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Hi all,

I was in need for a hellhound for a tourney, and my FLGS had run out. Since they had a chimera in stock (and that I've always disliked the basic hellhound), I figured some conversion work would be in order.

Basic considerations:

1) the FW patterns are pretty cool.
2) Chimerae (and basic hellhounds) have a ridiculously small turret. Mine should be beefier.
3) I prefer the newer flamer patterns. Luckily, the sentinel comes with a nice flamer nozzle.

Anyway, onto the pics!

Looks good. What are the back tanks from?

My hellhound is a chimera with T-72 gas tanks in back and a converted King Tiger turrent. Love it!

I find this model to be a good design that needs a touch of help in execution. I really DO like the tail end, just having a flat plate in the rear is a bit of a pet peeve and you've avoided that nicely. I actually like the tanks better than any other variant I have seen. The FW ones looked a little too exagerated, and a bit lacking in design. I think you've bettered that with the dual tank design.
The turret certainly has it's heart in the right place, design-wise. Beefier, good. The card joints could be greenstuffed/smoothed out some. Could use a little more detailing as well, some rivets maybe unless you were trying to smooth it down in that aspect as well. Also, I would have liked to have seen the six lasgun ports filled in.

As you can see, I had to get really nitpicky to find things to improve. I'd be happy to field that vehicle in one of my forces, as-is.

Some greenstuff, paint; I think this will look really good on the tabletop. You may have been planning on doing these things anyway, which would render the negative aspects of my opinion moot.

Looks good. What are the back tanks from?

I actually like the tanks better than any other variant I have seen. The FW ones looked a little too exagerated, and a bit lacking in design. I think you've bettered that with the dual tank design.

The back tanks are from the COD manufactorum sprue. I cut one up a bit to make them less similar and added a plate from the heavy bolter ammo (the one with the imperial eagle on it). They fit reasonably well in the door opening, I just put some cardboard underneath to prevent gaps, and had to shave off a few rivets.

I prefer the dual, slightly understated tank design over the FW ones, because it makes the tanks look part of the vehicle instead of just being tossed on and welded down. We're imperials, not orks .

I really DO like the tail end, just having a flat plate in the rear is a bit of a pet peeve and you've avoided that nicely.

Thanks . I also felt the flat plate a bit lacking, and you have a nice recessed space where the door would normally go, so it was just begging for some detailing.

The turret certainly has it's heart in the right place, design-wise. Beefier, good. The card joints could be greenstuffed/smoothed out some. Could use a little more detailing as well, some rivets maybe unless you were trying to smooth it down in that aspect as well. Also, I would have liked to have seen the six lasgun ports filled in.

Thanks! I like the bigger turret a lot, almost looks like it's carrying a big gun now. I'm considering retrofitting all my chimerae with similar turets, though that might be a bit over the top. It's just that the regular turret is made for ratlings only... As for the smoothing out: it looks good enough in real life, the biggest gaps have been filled in, and I need it ready by saturday, so I'm in a bit of a hurry . I've only added rivets to the top, since I wanted to mimic standard imperial design; the LRBT and th standard chimera only have rivets on top of the turret as well.

I've experimented with the lasgun ports, but didn't find anything that looked good and was appropriately sized. Still, it's an upgrade that's done easily even after it's painted, so I'm not too concerned about it.

As you can see, I had to get really nitpicky to find things to improve. I'd be happy to field that vehicle in one of my forces, as-is.

Some greenstuff, paint; I think this will look really good on the tabletop. You may have been planning on doing these things anyway, which would render the negative aspects of my opinion moot.

That's a nice compliment, thanks!

hell yea! Thats a nice looking hellhound there man. I really like the way you made the flamer on it. I havnt seen a hellhound in a while but last I saw, the flame barrels on it look really hokey. Good job

good job

KingCracker wrote:hell yea! Thats a nice looking hellhound there man. I really like the way you made the flamer on it. I havnt seen a hellhound in a while but last I saw, the flame barrels on it look really hokey. Good job

Thanks! I feel the same about the regular hellhound flamer; I like the FW turrets, but their back fuel tanks don't do it for me. So I made my own

i myself am not a fan of the normal hellhound, it just doesnt look quite right, but urs looks great!!!

With some paint on now. I'ts been speed-painted, and I still need to add transfers and touch up here and there; but it'll do for the tourney saturday

The non-parallel barrels look good, most people would have just put the small one flush under the big one, parallel. The connection between the flamer tip and the two tubes needs, well, something. even just a ring of thicker pipe right where they connect would look good. Just something to make it look the gun look more cohesive.

beyond that, looks tasty!

Looks pretty good!

I'd buy that for a dollar!

The only think I don't like is the smoke launchers on the turret, although to be fair I think the GW smoke launchers always look like crap.

The non-parallel barrels look good, most people would have just put the small one flush under the big one, parallel.

I experimented with both positions for the tubing, and I found the parallel setup a bit lacking as well. This adds some character.

The connection between the flamer tip and the two tubes needs, well, something. even just a ring of thicker pipe right where they connect would look good. Just something to make it look the gun look more cohesive.

I can see what you mean, but won't that just shift the problem? Besides, the top pipe is already pretty thick, it'll go over the edges of the flamer tip if I add something. I might experiment with some thin strips of card though, thanks for the suggestion!

beyond that, looks tasty!

Looks pretty good!

Thanks!

I'd buy that for a dollar!

The only think I don't like is the smoke launchers on the turret, although to be fair I think the GW smoke launchers always look like crap.

Personal taste I guess, I kinda like the big hunks of metal. I find the turret the best place to add these is on the hull they are either too low or blocking turret rotation. What do you use for smoke launchers if you dislike the regular ones?

Not a bad effort at copying the FW designs.

But if you're going asymmetrical turret on an assymetrical hull mount, you can use it to put the gun back on the centerline of the hull. That is, if you had mirrored the turret, the flamer would be centered again.

I'm McLovin' this. Very nice looking conversions.

Im loving it!

How did you make the rivits?

Very nice!
My only suggestion is to put some more metal paint on those flame containers.

Not a bad effort at copying the FW designs.

Not copying. Improving .

But if you're going asymmetrical turret on an assymetrical hull mount, you can use it to put the gun back on the centerline of the hull. That is, if you had mirrored the turret, the flamer would be centered again.

I lie the assymetrical design, actually. It allows for a long barrel without adding significantly to the tank's outline. And it looks cool .

I'm McLovin' this. Very nice looking conversions.

Im loving it!

Thanks!

How did you make the rivits?

The rivets are just arrows cut into slices (the giant sprue has dozens, but they should be easy to get) . I've bought me some pins recently and will experiment with those as well.

Very nice!
My only suggestion is to put some more metal paint on those flame containers.

Thanks! I've hesitated a bit about the flame tanks, but the green helps it tie in to the rest of model, looking less 'stuck on'. Seen from the top the green is broken up by a control panel and an imperial eagle though. And I imagine you wouldn't want to draw attention to the most vulnerable part of your rear armour ...

Looks great, but only small problem (pun intended) is the flamer head is way too small for a hellhound. Not sure what flamer bit you used, but it looks like a guardsmen's flamer on there. I'm sure its prolly a heavy flamer of some variety, but still looks weedy compared to a regular FW Hellhound.

Looks amazing