Horus Heresy: Rapier Gun Carriage Build Review

Greetings one and all,

Today is a companion article to the Rapier Gun Carriage. Namely, reviewing the kit and how easy it is to build now I finally have the kit (thanks for keeping your stock up GWs). So with that out of the way, let's motor.

Rapier Gun Carriage box

Sprues and 1st Impressions 

The kit comprises of three sprues: two for the Rapiers and one for the crew. It also comes with four 32mm bases for the crew and two 60mm bases for the Rapiers (even though the build guide doesn’t mention these and nor does any of the artwork… It's a nice extra for those that want to base their Rapiers none-the-less).

And of course, a small sheet of transfers with either Imperial Fists or Sons of Horus icons.

Assembly 

Starting with the crew, they aren’t complicated builds by any means, but, you do have to go slow with them. The control panels especially, you need to let the glue set on the supporting arm before you glue the control panel to it, otherwise I found it weighed the whole arm down. Other than that, it's a nice build and really does get across the idea that these are the more technologically minded marines in a force.

On to the Rapier itself I found it very easy to build. I was expecting the tracks to be a nightmare but it was honestly a breeze. Furthermore, magnetising the guns took a little planning but wasn't a great challenge. But I'll cover that after Build Monkey has given her views.

“The crew for the Rapier are very pretty little models, nicely detailed and well posed for what they are. They’re not too complicated to put together, only being on average 16 pieces a pop, though I wouldn't necessarily say that they’re the simplest either. For example, Gray handed me a pair of tweezers alongside the rest of the kit when I was preparing to begin building, stating that I would need them for it (I didn’t in the end, but that’s probably just because I have small fingers unlike Gray himself).

Putting the bulk of the model together is a doddle, but when it comes to the arms, and the control panel along with its support, things get a little more fiddly, and for me at least, confusing.

There is very little space and a very small area for fixing the control panel and its support to the model, and if you aren’t extremely careful, the weight of the control panel will pull it off before it has the time to set. This makes it feel extremely fragile when finished, which I can see being a particular issue when wanting to move it around, especially on the tabletop, because it’s a very small join and there is no real structural support for it.

What I found to be the most vexing though was with the crew member I built, which comes with a trigger on a cable that seems to attach to the backpack. But… Where? There isn’t any obvious, discernable place for it to attach to, so when gluing the hand onto the arm and then trying to fit it anywhere it looked like it might go from peering at the picture in the guide, the hand ended up twisting off or ending up in an unnatural angle, which was frustrating.

As for the Rapier itself, this was possibly one of the fastest and easiest models I’ve ever constructed. Everything just, fits. And it fits very very well indeed. Even the tracks go in super smoothly. It comes in 2 halves like any (miniature) Rhino does, and though the first half took me a couple of minutes to look through the guide to ensure I had all the parts in the right place before beginning, once I’d done one side the other just went together within only a few seconds. It’s also quite chunky for something so small, and personally I think it's incredibly cute.

The guns themselves are also standard builds, but they have a lot of chunk to them which is nice, because it really beefs up the Rapier (not that it really needed it). It’s also pretty damned easy to magnetise it if you want to be able to swap out the guns at any point, all you need to do is cut out the hinges and green-stuff some magnets in place instead, which anyone can do without much of a challenge. That said it did take a little bit of planning before-hand, but once you know how it’s done, it’s a relatively simple task.

All in all, it’s a great little boxset with a whole lot of character to it. My only real issue might be the potential fragility of the control crew because there’s a lot of detail to them, but not much structural support. So it’s something to keep in mind when you get to building and playing with them.”

Magnetising 

As with any model with multiple weapon loadouts, the question that most people ask is “can I magnetise them?”

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, you do it like this:

First you need the following tools: a craft knife, clippers, superglue, green stuff or millputt, four sets of magnets (talk about this later) and a pin drill.

IMPORTANT! This HAS to be done before you’ve completely assembled the model.

When you have assembled the two halves of the main bodies, remove the collars on the internal hinge bits. Then, file or scrape the area smooth. Drill a 3mm hole in the center of the now smooth area, but take your time doing this as it will affect how the weapon sits.

Slot a 3mm magnet into the hole. It’s important here to make sure it’s flush with the surface of the model. I used a 3mm x 5mm magnet, because the extra length made it easier to handle (and it’s what I had to hand). Do this for both halves of the body, and you’re almost done. You can now build the rest of the model.

Onto the weapons next, but at this point I can only speak for the Laser Destroyer and the Quad Launcher. I don’t see why the principle would be different for the Quad Heavy Bolter and Grav-Cannon as well though.

Firstly, with the Laser Destroyer, all you need to do is drill the connection points with a 3mm bit and then slot in a 3mm magnet, making sure that it sits flush with the model. Use super glue as needed to make sure it’s properly secure.

Moving onto the Quad Launcher next, this took a bit more time as I realised I’d need to fill the cavity in the body of the weapon. But this is where Greenstuff or Milliputt comes in, so I suggest you fill that space as much as you need to ensure that the magnet has something substantial to actually sit in. I filled it to the point where the filler was a bit less than flush with the edge of the model as the magnet would likely push some material out.

I suggest at this point you place the magnets into the filler before it has time to dry, and test fit the piece with the main body. Once you’re happy with the hold, glue the magnets in. I used 5mm x 2mm magnets for this to give me a larger surface area for the magnets to grip to.

As you can see, it's super easy and effective.

Summary

Build Monkey and myself really enjoyed this build. The Rapiers and crew are fun to build, but they do require a little planning and patience to get the most out of this kit.