Roberker – Mark A. Morin

From eBay Wreck to Warbot: My Second Archive Roberker Build

Back in 2018, I was lucky enough to receive a very rare “Roberker” figure. It is an Archive Miniatures figure circa 1978. It comes from the “Star Rovers” line.

Roberker is a giant flame-throwing robot (Archive #2010). It is nearly 3½”/85mm tall, and was supposedly one of the largest robots on the market back then. Its arms end with flamethrower nozzles. Archive’s creator, Nevile Stocken, commented on FaceBook that it was his creation, and inspired by Fred Saberhagen’s Berserker novels. I wrote about it back in 2018 here and you can check it out.

I did not think I would ever see another one – but thanks to an open search on eBay, I managed to see an incomplete one that I bought in 2024.

I’ll describe how I built the model and share some finished photos and a video link.

Work in Progress Shots

It was missing an upper arm, and I knew that like the last one I built, that this would be a challenge of construction more than painting. The build would be the tough part – specially as this one was incomplete. The photo below shows the pieces I got plus the old Roberker that I had previously completed. I needed to look at it often to remember how to rebuild this one.

The old Roberker looks plaintively at the remains of an incomplete kit.

The model’s base underside showing its date and SKU number.

Of course, green stuff, paper clip wire, and polystyrene can be shaped in many ways. To rebuild the upper arm, I took polystyrene tubing, and sized up the appropriate length using the one other upper arm piece that I did have. I sculpted green stuff for a shoulder, as well as to thicken and strengthen the PS arm.

Green stuff was a big part of the project. On the new arm, I needed to let it cure, then I could drill it out for the paper clip wire pinning attachments. Meanwhile, I took some small brass collars I had and added them to the ends of the arms to better approximate nozzles. I also repaired many depressions and gaps in the old lead. Lastly, I sculpted over the body parts so that later I could have better structural integrity with this bad boy.

Once all that had cured, I drilled out pin holes for the legs, shoulders, and arms. I used a combination of Gorilla Glue and green stuff to assemble the model. First, I used glue to get an initial bond, then green stuff to firm that up.

Of course, then more curing time.

The green stuff modifications are clear here – but the right arm kept drooping. To remedy, I affixed it to the right hip.

To keep the model upright, I then used two 2″ steel fender washers as a base.

Here the right arm is affixed to the hip – and the model is well-bonded to the steel fender washers.

I hand-primed the model with Vallejo Primers “Black” because the airbrush was on its last legs and clotting a bit.

The Createx “Wicked Aluminum” airbrush paint I had dated from 2017 – and definitely was not useable in my airbrush after 9 years. Luckily, while the name of the product had changed from “Wicked Aluminum” to “Wicked Aluminum – Medium”, the SKU was still the same (W354). The new bottle worked well. After the aluminum paint had dried, I decided that this Roberker needed differently-colored flames coming out of his head versus the previous model’s orange. A nice plasma-green seemed appropriate. Similarly, I painted the eye with a metallic yellow eye to better match the green flames. I tried to match the previous model’s base with a reddish combination of Citadel “Martian Ironearth” and “Martian Ironcrust”. Once that dried sufficiently, I shaded up the model.

All painted up and awaiting final varnish.

I removed the figure from the poster tack-covered specimen jar. Below some comparative shots of both Roberkers.

Eye Candy

Here are some eye candy shots on a moon landscape.

And a shot of the pair:

Oh yeah, I did promise you a video!

I love the old J. Geils Band song, “Flamethrower” – which I chose as a theme here. I did see the band in 1982 at Eisenhower Hall at West Point before they broke up at the height of their success.

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Inspirations and Motivations

Once again, I have to say that my inspiration to work on retro-sci fi stuff again came by way of the Combat Patrol WWII^TM Retro Sci-Fi games that I ran at 4 conventions earlier this year. You can see those games at the following blog links: Cold Wars 2026, TotalCon 2026, and Huzzah 2026. They are really fun and a nice return to a genre that I really enjoyed.

