As part of my new 6th Cadian Armoured project I will need Chimeras. Lots of them. However I've never liked the Chimera turret design and decided to change it to the Predator turret. This also gives me a cheap way to fit all of my Chimeras with Autocannons (especially since
IA Chimeras are 60 points with an Autocannon vs Codex ones being 65 without).
After some research I found lots of pictures of people showing off this same conversion but no tutorials on how to do it.
What you will need:
1mm Plasticard
Magnets with a combined height of 4.5mm (I used 3 3mmx1.5mm magnets)
A Chimera
A Predator Turret
Some sandpaper
First you need to shave about a tenth of a milimetre off the Predator turrets inner ring. The Turret will then fit onto the raised part of the Chimera turret mount perfectly.
Next trim some Plasticard to fit over the mounting holes inside the turret and chassis (see below) and secure with superglue. You don't need to be neat at all with this stage.
Now find the centre of the turrets ring mount and glue in a magnet (or two).
Let the glue dry and attach another magnet to the turret but don't glue it. Put a little dab of super glue on the magnet and place the turret on the Chassis. If the height is correct this new magnet will adhere to the plasticard and line up exactly with the magnets on the turret.
Now take the top half of your turret and using either a knife or sandpaper or a dremel if you have one increase the diameter of the top hatch mount by about 2mm. Keep testing until the top hatch of the Chimera kit fits securely inside.
Finish assembly of your Chimera and turret!
This will work with any setback Chimera conversions out there as well.