There are a lot of reasons to utilize magnets when building your vehicles for 40k. The chief reason, of course, is the fact that GW has made these things so expensive, that it's hard to justify purchasing just a few rather than one for each possible varient. Apparently the marketing geniuses at GW haven't figued out that if they charged just a
little over half of what they do now, everybody would buy twice as many. So, to avoid extortion... er... the ridiculous expense of buying multiple vehicles, rare earth magnets are a modern modeler's god send.
Because of the expense associated with each kit, the landraider is a common subject for magnets. There are lots of ways to magnetize the parts to a landraider to make the different varients. Because all of the parts are now plastic, there are some folks that have come up with some rather ingenious methods for magnetizing each individual gun so that you can just swap them out on the fly. A great example of this method can be found at The Rollin Waagh:
http://therollinwaaagh.blogspot.com/2008/12/magnetized-land-raider.html. I really like this method and may try it out someday.
When I put mine together, however, the Crusader was still a metal/plastic hybrid kit, and you simply couldn't use magnets in the way shown above. The bolter assembly was just too heavy for that kind of thing. So, I came up with my own method -- a method that can also be used for other sponsons, including those on the sides of Baneblades and Predator tanks...
Supplies
The first step for any project is acquiring the tools and supplies you need. Fortunately, for this project, you don't need much:
- 1 complete Land Raider kit
- 1 Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer sprue set
- 2 rare earth magnets
- 2 flat faced screws
- 4 very short screws - computer case screws are great; flat faced if you can find them
- 1 sheet of 1.5mm-2mm plasticard (a/k/a sheet styrene) - nothing thicker is necessary, and anything thinner would be too flimsy
Assembly
(1) Cut out a piece of plasticard that fits over the interior space of the sponson hatch. I used 2mm sheet because it fit flush with the guide rails. Neatness is optional.
(2) Screw a flat topped screw directly into the center of the plasticard. I tapped the hole with a pin drill first.
(3) Next, I put a simple short screw from a computer case directly into the center of the sponson back itself. It's easiest to do this before you've actually put the whole sponson together so that you can ensure that you're drilling in the center of the hatch from the other side. I left the screw post sticking out on the other side, which means you can see it, but I don't think it matters either way...
(4) Next up, you need to actually acquire some rare earth magnets. I purchased mine a long time ago in a packet of about two hundred and fifty that I've never used up. These things are incredibly strong! Mine are neodymium (Nd
2Fe
14B), which means they were relatively cheap. But even a tiny one that is only about 1.5mm to 2mm thick is more than enough to hold the sponsons on.
(5) Then assemble the tank. Follow the instructions. I have opted to glue all of my hatches shut because I game with my models and don't care for the tiny interior details. Plus, I don't have to try and lop off the ends of my screws that are sticking into the main body of the tank!
(6) Still assembling. As you can tell, once the exterior of the tread walls are up, it looks pretty snazzy from the outside.
(7) As you can tell, you then just pop the magnet right on top of the interior screw. No glue, no mess, no fuss. The magnet is plenty strong enough to hold both sides together. You can now adjust the interior screw up or down as needed so that the fit is snug between the screws and the magnet. Once you find the right spot, super glue the screw in place.
(8) And here the sponson is all popped in and ready to go. Now you just need to make sure you do the same thing with the other side and include a computer case screw in every other sponson hatch you create for it. Just note that you need to put the same size screw in every sponson hatch so that the snug is always fit between the screws and the magnet.
I'm toying with the idea of also putting together a
Prometheus set of sponsons as well. If hurricane bolters are nasty against troops at 24", how deadly are four twin-linked heavy bolters at 36"? Talk about a rolling anti-horde Devastator Squad...
Anyway, the next step is making a swap out set of hatches for the multi-melta and a swap out set of turrets for the heavy bolters and assault cannons, but that's all pretty straight forward.
