Originally, I painted the Thunderbolts for Specialist Games Imperialis Aeronautica, which they were of course rendered into a fantastic plastic kit for. Although it wasn’t a game I really played much, the fact they were designed to match the scale of the Imperial Titans in Adeptus Titanicus kept hopes alive epic would return in the future. Thankfully that turned out to be true.

Although I painted these a few years back, they are now going to form the backbone of my Solar Auxilia air wings in Horus Heresy Legions Imperialis.

I have painted the Thunderbolts in two alternative schemes, one inspired by Forgeworld’s original Voss Pattern Lightning, the second a combination of ideas drawn from real world contemporary and historic military aircraft. 

Both aircraft were weathered using a combination of very light stippling to create impact wear on flight surfaces, especially leading edges of wings and nose. Oils to create the streaking from leaking fluids and atmospheric corrosion.

All the bases of course can be replaced to match whatever the preferred format is for Legions Imperialis as they are simply a ball and socket fitting into the bottom of the model and not glued in place. The ones shown are for Aeronautica Imperialis and feature the speed and altitude dials.