and concepts where people get a bit fetishy and conservative (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, I'm looking at you) tend to be a bit poo, neither satisfying the original fans nor inspiring new ones.

Of course, the counter argument is the Star Trek: Enterprise theme music, but hey, no-one's perfect!

I love B! If it had different wings I'd love it more.

Another view of B so you can see the dimensions
I'll be honest with you guys, I really really like that interpretation because it look like a sleeker double decker thunderhawk with a big 'ol prow like the larger imperial ships, plus the styling is also consistent with the space marine landing craft

http://i45.tinypic.com/1zwhf2h.jpg

How would you change them? Illustrations welcome

I've gone with none of the above. Firstly the blue one I think it's B comes from Sci-Fi Meshes. It's meant to be a personalised Thunder Hawk, nothing more. The rest (bar that ugly squat thing that looks like a squished aliens dropship) while they are more official have been far outdated by the descriptions given in recent publications.

I can create 3d models with the computer... Not the best at drawing things up. But if maybe we should choose to design something more suited to our needs. I don't mind the practise.

You are correct on identifying the source, but it is not a personalized thunderhawk.

Thread here, see page 5

You are correct on identifying the source, but it is not a personalized thunderhawk.

Thread here, see page 5

My bad, I hadn't had time to completely read through the thread. But I'm a long term lurker at S-F M. My stuff isn't good enough for posting there yet:P

I still stand by not counting the design as a Stormbird though. It simply doesn't match any given descriptions. And feels more.... Modern? if that's a term that could be used with 40k.... I dunno, it just doesn't sit well for me. I can't explain it any better than that.

I chose none of the above.

Of those shown B is the best, but it's not a Stormbird. Fulgrim's Firebird, maybe, but not a Stormbird.

For one thing it doesn't have a cone-shaped nose, but one which owes more to Imperial ships, no glacis either. And the cockpit is on top, like a Thunderbird's, whilst the Stormbird is described as having one inside the fuselage, with slit viewports for the pilots to look out of.

The weapons are wrong on B as well. A Stormbird has rotary cannons similar to the Thunderhawks forward Heavy Bolter (either side and like current Predator sponsons) as well as cannons beneath the nose and wings.

And where's the assault ramps and debarkation ramp?

What is a glacis and what are rotary canons?

Assault ramp could be underneath like it is in the original artwork A.

Glacis is the part or plate, that runs from the underbelly to the point of the nose.

It's generally angled to increase the amount of armour an incoming projectile has to penetrate, provided it hits from directly front on.

None of them really. I like the look of B best, but it certainly doesn't seem to match the descriptions we have. Funilly enough, D could match best with a bit of work - it has a 'fat-bodied' yet 'sleek' look, and folding wings. Still, would need a lot of changes to truly match the novel descriptions to my mind.

I chose none of the above. All of them bar B are retroactive labellings, as mentioned earlier. B just looks like someone combind a thunderhawk and a BFG model and added an extra set of engines... Better than what I could do with a 3D renderer, but still pretty silly really, considering the Stormbird isn't even an STC design and should therefore be completely different...

The image in my mind is that of a scaled up version of the Pelican, one of the few really good designs from the HALO series (with added rotary cannons, frontal assault ramp, etc...).

At one point, the retractable wings did make me think of the Imperial Shuttle...