All those rumors that came true this year also mentioned a plastic 40k Thunderhawk as well, so odds are good it will happen- here’s why.
All but one of the doomsday clocks have been fulfilled, and now the only thing left for GW to make is a plastic 40k Thunderhawk!
We know, technically there is a plastic one out there, but it’s too small to count. We want a full-sized plastic one!
Not only would it finally fulfill the GW’s Doomsday clocks, but it would just be awesome. Especially with the Leagues of Votann on the way and plastic Sisters in the rearview mirror, it just makes sense for Games Workshop!
Well, maybe not, but we don’t really care- word on the street has been that it is happening, and after the Squats reveal, there’s no stopping the signal now!
Reset all the clocks!
The Only Thing Left is a Plastic 40k Thunderhawk…
After the Warhammer Fest reveal of a plastic Thundehawk flyer last for Aeronautical Imperialis, hobbyists once again have turned their attention to this iconic Warmachine of the Adeptus Astartes! While the hype has died down some on the idea, with Squats very much on the way, it seems appropriate to look at the only one left.
The Thunderhawk is the be-all-end-all Flyer for the Astartes. There are only two problems currently. The resin one costs as much as a down payment on a car and it’s almost too expensive to bring in a 2,000 pt game. However, this could all be solved by some rules changes and a price decrease because of plastic!
A New Challenger Enters The Ring
The Quinjet recently came out for MCP and runs for $80, which gives hope for a reasonable pricing point for a plastic Thunderhawk. While the kit isn’t quite as big as a Thunderhawk, it gives us hope that the design could be quite easily achieved in plastic.
Plus when you think about it, the Quinjet appears to be the biggest plastic flyer kit to date for tabletop wargaming, and it costs less than most of the smaller GW plastic flyer kits as well.
Perhaps more impressive is its 17″ wingspan, which is the exact measure meant of the current Forge World Thunderhawk! It is however about 6″ shorter than the 19″ fuselage of the FW Thunderhawk, but mad props to Atomic Mass Games for designing something that is literally the size of other most of the Forge World flyers that cost hundreds of dollars more.
Let’s look at the possible price of plastic and some speculations that have been swirling.
Thunderhawk Gunship $847
At this time the Thunderhawk has been put back in stock on Forge World, but the price has raised again… This time by more than $100… Anyways, so obviously, a plastic version of this would have to be cheaper, as Imperial Knights are in the $170 range.
Currently, the Thunderhawk kit sits at a price that you don’t just order on the fly (pun intented). Granted this thing is a massive help to any larger scale army being able to provide transport and an exterminatus-load of firepower.
Forge World also already came out with a new Thunderhawk model in 2017, so we’ve probably got a while before we would even see any sort of plastic kit for this monster anyway, right…
But what if…
Does Sprue Count Matter?
The newest big boy Knight classes are pretty surprising coming from a cost standpoint. The kits are only three sprues (two of which are the same, and one class-specific). Both Dominus-Class Knight kits weigh in at $170. Obviously, the $80 price point of the Quinjet is out the window, but still, it shows a plastic kit is possible.
That’s right, there’s actually only one different sprue in each of the boxes that make them unique. Granted, this is the biggest Knight model we’ve seen outside of Forge World and we all know how expensive Warhound titans are.
But it seems that the amount of sprues/ materials doesn’t affect the price too much. The Bandeblade kit has seven sprues and is only $140. $150 in 2022. It looks like there’s a more clever marketing strategy going on here that has to do with how the model plays on the tabletop as well as how much hype is funneled towards the model.
Courtesy of GW, here is the Knight Castellan on sprue:
Compared to the much larger Baneblade model released in the late 2000s this model is way more efficient in sprue count but still has about the same retail price. Which could bode well for the development of a plastic Thunderhawk.
Here’s the layout of the Baneblade on the sprue, look at all that plastic:
Judging from these 7 sprues above for a box-like vehicle it’s possible that a plastic Thunderhawk would require up to 3 times as many sprues. Sure many sprues like the wings and engines could be duplicates, but it would still be a very ambitious product when it comes to sprue count.
What Can We Hope For?
With the rate of new releases that have been coming out from Games Workshop in plastic that have been ported over from Forge World (looking at you Horus Heresy). It’s been proven that they DO listen to the community, well perhaps if they think there is money to be made, but hey its still listening right?
After only years of begging for plastic Sisters of Battle, we finally got an all-new plastic line of Sororitas (well twice even), and now Squats are on the way too.
Let it be known that we want to see a (40k scale) plastic bird!
Would you like to see the final Doomsday clock resolved?
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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.
