Get your motor runnin'...

One of my myriad plans is to convert all the rough riders for the Mordian 7th to ride Hornet motorcycles. To that end, I had converted a group of 5 from Dark Eldar jetbikes and various bits from the Cadian heavy weapons team sprues. While they turned out fairly decent, it was a very painstaking and thoroughly non cost effective project. I'd been poking around to see if I could find appropriately-scaled motorcycle models when I came across Ramshackle Games, who do a wide range of post-apocalyptic themed models - among which were not one, but two styles of 25mm bikes both with and without integral legs cast in resin. I thought they looked perfectly suited for my plans and as they were very modestly priced I placed an order for 10 bikes to see how they'd work. I got the package in the mail on friday and following a quick soak and scrub I brought them up to the hobby loft for cleanup and a test model:

My initial impressions of the models were extremely high - the bikes all came with separate handlebars, one set with integral hands and one set without. The integral hands are going to make the conversion process super easy - there's no shortage of appropriate cadian arms in my bits boxes just waiting to have their hands cut off and used for the riders. There was the shortest of delays in the order, but the owner was extremely communicative and kept me up to date every step of the way. In addition he threw in a couple extra models as well as a fantastic single-piece casting with a raider-themed rider built in. I'm thinking that with a few minor modifications it would make for a perfect proxy model for the Attilan rough rider special character who grants his unit all sorts of scary bonuses.

I did one test model to get a feel for how everything would fit together, and with just a couple blobs of greenstuff the torso and steering arm were complete. I took a bit of plastic rod, a spearhead and a couple small packs (to represent the explosive charges) and made up a hunting lance, though I still need to run a bit of wire down to the rider's hand and give the lance a proper pommel of some variety.


All in all I am extremely happy with these models as well as the professionalism of the company and I'm planning on ordering up another 20 to use for the other two squads I need to build...