Background Information on the Figure

Archive stopped producing figures in the early 1980’s and sold off its molds. According to Lost Minis Wiki:

Archive was probably run by Barbara and Nevile Stocken [1], this American company produced a wide variety of figures, many of which have been kept in production through other companies down the years. In the early 1980s they closed up and were superseded by R*kiiv.

Sculptors: Nevile Stocken, Steve Lortz

I don’t know how many Roberkers are still out there – but I have two!

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this rehab – reconstruction-resurrection project. What do you think or know about Roberker?

The comments section awaits your opinions! Join the conversation!

Finally, below are a list of some references and links that might also be of interest. I use them to refer to when I forget painting schemes that I want to replicate – like Roberker’s!

References:

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous “Old School Miniatures” blog posts, please see this page here.

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous sci-fi/retro sci-fi posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/sci-fi-retro-sci-fi-projects/

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THIS ROBERKER FIGURE:

Specimen Jars
Poster tack
Evergreen Scale Models Plastic Tubing (1/8″), (SKU 224)
Green stuff (kneadatite)
Small brass collars
Gorilla Glue
Paper clip wire
Makers Bolt 3/8″ x 2″ steel fender washers
Vallejo Primers “Black”
Createx Wicked Colors “Wicked Aluminum – Medium” (W354)
Vallejo Model Color “Off White”
Tamiya “Copper” (XF-6)
Createx Candy 2o “Emerald Green” (4661)
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Yellow” (W302)
Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics “Data System Glow” (effects)
Citadel “Nihilake Oxide”
Army Painter “Green Tone” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Martian Ironearth” (texture)
Citadel “Martian Ironcrust” (texture)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Vallejo “Matte Varnish”

Until next time…

Mass Pikemen Gaming Club: An Action-Packed Combat Patrol session for May 2018

Last Saturday, May 19th, the Mass Pikemen held a gaming session in East Brookfield, MA. We were fortunate to have a fun game using the Combat Patrol™ card-based rules system – which I have adapted for use in retro sci-fi games using fun Old School miniatures. The ones here were from Archive Miniatures and Team Frog. The scenario involved an attack by the Mark III Warbots (two squads) on the peace-loving amphibian F.R.O.G. Commandos, who were once again defending their sacred pond from enemy desecration. This time, the Warbots brought along two new troop additions. One was another Archive Miniatures Juggerbot to act as the Warbot’s Platoon Sergeant. This improved command and control in support of the previously existing Juggerbot platoon leader. Secondly, this marked the first deployment for the death-dealing, flame-throwing giant robot known as Roberker.

The F.R.O.G. Commandos defended their pond’s enclosure with a couple of squads and the heavy weapons section, including the Dread FROGBOT.

In addition to our experienced players, we had a couple of new players, Mike Morgan and Chris Comeau, who quickly picked up on the Combat Patrol™ system.

1 05192018 Mass Pikemen — The F.R.O.G. Commandos deploy.

2 05192018 Mass Pikemen — Roberker, the two Juggerbots, a Red Khang Robot, and the Red Warbot Squad move over the bridge. Roberker, in the rear, being a giant robot, just walked through the river

The Frogs quickly moved to counter the Warbot’s movements. The Dread FROGBOT with its short cannon and two chain guns arrived at the defensive outer wall, and was able to get off a couple of bursts, damaging several Warbots. However, the Warbots effectively closed and used a devastating plasma breaching weapon against the FROGBOT. Even though the fire was off center slightly, the FROGBOT’s left side was basically vaporized. Undaunted, the Frogs kept up their spirited defense with their assault rifles, holding the line.

3 05192018 Mass Pikemen — The Warbots use a Plasma Beam Breacher, knocking out the FROGBOT.

A little to the Frog’s left, Roberker advanced and took fire, but not before spraying flaming death from its two nozzle arms. Several Frogs were fricasseed, but Roberker took several hits as he advanced.

