I have been able to make a few characters for my Saim-Hann army with very little conversions. Here is a summary of the riders that I have completed.
AutarchThis was the easiest to convert. I used a spare Shinning spear figure and a Fire Pike from the Fire Dragon Exarch. I cut off the right handlebar in order for the spear to fit on the torso, attached the shimmer shield to the guardian jetbike rider’s left arm, and cut & glued the fire pike to fit under the bike. The mandiblasters were made from Green Stuff and attached to the collar of the shinning spear rider.
Farseer with spearAll I used for this was a guardian jetbike rider and the older pewter Farseer with spear model. I decided to cut off the ‘antlers’ of the helmet to reduce drag while zooming around on a jetbike. I used one antler on back of the bike to make it stand out from my other jetbikes. I then cut the Farseer torso below belt, attached a guardian jetbike left arm and wrapped the left arm and legs in green stuff for a sleeve and skirt.
Warlock squadMaterials used: Shinning spear riders, Dire Avenger Exarch weapons and Shinning Spear Exarch swords. I decided to go the easy way with this squad and just use the parts I had, plus a few weapon auctions I won. The only converting process was cutting the Dire Avenger Exarch spear to make it a short sword and trim the arms so they fit on the SS torsos. This is a very easy conversion and I recommend it to anyone starting a Saim-Hann army.
Warlocks attached to Guardian Jetbike squadsThese were the first of my creations using bits that I had lying around. They were easy to make, and all use the standard guardian jetbike torso, legs and arms. The heads are all from the guardian box set and the weapons are from other eldar kits. The major work done to the models is to add the new heads, which are actually simple to do. First, I sawed off the second edition helmet and trimmed down the area around the mouth to make the neck area clean. Next, I used a drill to create a neck hole for the guardian helmet to fit in. For the rune armor, I sanded down the chest and used green stuff to create a simple rune look. With the last warlock I made, I just painted the rune instead of using the green stuff. This was a mistake on my part, as I realized it didn’t have the rune after I painted the body.
For the witchblade arms, I used the shinning spear Exarch arm and the older metal Dire Avenger Exarch arm from the 8 man box set. The spears are from the current Dire Avenger box set and Jain Zar.
Warlock JetbikesI wanted my warlock jetbikes to stand out a bit from their squad by adding something to the back of the bike. After digging through my bits box, I found two spines from the wave serpent sprue and decided to attach them behind the seat. I cut out the triangular section of the back of the bike, trimmed the spine flat and used green stuff to make it smooth. This added a bit of character to my warlock bikes without making them stand out too much.
I only have 2 guardian Jetbike squads that I run with warlocks, and depending on the rest of the army, I will alternate between spears and witchblades. I decided to not glue the warlocks on the bikes so I can just swap the riders as needed.
Guardian JetbikesMaterials used; Guardain legs and arms from jetbike riders, torso and heads from guardian box set. Drill a hole for torso in the guardian jetbike rider's legs, add green stuff around the waist to smooth it out and trim the backpack and seat for the arms to fit.
Making a shuriken cannonMoc's way is cheap to make a shuriken cannon, but I wanted to make one out of the shuriken cannon that comes with the Vyper. They are just about the same size and any one with Vypers has a few of these lying around. You can also use the new plastic shuriken cannons. I believe they are a little larger, but the process should be the same. I also have a metal shuriken cannon that I used for comparison.
Step 1Cut the bottom rail off and cut right behind the ammo feed.
Step 2Cut the left shuriken catapult off and round the right catapult. Glue the cannon on when you get it to line up.
Step 3Add some green stuff to smooth out the gaps and to add strength.
Complete jetbikeHere are pictures of my finished jetbike shown with a jetbike that has a metal cannon. The two are very similar. The plastic cannon is just a little bigger, but it cost me an hour of my time;D You can also see my new placement of the nut to center the bike above the base.
