Thunder Chiefs Rough Rider 10: Spinne Sluitdiep

The last Thunder Chief Rough Rider is one of my favorites, the six-limbed cyber-squat Otzo "Spinne" Sluitdiep. Below is the motorcycle in unassembled planning stage.

Spinne's motorcycle will primarily use Ork parts, moreso than the last two cycles, along with some Chaos and Undead pieces. There will also be a bunch of plastic bits added to this as the bike comes together and their need becomes apparent.

Our rider, Spinne, is a much more complicated conversion than the other riders, and will be assembled after the bike to make sure all his limbs get positioned correctly. Spinne is made from the body of an Epic Imperial Knight Paladin, the Epic Knights again proving useful conversion material for the Chaos Squats. The plaited beard of a Beastman, along with Beastman horns will make the body appropriately Chaos Squat-like.

Spinne's legs and driving arms come from the Chaos Dreadnought Power Scourge, with the longer spines going to the legs. The diameter of the scourge spines fits nicely with the nubs left from removing the Paladin legs, and the driving arms fit into the space between the sculpted cables on the body and the fighting arm nubs.

A Necron Destroyer Lord arm is used to fire a Krieg Lasgun from Forge World. On the left, a Gorkamorka Blowtorch will be cut up and used for the upper arm, along with the Explosive Warhammer-wielding forearm of a Chaos Warrior. Chaos Warrior armor bits and greenstuff will attach and complete the arms, and add necessary spikes.

Here is the motorcycle, assembled with some new plastic bits. The front assembly for the cycle uses the Ork Wartrak Front Wheel and Hop-Splat Gun, as planned. It has been made more threatening with a large spike from one of the Chaos sprues and a Chainsword Blade, which originated on the Squat Champion with the lizard skin in the Blood Eagles Squadron. Since the rider is not yet constructed, the connection between the front and rear sections of the cycle is visible, the upper part of the Chaos Dread Power Scourge that was used for the rider's arms and legs. A plastic cable from an Imperial sprue is added below, providing addition detail but not much structural support.

This angled shot provides an excellent view of the rear assembly for Spinne's cycle. I think that was my first unintentional pun so far. And now that the primitive humor instinct has been awakened, I am having uncomfortable thoughts about Bender from Futurama and the phrase "excellent view of the rear assembly."

We will shove that aside and address the many skulls that went into this loving creation of the Chaos Dwarf Adeptus Mechanici. As we can see, several skulls of the false emperor's lapdogs decorate the cycle, including the Winged Skeleton bit, taken from a 2000s Space Marine Chaplain's Crozius. It is bound to the Spiked Banner Poles of the Chaos Dreadnought, which will provide a seatback only a robotic sadist could truly appreciate.

The Hydraulics bit from the Space Marine Vindicator provides the core of the back end, with the Ork Wartraks attached. Part of the Gorkamorka Big Grabba is attached on top of the Hydraulics, providing a space to insert an engine. The engine core itself is made from some Ork weapon, but I haven't figured out which one. To the sides are some Skeletal Exhaust Pipes, made from some 1990s Mounted Wight Command Musician bits with the arms chopped off. A split in half plastic Smoke Launcher adds some more mechanical bits of unspecified function, and some spikey Ork armor for the usual function. So 8 Skulls, counting the metal skulls on the front armor and the driver. Coincidence? Perhaps.

Now Spinne has come along a bit further, with his arms and armor laid out and plastic bits glued on. He will need to be assembled with greenstuff in position on the cycle. But the hour grows late here by Lake Michigan, so the fully assembled Spinne Sluitdiep will be revealed tomorrow. We will conclude with some theories as to why our six-limbed Cyber-Squat is named Spinne when we know die Spinne has eight. 1. The horns count as limbs. 2. The beard and the, erm, part that Khorne doesn't like to talk about, count as limbs. 3. Too Chaotic to count correctly. 4. Peter-Parker envy. 5. Mere puffery. 6. Tyranids ate them.

Here is a concluding picture of some Thunder Chiefs, who are parading behind the Burnt Scorpions Storm Troopers, who are gloating over the corpse of a Dark Eldar Warrior, whose scent is attracting the mutant space rats, who don't know what a run-on sentence is.

