Joined
·
8,276 Posts
Well, this is my first land raider, and I went with a crusader. Pain and suffering caused y hurricane bolters aside, I must say I was very pissed at the utter lack of quality control.
The the front top plate was bent and twisted on the sprue. I had to almost break it forcing it back into shape. As it stands, there's a distinct ripple now. The engine plate wouldn't fit right without a lot of shaving, same with the LC sponsons, had to shavce down the ridges to get the shields on. The right side outer hull was warped and even after mummifying it in rubber bands, still didn't settle as close to the tracks as the left side did, leaving an ugly gap on the underside. The gunner was missing his admech shoulder pad (had a spare), most of the sprues were awash in spillover. Not just mould lines, but obvious flashing around the edges of the hatches and the like. The top plate was deformed and had to be forcefully held in place til the glue set all of the pewter pieces were bent or covered in thick, hideous flash (I did my best cleaning up the ammo bins for the hurricanes, but they had thick, crusty lines of flash trailing from the rivets had to file and file to bring them even close to flush...oh, and the assault ramp doesn't close all the way.
I had planned to pin one of the sides on so it could be removed to allow for painting and display of the inside, but tha plan was scrubbed as soon as the parts decided not to fit right.
But once I got it together, I managfed to have a little fun with the outside, at least.
Added a whirlwind radar dish, cut down the spotlight mount and put it on the front over the sensors, added some cargo bits to it, and made a new 'super-sponson' AC turret
Whirlwind turret ring, a pair of cut down legs (had a pair of mutilated legs laying around, decided to use them for this, they fit nicely in the half-circle nook in the whirlie ring), a pair of Ravenwing ACs and a cut up bike faring
I moved the MM forward because I didn't like the idea of shooting my tank commander in the back of the head. IT also looks nicer up there by the AC gunner. It;s awful close up there, makes it easier to high-five when they slag something.
Snagged the commander off my vindicator because I liked his pose and vintage boinocs "Charrrrrgee!"
yeppers, interchangeable sponsons (and since I kept the parts for the front turret, I can modularize it and make it a spare razorback turret, or a razorback-style baal turret, or it can go ack on here as a normal raider)
I moved the sponsons to the front because I think they look better and make more sense. Why have troops deploying directly in front of a deadly battery of rapid-firing boltguns? Better they pole out behind it and use the hurricanes as cover.
Oh, and hinged side hatches. Found a really easy tutorial here on the boards.
Basically, cut out the middle knuckle in each hinge (best toremove it by drilling it out, then cutting the ramains out, otherwise you could end up snapping off the rest of the hinge), drill through, wrap a bit of stripped down twist tie around a paperclip a few times, then twist the ends together to make a pin with a coil of wire at one end. Then slip it in where the middle knuckle went, slide a piece of said paperclip in through the side hole and glue in place. Bingo. The wire pivots around the bit of paperclip like an axel, then you just drill into the frame, add a dab of glue to the twisted pin you made on your hinge and slide it home. Hinges easy as punch.
Addes some 'rescue tools' to the inside of the cargo hatch. I saw the brackets and I figured a weapon would fit there. What better than a meltagun? The raider gets shot up, the machine spirit won;t open the doors, well, the apothecary;s got to get inside to the crew somehow...
Also tossed in one of those ugly suitcase style meltabombs from the dev sprue for good measure.. That weedy looking compact jackhammer they moulded into the tool bay hasn't got a chance of cracking open AV14 hatches ;-)
The gang's all here...
My Death Company (the chapy is standing in til I can make a better one of my own), and their bestest buddy Mephiston likes to run along behind the tank, so he hopped up for the group photo.
The the front top plate was bent and twisted on the sprue. I had to almost break it forcing it back into shape. As it stands, there's a distinct ripple now. The engine plate wouldn't fit right without a lot of shaving, same with the LC sponsons, had to shavce down the ridges to get the shields on. The right side outer hull was warped and even after mummifying it in rubber bands, still didn't settle as close to the tracks as the left side did, leaving an ugly gap on the underside. The gunner was missing his admech shoulder pad (had a spare), most of the sprues were awash in spillover. Not just mould lines, but obvious flashing around the edges of the hatches and the like. The top plate was deformed and had to be forcefully held in place til the glue set all of the pewter pieces were bent or covered in thick, hideous flash (I did my best cleaning up the ammo bins for the hurricanes, but they had thick, crusty lines of flash trailing from the rivets had to file and file to bring them even close to flush...oh, and the assault ramp doesn't close all the way.
I had planned to pin one of the sides on so it could be removed to allow for painting and display of the inside, but tha plan was scrubbed as soon as the parts decided not to fit right.
But once I got it together, I managfed to have a little fun with the outside, at least.



Added a whirlwind radar dish, cut down the spotlight mount and put it on the front over the sensors, added some cargo bits to it, and made a new 'super-sponson' AC turret


Whirlwind turret ring, a pair of cut down legs (had a pair of mutilated legs laying around, decided to use them for this, they fit nicely in the half-circle nook in the whirlie ring), a pair of Ravenwing ACs and a cut up bike faring
I moved the MM forward because I didn't like the idea of shooting my tank commander in the back of the head. IT also looks nicer up there by the AC gunner. It;s awful close up there, makes it easier to high-five when they slag something.

Snagged the commander off my vindicator because I liked his pose and vintage boinocs "Charrrrrgee!"



yeppers, interchangeable sponsons (and since I kept the parts for the front turret, I can modularize it and make it a spare razorback turret, or a razorback-style baal turret, or it can go ack on here as a normal raider)
I moved the sponsons to the front because I think they look better and make more sense. Why have troops deploying directly in front of a deadly battery of rapid-firing boltguns? Better they pole out behind it and use the hurricanes as cover.
Oh, and hinged side hatches. Found a really easy tutorial here on the boards.
Basically, cut out the middle knuckle in each hinge (best toremove it by drilling it out, then cutting the ramains out, otherwise you could end up snapping off the rest of the hinge), drill through, wrap a bit of stripped down twist tie around a paperclip a few times, then twist the ends together to make a pin with a coil of wire at one end. Then slip it in where the middle knuckle went, slide a piece of said paperclip in through the side hole and glue in place. Bingo. The wire pivots around the bit of paperclip like an axel, then you just drill into the frame, add a dab of glue to the twisted pin you made on your hinge and slide it home. Hinges easy as punch.

Addes some 'rescue tools' to the inside of the cargo hatch. I saw the brackets and I figured a weapon would fit there. What better than a meltagun? The raider gets shot up, the machine spirit won;t open the doors, well, the apothecary;s got to get inside to the crew somehow...
Also tossed in one of those ugly suitcase style meltabombs from the dev sprue for good measure.. That weedy looking compact jackhammer they moulded into the tool bay hasn't got a chance of cracking open AV14 hatches ;-)
The gang's all here...


My Death Company (the chapy is standing in til I can make a better one of my own), and their bestest buddy Mephiston likes to run along behind the tank, so he hopped up for the group photo.