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Okay, folks... This is something I've been meaning to get around to for a LONG time.

About 4 months ago, I bought a small necron army. I was looking to buy a small fully painted army that I could build onto. I purchased the converted Necron army linked below. In addition to a painted army, there were unpainted units available, as well:

http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/lobay/216939-fully-converted-mechanicus-robot-army-sale-uk.html

It was started by the VERY talented Proiteus, and I'm the third owner - the guy who bought it from Proiteus decided to go a different way and turned it around to me almost immediately. As you can see in the thread, it was created as an Adeptus mechanicus army using the Daemons codex, but it works VERY WELL for Necrons.

Well, I've gotten around to expanding the army. I bought over 3 dozen plastic Epic Knight Paladins and am working on them. In addition, however, I've begun fooling around with other models. One thing I'm trying is to create some Tomb Blades. That's where you come in, Dakka.

Here's the deal - I want the army to remain 100% conversion. The bits don't have to be GW, and they don't have to be Necron. As long as the model's primarily GW and fits the aesthetic, I'm happy. That said, this first model's 100% GW, so far:


Note that it's not 100% cleaned. As it's just a test, it gets the basics. If I decide to stick with it, I'll go back & clean up what I missed.

When I first saw the new Necron vehicles, I knew there was conversion potential in them. Of course, at the time, I was thinking more along the lines of terrain. After buying the army above, I started looking in different directions.
The main body of the bike, as is obvious, is made from a "rib" section from the Necron Ghost/Doomsday Ark. The little bits on top are, as well. I'm not sure what they are, but they came with the "rib" bits I purchased.
(If anyone has any extra, I need 3 more pair)

The "driver" is a Necron Warrior torso glued into the hole where the spine would be. His head's a Deathmark head, and there's a curved "spine" that goes from his neck into the back of the bike body that I got from some Lychguard sprues.

I Used Tesla Carbines from Immortals to represent it's guns. Snipping away the arm/hand pieces, as well as anything that didn't "work" for me, I ended up with what's shown below. Like the bits on top of the bike, the pieces glued to the Teslas that are, in turn, glued into the small holes on the "ribs" came with the ribs. I don't know what these are supposed to be, either, but I need 3 more pair (again, if anyone's got any extra).



Looking at these two images, you'll see one important thing... He's got no arms.
That's where I'm stuck/undecided, Dakka, and where I come to you for input. What should I do about the missing arms?

I'm tossing a couple ideas up in the air:

--I've got small shields and single handed blades from the same Lychguard kits as the above spines and TONS of hand-free arms. I could put those on there and use the shield as the +1 armor upgrade I'll almost always give them and who cares what the blade represents.

-- I could use some guitar wire or other cabline from GW or other model kits and run wires from the open shoulder holes to... somewhere... in the bike. I'm not sure where, though. The way the "ribs" are, there's just not a lot of logical places, unless I run them to the guns... but that begs the question, "Why would I need to run EXTERNAL wires to the guns?" (and wires from his shoulders right down into the hole would just look dumb.

--I could greenstuff over the holes and smooth it into the torso, leaving just an armless body.

At this point, I'm leaning towards the greenstuff. What do you think?
I'm not married to the above ideas, Either. If you've got something else in mind, chime in. I'm all ears.

Thanks for your time!

Eric


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So, while looking over my first post, I noticed a bit in the background of the first picture and got an idea.

What do you think?


Also, here's a quick shot for size comparison:


I'm aware they're substantially larger than typical Tomb Blades. I'm really not worried about that. I'll mount them on 30mm bases with a brass rod. If needed, I'll weigh the base down, as well.

Thoughts?
Thanks!

Eric

dont necron vehicles normally get steered by the driver using an orb in the dash? sayin that i love the conversions remind me of tron for some reason

Normally, yeah. I think they are.
Frankly, I'm less worried about that than how it looks. I want it to 'work' for my army.

Thanks for the kind words.

So, anyone have any suggestions for those arms?


Eric

I would either gs over the arm holes or maybe give him arms that are clinging onto the ribs. Both could look cool!

Nice work btw, I had a little fun converting some necrons recently, those Lychguard kits are great!

Well, if there are arms that will work to look like they're clinging onto the ribs, I don't have any in my collection and, frankly, I don't want to try making them. LOL

So, I decided to mock up the "blade and shield" I mentioned earlier. This is the result. Thoughts?







In all honesty, I really didn't care for it much. It says "hand to hand" and nothing about "bike." I was sure I wouldn't use them at that point and cast about, looking for more pieces.
A bit that I'd trimmed from the rear torso of an Immortal caught my eye and I crammed it in the right arm socket. I kind of liked it.
I found another torso and *oops* made it too short... So, after trimming up a THIRD torso, I came up with the following. Note that it's a 'rough in.' If I decide to go this way, everything will be plastic-glued into place, then greenstuffed where necessary.