Penultimate Thuder Chief, Trogoth "Trollo" Butkovich

Second to last, but longer than the rest, we have our ninth Thunder Chief Rough Rider, Trogoth "Trollo" Butkovich. We start with some pictures of the bike and biker in bits form, but with the first round of accessorizing and biker limb bits picked out.
Here is our rider Trollo, the Squat Pirate with Wooden Leg. I'm not sure if that is his official name, or if the Pirates series were just numbered. That mystery aside, right now I'm going to mess around with his balding head, since this sculpt is one of the less interesting for the Pirate Squats. He will have a headlamp inserted in his skull (Squat Bike version, but the headlamp is a miscast), and one of his ears replaced with a little Robotech Battloid Head Antenna, from the 1980s Dark Horse Miniatures series.

I'm not so sure about the arms, but am leaning toward another tentacle/cables wrap-around the handle arms, one of the old metal Tyranid Spore Mines, or another bunch of Inquisitor scale power cables. I am not so sure why I'm so into using tentacle arms. I think it's a Marvel Comics thing, some sort of influence of Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus and maybe Reed Richards sending out long webs, robot tentacles, or Mr. Fantastic arms to wrap around and grab things.

I'm think about using a trophy arm from one of the Undead sprues on the right. His wooden leg is going to be replaced with something more high-tech, but I don't know what.

Here is the motorcycle mapped out. In the front, I'm using the handlebars pieces left over from the Ork Wartrack Front Wheel used in the previous Rough Rider, Ken. The front wheel itself will be made from the Seat piece from the 2nd version of the Blood Bowl Dwarf Death Roller. I'm going to add a skull-patterned battering ram head to make a spiked front, from one of the Warhammer Siege models.

For the rear of the bike, the first Ork Hop-Splatt Gun will provide the Chassis, and maybe its wheels, but, may use the Wartracks again, or both. Melkhior's Seat will be used for Trollo's, and some Chaos Terminator Shoulder Trophy Spikes as fenders. A Space Marine Devastator backpack or two will be used as the core of the engine in the rear. I've picked out his Lasgun, just Cadian with the eagle cutoff, as well as a useful old Ork Knife and a Beer Mug from the Dwarf sprues.

A diagonal angle gives the best initial view of the assembled cycle, and we can see both rider and cycle turned out different than planned. Some parts are the same- the chassis, seat, and fenders worked as predicted, and I decided to use the Hop-Splat Wheels and leave off the Tracks because the wheels went along better with the Terminator Spikes.

The whole front section turned out more complicated than planned. To make the bike as strong as possible, the Death Roller Seat was positioned at a diagonal compared to the chassis and battering ram front. A good amount of greenstuff was used to fill gaps and make the model stronger, but the area between the handlebars and battering ram is long and boring.

I concealed the skinny part of the battering ram by using some curved plastic Ork armor bits and the metal Skull Spike from the Gorkamorka Ork Trukk. Trollo's beer mug was placed at an easy-to-reach position near the handlebars.

But the main change was building an engine in the front. The bottom of the Seat already had some machinery sculpted, but some areas on the seat were in a wood pattern and I wanted to cover those. The left side was given 6 pipes sticking out by using a couple of Imperial Smoke Launchers. The bulge in the center and the gear come from the Dwarf Cannon sprues. On the right side, the curved pipes are made from a couple of the Chaos Warrior Musician's Horn from the 1990s plastic CW sprue.

After building the front engine, it is clear that a Curves Surfaces & Skulls design will be emphasized with this conversion, along with the mandatory Spikes that Khorne demands. I decided to make the pipes on the right larger than the left to balance out the prominent left arm that was used. This Thunder Chief is turning out to have even more of a Road Warrior look than the last. Below is a picture showing the battering ram and engine as the cowering enemy would.

As these pictures show, Trollo's arm's are not as planned. I decided against the tentacles/cables and corpse for something more along the Mad Max scheme. His right arm is from the Rogue Trader Bare Human Arms sprue, going along with his bare chest. It was bulked up with a small piece of Empire Knight armor and a Dwarf pouch as a shoulder pad, with a couple of bits of cloth streaming from it, cut off another Tomb Kings part. Some more Dwarf pouches are added to his belt and a Khorne Berzerker grenade to his vest. The right arm is the cybernetic shotgun from the Necromunda Pit Slave Champion with a plastic cable from one of the old Eldar Guardian arms attached.

