Checkout this pretty cool Scratch Built Tau Manta Super Heavy Flyer by Graven Games.
From Graven Games’ Site;
We’ve decided to kick off the projects section of Graven Games with a bang.
Not many people are crazy enough to attempt scratchbuilding a model as huge as a Tau Manta for Warhammer 40k Apocalypse …but we definitely are!
Follow our journey as we build our own version of the largest Warhammer 40k model available.
It all started with a Warhammer 40k Apocalypse game in which each player was going to be fielding 3,000 points.
One of the players was new to the game and only had a 1,000 point Tau army, and so we thought an easy way to spend a whole load of points would be on a super heavy vehicle.
Looking on the Forge World website we realized that the Tau Manta would be perfect, its bristling with guns and is almost an army in its own right, but the £960 price tag put it far out of our reach.
No doubt the Forge World model is beautifully detailed both inside and out, better than anything we could knock up before the Apocalypse game, BUT since we were looking for a quick and cheap option, we decided to scratchbuild our Manta using household & craft materials.
We started by working out the dimensions of the official model which are 25 inches long and a 34 inch wingspan, this thing is huge! We then drew out an actual size outline of a Manta on several smaller sheets of foamboard that we had fixed together to make one large sheet, and then we cut it out. We were tempted to leave it like that and just have the outline of the Manta flying around the board, but we soon decided to go the whole hog and make it 3D.
After finishing off a few bowls of cereal we had plenty of card for making our 3D shapes and details. We didn’t worry too much about measuring things exactly, or copying the details of the actual model, we just built the rough shapes we wanted out of the cereal box card and glued it all together with PVA glue.
Since the Tau Manta comes equipped with a devastating array of weaponry we needed to find something to represent that on our model. in this case we went for cotton bud tubes for the many barreled burst cannons and parts of pens for the larger cannons. As you can see below, at this point it was well on its way to being ready for an Apocalypse battle, and had only cost us a few pounds for some foamboard.
Once we had the shape of our Manta built, we gave the whole thing several coats of watered down PVA glue to seal it. This was especially important since we had used foamboard in its construction and spray paint destroys foam. Once it was dry we sprayed the whole model with grey primer as shown below.
Looking pretty good! Below you can see some more shots of our card and foamboard Manta.
In the next couple of pictures we included a Space Marine Razorback and a single Space Marine from Warhammer 40k just to show you how big this thing is!
Since The Tau Manta is a super heavy flyer, we knocked up a giant flight stand for our model from some random junk we had laying around and primered that grey too.
Well you can imagine our opponents faces when we turned up with this. It totally dwarfed the other super heavies on the table and was great fun to use in game.
We found that we were able to build our Manta in a very short space of time compared to other projects we had worked on in the past, primarily because we didn’t worry about getting every detail correct or planning every part, we just dived in. It’s surprising what you can do if you motivate yourself and use your time well, why not give your own wargaming project a go, and let us know how you get on?
We’re not going to stop with the Manta, here at Graven Games we’ve got a whole load of ideas for conversions and scratchbuilds and we look forward to sharing them with you in the near future.
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
