I got a Chimera from the recently opened Asgard Games in Middlesborough (I had to go there for some work training, and decided to kill some time afterwards). It’s a great store, and has 15% off GW stock: win-win really. If you’re interested in visiting, it’s about a minute’s walk from the bus station.
Anyway, back to models. I bought this vehicle to help me with my commission: a set of four custom hulls. I thought that it would be handy to have the actual kit to measure the hull against. Also, it can be used for the Vraksians.
Seeing as I’m going for an ‘out-dated-but-functional’ theme for my weapons (single-shot Lasguns and MG34-stubbers) I thought I’d make the Chimera an older variant, with influences from World War Two tanks. I also like the idea of having most of my army use solid-shot weaponry, so this will be armed with two Heavy Bolters and a Heavy Stubber.
The heavy stubber is a piece of brass pipe, attached to where the lenses would normally go. An additional camera feed has been added to the turret directly above the Stubber. The gun looks a little plain at the moment, so I may add some more detailing with aluminium tube later on.
The turret has been modified to look more like a Panzer IV’s. I’ve started work on a storage bin for the back of the turret. For added detail, a pair of rolls from Warlord Games’ tank accessory kits, and a smoke launcher from a Rogue Trader Land Raider finish the look.
Going with the Panzer IV theme, the front end has been heavily modified. I followed the lines of the Panzer IV, with a slab-like front end, and a mildly inclined hull plate. I still need to seal this off with another vertical set of plates, and add a viewing port and hull-mounted gun. The rest of the hull will be fairly standard.
I like the idea of theming my tanks on the Panzer IV, so my Leman Russes will be built on the same chassis. To differentiate the two, the Russ-Panzers will have additional armour on the front, and will like have Schurzen spaced armour on the sides. The hatches on the back and gun ports will be reworked into an engine bay. For the turrets, I will replace them with Forge World Leman Russ ones, with added spaced armour, like on the Panzer IV H.
Once this is done I can think about the squad to go with it. My current favourite is to combine FW Vraks torsos with these legs from Victoria Miniatures' Penal Guard range. This should make for a great looking squad.