The Round but Spiky theme was continued by adding a single horn in the Unicorn position on Trollo's head. The three spike group of that horn and the antennas makes some suspect Trollo has an unsavory past relationship with the Big Plague Papa.

Here is the view from the back. I've still used a Space Marine Devastator backpack (Dark Angels Heavy Plasma, I think), along with some more plastic cables and machine bits to stick with the original idea of the engine in the back. I've also used another White Wolves bit for his exploding warhammer.

Below are some more images of Thunder Chief Trollo from various perspectives.

From the left side. I've used greenstuff to strap on an old Dwarf Miner's Shovel to cover an area of wood patterning on the Death Roller bit. A Squat Army can never have too many shovels. Trollo's wooden leg was taken off and replace cybernetic one. I can't remember where it came from, may be an part of an old Epic mini.

From the right side. Melkhior's Seat worked well, long enough to bend so that it could be the seat cushion and the seat back. I also added a footrests from greenstuff. The Servants of Khorne do not need seat cushions and footrests, but only the most extreme consider such comforts outright Slaaneshi.

This mini also shows the problem with the old Rogue Trader arms, Trollo is steering his double-engined oversized machine with a fist pressed against the handlebar. I could have made some fingers, but let's just say he uses his Ear-Tennae to control the motorcycle by radiowaves.

Here is Trollo from above. Influenced by his name, I primed him Codex Grey and then washed him in dark green. I'm not sure if the wash has any influence on the appearance of the model in the end, but I think it helps me notice details more easily. It also be aesthetically interesting to combine primer color and a wash on its own, making them look a bit like they are made of colored stones or different kinds of wood.

A close-up picture of the details of Trollo and the front engine. I've made the horn in the center of his head have a couple of layers, using greenstuff at the base to make it look like there is an ugly scar or sore that was caused by its eruption from the skull.

This conversion has also turned out to have a lot of rows of rivets, although it may actually be harder to make a 40K conversion without ending up with lots of rivet patterns. Unless you are a leaf eater covered in your fancypants gems pretending dancing is history.

Another view from above, a nice funny-car dragster appearance. Trollo is the guy who turbocharges straight at the Land Raider hoping he will poke a hole through it's armor with his battering ram. Waving his shotgun and singing "Breakin the Law", which will still be a popular song in the grim dark grimness of the future.

Though the vast hordes of hive-civs remain ignorant, The Imperialis Praehistoricae consider the Judas Priest era of human history to have occurred immediately before the Judge Dredd era. Both eras are acknowledged to have a critical and continuing influence on military fashion in the Imperium, with the Adeptus Sororitus specifically linked to a person known as "Judge Andersonius," said by some to be one of the most powerful psykers of Imperial prehistory.

Finally, as the bleeding wounded victims see Trollo, speeding away. The second engine is attached to the Hop-Splat Gun chassis and sides of the Terminator Spikes, with the empty space filled with random cables and container parts from the Bits Graveyard. Melkhior's seat also is a nice sculpt from the back, and Trollo's horn peaks over the top.

That's it for Trollo. Here's a sneak preview of the Hungry Ghosts Leman Russ.

Tanks with Tentacles!

Our People Use Every Part of the Bitz Box: Assembling Thunder Chief 8

The previous Hungry Ghosts post covered my process of conceptualizing the remaining 3 Rough Riders for the Thunder Chiefs squadron, and the sorting through my 3-stage bits selection system. First, let's review a bit on the bits.

Stage 1: Bits are especially purchased or set aside for the developing design concepts for the conversions.
Stage 2: Searching through the bins of bits that have been accumulated with the general intent of using them for Chaos conversions for useful structural or decorative additions.
Stage 3: Snuffling through the Bits Graveyard of broken, used, or wayward bits for stuff to chop up to produce useful shaped pieces to fill in gaps. This process continues as the Bikers are being built, as I don't have a complete design in mind at the start, and also can't predict what structural issues and design elements will need to be adjusted as the model is being built.

The first new Rough Rider is Kenneth "Ken" Haringsbeens. He is shown before priming to better illustrate which of his bits are metal, plastic, and greenstuff.

