Pods to Drop and Lands to Raid part 12

Unlike the previous post in this series where I had little to show on the Land Raider Crusader, this time all I have to show and tell is the Land Raider. In fact, I have (mostly) completed it! Inspired by the last post in this series, I decided to push myself to complete what I had started on this model by Christmas.

First thing I had to do was complete the twin-linked Las Cannon sponsons, which you can see here. I would add the targeting systems and decals soon after this pic was taken.

I spent quite a bit of time getting the polarity aligned correctly with the magnets, but in the end all I had to do was turn them over and they now fit firmly onto the chassis.

Next up was deciding what to do about the multimelta turret. In the end I decided to add a techmarine techpriest gunner but in a lower position. The stormbolter gunner had grey armor with a red Adeptus Mechanicus shoulder plate but this guy I wanted to make all red. I just like this look for the Mechanicus, and to make things feel a bit more full-circle with my army, I opted for the MK VI "beaky" helmet.

I painted the head by mounting it to a pin-vice. 

The components are gathered. 

In the Rogue Trader days the beaky marines were often painted with a stripe going down the center of their helms. I particularly recall seeing a Techmarine painted with a yellow and black cautions stripe on his helm and thought it might be cool to do this guy like that.

The yellow stripe was added first by drawing it on with Blazing Orange then topping it with Sunburst Yellow.

I then drew on the black stripes. 

 I sort of messed it up the first time but I painted over the black then redrew it on again.

Just screams old-school tech marine doesn't he? 

 Then I added him to his turret.

Ready to melt stuff!

I positioned his head in the direction of the monitor on the gun's blast shield.

 I am still debating whether to attached the hatches to it like I did to the Storm Bolter. It makes sense too for modeling purposes, but for practicality purposes the connection to the ring of the hatch is sort of fragile.

Both hatch weapons and crew being compared while I make a decision on it...

 I sent these pics to a few friends while I was working on the multimelta, to which Da Masta Cheef responded with "But Multimeltas only roll '2's to hit!", an allusion toward his personal lack of success using one on his Land Raider Crusader. In fact he ripped it off of his model I believe. I vaporized an Ultramarine with one last week, so I felt it was worth taking. :)

And here is everything pretty much done after I added the decals.

One of the reasons to make this tank this way was so that I could still view the interior details. I am very pleased with how this turned out!

Hail to the Great Machine Spirit. 

 Here is the Landraider outside in natural light (albeit, the harsh low winter light) without any sponsons or addition weapons.

A disarmed Land Raider.

A fully armed Land Raider Crusader

A fully armed standard Land Raider 

Land Raider Crusader

Standard Land Raider

 I will do a set of Sponsons for the Land Raider Redeemer as well, so I can have all three options as my disposal.

Also I intend to add some slight wear-and-tear on this tank, like chipped paint and scrapes, mostly around the door, and maybe some ground splatter toward the bottom near the tracks and on them. I want to put a spot light on, but the obvious place to put it is in the way of the multimelta when I swing it that way. It's not vital, but I like to be as WYSISYG as much as possible.

Meanwhile, work (slowly) continues on the Drop Pod #2.