Aratech Prowler: T-42b Swoop Bike

[Shadows]

A Hunter's Tale

As the Clone Wars were ending, bringing a period of law and order to the new Galactic Empire, people slowly discovered that this law and order only extended as far as the Empire's grasp, which was particularly weak in the worlds of the Outer Rim. As a result, crime lords and smugglers began to shift their operations to these remote worlds, which immediately suffered from their influence.

What was a local government or wealthy legitimate businessman to do? Hire a gang, a mercenary, or better still... a bounty hunter.

For those who were so inclined, the life of a bounty hunter could be quite profitable, albeit dangerous, always officially operating just inside the law, but frequently having to step fairly far outside it's range.

One of the most useful tools for a bounty hunter operating on a small planet is a speeder bike or swoop, usually a fairly common vehicle that is then heavily modified and armed.

Each one comes with a story. This is one such story.

T-42b Swoop Bike

Manufacturer: Aratech Repulsor Company

Model: T-42b

Class: Swoop (Modified)

Length: 4.6 meters

Maximum speed: 600 km/h

Maximum altitude: 25 meters

Armament:

2 Frame Mounted Taim & Bak Light Blaster Cannons

2 Galthor Technologies Heavy Ion Guns

Crew: Pilot (1)

Cargo capacity: 6 kilograms (Rear Compartment)

Our story opens on the remote planet of Xanthor 7, a hot and dry planet not entirely unlike Tatooine, but dammit, how many times can we end up on that same stupid planet? The terrain is mostly made up of white bleached flats and lot of sandy hills, thus the incredibly boring background in our images.

Front Left View

Here you can see both the frame mounted Taim & Bak light blaster cannons positioned under the steering vanes and the Galthor Technologies heavy ion guns mounted directly in front of the steering controls. The blaster cannons can be used to help cripple a fleeing speeder or other small vehicle and the ion cannons can be used to disable it's engines, a droid, or any other electronics they might hit.

To the left of the pilot is a mounted but removable Xana Exotic Arms L52 Liberator, a particularly nasty heavy blaster capable of taking down a bantha in one shot. Imagine what that would do to your average criminal.

Front Right View

From this angle, you can see that our bounty hunter also carries a Blastech E-11 heavy blaster rifle and a pair of specially upgraded binocs within handy reach for those long range scouting jobs.

Back Right View

A good view of the engine and cargo compartment which can be used to carry additional supplies. It is quite possible to camp out for as long as a week with supplies carried by this swoop. Longer if one doesn't mind the lack of bathing.

Back Left View

Another view of the engine and the Xana Exotic Arms L52 Liberator.

Side View

The side profile of the T-42b. Note the curved shape of this model, which is what differentiates it from a normal speeder and puts it in the swoop class. The repulsor nature of this swoop causes it to tilt forward slightly when unoccupied. What appears to be a clear disc under it is just an illusion created by the displacement of sand as it hovers.

And here is our bounty hunter, the not particularly infamous Imperial Shadows.

You'll notice that he's well armoured and carrying both a small blaster and a lightsaber. Don't ask me where he got that, he's no jedi and he'll probably end up cutting his own arm off eventually.

His armour is primarily salvaged Clone armour from a commander who clearly didn't fare as well as he has. The robes are actually covering full climate controlled body armour to keep him comfortable in all conditions. The eyepatch is a cleverly disguised video display that links him to his ship's computers, a number of remote droid cameras and an extended sensor array located in his helmet. Plus 382 channels of holovid broadcasts... and still nothing worth watching.

What? You want to know what's under his helmet? Well, ok...

It's dark blue, dammit!

Huh? Under that? Oh, well, er, uh...

Not a word. Not a single word or I'll he'll shoot.

And on that note, it's time for him to leave: he has a target to find, which means it's time to hit the local information brokers.

It's really bright out today, look at all that glare.

After a long day visiting cantinas looking for information, we see our hero sleeping off his drunk.

Just another day in the exciting life of a lush bounty hunter.

[CommanderCody77]

Looks good and I like the background story.

I have a question: Did you design the back like Darth Maul's speeder deliberately?

I think you should change the blue stud on the gun to a red stud to make it more evil.

Good luck!

[Shadows]

Looks good and I like the background story.

Thanks! I'm usually better at the story than the rest.

I have a question: Did you design the back like Darth Maul's speeder deliberately?

Not intentionally, but I do see what you mean. I did own a lot of that set and somewhere along the way, the 2x3 slope attached to space seat idea must have stuck in my mind. I didn't remember it until you said something, so it's hard to say. It really achieves the intended purpose though, which was to create a speeder with a high backed seat for added support and stability. Something like this.

It also provided the illusion of storage space and a way to attach a 3rd engine to the top, so I'm pretty happy with the result.

Good luck!

Thanks again!

[Asuka]

A chopper swoop bike, what a fine idea! It really looks cool, although it seems like your fancy

bounty hunter could need some additional saddle-bags to store all of his equipment...

[KimT]

Great swoop bike.

[WhiteFang]

Nice piece of work. It has been a long while since I last saw you building something. The whole color scheme and the bunch of weapons assortment are essential for any lone bounty hunter like yourself. However, I prefer to read your story as a whole.

[Sir Dillon]

Nice speeder! I like the chopper aspect that was mentioned. I do wish you had made the front poles out of something other than the premolded blasters though, to give it an even less conventional look.

[green dewback]

Wow, the clone trooper visor piece fit onto normal minifig helmet.

[Skipper 24]

Nice work. I like the design and the background story is great plus all the additional info you added to is great. I also really like the clone visor on the helmet.

[Zorro]

That looks awesome Imperial Shadows! And your story was really funny!

[Siegfried]

Very nice; it does look chopper-ish! I wasn't aware that the clone visor was even vagually compatable with other helmets; I just tested it out myself and I might give it a go in the future.

I do question the ability of a bike like this to power so much weaponry though...

[Shadows]

Looks like the best thing to come out of my MOC is the realisation that the visor fits the old aviator helmets, which was a neat discovery for me as well. It'll actually lock in the upright position. I haven't tried other helmets, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are some possibilities out there.

I do question the ability of a bike like this to power so much weaponry though...

Who the hell are you?

Oh, right, nobody questions that silly walrus on how Rotta flies his ship with those tiny little Hutt arms, but my power source isn't strong enough.