This view allows us to see Rider Ken, our first part of the conversion. Ken started life as Squat Biker 1. Since he was a standing model, I chopped off his legs to replace them with legs that fit better for the riding position. I decided to make Ken a victim of a negative Chaos mutation, hearkening back to the old Realm of Chaos books with their d1000 table of mutations of good, bad, or neutral impact in game terms. So Ken has been cursed with crooked weak legs that jut out uselessly. To do this, I glued on two bent and clawed legs from one of the Dark Eldar Warp Beasts, both are left legs to make his life a bit more difficult. Basically, I wanted Ken to look like he has to be a biker because he can't walk very well.

Ken is more than a little embarrassed by his mutant legs, so he partially hides them with spikey armor bits. The bits on the sides are plastic parts from Ork and Kroot sprues. His special parts are protected by a codpiece consisting of one of the old metal Space Marine Terminator Shields.

At this point, I am tired of using mostly Empire White Wolves warhammers as the exploding lance substitute, so Mr Haringsbeens has been given a Pick-type weapon instead, one that is very well muscled in comparison to his little legs. The arm is Saurus Warrior Spike Arm 2 from the Lizardmen range of minis. His left arm is a convoluted concoction based on part of the Inquisitor Damien 1427 Left Arm, with some plastic Chaos Marauder armor and greenstuff to attach the arm to Ken's body, and more greenstuff to make it look like the wires are wrapping around the handlebar. Ken has also had his beard enhanced with a plastic flowing hair piece taken from the handle of a Khorne Berzerker Axe arm. It also conveniently covers the Imperial Aquila necklace he is wearing.

From the right side, we can get a good view of the motorbike itself. As earlier planned, the main body of the bike is made from 2 Rogue Trader era Ork Warbike Tracks, separated by 2 of the Gunner Platforms from the same Ork bike series. This section was strengthened with one of the metal Turret Armor bits from the 1990s version of the Imperial Hellhound tank. The Fuel Hose bit of the same tank was used as the engine in the rear, with the addition of a Helblaster Griffon from the old metal version of the Empire Helblaster Volley Gun.

The next major issue with this Rough Rider is assembling the front wheel/handlebars region, and attaching it to the rear part of the cycle. The wheel portion is the bottom half of the Front Wheel bit from our Ork Warbikes. I cut off the handlebars part and replaced it with the front half of a Warmaster Undead Bone Thrower. Just for fun, I added a little steering wheel from the Dwarf Cannon sprue. For more spikiness, I attached a bit from the old Epic Ork Turrets sprue.

The front part is partly attached to the rear by the biker's left arm, and was further connected by using long Power Tube bits from the Inquisitor Magos Delphan Gruss model with some greenstuff filling in the gaps between tube sections, which also double as exhaust pipes at their back ends. This bits-complex was reinforced in a manner befitting a Khorne worshipper, using the blade from one of the IG Catachan machetes on the right, and two spears taken from the Tomb Kings Chariot on left side. Lots of very nice bits for conversions can be found on the TK Chariot sprue.

The last structural part of the motorcycle is the seat back. It is tough to see under the surrounding bits, but our biker is resting against the back half of the Bone Thrower that made the handlebars. Ken's loyalty to Khorne is shown on the Banner Pole bit that forms the rest of the seat back, taken from a 1980s Juggernaut model.

The rest is accessorizing. As we can see above, the Rough Rider's Lasgun has been strapped to the Banner Poles with greenstuff, it is the folding stock version from the Catachan Command sprue. Also hanging from the poles are a couple of grenades, Space Marine Assault Squad style.

This rear-angle picture provides a better view of the cycle's engine and tracks structure, as well as the rest of Ken's battlegear. Attached to the banner poles are a bedroll and shovel from the IG sprues, and a hooked length of rope from a Dwarf sprue (I think). We can also see the greenstuff used to fill the gaps in the bike and the rider's left arm.

Below are some additional pictures providing a better view of the details of Thunder Chief Haringsbeens, taken after he has been primed. I tend to put the primer coat on by hand in some neutral grey or brown tone, and then give it a wash to give some depth to the model while it is waiting to be painted.

View from the left side

Close up front view of Ken

Mutant leg and Mutant arm

Rear & right

My complex photography apparatus

Bitz to Bikes: 1000 Pieces of Madness

My current squad of Zombie Chaos Squat Motorcycle Rough Riders, the Thunder Chiefs, numbers only 7. Which leaves 3 more needed to fill up the squad. But I don't like using the same pieces too many times, and I've used up all of the variants of Squat Bike Rider minis, and all of the Squat Bike bits except the not-allowed twin bolters. Thus, I have decided to create 3 new bikers using converted Squat infantry troopers and bits, bits, and more bits. Here we begin the descent into bits madness. (For those of you keeping track, there are a couple of Squat Bike Riders we haven't seen yet, but they are reserved for some Sentinels made from Heavy Trikes).

