Storm Eagle Assault Gunship Caelum - Finished!

So last month I put in a Forge World order for a Tyranid Hierophant, 10 Tartaros Terminators, and a Storm Eagle Assault Gunship. I knew that the Stormtalon was coming out but I thought the Storm Eagle was cool enough to purchase anyway; plus I think I'm the only non-IG 40k player on the whole internet who loves flyers, how they look, and how they'll hopefully change the game in 6th Edition.

I will say putting this kit together was actually more fiddly than the much-maligned Hierophant kit. The sides didn't match up perfectly so it took some real pressure to get everything to fit together. I actually had to leave out the middle bulkhead because it just wouldn't fit how it was supposed to. Plus I don't usually paint interiors anyway.

The whole kit is very back-heavy, so I think I'll be using a different flight base. The insert part is also very 'light' on it so the insert barely fits in, causing the thing to tip over easily. The mix of Stormraven parts and resin wasn't too tough, although there were some really tight fits.

The Storm Eagle is described as a very old ship so this one is weathered so it looks like it has been to hell and back. The Mantis Warriors used Caelum extensively during the Reth Campaign during drops to stem the  Tyranid threat. I made sure to use white glue to secure the canopy; super glue can make finger prints and things show up from the gases it releases. You can't really tell from the glare in the shot but the canopy is mostly clear.

The skull on the side is for the Reth campaign.

I used the scorching technique on the thrusters and lascannons to make it look like this thing has been in battle a lot. Of course it has battle damage as well, since at 315 points fully kitted the enemy will be shooting a lot of psycannons and psyfilemans and psybananas at it.

After securing the dropzone by deep strike, Chapter Master Charlesso Khan arrives with reinforcements in Caelum.

Terminators advance on the critical ford in the river.

Charlesso Khan leads his men to the ford in the river. It must be held at all costs as the Tyranids are advancing and will need the ford to avoid drowning their small creatures.

Overall I'm super pumped to start using this model on the field. With lascannons and multi-melta it comes out to 315 points, which is a TON, so I hope FW revises the rules in their next book and makes it a bit more realistic. 6th edition may make it better as well with flyer rules. I planned to use it in this weekend's tournament but I didn't realize that the Adepticon rules for the championship disallow IA stuff. Stay tuned for Stormtalons!