[Galahad]

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.

 

[FrozenOrb]

I also had a crazy amount of filing and aggro to construct my Land Raider Crusader so it's possibly the norm. Although it's lots of fun the sheer volume of pieces of plastic and metal you get.

 

[Asmodai]

It sucks that your kit was messed up. The LRC is one of the more difficult GW kits to assemble at the best of times.

 

[Vero]

The LRC is definately a PITA kit, only because they ahd to go and make the flimsiest parts out of metal. The joints on the Melta and hurricane bolters are terrible and absolutly require pins.

I know because I got 4 of em... they should have done plastic parts

 

[blkdymnd]

I'm actually surprised that a plastic kit or forgeworld variant of the Crusader hasn't made it's way to production yet.

 

[Galahad]

I managed to get the ammo belts and the shields for the melta on without pinning (though I should have pinned the shield it was a major bitch), which is just as well since I think I pretty much blunted a bit drilling and pinning all those bolters and the melta

Ah well, I think it turned out alright. I'm glad I decided to build my own AC turret, rather than struggling with more malformed pewter.

I still plan to phone up GW here soon and bitch them out

 

[Jacobite]

Yea I bought one and it was a pain in the ass to build. I really like your modeluar system Gal - that assault cannon looks awsome. Pining is the way to go.

 

[The Son of Horus]

I'm digging the assault cannon. I might have to copy the idea when I get around to picking up a Land Raider or two for my Lions Rampant.

 

[Galahad]

Glad you guys like it. The AC turret was a fun project that came about when I noticed that the Whirlwind turret ring without its retainer plate had a perfect half-circle hole just the right size for a marine's legs (though not hos body, he climbs in from the top ;-) ) It was a good use of bits, I think. The mounting arm was a challenge and might be something you;ll have to fabricate. I flattened the bike headlight and scored a grid back into it to make a viewscreen, and the fenders made good shields. I used the bracket from the ravenwind sprue, then cut the blocky bit off to lower the profile.


Oh, as a side note, I called GW to complain about the lack of quality control and the redshirt told me that I should put it in writing and send it off in an e-mail to custserv that way it can be forwarded ahead to people in a position to fix it (As a helpful response rather than an attempt to pass it off, I could tell he wanted to help).

So I went through and cataloged the problems and my disappointment and e-mailed it off. Within hours I got a reply from the customer service manager apologizing for any problems I had and informing me that he personally pulled a crusader box off the shelf, inspected all the sprues and parts himself and is sending it to me, gratis!

I think what I'll do is assemble that hull, this time I should be able to pin the side on, and just transfer the crusader bits I've already assembled over to the new one, and just make the old one a standard LR, this way I don't have to try and assemble a second set of hurricane bolters...maybe swap out the ammo drums

 

[Jacobite]

Nice one Gal - really wish I had done that with mine.

 

[Galahad]

GW has great customer service. If ever you have a problem, contact them, they'll send you sprues or bits you need to make it right. I had a whirlie where the radar dish was missing from the sprue, so I called up and they sent me the whole whirlwind sprue to replace it. no questions asked (besides batch number on the box so they can track the problem)

Even if their standards have slipped, their service is still good

 

[Jacobite]

This was about 5 years ago that I had mine (shit has it been that long - it can't have been) I went back to the place I bought it - IS - I got replacement parts (not a full replacement) it just took a while thats all.

 

[The Wraithlord]

Fantastic work Gal. Love the fact that you can change out the sponsons. The LR is certainly a bitch to assemble but worth it in the end.

 

[Galahad]

Thanks. The bottom plates are glued in, the top are pinned, and the sensor units are pinned. Not as slick and swanky as magnets, but cheap, easy and secure

 

[Lord Sinkoran]

You chose one of the hardest kits GW make to assemble. It looks pretty good

 

[Engelus]

mine had issues putting it togeather, the hurricane bolters are horribly designed, I bet they could be made of plastic now, that would be so awesome. I'm tired of the metal ones they dont paint well, and fall apart if dropped.

Mine managed to go togeather flawless though, which I am glad about, although there have been a couple times I opened a box and found missing sprues that I should write a letter about, (just weapons and backpacks)

 

[Galahad]

hard to assemble is fine, freakin defective is another. ;-)

But yeah, next time you find missing/broken bits or spriues just call GW and they;ll whip them off to you

 

[Dirge Eterna]

Nice work, I like the extras. Marine tanks should always be stuffed to the brim with extra things. And working hatches! Huzzah! The only tank with hatched I've ever done was a Custodes-pattern Land Raider called Divinus Terra.

 

[SMBA]

Yeah my brother got a set of messed up long fangs. couldn't get them together. we sent a email off saying in short that they sucked but we r big fans of the game just letting u know not happy etc etc etc. spent about 2 hours that night fixing them up so they would fit together.
The next morning had a reply saying new ones are on the way, very sorry for the troubles.

Good on ya GW (may charge allot but good to see you take care of us when needed)

 

[Logain_85]

very nice bit of conversion there, seriously nice stuff, no paint it :grin: