Magnetized LRC 'Torvillus'

[Solid Zaku]

Hello all, Solidzaku here with a WIP of my Land Raider Crusader 'Torvillus', named in honor of a character in a story I wrote years ago, and in memory of his Godhammer-wielding predecessor who unfortunately didn't take well to having it's parts being replaced and has since become part of my 'basing bitz bin'. Well, enough of the depressing nostalgia, let's get onto the meat of it, shall we?

 

When I bought my LRC (from Miniwargaming) I decided that I wanted to have as many options as possible regarding it's usage. Having the Hurricane Bolters is nice and whatnot, but sometimes you just need to deny those Rangers their cover saves. So, I opted to magnetize Torvillus. Now, not having a Dremel tool in my college space, I realized that this was going to be a challenge. So, what I did was I clipped off the two nibs that would insert into the weapons themselves with my sprue cutter. Having done that, I drilled a hole in the exact center of what was left of that circle and CAREFULLY began carving out a circular hole in both sides using my x-acto knife in a twisting motion, something like an auger. I did this until the holes were the proper size of the magnet I wanted placed (which just so happened to be about the same size as the aforementioned nibs) and glued them very snugly into place. It's important that they're well glued or else, you guessed it, they'll come off. Neodymium and rare earth magnets are strong little buggers, so they MUST be set in well. Additionally, before you ever put glue to magnet, test, test, and REtest your polarizations...there's nothing more embarrassing than having to clip off nearly 10 minutes worth of work because you forgot which way your magnets were facing. Here's the end result.

 

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/1186/landraiderstuff012.th.jpg

 

With the weapons, a similar act was performed on the Flamestorm cannons, which luckily could be glued completely together and still stay pointing up, thanks to the strong magnets.

 

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/4131/landraiderstuff017.th.jpg

 

With the Hurricane Bolters, I decided to cheat a little bit and, instead of actually drilling through the hole to get the exact size of magnet inside, I took the largest and most powerful magnet of my set (which I also received at Miniwargaming) and simply glued it inside the cavity of the piece like so:

 

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/765/landraiderstuff016.th.jpg

 

It still clips together onto the bracket without dragging or sagging. Oh, and while we're yakking about weaponry, here's my Multi-melta:

 

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/67/landraiderstuff018.th.jpg

 

Now, you may be wondering what those sticks are that keep poking at the edge of the screen. Well, having done a Land Raider before, I knew that, if I started painting it once it was already assembled, it would be just about impossible for me to get at all of the nooks and crannies of the weapons (and in some cases, the actual tank itself. I'm sure most of us have experienced this little problem, so, instead of cursing the wind, I got proactive and, using the leftover frames, made 'painting sticks' that I will use to properly prime and paint each piece. Time consuming? Oh, you bet your bolter, but the end result is always what matters, right?

 

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/839/landraiderstuff014.th.jpg

 

Okay, now for the tank itself. Here's what I've got so far:

 

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/1508/landraiderstuff006.th.jpg

 

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/2038/landraiderstuff007.th.jpg

 

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4586/landraiderstuff008.th.jpg

 

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9092/landraiderstuff009.th.jpg

 

I decided to go with the 'Realistic Land Raider' concept as far as the sponson placement was concerned. I mean really, would you hop out of a tank in FRONT of a pair of Hurricane Bolters, Power Armor or not? Didn't think so. Plus, most people use the front hatch for assaulting anyway. Oh, and as far as the hatch is concerned, I glued it shut. This has 3 benefits: one being that I don't have to bother painting the interior as nobody can see it, another being that I can use all the interior bitz for making Space Hulk consoles and doors (but that's for a later project), and the third being that I don't have to worry about the thing opening and closing on a whim whenever it wants to. Yes, the little gear set inside allows me to open it and close it, but as anyone who used a Land Raider for more than three months will tell you, that gear breaks down...not fun.

 

Well, that's a good start, I think. Comments and criticisms welcome of course. Painting will commence whenever the weather feels like letting up (30mph gusts...blast it all). What's the paint scheme going to be? Something kind of like this other tank I've done:

 

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/3439/napoerqh9.th.jpg

[Solid Zaku]

Hi all, round 2 of the Land Raider. It's primed and beggin' for paint as you can see in these shots. Also, my 'sprue sticks' idea worked fine.

 

Front

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/1200/landraiderstuff021.th.jpg

Top

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/3412/landraiderstuff025t.th.jpg

Left Side

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8209/landraiderstuff022.th.jpg

Rear

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/3812/landraiderstuff023.th.jpg

Right Side

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8453/landraiderstuff024.th.jpg

Weaponry

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8012/landraiderstuff026.th.jpg

 

The stuff I use for my priming is Krylon's Camoflauge Ultra-Flat black. Love the even application of it, and it dries faster than you can blink, but I'm still going to let it cure for a day or so.

 

Alright, now that the priming's out of the way, I'll change gears for a second and give some criticisms about the actual construction of the model. Now, we all know how much of an absolute PAIN it is trying to get the undercarriage of the thing built, but at the very least it looks like it ought to in the end. Not so with the top shell, as this image demonstrates.

 

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5451/landraiderstuff013.th.jpg

 

Argh! I'm sure we all experience this building our Raiders, and no matter how much we try, unless we've got Gorilla Glue or that stuff that actually melts the plastic to each other, there's no getting this one to stay fit. Frustrating as hell. Now, another gripe I have is the Multi-Melta assembly. Specifically, the melta-fuel canisters. These things are horrific to set in, especially when you're trying to slip on the pintle mount.

 

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/5853/landraiderstuff020.th.jpg

 

The problem is that the directions given aren't all that helpful, in light of the fact that it's all in pretty pictures. Plus, getting the Marine gunner put together correctly to match the positioning on the turret is still a pain in the ass, but that was a problem even before the redesign.

 

Alright, that's two pretty big posts. Some C&C would be really nice...was kind of a shame seeing this one hit page 2 with no replys.

[Archenemy]

Looking good but make sure you do something about the top before you paint it, shame to go to all the trouble of magnetising it etc and leave something like that. If you can't get your hands on some plastic glue maybe just fill it with Greenstuff or Milliput??

 

I have a Redeemer sitting in front of me right now that I'm nearly finished, just 1 sponson and some detailing to go before paint, I know your pain with that particular spot, I've spent a hell of a lot of time assembling this LR trying to make it look pretty spiffy. It's just about fully magnetised, I was looking at doing the side sponsons similar to you but decided to just buy an additional sprue and have 2 full sets of sponsons and magentise the door instead.

 

I'm intending on doing an army blog at some stage, I'll put the LR in it for people that are interested.

[Solid Zaku]

Say wha...? I couldn't quite make heads or tails of that, and rather cheeky of you plugging your own blog in my article.