Hello everyone! Zak Ludick here from Cape Town, South Africa. It is now my 2nd day of holiday and with that I can take up a more chill stance than I did yesterday.

I like to take on the "work and duty" part of whatever I need to get done first and foremost before I can really truly relax. You would think that this is obvious and logical and that everyone would do the same... but it is too obvious that a lot of people do not because they end up getting to the new year with no money and have a new source of debt!

But enough about that!

Day 2 and I get to do something that is both fun and a job! I have an arrangement with @xenowolfza that I build his models and he either pays me to do it or he does 3D prints for me of things I want to build in my collection.

I have had a trio of Custodes Jetbikes to build for him for a while but because of the ship, did not have a chance to get them done.

He came by the other day to pick up some other models and dropped off more models for me to build.

Let's have a look at that!

Here is the whole pile!

In the pile above we have the following models to get ready:

• 3x Adeptus Custodes Vertus Preators
• 10x Necron Warriors
• 5x Necron Immortals
• 3x Necron Scarab Swarms

All the models need to be clipped off the sprues, deburred, mold lines removed, and assembled.

Sometimes certain models can be assembled with a sub-assembly option so they are easier to paint.

Sprues to build

Here are the Dawneagle Bikes (Vertus Praetors). They are big models with each bike being on its own sprue. Though they look the same, these are three sprue variants, each building a Bike with slightly different details and poses on the rider's lance.

Next comes the Necron Immortals Box, brand new and still in plastic.

Incidentally, the same box can be used to build Deathmarks. Immortals are the more elite Battleline unit for the Necrons while the Deathmarks are snipers. @xenowolfza asked me to build them as Necron Warriors with Gauss Blasters.

This kit has different torsos for the Deathmarks and their weapons are also different. Necron Immortals also have an option for Tesla Carbines as a weapon option, but overall I think the Gauss Blaster is better and so does @xenowolfza.

Next up is the Necron Warriors sprue, this also contains the Scarab swarms. Each of the 10 Necron Warriors has a different post and detail with 2x head options. They also have weapon options: Gauss Flayers or Gauss Reapers. @xenowolfza requested that I build 5x of each.

The three Scarab Swarms are each unique as well.

The Tools

To accomplish the given task you shall need the following:

• Hobby Side Cutters
• Craft Knife
• Fine files
• Plastic Glue

Note on the Side Cutters, this one works best. It has a flat side. This is best for clipping models from a sprue. I used to do this step with a craft knife. I would have to cut the model out from the sprue and leave a big piece still attached and then come closer for finer cuts.

This was a long and laborious job that also had a high risk of personal injury!

What the flat sided clippers allow you to do is clip off the model from the sprue quite close to the model so there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

First Job - Dawneagle bikes!

First in, first out. They have been here longest and I have built 3x bikes before. Thus these are my first target.

These bikes are best built one at a time. Everything from this sprue is used to build 1 bike and no parts are wasted. So you can go ahead and clip off everything all in one go.

And so with either a low-focus movie playing or some music in the background I set to work.

There we go, all clipped off the sprue. Empty sprues are kept for making other things.

Next job is clean up. One piece at a time with knife and file I cut off whatever extra bits are still on the model that are leftover from the sprue. Sometimes there are mold lines and these are scraped or ground down.

Then comes assembly. I assembled the first one using the building instructions that are prescribed for these models.

After that I just built them intuitively. There are a few things you want to put together first but it is quite straight forward.

Assemble the bike first without the steering column, then add the rider's legs and body, then the steering column and then the arm that grips the steering.

The bikes come with two gun options. I left these loose to give @xenowolfza a choice he can pop them in.

The lances and heads are also left loose because you paint the model first and it allows him to do the final dynamic posing and he can check against his other bikes.

These guys are big and have tons of detail. I look forward to adding these to my collection some day!

Recently these models got quite a boost. An extra toughness and an extra wound making them far more durable.

There we go! All done! Three Bikers ready for some paint!

Seeing 6 of these on the board is going to be awesome for both 2000pts and for large scale games!

Next up will be Necrons!

Thank you for reading!

Cheers!
@zakludick

Hive South Africa