Thoughts on this one?



Thanks for looking!

Eric

Edit: Don't mind the mess. I'll clean off any nubs or plastic shavings from the model before he's primered. : )

blade and shield imo looks pretty bad, as it wouldnt make much sense considering the driver would have great difficulty fighting; plus it just looks bad imo.

However the second one looks pretty cool (providing it is green stuffed!)

This blog seems pretty cool, I`ll look forward to seeing the rest!

deffiantly the second one but id say put another outer ring round it with some more cables imo

If your looking for aesthetics then I would suggest a really dramatic pose, like trying to "clothesline" someone with a sword, or quickscoping with a sniper with one hand on the control orb (just use a res orb).

Blitza da warboy wrote:blade and shield imo looks pretty bad, as it wouldnt make much sense considering the driver would have great difficulty fighting; plus it just looks bad imo.

However the second one looks pretty cool (providing it is green stuffed!)

This blog seems pretty cool, I`ll look forward to seeing the rest!

I agree on the blade and shield. Before trying it, I was skeptical. As soon as I saw them, I realized that my skepticism was well deserved. I do NOT like the sword and shield arms.

If I go with the cables coming from the arms, which is the direction I'm currently leaning in, it would be done in two steps. The first step would be to plastic glue the pieces into place. When the plastic melts, much of it will smash down into the plastic body. Step two would be to trim any extra plastic off, then greenstuff any gaps, for sure.

backtat wrote:deffiantly the second one but id say put another outer ring round it with some more cables imo

By "Second one," do you mean the second one from my most recent update (cables for arms)?

I'm trying to use bits as much as possible. As such, I don't really have any cables. I do have a couple other things I could look at:
I've got the "cage" pieces seen on the sides of the torso here that could possibly to the trick:


I also have "spine" bits, like the one seen here that I could use:


My only concern about using the "spine" bits would be that the protruding bits have a definite "direction" to them. So, I'm not sure how that would look wrapped around it.

You definitely hit on something I was eying myself, though. That rounded area in the front looks a little naked.

blood guard26 wrote:If your looking for aesthetics then I would suggest a really dramatic pose, like trying to "clothesline" someone with a sword, or quickscoping with a sniper with one hand on the control orb (just use a res orb).

Thanks for the input, but I think I'm going to avoid arms on these. Having the blade and shield arms mocked up just gave me the feeling that it looked more like a Necron stuck in a barrel, rather than a torso melded to the body of a bike.


Thanks for the input, guys. Keep it coming!

Eric

Hey Bro,

First, interesting model idea, but you used the words like... "Bike" and "mechanicum". I'm struggling with that on this model. For me, I'm not getting "bike" at all... I might be getting plane... skimmer... personal craft... hover plane... but not "bike" The large wings are not working for me...

You know me, we game all the time... I'm honest. The niagra falls barrel is the first thing that came to my mind when I seen the Necro in the central cylinder. When looking top down on that profile, I see the starts of a Thousand Sons... err... no, a Khorne space marine head symbol!! It's like cloud pictures for me, I can't help it... look: http://www.bitzbox.co.uk/images/forgeworld_khorne_berserker_head_3_large.jpg - that's what I see!! ... but heay, some folks look at a Picaso and see beautiful master piece, I tend to see poo'flinging monkey... so, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but nonetheless, I'm not going to sugar coat it, that's what I'm getting when I look at the above. Moving on...

Maybe pop that Necron out of there and stick a crazed Khorne guy in there... swap out the guns for some autocannons... then throw some blasters on the back... and call it a converted hell tallon

+ + + OK, I realize that I'm totally not helping at this point... so, I'll refocus... + + +

Pictures do wonders for me when I'm brainstorming ideas for conversions, so here's some ideas to get the brain juices flowing and possibly you find something here worth considering...

- I get skimming bike from that one:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/12/40k-hobby-necron-tomb-blade-jetbike.html

- I get chariot from this one:
http://whitemetalgames.blogspot.com/2011/11/necron-illuminor-szeras-tomb-blade-and.html

- I get a the feeling of something that could be what your looking for in this one... but he's not done with it in my mind
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=18763

Now... On this, imagine if he used the "cabled arms" that you had in your second pic... but they became the guns... ie... arms are guns... his legs came down and into a kneeling position like riding a bike, but the lower knee became the thrusters so no feet or ankles. Maybe something like that would work into the mechanicum feel you are after?

