Since I'm done gloating over my $37 eBay find, it is time to get down to work.
Most of the weapons separated from the sponson mounts smoothly. Since it had been damaged while being shipped to the previous owner, and it had sustained minor damage to the weapons mounts in shipping to me, I decided that a "scorched earth" policy would be best! Plus I didn't have an immediate need for the Terminus Ultra variant, but I did need a LR Crusader.
Whoever built this vehicle sure loved plastic model glue! As you can see in the picture above, the main crew hatch was a pain to remove, and in the end took a small part of the hull ring with it. Greenstuff to the rescue! (not that it will really matter as the hatches cover the cosmetic damage and still hold in the mount fine, even with the damage.) I did have to give up on removing the forward weapon mount after breaking a file, 2 knife blades and watching the ENTIRE forward hull flex when I pried on the small section I removed glue from!
Rather than cut up the mount that is glued in place I'll just make minor changes to my magnetization plan. The good news of it all is that the twin-linked lascannon mount separated from this glue-induced-nightmare quickly... off to the magnetization bench with it!
In order to get all of the mounts ready for custom sponsons, I trimmed every last bit of plastic prior to drilling out the rotating mounts. (well, they would rotate if they hadn't been GLUED IN PLACE!) So now we can move on to removing the door mounts for the weapons sponsons. a little prybar force from a file and judicious cutting around the edge and a LOT of patience makes the doors fairly easy to remove.
Not too much damage to the exterior hull. A little glue cleanup and some filing and we'll be ready to rebuild the mounts. Now to remove the forward doors and upper sponson mounts. Quick work is made of the doors as they sit on top of the door frame, so I can cut around the majority of the frame and then pop the doors out with minimal residue on the frame.
For those not familiar with the Terminus Ultra, the parts for this are Predator Sponsons, but with the upper arm mount attached to the interior roof of the Land Raider instead of the interior door as on the Pred. As a result, it makes removal a bit trickier!
While cutting along the base wasn't enough to free the mounts, that coupled with small cuts at the top of the frame and some careful prying, the mounts eventually gave way, leaving a bit of plastic and glue cleanup. Nothing that can't be rebuilt with a little sprue and some greenstuff!
VICTORY AT LAST!!
So the final count is 2 files broken, 3 knife blades destroyed, but thankfully no permanent injuries or Hobby Knife Seppuku! All of this is just in time, as next week +Matt Genuardi is bringing me a LR Crusader upgrade pack and more importantly an airbrush to finish the rebuild... now off to the magnetizing table! Break out the Dremel drill!!
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