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| By the manner of their deaths we shall know them. |
I thought I would update you all on my progress with the Crusader. After last post, I figured I would only have one more entry about the Crusader, showing the completed Crusader, arms and all. The last few weeks have not afforded me much hobby time however, and the arms took much longer than I had initially anticipated (the belt of the assault cannon was particularly daunting...). I have finally finished both the sword arm and the first vulcan cannon, and wanted to show and tell you my thoughts on them.
The vulcan cannon for the Crusader has been possibly the most difficult part of the entire kit to assemble. While the vast majority of it is straightforward and simple, the large ammunition belt is anything but. It consists of a total of 10 pieces (more than just about any other part of the Crusader) that fit together to form the boxy ammunition feed. Unfortunately, extensive moldlines surround every one of these pieces (most of the rest of the kit was designed to have the moldlines appear at the seams, so they would essentially not be present). Worse, while the pieces fit together in a basic sense, the details do not always quite line up properly, making the assembly more difficult. And with no nubs or extensions to guide the assembly, it is pretty tricky.
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| The barrel assembly rotates! |
When assembling the actual cannon itself, things are a lot smoother. I will point out that it is important to add the pin that holds the barrels in place immediately (as suggested in the instructions), before gluing the other half of the gun together. If you do not, and wait to insert it after the rest has been largely assembled, it is very difficult to get the pin in place. I made this mistake, and was only able to get it in place by applying an excessive amount of force.
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| Assembly up to this point was quick, adding the ammunition belt was another story... |
When all is said and done, the vulcan cannon looks nice. Its size is a bit excessive, however. It is practically half the size of the entire Crusader, and so heavy that certain poses cannot be achieved because it weighs it down.
The other arm that comes with the kit gives the Crusader a large microfiber-coated sword. It is a very curious looking sword, having a flat top rather than a more conventional point. The Kickstarter backers were given a second sword, an Excalibur version, that has such a point. I opted for using this version in the end. It is slightly longer and looks more aggressive as a result. Additionally, the arm does not actually have a hand, but instead attaches via a pivot point where the hand might have been. Without the hand, it produces an odd effect, in that the blade is still held as though there was a hand, but instead is controlled through pistons. Thankfully, the arm is much more modest in size than the vulcan cannon, and does not compromise the model’s range of poses. The arm also comes with a shield that attaches to its side, which if added makes the arms seem less skeletal and more substantial. At the moment, I am not sure whether I want to include it, thinking that it does not add that much, and its design is a bit pedestrian.
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| The two current Leviathan blades, the excalibur on top, the one included in the base kit below. |
The assembly of the sword arm was very straightforward and quick. Warning was given on DreamForge’s blog to take special care when adding the tension screws to the arm, saying that they were easy to strip. I had no issue adding the screws and was able to tighten them to a firm stiffness, without any problems.
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| A formidable opponent. |
With both of these arms assembled, the Crusader is essentially done! It was a long process, but one well worth it, as the Crusader looks fantastic! With it all said and done, I must say it was a joy to assemble and very straight forward. With a little patience and caution, it can be assembled without issue. For such a large kit, it is a very impressive feat (and not something that can be said about the Forge World Titans). In the future I would like to assemble the other left handed vulcan cannon that came with kit (kickstarter bonus), and possibly get some of the other arms they will be releasing in the future (since the arms are so easy to swap out). For now, however, I want to decide on a final pose and glue it in position, and more importantly get it in some Apocalypse games!
-Godwyn Fischig
Read more about the assembly process!
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