Magnetis Warriors

Time to embrace the Way of the Magnet!

The saga of this Land Raider is a long and sorry one. After deciding the Mantis Warriors would benefit from one, I felt that the cheapest option would be to score a nice, old battered Crusader on eBay. And I struck gold! Not just a battered Crusader, but a bargain at twenty quid, plus an original design Rhino thrown in. Great for the Alpha Legion, that, I thought, seeing as they only have their pretend Termite for transport at the moment. 

Then the Royal Mail delivered the entire box to a moor in Devon for some reason. 

Well, I lost one, but I did get the money back from eBay (the Royal Mail were very apologetic, and couldn't explain the discrepancy between the address on the box and the delivery location), so I tried again. A second Crusader for only a little bit more, this time with the old lead upgrade bits. 

Transfers from Green Stuff World's Tactical Numerals set, some great options in there

And then I got carried away, and got the plastic upgrade bits on eBay too, for around the same as I'd just paid for the second tank. And then I got some magnets. And it all got a bit nuts after that. 

The tank had seen better days. The front ramp doesn't open, the mechanism is welded shut with glue. Some warping of the armour plates here and there too, as though it was actually welded together. Plus it had four turret gunners spread across the roof, who had to be pried off and then the damage sanded down. 

When you watch the helpful videos or read the guides on how to magnetise a Land Raider for all options, they make it look pretty easy. Okay, I had complicated things a bit by scratch building my own lascannon and heavy bolter turrets (from a combination of the lead bits and some old Centurion parts). But this was my first time drilling and gluing magnets. 

None of the guides prepared me for the hideous reality of the process. I glued the magnets to each other. I glued the magnets to the table. I pinged repelling magnets several metres across the room and under the skirting boards. I glued the magnets in the wrong way round. I glued the magnets to my hands and then glued those to the model. I even discovered the bastard drill bit I'd bought, despite saying it was for 3mm magnets on the packet, was really 2.5mm across. So I glued it to my hand by way of revenge.

Bit of damage to that door panel - I did that, tearing it off so I could salvage the nice part inside with all the screens on. I didn't paint the interior, I'd have had to dismantle too much of the tank, and it's almost never going to be seen. Not that it's stopped me before, but I drew the line this time.

James Thurber once wrote that 'A lathered man whose ear is bleeding and who has four wet needles in one hand and three in the other may be said to have reached the lowest known point of human efficiency.' James Thurber needs to pour superglue on his hand, then go and rummage around in a bag of tiny magnets for a while. He has missed a trick. 

Anyhoo - moping aside, the Land Raider eventually came out rather well, I felt. After I'd returned my hands to their usual near-functional state, I got on with it. Took a while, thanks to all the weapon options, but it's a nice fat addition to the Mantis stable. Which of course meant it did very badly in its first appearance, where it was immediately eaten by a Venomcrawler for no real return. 

I also managed to finish off a junction box for the plasma generators, which somehow sneaked into the queue. Nice little piece, I like the removable batteries. 

That's all for the Mantis for now, although they have more to come in due course. Next, it's commission time!