Here is our starting point, showing all the bits from which the bikers will be born. Bits from 1987, bits from 2010, bits from 40K, bits from Man-O-War, bits broken and bits new from the sprue.

Here are the bits for our preliminary concepts for the bikes. I'm thinking of using the old Rogue Trader Ork Bikes with tracks, and have 3 variants up there. At this point, I'm also pondering the use of some Bob Olley Scrunts and Heresy Demons for some extra variation. Paranoia robot and Judge Dredd Lawmaster pieces too.

Here is my main bit farm for the bikes. This is where I keep all the Chaos, Dwarf, Undead, Skaven, Empire, IG, and any other bits that I find that may be good for converting my Chaos Squats and CSMs. These are the nice new bits specifically harvested from sprues later sold off or bought separately from kindly bits merchants. I am happy to have lived through the Golden Age of Citadel Bitz Service, and miss it more than Haagen-Dasz Carrot Cake ice cream.

Last is the Bits Graveyard. Lots of broken or used bits of metal and plastic. Leftovers from buying lots of stuff on ebay that I actually wanted. It's great for my compulsion to use parts of bits, you can always find an extra arm or tentacle, something to make a plasma gun more ornate. That plasma gunner is going to melt himself before long, so he might as well do it with style. An excellent source of battlefield debris. Sometimes a home for small spiders (though they are GIANT compared to the poor little stray Epic troops in there).

After several Band of Brothers episodes of sorting, my alchemical process has come up with 3 potential bike piles, and a pile of reject bits to the north. I've decided to use nearly all metal parts for the bikers, at least for the major parts, and have also knocked out anything not made by Citadel, since the rest of the army is mostly Citadel bits.

Biker no. 8 coming to life. Most of the Ork bike has gone away, except for the tracks and front wheel. To give the bike some bulk and structural support, Inquisitor scale tubes and an old Khorne Juggernaut banner pole will be used, and a Warmaster Skeleton Bone Thrower has been broken up, the from to serve as handlebars and the back will be part of the rider's seat. The rider is one of the Squat Bikers on foot, but he has lost them both, and at this point do not know where his legs and arms will come from. Spoiler Alert: Biker 8 will use those 2 dismembered Dark Eldar Warp Beasts legs on the right.

Biker no. 9, the Squat Pirate with wooden peg-leg. That leg will be replaced with something more technologically advanced. This Rough Rider will also use the Ork tracks, but the front wheel comes from the 2nd version of Blood Bowl Dwarf Deathroller. Dark Elf Lord Melkhior's seatback will be used for this biker, and some Chaos Terminator Trophy Spikes will add pointy-ness. For maximal pointy-ness, the head of one of the Warhammer Siege battering rams will be used. A SM Devastator backpack and other bits will be used to make some sort of motor.

Final Biker number 10 continues the "Mr. Pointy and the Skulls" look established by the others. This bike will use the Ork tracks, and the shield bit from a Zzzap Gun will be placed over one of the Ork Bike front wheel & handlebars pieces. An old Vindicator Hydraulics metal bit will be used for both a seat back and engine bit, along with the multi-pronged spikey Banner Pole bit from the Chaos Dreadnought. I also may use the wheels of the Zzzap Gun for more wheeliness. I will use the metal Skeleton Musician arms to decorate and add structure to the bike.

For the rider, I'll be making a Robo-Squat, starting with the body of the metal version of the Epic Imperial Knight Paladin. I will be using plastic bits to be named later to give him the necessary horns and beard, and will be chopping up that Chaos Dreadnought Claw arm for his arms and legs. I might use the Necromunda Pit Slave Hammer Arm for him, but since the hammers are supposed to be a replacement to the exploding tip lance, well, it seems a bit wantonly self-destructive even for a Khorne worshipping Robo-Squat.

Next we will see what happens when these piles of bits start coming together. Which pieces will go? Which will stay? Which will win the fabulous weekend in Maui with their Daemonette of choice? That last one was a little joke. We all know Squats can't swim all the way to Maui.

