Topic: Scratch-Built Jetbikes

[OCR-Geist]

I'm currently working on scratch building several jetbikes & I'm wondering if anybody else has been crazy enough to try this before.

If so, do you have any advise to give or wisdom to impart?

The last time I thought about doing this I gave up because the canopies proved t be too difficult to produce in a consistent and uniform manner without resorting to casting.  However, I recently found a cheap source of substitute canopies in an office-supply store the other day & have enjoyed a renewed hope for this project.

I figure the most difficult part will be mass-producing seats & winglets out of card.  While the most expensive part will be buying and converting Guardians as riders.

I hope to build twenty of my redesigned bikes in about a month... whether I'll have pilots for them or have them painted is another story completely.

So... in the spirit of my newfound enthusiasm I pose this question.

If you were to redesign the Eldar Jetbike how would you want it to look & why?

No fair saying "I wouldn't." or other such non-participating participation.

This discussion question assumes that you would want to improove upon the design or add distinctive touches of your own.  

So... anybody got an opinion?

[HerrLyall]

Can you give me an idea of what you plan to use of the canopiees?
What it looks like, then we can go from there.

[Mr.Peanut (Turtleproof)]

I did redesign all my jetbikes, back when I first started playing...  They turned out pretty good for amatuer conversions, but I used bad spraypaint so they were corroded, and then I decided to convert them further.  Blech.  I've since returned them all, save for the Warlock, back to their original configuartion.  The pic is posted elsewhere.

To scratch build them, keep it as simple as possible.  Don't make Shurikats, they're not noticable on the normal bikes anyway.  The entire rear section- everything from the canopy on back- could be simplified into a single curve to seat the rider.  Er... something akin to this:

              /'''''/
        ----/    /
       _____/

<--- Direction of bike

The idea is to make it all one piece.  The rider will be the focal point of the rear of the bike, and what he's sitting on will go unnoticed if just a little detail is included.  (Cushion shapes, slender pipes, etc)

That was really wordy, so I'll only add more if more is needed.  

Good luck.  

[OCR-Geist]

Can you give me an idea of what you plan to use of the canopies?
What it looks like, then we can go from there.

Oh... Okay here's what I'm planning on doing.

First, to answer your question I'm using the tops of cubicle clips for my canopies.  To see what I mean go to www.officedepot.com & do a search for "panel wall clips".  It is a bit difficult to see in the picture, but they are a tad bit shorter than normal jetbike canopies & quite a bit deeper.   They a much rounder front-to-back & if positioned correctly could either provide a more 'muscular' look on the lateral axis or plunge the front below the horizontal to give a tougher , more armored look.  The effect I am hoping to go for is to have them lend an almost 'beetle-like' look to my bikes.

The clips have been stripped into simple tops & bottoms with the bottoms rotated 180 degrees to make a base.

I'm intending to make a rather high-backed seat with a 2-3mm thick 1/3 oval cut on the diagonal... somewhat like what Mr. Peanut describes above.  I'll center that on the reversed clip-base & glue it in place.

The winglets will be slightly redesigned.  It will still be the basic diamond w/ two oval-bites taken out of it, but I'm going to curve the outermost edge in a bit... making more of a scythe-like winglet like you see on the Vyper.

The jets will be simple nacelles made from $0.99-a-dozen plastic carbochon 'gem stones' mounted top & bottom at the join between the clip-base.  I might paint over them... or I might leave them all purty.  I dunno yet.

As for the riders... I'll have to buy Guardians & covert them, but that'll have to wait until I can A) afford it & B) have bikes for them to ride.

I'd like to make these guys Saim-Hann, but I'm afraid the rounder canopies would make a unit of red jetbikes look like an armada of Ladybugs.

We'll see... Maybe I'll do them up pirate-style.

So, that's what I'm doing.  If you can give me any pointers feel free to cut loose with 'em.

As for my other question... I was curious what other people might like to see in their own fantasy redesign of the jetbike.

I would love to see split-canopies... cut down the middle with their weapons mounted through the apeture, but I can't see how to make that work & still look good with the current model.  

The bike would have to be significantly wider & might look too flat & bladelike.

[The Flesh Tearer]

The way I'd redesignt hem is have the riders laying down like on the Dark Eldar ones, I bet that would make making the seats much easier aswell.

[HerrLyall]

sounds like a cool idea.
In the photo of the wall clips it looks like they are transpearent red,  what if you placed the rider in a reclined position inside the canopee. and had the shuricats sticking through two holls in the canopee the rider would be inside like a windjammer style bike.  the rest of the bike could be made using the same maturials that decribed.

I think it would look cool.  I may have to try building a squad myself.

[OCR-Geist]

sounds like a cool idea.
In the photo of the wall clips it looks like they are transpearent red,  what if you placed the rider in a reclined position inside the canopee. and had the shuricats sticking through two holls in the canopee the rider would be inside like a windjammer style bike.  the rest of the bike could be made using the same maturials that decribed.

I think it would look cool.  I may have to try building a squad myself.

Well, the four-packs come in four seperate colors.  Green, Blue, Orange & Red.  Ordering a 24 pack would be cheaper & would offer a better selection if you wanted to retain transparancy like that, but a Guardian barely fits completely under one of these, so you'd have to build up more of a chassis from some other materials than just the ones described.  Other than that, it sounds like a cool idea.

I like the notion of the flat-riders, but I've got a lot of work cut out for me trying to make twenty of these.  If I were only doing three or five I'd try it, but I'm going the "Armada" route.