Collectors and Warhammer 40,000 enthusiasts are about to get a shock to their wallets thanks to the recent sale of a rare Thunderhawk Gunship miniature for the popular war game.
This all began in an eBay auction. This is where popular Warhammer YouTuber Squidmar Miniatures put the Thunderhawk Gunship for auction. The description on the item reads, "The miniature is built at the best of our ability with epoxy glue, uv resin and pinning. The front leg of the Thunderhawk is not attached. But the rest of the mini is built. The paint job is done by Emil Nyström (Squidmar Minitures) and the whole process of building and painting is a bit over 150h work and can be seen over at Squidmar Miniatures youtube channel. The miniature you buy is the one you see in the photos and in the video series with all good and bad that comes with this old metal kit."
If a few of those phrases stick out, it should be that this particular Thunderhawk Gunship isn't the same kind that you can buy from Games Workshop right now. While there are plastic versions of the miniature that you can buy for a hefty $735, maybe to use with Aeronautica Imperialis, this particular kit is of a highly limited release from 1997 made entirely of metal. Only 500 of them were ever released through a mail-in order promotion. Adjusted for inflation, those kits would cost you about $1,105 today.
While these rare metal Thunderhawk Gunship kits have sold for quite a bit in the past, today's auction concluded with a much higher bid. Bear in mind that this is a fully assembled miniature, seen by many in the Warhammer community as a luxury item (it weighs almost 20 pounds fully assembled), glued, painted, and promoted by a known influencer in said community. It fully completed collector's item officially sold for $35,360. As for why he sold it, Squidmar Miniatures explained in a video that he had gotten more enjoyment from assembling and painting the gunship itself more than just owning it.
Thankfully, Warhammer fans have plenty of alternatives to experiencing the majesty of this gunship. All the same, it is fascinating how much the appeal of such a limited run of a miniature, prepared and promoted by a prominent voice can lead to such a massive sale. As for everyone else, there is the more affordable Indomitus Box if you want to bolster your Space Marine army.