It's been a while since we've had some bonus pictures of 1980s Chaos Mutation Madness, so here are a few pictures of converted Chaos Critters of the four-legged variety.

Rogue Trader era Ork Snake Biter Runtherd with Runt-Pole, armed with Bolter and riding a Chaos Bobcat. Yeah, Chaos Cougar is zippier, but they you have to explain it's a Khorne Cougar, not a Slaanesh Cougar. Also, this Cy-Boar substitute is a painted Max the Bobcat from the 1988 GI Joe Spearhead action figure (http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/spearhead.shtml).

An early Chaos Champion conversion, starting with the body of one of the early Tyranids, the Hunter-Slayer, with the upper body of a Demon from the Grenadier Fantasy Lords 6006 boxed set. A very nice collection of demons indeed (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tpope/sol/grenadier/images/6006.jpg). He has been stripped of his club-wielding arm, since clubs are dumb, and replaced with an Imperial Guard Las-Cannon and a generous serving of epoxy. Our Monstrosity shows its devotion to Khorne with a banner made from part of a paperclip, some cardstock, one of the extra Cleaver blades from the ancient Warhammer Armies set, and a whole lot of imagination. There also used to be the head of a Guardsman on top, but he escaped. Little known fact, but a human can live up to 2 weeks without a body. The Champ's tail was also bulked up with a mace head from something somewhere.

Our last entry in the Crazy Cavalry Contest is an Imperial Trooper from the 15mm Traveler miniatures series cut in half and put on the Horse's body from the 1980s Lord of the Rings series Dead Men of Dunharrow. I still have that Horse head, waiting for the right moment to use it...

2 More Thunder Chiefs Rough Riders; the Rest are Not Yet Painted

I wanted to wrap up the month of May by completing the set of postings covering all of my currently finished Hungry Ghosts troops, who make up a 1000 point army (and beat a 1000 pts of Chaos Marines in a trial run). The last two members are from the Thunder Chiefs Rough Riders Squadron, Troopers Zobair and Kakkerlakker, armed with Lasguns and Explosive-Tipped Hammers.
First is Dane "Klawful" Kakkerlakker, named for his Genestealer Claw and the Masters of the Universe Evil Warrior, as well as the irresistible opportunity for an awful pun including the word awful itself. They say Khorne knows no Humor, but many of the bones of His Bone Throne are funny bones (roughly .35 percent). Also, "kakkerlakker" is Danish for cockroach, which I learned from the 1986 Marvel Graphic Novel "Hooky", starring Spider-Man. Which is why RR Kakkerlakker is mostly red and dark blue, but also has some prominent white highlight lines on the black areas. Though it is a strange brew, Spider-Man comic books, along with Cobra action figures, and a bit of the flag of the United States, supplied the general colors for the Hungry Ghosts.

Now that we have that Tolkien-level appellation expurgation out of the way, we can see that Klawful is based on Squat Bike Rider 4 and the standard Squat Bike in two-wheel form, minus a headlights piece.

Rough Rider Kakkerlakker earned his nickname through an interesting twist of fate. While facing the dread enemy Tyranid in battle, Kakkerlakker lost his right hand, which spurred him into such a blood-blind frenzy, that he attacked and devoured all of a Genestealer except the right hand. That hand was fused through the power of bad-assery to the bloody Squat-stump. And the melded-monster Klawful was born with a thirst for vengeance. To go along with the claw hand, I used a long Pick type weapon in place of the more standard looking explosive Warhammers that the other riders have.

I also removed the boring Las Pistol he was originally armed with and replaced it with a larger Las Pistol originally from one of the late 1990s Chaos Cultist Demogogues. I lengthened it a bit more with some green stuff, to produce something looking more like the Lasgun it is meant to be.

This left me with a model with many curved points in its design, so the obvious next step was to add more of them. I am not sure whose standard top I used, most likely Dark Elf of the early-mid 1990s, but I am not feeling like looking it up. A curved horned demon woman with curved swords and a nice spreading winged back to go along with the spreading forms of the Genestealer hand and the exhaust pipes at the back of the bike. The figurehead also gives a bit more protective metal to the cycle, to make it just a bit less ridiculous to charge headlong into the enemy with an exploding hammer.
In this close-up view, the winged demon lady can be seen a bit better. Her snake tail wrapping around the bike is made from green stuff. A winged demon lady just seemed right on a motorcycle, despite any potential Slaaneshi implications.

