Reaver Jet Bike Conversion (Part 1)

Although I am looking forward to the Dark Eldar warriors and wyches being updated, I am in no rush for the jetbikes to be updated (except for the rider). After all, not only do they look good, but they are very versatile in how you assemble them. There are some things I wish were better. For example, the spars that hold the blades are a bit chunky, and the jetbike does appear to have primative elements better seen for Ork gear rather than Eldar gear.

Although I like the Dark Eldar jetbikes, I decided that I would convert them anyway (being the conversion nut that I am). I've seen the sneak peek of Jes Goodwin's design-in-development for a new Eldar jetbike. So I will make sure my conversion looks nothing like that. After all, I will just buy the new Games Workshop jetbike models when they eventually come out if thats what I want. Looking at the above model, I thought to myself "what if the backward pointing blades were actually the front". So from that initial idea, I would use the pieces to construct a different looking jetbike. Now, I do have an idea of what I want the finish conversion to look like. I want to make the jetbike front heavy, most of the 'weight' of the model being up with the blades. Rather than opt for a big thruster at the back like in the current Reaver model (and the potential new GW model), I would go for mobility thrusters instead. After all, all bikes can turbo these days, no matter if there is a thruster on the model or not. My conversion would have moveable thrusters like in a Harrier Jump Jet, although in my imagination, the thrusters would have greater movement and control than that of a Harrier. Manouverability is one thing that all Eldar jetbikes are actually superior in compared to the bikes of other races. Also, I wanted a 'net' area below the jetbike somewhere (to capture a slave), as we are talking about a Dark Eldar jetbike after all.

Now with those desires in mind, I chose parts to construct the jetbike with. Of course, I would use the entire Reaver kit in the construction, since that is what it would be in the end. Since I have been converting Dark Eldar warriors from Guardians, I have heavy weapon sprues spare, so I decided to use that as well. I decided to replace the smaller blade structure with the hover platform of the Eldar heavy weapon. In the picture, you can see that I have already cut out the front thruster. I will cut out the other two as well, along with the back panel of the platform (note that I intend to use the thrusters in the conversion, so they are being cut away carefully. You can also see that I am cutting out a section from the front panels to expose the bottom part of the platform. I am doing this to make it look lighter, since I feel a Dark Eldar vehicle should look light. The same panel will be cut out on the other side as well. I have also cut down the main Reaver segment to be what I want to use (no going back now!). You can probably see that I have filed the detail off of what would normally be the nose canopy. I unfortunately felt I had to do this, since on my conversion, it would become the rear. This would mean that the plating would have been overlapping in the wrong direction (No point in converting if your not going to do it properly). The Eldar Bright Lance is going to become what is 'under' the now rear canopy.