There is something intrinsically cool about a biker gang speeding along the highways and byways on their motorbikes. I've had this set of West Wind 30mm scale bikers on motorbikes from their Road Kill range of figures for a long time but just got round to painting them earlier this month. There are ten figures in this set. Each figure is made up of six parts - a body and legs, along with separate arms and head, the main body and rear wheel of each bike and a separate front wheel and handle-bars. There are three different body types, twelve different heads (yes, two are spare), ten different right arms with eight different weapons (you get two 9mm Uzis and two 9mm pistols), two different left arms (bare skinned or clothed), three different body types. For the bikes, the body and rear wheel are all identical but you get a choice of fronts - chopper style or normal style.
I'll start by looking at the four guys on chopper bikes. The biker at the left of the photo above on the yellow bike is armed with an Uzi sub-machine gun and has twisted his body to fire to one side. Quite a few of the heads come with beard and moustache. Let me give you a good tip for attaching the left hand to the handlebar as most of the arms fit very poorly. I cut off the handles and the arms seemed to fit much better. It does involve a degree of trial and error to get the biker to fit on the bike properly. I glued them on using two-part epoxy resin.
I made the biker on the black bike at the right of the photo above my gang leader. I denoted this by adding a pair of crossbones to the front of his bike. They were taken from a shield from a set of Citadel plastic skeletons. He is armed with the best weapon out of the set - a Squad Automatic Weapon with large ammo drum. I added a shoulder pad with hook to his left shoulder to further identify him as the leader. The shoulder pad is one of a few I used on this set and it came from Ramshackle Games range of post-apocalypse figures.
I tried to paint the flag of the Confederate States of America on the engine of the bike at the left of the above photo but the white stars defeated me. Still, it looks okay from a distance. The biker is armed with a 9mm pistol, possibly a Beretta but I'm not sure.
In order to add a bit of variety to the bikes I added extra bits to some of them. The biker at the right of the photo above has attached a pair of jerry cans to the back of his bike. They came from the Tamiya 1/48scale Jerry Can set, which also contains lots of barrels as well as an assortment of backpacks and pouches. It's a very useful set to have. The biker is holding a 5.56mm AR-15 assault rifle.
Now we come to the normal-looking bikes. The bike at the far left of the photo above has had a couple of pouches added to the back of his back and, yes, you guessed it, they came from the Tamiya Jerry Can set I mentioned. He is firing a 9mm Uzi sub-machine gun.
The biker in the middle of this group is armed with an Ingram MAC-10 sub-machine gun, fitted with a silencer. I have added a plain shoulder pad to him. He wears a bandana to hide his face - the only biker to do so.
The biker at the far right of the above photo is the second-in-command of my biker gang. I added a small wooden box from my Tamiya Jerry Can set to the back of his bike. I sculpted a knife in its sheath to the side of his right boot and I gave him a spiked shoulder pad. His primary weapon of choice is a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.
I painted a flaming skull design on the fuel tank and front wheel cover of the biker at the far left of the above photo. It's not perfect, but it's not bad either. I added a rolled up tarpaulin/tent/sleeping bag to the back of his bike, and it too, came from my Tamiya Jerry Can set.
In the centre of this group is a biker armed with a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 machine pistol. I have added a studded leather shoulder pad to his jacket. This came from a sprue of shoulder pads made by Ramshackle Games. I also sculpted on a pistol and holster to his left hip.
The final figure of the gang is shown at the far right of the above photo and is armed with a 7.65 Model 61 Skorpion machine pistol. You don't see many of them about!
I'd say you have to be in the mood to make this gang as they weren't the easiest set of figures to make. Plan out ahead which arms and heads are going with which bodies. Three right arms and three left arms were clothed, so it made sense to pair them up. Then choose which bikes to match up with which figure. I made the bikes before I made the figures. As I mentioned earlier not all of the left arms fit the handles properly so I overcame this snag by cutting off the handles. Be patient and don't hurry. It took me two days to make my gang and two and a half weeks to paint them..
Mind you, once they were painted, the effort was well worth it. I can't think of any bike gang in 28/30mm scale to match this one. I am itching to get the chance to use them in my ATZ campaign, ideally as a PEF to threaten Team Vampifan.
This is set GRK15 Human Biker Gang and it retails for £20.00 for all ten figures and bikes. That is exceptionally good value for money in my opinion. With so many options available to you, you could buy four or five of this set and not have any duplicate figures. Now that would be a sight worth seeing!
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