Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer assembly

My wonderful wife bought me 3 of these for my birthday and I haven't even played my first game yet. So either she really loves me or is trying to get rid of me. Anyways any tips on put these multi-sprued, multi-part beautiful vehicles together?. The first one i will be putting together will be of the Crusader variety

Hrmm. I haven't built one of these new plastic kits yet. I did assemble one of the old ones with pewter hurricane bolter sponsons. It was a royal pain in the rear and took like eleventy-one pins to do the job. I don't think they are too difficult to put together now. Monkey can give you some pointer probably. He built a redeemer not too long ago.

I just put together a pre-heresy LR and a friend of mine who is new to the hobby has put both a Redeemer and a Crusader together.

The kits really are a dream. My advice - go slow and be sure you're gluing the right parts together. The only problem with the GW STC kits (rhino, razorback, LR, etc) is that the treads can be uneven so your finished model can sit unsteady on the table because one side is higher than the other. Again, just go slow.

Expect the first one to take you a few hours, the second one you can knock out in half the time.

I'm sorry if any of this seems elementary.
1. For the Crusader, don't glue the hurricane bolters together until after you've painted them. It's nigh impossible to get in between them when they're together, especially if you like detail.
2. If you don't want to glue the front door shut, be very, very careful. I was not.
3. Glue the side sponsons to the forward-most hatch. This will give you about an inch or so for measuring distances.
4. Don't limit yourself to the Crusader or the Redeemer. There are two ways to go about this.
a. Put a pin that is the same size as your drill bit in the piece of armour that fits on the outer portions of the sponson guns. Then drill a similarly sized hole where that piece attaches to the gun. Only glue the pin to the piece of armour. You can then press fit the armour and the gun. Repeat the same process for connecting the gun to the rotating column and the extra bit that fits on the opposite side of said column. This will allow you to change out the Crusader and Redeemer bits with only minimal pain.
b. You can also purchase one of the new Crusader/Redeemer sprues and simply build separate sponsons for each variant. Magnets can then be used to make them interchangeable. This is the better, if more expensive, option.
5. Use magnets on the sponsons. Go to Hobby Lobby and buy the large, I believe, rare earth metal magnets. They're about the size of an old brass thumbtack. Glue one on the inside of the LR's body on the backside of the sponson hatch. Glue the other on the backside of the sponson piece to which the guns attach. The gap between the backside of the sponson and the front side of the inner hatch is just right. Then you can pop the sponsons on and off to change them or when you get a weapon destroyed result. Lastly, don't put the sponson on the LR until the glue holding the magnets is COMPLETELY dried. The magnets are quite strong and will pull away from the plastic quite easily if the glue isn't finished drying.

Hope that helps,

Monkey

Monkey wrote:

I'm sorry if any of this seems elementary.
1. For the Crusader, don't glue the hurricane bolters together until after you've painted them. It's nigh impossible to get in between them when they're together, especially if you like detail.
2. If you don't want to glue the front door shut, be very, very careful. I was not.
3. Glue the side sponsons to the forward-most hatch. This will give you about an inch or so for measuring distances.
4. Don't limit yourself to the Crusader or the Redeemer. There are two ways to go about this.
a. Put a pin that is the same size as your drill bit in the piece of armour that fits on the outer portions of the sponson guns. Then drill a similarly sized hole where that piece attaches to the gun. Only glue the pin to the piece of armour. You can then press fit the armour and the gun. Repeat the same process for connecting the gun to the rotating column and the extra bit that fits on the opposite side of said column. This will allow you to change out the Crusader and Redeemer bits with only minimal pain.
b. You can also purchase one of the new Crusader/Redeemer sprues and simply build separate sponsons for each variant. Magnets can then be used to make them interchangeable. This is the better, if more expensive, option.
5. Use magnets on the sponsons. Go to Hobby Lobby and buy the large, I believe, rare earth metal magnets. They're about the size of an old brass thumbtack. Glue one on the inside of the LR's body on the backside of the sponson hatch. Glue the other on the backside of the sponson piece to which the guns attach. The gap between the backside of the sponson and the front side of the inner hatch is just right. Then you can pop the sponsons on and off to change them or when you get a weapon destroyed result. Lastly, don't put the sponson on the LR until the glue holding the magnets is COMPLETELY dried. The magnets are quite strong and will pull away from the plastic quite easily if the glue isn't finished drying.

Hope that helps,

Monkey

Thank you. I will take my time and the magnet idea is great. I did something like that for me dread for interchangeable weapons also