- last example
http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/attachments/projects/16183d1334959588-purple-crons-389230_3678885940381_1522010948_33142627_326679741_n.jpg

This takes my previous comment and flips it on it's head... if the guy would have went a bit further... imagine this last model's legs turning into the guns with some fancy conversion work, cabling and what not.. the arms it looks like have already went the way of the mechanicum, but I like the "flowing" nature of these arms vs. the straight angled nature of the arms you had in the above photo. It gives me a sense of movement, speed and flowing cables on this bike which might fit well with the way you are going with this mechanicum / necro / bike look

OK - I'm done.

Good luck bud,

While all of those models look good, Rob, none of them fit the aesthetic that I'm looking for. Their too similar to stock tomb blade look from the codex. That's exactly what I'm not looking to do. I want mine NOT to look like standard Tomb Blades. I don't care if they're larger. I'm trying for a "look" that I like. The sideways "rib" section is definitely the start of that.

As for the size of mine... I like it, too. I actually used some trimmed down pieces of the Ghost Ark's ribs to try a smaller version, first (for LoS purposes, I thought I should at least TRY a smaller one). I didn't like it. Shrinking it changed the aesthetics too much.

To go to the beginning of your post:
I used "Mechanicum" in reference to the army that I bought; the one in the link. Mine will have nothing to do with the Mechanicum.
I used "bike" because the unit's a jetbike.

Yeah. The similarities between Tzeentch and Khorne helmet decorations is there, but that's just the shape of the ribs. :shrug: When I look at Ultramarines, I think someone screwed up the "Omega" symbol. LOL

Thanks for chiming in like I asked but, rather than, "Stop what you're doing. Do *this* instead," do you have any thoughts on what I'm doing? Any preferences between the ideas I've shown? Any suggestions on modifying *what I have*?

Eric

Really like the start of this army. Keep it coming!

E,

No worries bro - that's just what came to me... if it don't work or give you any ideas, no worries.

As far as what you have, like I said, i don't get bike from it, so it's hard for me to offer more... but just critiquing what I see then - here's the best I can offer...

I don't care for the 'look' of stock weapon arms or the rib cage bit in the photos.... I like the idea of arms as cables going into the chassis. I also like the idea of the cables arms becoming guns but that's going back to what I mentioned before a bit...

I don't like the "L" hook on the end of the wing tips, I'd tooy around with removing those at the last section break. If you are going for necron, i'd try to shape the front more to the look of a night scythe or something to have that kind of line symetry. The 'point' to each wing tip would work more for me I think.

I'm into models looking like they can work, I don't have a feel for the propulsion system yet, or where it would be. Perhaps if you could post a draft of your concept or where you are taking this, it would help get a vision for where you are going with it and critique from there.

Oh, I'd have to do something with that barrel / cylinder look in the center... right now it sticks out like a sore thumb to the squared off edges of the wings next to it... maybe build it out more and thicken the wings toward where the driver sits... effectively building out the cockpit space appearence from outside fo the vehicle?

That's all I got right now man,

Right now, my default looks like it's going to be the cable arms. I do like the way they look. I also have some other spine bits that I'm going to stick in there, connecting the torso to the "wings," just to see how it looks, though. I like the cables, but I want to be sure that I don't like the spines more.

I actually like the current wing tips. : ) Go figure. I'm not so worried about the realism of it, with it being the 41st millennium and all. So, if it's not really aerodynamic, I'm okay with it.

There is no draft of the concept. This IS the draft. LOL This is my "build it as I go" Frankenstein's monster. If I like it in the end, then I'm set. If not, then back to the figurative drawing board. There is no propulsion system yet.
Note: yet.
I definitely intend on having something on there but, since this is a "build as I go," we'll have to wait and see.

I'm trying to keep anything I build as "bits only," so that I can just pick up the pieces and glue them together on future models, once I've got a version down that I like. So, I'm trying to stay away from plasticard. I'm thinking I'll need to use a little greenstuff on the torso to hull attachment, but that would probably be interior.

I'm also looking at the opposite side of the central hole. The underside. Right now, it's an open hold. I've got a bit from the Ghost ark that fist there, one that's supposed to fit there, but there's only one per vehicle kit. I don't want to illegally cast more, and it's not looking like they'll be easy to obtain on my own, so I'll need to go a different way.

What I'm contemplating at this point it that I'd like to find a mechanical(ish) looking bit somewhere that will cover the hole. Then, I'll either mount any sort of engines directly to the left and right of it, with the possibility of connecting them via bits of some sort, or doint the same thing, but mounting them a bit farther away from the center and attaching them to the hull with spine bits.

I want to do something to change the structure of the central hole in the front. I mocked up the rib cage looking pieces from the pic below, one above and one below the wings, but I was kind of lukewarm on it. Maybe I'll get a pic of the mock up and post it for thoughts and opinions.



Anybody know of any bits they think might look good covering the front of the barrel, that might break up the roundness of it?

Eric