Well I am back and I am going to be trying out some AV13 goodness, so let's start off with one of our favourite toys.... The Baal Predator!
This is a really great kit and I had a lot of fun putting this together and working out how to magnetize this bad boy for maximum use! While in my newest list I am going to be running a bare bones Flamestorm Baal, I want to keep it open to run as every configuration.
So let's start with the *nearly* finished tank (the fuel tank covers have not been glued on until painted so I can actually reach them)...
You see it running the Flamestorm turret, the standard doors and a couple of FW brass etch decals. Let's take a look at the guts and how we put it together...
First of all, the most important part is the turret. With most Baals being run with just turrets whether Assault Cannon or Flamestorm, it is important to put these together with magnets whilst keeping all joins seamless.
There are 3 parts of the turret that need to remain removable, that is the main gun, the rear tank/ammo case and the main gun shielding. There is a very good online guide on youtube to magnetize the Baal which I came across after building this, which uses lots of plasti card and keeps the turret gun housing glued on with parts trimmed off, but I decided to leave the gun shielding loose. It doesn't need to be fixed as gravity will keep it on the turret at all times during play. Here's the turret along with it's loose unmagnetized parts...
You can see I haven't glued on the cupola or the gun shield. They slide right onto the turret without need of glue and sit there without the need of magnets. It is important not to glue on the gun shielding as is, because it has some notches on the side which will stop you swapping out the guns.
As you can see from this picture, I glued the 2 small magnets onto the Flamestorm cannon, and then when they were dry I simply placed 2 more magnets on the end to ensure polarity was correct. After that, I chose to use modeling putty (brown stuff) and glued a nice lump to the inside of the turret where there is a gap between the end of the Flamestorm and the mount for the gun. I put a dot of super glue on the end of the 2nd magnets and then pressed the Flamestorm cannon firmly into it's housing so it was properly placed. When the putty and the glue had set, there was a perfectly spaced magnetic bond between the turret and the Flamestorm Cannon. The Assault Cannons use the same mounting and are therefor also perfectly spaced and fit snugly.
The rear of the turret is incredibly easy to magnetize by drilling a large hole in between the two pegs using a large dremmel Bur tip. Repeat this on the Flamestorm fuel tanks and the Assault Cannon ammo crates.
That leaves the doors/sponsons. Again these are both relatively easy. I used quite strong magnets and it made them quite tough to pull apart without scratching at the Rhino doors, so I cut through the hull and made holes so I could push the doors out from the inside, and save the paint job from unnecessary wear and tear.
As you can see again I used a lump of modelling putty to ensure the magnets matched up with each other over the gaps.
So that's how I did my magnetized Baal Predator. I haven't done the side sponsons yet, although they will be something I go back to in the future.
Hope you enjoy.
Here's a pic with it next to my hybrid Predator...
Love my FW flesh tearer brass etch sheets. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're preds are looking pretty good!