4 05192018 Mass Pikemen — The F.R.O.G. heavy weapon section gets a bit roasted by Roberker

Then the Frogs made a bold jet pack assault focusing on the golden Juggerbot platoon leader. They managed to damage the leader, however they actually killed two of their own in the crossfire as shown below. However, this proved to be a critical move on the Frog’s part.

5 05192018 Mass Pikemen — The F.R.O.G. Commandos make a bold assault, damaging the Warbot platoon leader (golden Juggerbot), and unfortunately killing two of their own with friendly fire.

One of the modifications that I make to the Combat Patrol™ rules in retro sci-fi games is to have robots use the South Pacific Japanese decks, which have different morale results. The golden Juggerbot platoon leader, having been wounded, now had to make a morale check. Amazingly (and against all odds) he pulled the card that said the leader was shamed – and commits hari kiri – is destroyed, and is removed from the game. This pinned all of the attackers, reducing their advance significantly. Some of the Warbots, like the purple squad on the other side of the tabletop (played by Ellen Morin) did manage to rally, but it was a big turning point in the game.

Another interesting action at the end was the brave individual attack on Roberker by the F.R.O.G. leader, Captain Frog, armed with only a Frog Blade and a pistol. Captain Frog jet packed into hand-to-hand combat with Roberker, and despite the stiff odds, beat the giant robot. As Roberker was already severely damaged from the previous assault rifle fire of the Frogs, Captain Frog’s actions took out Roberker.

(This proved again the Buck Surdu theory that the first time a figure gets on the tabletop that it gets whacked!)

6 05192018 Mass Pikemen — The purple Warbot squad advances through a narrow defile.

On the other end of the table, the purple Warbot squad made significant advances away from the other carnage, and were able to use their plasma ball breacher (in this case a ball of high energy plasma) to fire at the defenders. Even though the fire was slightly errant, as shown below, one Frog was vaporized, and the fence breached.

7 05192018 Mass Pikemen — The Warbots fire a Plasma Ball Breacher (think flying ball of plasma fired like a rifle grenade, not like a putt!), opening the way to the pond. We use the card’s bayonet at the top left in Combat Patrol to show the direction of scatter if the target is missed, as was the case here.

At this point, the game was called. Clearly, I believe the Warbots were going to make it to the pond, but the F.R.O.G. Commandos defense was truly spirited and exemplary!

We are looking forward to the next Mass Pikemen Gaming Club session on June 23rd!

Thanks for looking – please share your feedback below in the comments section.

Roberker and Juggerbot – 1970’s Archive Star Rovers Robots for my Warbot Platoon

I was fortunate enough to get a couple of Archive Miniatures robots from the Star Rovers line that I could add to my Mark III Warbot Platoon for use in Combat Patrol™ retro sci-fi games. The first was “Roberker”, a Giant Robot (Archive #2010), which I had only seen before on Lost Minis Wiki and on David Wood’s blog. It is nearly 3½”/85mm tall, and was supposedly one of the largest robots on the market in 1978. It is armed with nozzles on its arms, so I think it is more or less a giant flame-throwing robot. Nevile Stocken commented on FaceBook that it was his creation, and inspired by Fred Saberhagen’s Berserker novels. The second was another late 1970’s Stocken creation, “Juggerbot” (Archive #2009 or Archive #2331), which I had a version of already, but only one, which I use as the platoon leader. I decided to make this one the assistant platoon commander/platoon sergeant.

This same good friend, David Wood (UK version), knew that I was on the hunt for these and graciously provided them so that I could augment my Warbots. Additionally, Azazel’s blog had put out an “April Assembly” challenge, that these two could certainly be participants.

The models are both challenges for assembly – so I needed to make sure that they were structurally sound for the tabletop. First, I will review Roberker, then Juggerbot. I list the paints I used at the end of this post for those interested.

