Reliquaries for bikes

[The_Chaplain]

Dear members of the PCA subforum,

 

Can anyone provide some insight, links, instruction, etc. as to where to find properly sized reliquaries to put on the front wheel well/hub of space marine bikes? Or, barring that, how to construct a convincing cabinet shutter style reliquary?

 

I want to put some on a chaplain biker for inclusion in a bike mounted command squad, and I am at a total loss for how to go about this.  

 

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

The bretonnian command had/has a seemingly out of production reliquary plastic bit for use as a banner topper or a replacement bit, but im not sure of its scale when compared to the size of a space marine bike: http://www.inhumanbitzbox.com/images/cache/BR_EM_A_02_450x450.jpgis the bit im referring to.  Preferably I'd like to find or make something that the shutters can close.

 

I just think the mental image of marines pausing at the conclusion of a battle and praying at a sufficient shrine to the Emperor or praying in sight of a hero of the chapter's interred bones, in this instance mounted on a chaplain's bike, is just too cool for words.

 

Cheers 

[Durus]

Not sure about the bit you posted, but thinking of Bretonnians: all of the quest knights have something similar to what you are looking for on the back of their horses. Might be worth looking into for inspiration. Which is by the way also a better place to out a reliquary on the bike, in my opinion. If you drive into something you'll crush the relic if you have it on your frontwheel.

 

So apart from that there are some things I can think of that might work. The relic could be anything from bones mounted in a shrine, to a weapon and as illustrated actually mounted on the Chaplain himself. Another possibilty would be to but a book on pulpit in the back, as a sort of mobile altar.

 

Which, since you are already looking into bitssellers, makes pointing out the Celestial Hurricanum/War Altar kit of the Emipre worthwile. You could convert an attack bike to have shelves filled with books mounted in the sidecar and a pulpit from which the Chaplain preaches.

 

I don't know these are some of the things I can think off from the top of my head. Depends on what your relic is and how fanatical your marines are.

 

Gotta go for now, will check back later if I can think of anything else.

 

+edit+

My rant about the mobile altar was kind of inspired by this guy.

Would also make sense to add speakers similar to the Master of Rites/Marches. Master of Rites also has a flying servo...shrine? that might suit your needs. Mini is ridiculously overpriced though.

If you know somebody who collects IG or have them yourself, you can use the left over voxcasters from there.

 

In fact with a bit of plasticcard, GS and some choice bits you could build your own shrine pretty easily.

[The_Chaplain]

That's actually really sound advice Durus, I actually have the beginnings of a mobile shrine with a bit from the new ravenwing command squad on the bike of the chaplains bike, and I have been giving some thought to expanding it, adding books, etc. on it to make it less of a random bit choice and more of a mobile vestibule or tabernacle.

 

 I think what's nagging at me is that the front wheel is so devoid of ornamentation at the moment, im at a loss as to how to festoon it, and others in the bike command squad.  Yeah it would be easy to slap a couple of purity seals or bits of parchment on them, but that feels like a cop-out to me.  At the end of the day, I wanna be proud of the end result, and taking the easy route on something would just bug me to no end.

[Durus]

Was editing my post, while you answered.

 

The Ravenwing bikes do have ornamentation on the sides, but if I understand correctly you want to add something on top?

 

So first idea was adding some plasticcard bands and rivets to mirror the baroque quality of most of the the chaplain's armor.

Second thought that came to mind is what I edited into my first post. The whole thing about speakers. Adding a speaker to front of the bike might work.

Might have to add some wings from cut up bits or something to make it look more fancy, possibly even a skull or a GS cast of one of those small skeletons from pads/crozius from the Chaplain models or something like that.

[The_Chaplain]

The Ravenwing bikes do have ornamentation on the sides, but if I understand correctly you want to add something on top?

I actually purchased the ravenwing command squad because visually it's very similar to the bikers from the dark vengeance set, which a friend bought for me a while ago.  I actually filed the ravenwing specific iconography off the models, as I'm not a DA player- but with the winged headlight farings, conversions to play on the "space marines as angels of death" theme from the codex could be played upon in my mind.  It might be easier if I posted a picture, one moment:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7364/9483524556_0bb53a0a07_z.jpg that's a pic of my biker chaplain wip taken from my flickr account (rather than posting the enormous resolution one from my WIP thread)

 

 

So first idea was adding some plasticcard bands and rivets to mirror the baroque quality of most of the the chaplain's armor.

 

That's a pretty nifty idea. Not so keen on the idea of putting a speaker on it though, seeing as how marines have helmet mics, comm beads and augmented hearing, but it has merit (might use that idea on a future vehicle conversion at the least).

 

I appreciate the ideas so far Durus

[Durus]

Well the speaker are not for his Brother Marines. They are there so he can tell whatever Xenos/Traitors they are fighting to repent for their sins.

 

Been pondering this for a little more because I like the idea of a mobile shrine.

In the upper row I have the relic (sword, because it looks nice and the bits exist) mounted on the front fender of the bike and a pulpit on the back.

Put the speakers and the shrine on the lower row. Shrine isn't exatly inspired but you get the general idea I think.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img545/2315/cj5d.jpg

 

[Venerable Jazzman]

There's an old metal book that  might be worth looking for, I think it came on the original Crusader Land Raider?

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/fatjazzer/biker3_01.jpg

[Durus]

The book is from the Master of the Ravenwing in Landspeeder. The new Ravenwing sprue has one that isn't chained, but tied with ropes. Pretty similar though.

[The_Chaplain]

I really had to sleep on this response, and let all those pictures you provided sink in Durus.  Looking at them when im feeling fresh and alert now, there are some elements that really speak out to me, and would be a welcome addition either to the chaplain, or other members of the bike mounted command squad.  I'll be sure to give you the proper shoutout in my WIP thread when the time comes.

 

Brother jazzman, thanks for the bit picture.  Not sure if I'm gonna use it on this model, as he already has a book on his hip and I think it'd come across as a bit redundant; but it is certainly something I may track down and use on a future product.

 

I have a lot of things I need to take care of today, but if I have a moment to relax, I'll be giving these ideas some more thought, and think about how to elevate the festooning of the rest of the squad.

 

Thanks to both of you once again.