The Arvus Lighter is a small, general purpose cargo shuttle that is widely used by the Imperium of Man for many tasks, both in space and on the surface of planets. The Arvus is commonly used by both Imperial Navy warships and Imperial merchant vessels, including Rogue Traders. The Arvus is just one of many types of small, void-capable shuttles used by the Imperium. The Arvus is piloted by a single pilot, and is not equipped with any weapon systems, in fact, the Arvus possesses only the most basic navigation equipment, external sensors, and proximity alarms. The Arvus has a powerful engine that allows it to carry heavy cargo to and from a planet’s surface
One of the reveals at the World Championships Preview back in November was a plastic Arvus Lighter for The Horus Heresy. I ordered one from my FLGS.
I really like this model, though released for The Horus Heresy, I suspect it would make a great model for, not just Warhammer 40K, but also Necromunda.
There are three sprues in the box along with a flying base and clear plastic parts for the canopy.
I have been thinking about how I will construct and paint the model. One of the additions to the plastic version of the Arvus Lighter model is a rear ramp gunner. I like the idea of this, but it will add to the time to paint the model. As well as painting the gunner, the inside of the craft will also have to be painted.
With most of my models I constructed them fully and then paint them. This is okay for many of my models, but I have with a few undertaken some part-assembly, then painting before putting the whole model together. One example of this on my workbench is the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank where I painted the tracks, sponsons and main weapon separately before putting them together.
I think with the Arvus Lighter I will do some partial assemblies and then put the model together at the end.
You can model the Arvus Lighter with the undercarriage down or up. I am thinking down.
I am still thinking about the paint scheme, I am not sure if I will go with a grey scheme, or go with the camouflage scheme I used with my Aeronautica Imperialis Valkyrie transports.