Greetings. Recent work on heavy support options for my First Legion Horus Heresy force got me excited to keep on assembling resin goodies. So I dug out the fast attack options I've been sitting on and laid them out on the work bench.
Three Scimitar pattern jetbikes backed up by a Javelin attack speeder will one day support my force on the battlefield. These hovering machines can deep strike and easily maneuver into position to outflank enemy units. I hope to use them as both a distraction and to support other forward units of the Dark Angels.
Assembly was pretty painless, though the riders were a bit fiddly; not due to any issue with the models themselves, just because working with epoxy can be a bit challenging when assembling arms into a specific position. Five minutes is not a long time for glue to set, but compared to superglue, it becomes an eternity. That said, I'm never going back to superglue for the bulk of my non-plastic assembly. Much better overall adhesion with a much less brittle bond. Using pins could have helped, however then I'd have to be even more precise to get the holes in the bodies and harms just right to be sure the models could hold their handle bars correctly. I liked being able to make small adjustments as the glue set. The angle of the body as it sits on the legs determines the reach of the arms, assuming the arms are properly lined up with the shoulders. Thankfully, the large shoulder pads cover up most imperfections if the alignment isn't quite right.
In hindsight, I could have glued the arms to the torsos first, taking care to keep the arms parallel and at 90 degrees (roughly) to the torso. Then, with that glue set, I could have clamped the hands on the handlebars and just let the torsos drop onto the legs at whatever angle they needed. As it was, I had the torsos glued to the legs fully upright, with backs to the backrests, and that left the arms just a mm or two too short for the handle bars. So I had to snap the torsos off and glue them again, leaning forward a bit more, to correct the reach.
Here they are fully assembled. The various weapon options have all been magnetized. I used 2mm x 5mm rod magnets in the body and 2mm x 3mm rod magnets in each weapon. For stability, I used two magnets for each as shown in the images below. Probably not necessary, but I had the magnets and past experience as shown me that skimping can make for some fiddly models with bits dropping off and getting lost when a model is handled..
Lining the magnets up will get you the best effect. I haven't done a perfect job with that, but the pull is fine and the weapons all snap in solidly. The rod magnets pull on each other, so while the glue was curing I needed to watch out for one or more of them rising up out of their socket to join their neighbor. This only happened with a couple, due mostly to the holes being slightly large for the magnet. This happens when I allow the drill bit to wander while using the pin vise. It's a small issue, but something to look out for if the pull of the two neighboring magnets is strong.
The Javelin attack speeder went together easily too. I was pleasantly
surprised to find how well everything fit together, when compared to
some other Forge World kits I've worked with in the past. No option come with this kit so nothing is magnetized. I could have done something fancy with the crewed weapon so I could swap for other options pulled from the bits box, but I decided to stick with the Heavy Bolter.
I didn't take any work-in-progress shots as I was building the speeder. But I have a couple different angles to show.
I got these models when the Dark Angels had special Heavy Bolter ammunition, something that got removed in book 9 when the rules were updated. Otherwise, I might have preferred lascanon and multi-melta for tank hunting here. I imagine twin-linked krak missiles will do some work, esp. in all the games I'm not playing. 😂
That does it for the fast skimmer support. At this point, I have assembled most of the units for the army. All that is missing now is a handful of specialists, like Apothecaries, Techmarines, and the like. And I have plenty of plastic troops to build should I ever run out of things to add to this project. Oh, but how could I forget - of course, I also have to build the Companions and Lion'el Johnson!
Never mind that we appear to be getting something big and new for the Horus Heresy game in general later this year...I honestly don't need more models for this particular force or game!
Always great to have new things to work on though.
Cheers and Happy Gaming!
