Thursday, March 12, 2015

WIP: Magnetized Land Raider Redeemer/Crusader

This weekend and into yesterday I was working on magnetizing my Land Raider Redeemer/Crusader. It was actually pretty easy to do and I am quite pleased with the results.
Here it is with all the options. Standard TL Assault Cannon (removable for Wep Destroyed OR if I ever get an extra set of Lascannons and HB to put in place instead). Hurricane Bolters and Inferno Cannons. I also magnetized my pintle mounts to swap back and forth for points restrictions.

So here are the main weapons up close. I shaved down the top and bottom of the sponson mounting brackets. I had an extra set of standard LR mounting brackets that I glued the Hurricane Bolters on (the Inferno cannons can't fit on them) BUT if you don't have a spare bracket and can't get one, just mount them like I did for my Magnetized Baal Predators. As you can see I also magnetized the armour plate that goes on the outside of the weapons. A LR kit only comes with one set, so to have it for both weapons I had to do this. Another key thing to note is I only magnetized the bottom of each mounting bracket. This was a deliberate choice. They are plenty stable with the one point, it is easier to attach and remove weapons and you can't see the top mounting point when it is on the vehicle on the table, so the illusion of it being connected top and bottom is still there.
See you can't tell. I used the top of what I clipped off each bracket still to fill the hole and mount the targeting sensor to. Sure I lost the ability to rotate it, but that isn't a big problem.

Next up are my pintle mounted weapons.
So I used some small magnets I had to accomplish this and make the weapons interchangeable. There are two on the cupoula mounting arm and then two inside each weapon. A key thing is I had to make the space marine in a pose that was not trying to hold the gun. I could have closed the hatch, but really wanted him up and out since my other LR doesn't have one. I like the result of a tank man pushing himself up to take a look with binos.
So I also added two small magnets inside the lower ramp and as teeth to the upper ramp so it would seal shut. This makes it look better IMO AND it allows me to store ALL the parts w/ the exception of the assault cannon inside the LR without worry of them falling out.

Last of all, not magnet related but still cool is the whip antenna and a few other minor conversions.
So the antenna uses the comms array that comes with the LR. I used the loop antenna as the forward attachment for the whip antenna, and then mounted the antenna to the base in the back. I used the core of a guitar string for the antenna itself.
Other changes include a spare FW hatch of some sort that I had, probably back from my Imperial Guard days, and I mounted my searchlight to that. I also had a spare BA Icon from a Baal Predator I mounted to the Assault Cannon. Last of all is the fact, as seen in multiple pictures, I had Forge World LR doors. These are actually really nice and fit really well.

Hope this inspires you to try and magnetize your vehicles as well. To me this is where it is worth the effort. I was able to get a pack of 100 magnets off amazon.com for $10 US. I used probably 12 from that pack (not including the little magnets) and have tons left over AND I didn't have to buy a second $80 vehicle. Well worth it.