Like
quite a few of the other models on this site the speeder bike is in a movie,
but not just any movie it's in the classic star wars series, with which
I was obsessed earlier in my life. This model however came to me by unusual
means, in that one of my brothers friends had it and traded us some playstation
games for it and some other stuff. The problem was that the friend had apparently
built and demolished the kit twice using glue etc. each time. However despite
this problem I managed to get all the parts cleaned off though I did replace
a few with some more accurate parts. Assembly of the kit was fairly easy
though time consuming due to the parts cleaning (those flexi hoses on the
engine are a nightmare). I replaced some of the control linkages on the
front of the bike with modified bits of the kit, some brass wire and some
plasticard. I also rebuilt parts of the foot rests and scratch built some
of the levers on the control panel. 
After
I had most of the bike complete I began to think about the rider who doesn't
sit hunched over the handle bars like he would if going at any speed. To
remedy this I took a wedge out of his front below the breast plate and cut
through the back just below the armour there. After this I reattached the
torso to the legs at a better angle and filled in the gaping hole in the
back with plasticard. Once I did this I realized that the guy was looking
downwards and not ahead so I repositioned the head as well. This done I
puttied the huge hole in the back, sculpting in details as I went. Then
I started what I thought would be the nightmare task of fixing all the mould
lines and joints, but I discovered the properties of gap filling super glue
which gets into the small cracks and sticks there unlike the testors white
putty I'd been using. All this effort was worth it, as the rider now looks
much better than one built as stock. The bike is painted with tamiya and
citadel paints and given extensive weathering as well as washing and dry
brushing. The rider was given two coats of white knight flat white spray
(I bought it for the Bin'Tak and thought I'd try it on this) and the black
areas hand painted. The washes I used on the figure are of two colours.
The areas of the riders suit made from white fabric have a grey/brown wash
(they look sort of yellow in shots from the movie) and the armour areas
have a grey wash. The effect looks quite good but it is necessary to exercise
restraint and use very faint washes on the white areas so that it doesn't
look over done. Despite it's humble beginnings this turned out a good model.
I've just taken some more photos which are a bit better then the originals,
though they still aren't all that brilliant. 
bravenet.com