Friday, July 15, 2011

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Jetbikes build complete

I've been in the grip of the 'build stuff' bug of late, and rooting around in the box of bits I've been collecting for the Thousand Sons uncovered the jet-bikes I'd purchased a long time ago from Zealot Miniatures (though not long after I'd placed the order, they discontinued the models). I'm only doing a small squad of 5, so it was only a few hours' worth of build time to get them all cleaned and glued up.


For the Sorcerer Sergeant I went with a pair of legs from the Ravenwing upgrade sprues, and the torso and head from the Egyptian-themed marine bits I've been using heavily throughout the army. The Khopesh is from MaxMini, and the wings added to the front fairing were donated by a friend of mine's box of Sanguinary Guard that he wasn't planning on using.


The unit is primarily designed to be a rapid response meltagun delivery system, so next up were a pair of Thousand Sons armed with the Heresy-Era meltaguns from Forge World. The heads are MaxMini 'Steam Knight #1' heads which will be used on almost all of the infantry. I'd ordered up 50 of them but I'm starting to think that won't be sufficient!


To round out the squad a pair of vanilla bikers were built as well. Not much to be said about them honestly. MaxMini heads, Sanguinary Guard wings, marine biker bits. Done.


...And a quick shot of the unit. All of them will eventually be on flying stands mounted to DragonForge bases (as shown in the sergeant picture) but at the time of this picture I hadn't drilled out the bases and stands. With these guys built, all that's really left is a trio of Tactical squads and a Devastator squad. I've definitely been enjoying the build process, I guess we'll see how much of a slog painting them all will be!

13 comments:

  1. These look great. its unfortunate that Zealot Miniatures stopped making these bikes, because the ylook great, and your selection of parts has clearly been well researched. I have not come across Zealot Miniatures before, but will definatley be looking into them...

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  2. I really like how this army is coming together but I have to say these bikes are the best bit so far. Great job.

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  3. The bikes are amazing. It really is a shame they don't sell them anymore. Maybe someone will buy the rights to produce them? These guys are going to look amazing on the table. I can't wait for the paint slog to begin!

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  4. Thanks folks!

    @Oink - Indeed, I was rather pleased with their sculpts and their service, but they decided that they didn't want to risk tangling with GW over them (this all happened right around the time GW first got involved with the suit against Chapterhouse). They do some pretty interesting add-on bits still, and I have to say I was quite happy with them.

    @HuronBH - Indeed, I think they're probably my favorites out of the army so far as well (narrowly edging out the Mk. 1 Predator)!

    @TheInnerGeek - There's a couple other after-market sculptors doing jetbikes but I was really drawn to these, I'm glad I was able to snap a few up before the end. They've subsequently been primered and are awaiting a taste of the brush. Hopefully I'll be able to show some painting progress soon!

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  5. I love the wings on those huge ramscoop intakes on the front. They give your bikes a very cool "Flash Gordon meets Metropolis" retro look.

    I don't know which army I like better now, this or your Admech force. Can't wait to see 'em painted up!

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  6. Thanks very much! Of course now I'm going to end up singing "FLASH! Ah aaaaah!" every time I move them around the table. :)

    Sadly, the Ad Mech are going on the auction block this weekend. A few surprise bills have bitten deeply into my vacation fund, and with GenCon less than a month away, I'm having to do some emergency liquidation... Curses.

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  7. How much are you looking for them... they are incredibly tempting!

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  8. I'm hoping to get about $1200 for it as one single army sale, but if that doesn't work out I plan to then sell it off piecemeal the following week. It's roughly 3500 points and includes the following:

    OOP Skullz Techpriest Set (Archmagos, 5x Techpriests, 2x Servitors)
    5-man Iron Souls Protectors unit
    1x Archmagos Veneratus
    12-man Skitarii Maniple (Red)
    12-man Skitarii Maniple (White)
    5x Robots (Red/White)
    5x Robots (Grey/Yellow)
    1x Myrmidon Assault Engine
    3x Termites
    1x King Russ Executioner w/swappable sponsons
    1x King Russ Vanquisher
    1x King Russ Punisher w/additional battlecannon turret
    1x Knight Paladin

    The whole army is packed in Battlefoam trays as well for ease of storage and transport. I'll likely do a post about it with collected pics of the whole army tomorrow afternoon...

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  9. I just want to say that I love your page, and currently follow it, and was wondering if you could follow mine? Gotta spread the love around if we are every going to bring down the filthy xenos of the galaxy.

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  10. I dunno, if it's a choice between AdMech and Gen-Con, I'd side with the AdMech....

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  11. Thanks folks!

    @General Dizzle - You bet! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

    @#2501 - GenCon is my one big vacation every year, and several old friends who have been scattered to the four winds all gather there each year. As the plane tickets have been bought and the hotel reserved, I'm more or less committed to attending. I'm a bit saddened to have to let the Ad-Mech go, but hey, if I sell 'em, that means I can build more in the future, right? :)

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  12. Mordian7th,

    our own CVinton of DFG will be at Gencon as well. We will be willing to cast some of those TSons bits if you still have some around (particularly the ones from the Russian Ebay). We would just need to borrow them and send them back. Shoot us an E-Mail at the DFG email if interested. Share the wealth I always say!

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  13. Wooooooooooooaaaaaaahhhhhhh. How did I miss this post before!

    Holy crap these bikes are awesome!

    Great use of parts all around. A truly unique bike unit. I love it :D

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