Another plastic mutant Space Rat from the current Skaven sprues helps fill the empty space that hangs heavy over the front half of the Cycle bases. Our rat's (let's call him Angelus) leaping position is at about the same angle as the spokes of the bike, providing a nice contrast. He also has been given extra speed potential with the addition of a mechanical wing, at a perpendicular angle to the demon's wings. It is from one of the Dark Angels Helm Bearer Jawas.
Here is Klawful from his right side, and we can see that Angelus, moreso than the other Space Rats, has been painted in colors similar to the Squat Rider, with the fur matching his skin and his bandage and wings going with the claw hand.

The last of the Thunder Chiefs (for now) is Zigmunt "Revnant" Zobair, whose name has no convoluted story, just a wee nod to biker rockers ZZ Top. For this model, the rider used is Bike Rider 6 without modifications. He also uses the basic Squat Bike in two-wheeled form, with the Headlights bit and several other additions.
From the right, Revnant has the standard Warhammer added (and the gaps between his feet and the bike body filled in). I also made a couple of design changes to the bike, including adding a spurious antenna from some Tank Sprue, since so many of the other Bikers have something sticking up into the air.

I also discovered that Chaos Marauder Shields are the same size as the Squat Bike Wheel, and used one on each side to add Spikiness and some nice Chaos Arrows. I've also thrown a broken bit of Dark Eldar Scourge Wing in the rubble under his tire.

But the more interesting additions are Thunder Chief Zobair's captive and familiar.
Here is a closer view of our captive, most of the upper half of a Necron Warrior. It came to me in broken form, with some terrible excess glue damage to its arm and back. I painted it a greyish silver, and added brown and black ink to the glue damaged parts to simulate a Meltagun encounter. The Necron's other arm was entirely gone, but I added a cyber-stump that started out as a two-handed sword for the Epic-scale Chaos Lord from the first Chaos Sprue for Epic. I positioned it so it aligns with the Necron's gaze, and looks like the Necron is still trying futilely to attack or break free with the stump, while its right arm hangs uselessly.

The Necron came with some tubing in the torso design already, but to simulate more damage and helpless writhing, I added several extra bits of tubes and cables, including a large old Genestealer tail stump, painted with an ancient Citadel metallic green color now lost to the Mysts of Tyme. Ok, it's Glistening Green, and was available for most of the 1990s, maybe later. For me, the metallic green was intended to draw attention as an important processing engine for the Necron, which was positioned so it was also pointing slightly upward as the Necron strains to break free.

Breaking free is unlikely, because I decided to attach the Necron to the Bike with studs driven into its neck, a la Frankenstein's Monster, attached to chains wrapped round the headlight bars. The chains are a mix of metal bits from some old Heavy Bolter and green stuff.

Revnant's familiar is what I intended to be a cruel mockery of a Wraithguard created by Khorne upon a whim. Instead of a large powerful form for the Eldar spirit to inhabit, this Striking Scorpion has been trapped in the puny cybernetic body of one of the Mousers from the 1980s Dark Horse Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. The Scorpion's head has been attached with greenstuff and some plastic cable from another Eldar bit, and been repainted to show its devotion to its new master.

Though some of you out there in cyberspace may be concerned about a Mouser among the many symbiotic Space Rats squeeking across the battlefields with the Hungry Ghosts. Rest assured that this Striking Scorpion-Mouser monstrosity is fated to feed only upon scorpions for survival. A Necron Scarab might do in a pinch.

This Thunder Chief biker has turned out to be one of my favorites in the army so far. Part of this is the completeness of the overall scene created on the base by using multiple figures. But I think another part of it is a contrast with many of the other models in the army. On most figures, I've tended to try to align elements to create a unified gaze in some direction. With this biker, I did the opposite. Since the Bike Rider was already designed like he is looking toward something distant on his left, I gave the Mouser a head positioned like it was stretching a bit to look at something nearby, but up and to the right. The Necron, though, is gazing up toward the viewer, as if asking for help, while the bulbous eyeball headlights stare straight ahead. It gives a fractured and chaotic sense of multiple points of view, with the added fun that we, as the viewer, don't actually have any idea what any of the heads are looking at.