Land Raider Crusader WIP, Part I

Although I already knew that foot slogging my new Close Combat Terminators wasn't going to be very effective, the disastrous results of the past few games have only proven it. A large squad of Terminators marching across the board is going to get a lot of unfavorable attention, which meant that my latest models regularly ate so much firepower that they were very nearly toothless by the time they finally reached their target. More often than not, the bulk of the squad was lost to massed AP5 fire rather than AP1 or AP2 weapons. The answer to that, of course, is protecting them inside a Dedicated Transport. Although I'm very excited to start on my new Sternguard models, building the Land Raider Crusader has become my top priority.

Here's the Crusader thus far:

It doesn't look too impressive, but it was a major feat to get the Crusader to this stage. It's late November in Idaho, which typically means cold temperatures and high relative humidity. I've been following the weather forecast for weeks looking for a window in which I could prime the model. Unfortunately, the best times were usually in the early afternoon on a weekday while I was at work.

Finally, the weather service predicted an unusually warm and dry day yesterday, which I had already decided to take off in preparation for Thanksgiving. The temperature was below 30°F (-1°C) with 67% relative humidity up until 10:00AM and it didn't look like conditions were about to get much better. However, around 2:00PM the Emperor smiled upon me and we got a sudden spike in temperature. By 2:30PM the temperature was about 48°F (9°C) with 36% relative humidity. Since the temperature inside my garage tends to be a few degrees higher than the outdoor temperature, I hauled out the Crusader, my trusty Rust-Oleum Camouflage, and a can of Army Painter Ultramarine Blue.

I finished spraying by about 4:00PM. The Fates gave me a couple more hours of good weather to allow the primer coat to dry before the temperature dropped below freezing again and the relative humidity rose.

I might try to get a few more models prepped for their primer coat since it's predicted that we'll have a few more days of good weather. This could be my last chance to spray until early spring; by this time next week we're predicted to have a high of 22°F (-6°C) and a low of 6°F (-14°C). In my eight years living in Idaho, I've learned that once the weather starts to turn that cold, there's a good chance we might not see temperatures more than a few degrees above freezing for a few months.