Skaven Reaver Jetbikes WIP

Converting Deffkoptas into Skaven-mounted Jetbikes for my "Kabal of the Fursaken" has been painful, and full of fumes.


This weekend I spent some time working on my 9 man squad of Reaver Jetbikes.  As you can see from the photo, as a starting point I used the Ork Deffkopta from the Assault of Black Reach box.  I spent a while clipping and cutting the Ork drivers from each of these kits, and I can honestly say I do not reccomend doing this.  Each model took about twenty minutes of grueling scraping and cutting, to remove each driver.  Multiply this by nine, and factor in the risk of slipping with the exacto and spraying my workbench with blood, and you can see why I was unhappy with this step.

I plan to fill the areas that have been exposed with putty, in an effort to simulate a padded seat for the Skaven driver.  I will use the spear-holding Skaven arm bits to simulate a gripped control stick, and a modified Ork dashboard (with the handlebars removed).

As you can see in the photo, I have also begun to re-imagine the nose of each bike.  After making a variety of paper templates, I cut a ton of plasticard sheets and attached this nose-cone to the front of all nine jetbikes.  This is a very early stage in the models, and I have a lot of work to do on the plastic card still.

Another area that demands my focus, is the placement of the rotors on the helicopter.  On the standard Deffkopta model, the rotors are placed at such an angle as to give the appearance of "pulling" the model forward.  With my conversion, the nosecone I added gives the model a more pronounced profile, so perhaps I should add the rotors at a more parallel angle to the nose.

I ran this issue by Old Shatter Hands over at Tau of War, and he suggested scrapping the rotors entirely in favor of some added jets.  Unfortunately, in my planning,  the rotors serve two purposes:  First of all, they give the model the WYSIWYG ability to fly over an infantry unit, and damage them  (chop chop).  Secondly, as I have said before, I am converting two Chinnork helicopters into Ravagers, so I like the idea of repeating the image of ramshackle propeller blades.  Not sure what to do;  Now that I have considered adding jets, I can definitely see the appeal...

Anyway, that is what I have been up to.  I wanted to post this up yesterday, but I was awfully busy with midterm exams.  I missed my window for posting, and I didn't want the pic to get lost in the overnight-shuffle.  I hope you like seeing the progress on the army, and I would appreciate any and all input.

Lastly, thanks to Goatboy and The Eleventh Company for the mention in the last podcast.  The "Counts-As vs. Proxy" debate is obviously something I feel strongly about, but I will save that for another post.  So far, I have tried to keep this blog as non-confrontational as possible.  I don't want to poison the waters...