Roberker

I trimmed and sanded the mold lines as best as I could. Roberker was described by David and Nevile as “a swine to pin”. I now know the truth of that very British expression. I spent most of a day drilling and pinning the arms, legs, and head. Using Gorilla glue, I made initial connections of the parts. Then, I used kneadatite (green stuff) in several places. Specifically, I needed to have strength for the spindly arms and legs. I augmented the pinning by adding a superficial kneadatite belt around the chest and shoulder areas, and by making sure that the legs and hips were married. Lastly, I made a strong base connection with the green stuff.

0 as received — Roberker pieces after cleaning

2 Initial gluing — First gluing of legs, torso, and head

3 assembled after Initial gluing — I then glued the arms, but saw that reinforcement was needed

4 after green stuff — Here, you can see the kneadatite reinforcements that I made. This really made the model very strong.

5 after green stuff size — Roberker is no small robot!

I then based the figure on a 2″ steel washer, which is relatively heavy and will protect the model from being prone to tipping over. I then primed, painted, and varnished the model similar to the way that I did the Mark III Warbots. I did however want the figure to look like it had flames coming out of its head, and that it had a sooty appearance having torched many of its victims over the years. Also, for the hand nozzles, I went with a copper and verdigris look.

6 primed front — Roberker after airbrush priming

9 painted pre varnish front — Roberker painted and ready for varnish

15 Roberker front — Roberker completed, front view

20 fourway Roberker — Four-way view of the model

I am very happy with how Roberker came out – and he will be a terror on the tabletop I am sure.

Juggerbot

As I said, this is my second Juggerbot. My first is the platoon leader and he is basically golden. This one was to be similar to the Mark III Warbots in color scheme and treatment. Here as well, I trimmed and sanded the mold lines as best as I could. I did also need to do a bit more work with the pinning and the green stuff here as well. That is because I wanted to have a slightly different positioning of the arms, which necessitated making a “vest” of green stuff that covered the shoulders and the top conic section of the robot.

1 Assembled and comparison with original — My original Juggerbot (the Platoon Leader on left) and his new assistant commander on the right in progress. Note that I was able to give the arms different positioning with the kneadatite “vest”

2 Assembled and comparison with original — Side view of the two Juggerbots

3 Juggerbot primed — Juggerbot after airbrush priming

6 Juggerbot painted — Painted and awaiting varnishing

12 Juggerbot right side — The completed new Platoon Sergeant Juggerbot, right side view

14 Juggerbot front side — Coming at you!

15 three panel juggerbot — Three way view of the new Juggerbot model

This model met my expectations – now the command and control of the Warbot platoon will be more robust.

19 group shot — This shows the size of my different retro sci-fi figures. From left to right, the Warbot Juggerbot Platoon Sergeant, the Warbot Juggerbot Platoon Leader, SFC Mallard, Roberker, Duck Wader, a Mark III Warbot, and a Khang Robot Squad Leader. It looks dire for the two Star Ducks!

Thanks for looking – please let me know what you think in the comments section at the bottom.

PAINTS AND FLOCKING USED:

Citadel “Imperium Primer”
Vallejo “Surface Primer – White” (airbrushed)
Createx “Wicked Aluminum – Metallic Pearl” (airbrushed)
Citadel “Imperium Primer”
Citadel “Nuln Oil Gloss”
Armory “Red Brown”
Vallejo “Black Grey”
Vallejo Model Air “Copper”
Vallejo “Red”
Citadel “Retributor Armour Gold”
Citadel “Fire Dragon Bright”
Citadel “Yriel Yellow”
Special Weapons Washes “Red Black”
Special Weapons Washes “Red” ink
Vallejo “Black”
Citadel “Nihilakh Oxide”
Craftsmart “Sapphire”
Craftsmart “Festive Red”
Citadel “Martian Ironcrust”
Citadel “Martian Ironearth”
Army Painter “Black Battlefields” flocking
Citadel “Nuln Oil”
Army Painter “Anti-Shine” varnish (airbrushed)
Vallejo “Matt Acrylic Varnish” (airbrushed)

Thanks again – please share your thoughts in the comments section!

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