Thursday, January 17, 2013

Unboxing: Iron Shark Pattern Jetbike by Kromlech

With Dark Angels having just been released, I have some aspirations on a Heresy-Era force, utilizing said codex. One kit in particular that vexed the community at large for quite some time are Jetbikes. Everyone and their brother wanted jetbikes, including me!

Forge World has recently released the "Scimitar" pattern Jetbike, and I like it quite a bit, actually. What I do not care for is the price point of said kit. I know, I know, it's Forge World, and sky-high prices are to be expected. But are there any alternatives?

Enter Kromlech's "Iron Shark" pattern Jetbike.

When I got my hands on this little treasure from across the ocean, I opened it immediately! what I found was a solid kit, cast in very few parts, and cast in a very high quality. But is it worth the purchase? Is it a better buy than the Forge World bike?

Pros:

 

Ease of Construction

This was a breeze to put together. A little cleaning of the flash and extra resin fiddly bits, and all three pieces went together very well. That's right, I said three. There are a very few parts to this kit, and it's a touch refreshing, really.

Quality

The casting quality is far better than your average finest, still, and very solid. The detail is very crisp and makes sense, will some open, flat areas for freehand painting available. Minimal release agent will make prepping this for assembly and paint a snap.

Spirit in Design

This looks like a Space Marine should be sitting astride it and screaming down towards foes, blotter rounds splitting the air. It's boxy, utilitarian and would not look amiss next to other Marine vehicles and models at all.

Size

It's a touch bigger than a standard Space Marine bike. No arguments on the counts-as front foreseeable in my opinion.

ebay Storefront

That's right, in my opinion, this is a "Pro" worth mentioning. Why? Because since were dealing with a country across the seas, it can be a touch difficult to communicate and have security in buying with the shipping and all. There's a reason I don't order much Forge World any more… However, being able to purchase through bay gives you automatic buyer protection and security for your purchase.

Cost

You knew it was coming. Each jetbike is only 20 dollars US. Each Forge World jetbike is 25 British Pounds. You'll get two Kromlech bikes for the price of one Forge World bike, approximately.

 

Cons:

Where's My Legs?!?!

There are no legs included in this kit. Yes, standard Marine biker legs fit this kit perfectly, but that means I need to buy standard marine biker legs…somehow. Buying a full Marine Bike squad, just for the guys, isn't very cost effective any more, and Forge World is looking mighty nice in that area as you get the figure with the bike.

…yup, that's about it from me on the "Cons" front.

I like this kit. For me, it's main competition isn't Forge World, it's MaxMini's Gothic Jetbike. They both have about the same price-point, but entirely different aesthetics, so really, I feel there's room in the market for both, and wouldn't mind owning both!

So has anyone else taken the plunge and gotten his kit? Maybe you've bought other products from Kromlech? How has you experience been?

- Tim

 

14 comments:

  1. Just as long as you run them as Dark Angels this time around, I wish you luck. If you do that Black Templar DW junk again, I will be sad.

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    1. No Black Templars, my friend. :)

      Salamanders.

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    2. I almost think you do this just to annoy me.

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    3. Sorry... Vulkan's lot are my Legion of choice :)

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  2. Thanks for this review. I won't lie. My eye is wandering from GW/FW. Their design aesthetic has taken a bit of a weird turn lately with a bunch of static poses and the prices are getting sketchy even for a hobby snob like me. Also, damn you. Now I really want a bunch of jet bikes for the pre heresy Dark Angels that I recently added to my list of hobby projects yet to be realised. ~Sigh~ J-e-t B-i-k-e-s. Damn you.

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    1. Ahahahaha!

      Since I spend my money, I try and spend everyone else's money too! :) For me, so long as the third-party bits and bobs fit the aesthetic of the army I"m building, and I don't think I could make better, I've come to the conclusion that I should buy into some of these time-saving pieces of goodness.

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  3. That's awesome! Nice walk through. I have been super interested in getting these!

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    1. I think they are well worth the investment really, so long as you can get your hands on marine biker legs :)

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    2. I know the Ravenwing box used to include both regular biker legs and robed biker legs, i bet you could find some on ebay for cheap as a result

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  4. Good review, Tim - I'm not totally sold on the aesthetic of the Iron Shark, personally I'm a bigger fan of Tom McBrides jetbikes (Blood and Skulls industry on eBay). He does several variants that I've picked up over the years - had I known you were planning on doing a unit, I would have just sent you some of the ones I have tucked away in the Closet of Doom for the now-defunct Heresy-era Emperor's Children!

    Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out - I'm sure they're gonna look great!

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    1. Hmm... I have no qualms about only giving my money to one vendor. I'm going to have to check out Blood and Skulls' jetbike variants. You like their quality and detail level?

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    2. Absolutely! Tom's work is top notch, he's the guy that does all the alternate baneblade upgrades (and full tanks) that are seen on Apocalypse 40k, and he designed the bits that I used for all my Heresy-Era Thousand Sons tanks. He's an absolute joy to work with and the stuff he does is amazing. He doesn't sell some of the stuff he does on eBay (such as the heresy-era Rhino variant upgrades due to potential GW shenanigans) but he's always been very responsive to emails about them.

      Heck, I'd be happy to mail you some examples of his work if you want, I have half a dozen of his Rhino kits and at least 10 of the jetbikes just sitting in a box in the Closet of Doom gathering dust...

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    3. You aren't allowed to send me ANYTHING until I ship your case back to you. Which I have a formal confirmation that it's going out the door of my business Monday, BTW.

      THEN we can talk :) I'd be happy to check out the examples, trust me!

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    4. Guh that you for reminding me of how amazing Blood and Skulls is. I was just thinking of taking another swing at a scratchbuilt MK1 Land Raider (My first one is ok, but the treads bug me). I think im going to buy 2 packs of the liberator tank treads, they're brilliant.

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