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Ever since I first saw pictures of the the ONI vehicles for AT-43, I have wanted to use them as stand-ins for Chimeras in my IG.
IMO they represent a more modern and contemporary apporach to an IG army, along with the Valkyrie kit. My current core IG list, comprises of no less than 4-6 Valkyrie/Vendetta and 5-7 Chimeras.

In order to try and keep the overall dimensions and footprint of the Chimera, an also try to retain the placement of weaponry, it soon became apparent that the ONI vehicle was a little narrow compared to the Chimera.
The idea was to widen the hull and add some sort of hull mounted weapons station.

Heres the current progress:






The hull still needs some GS work and sanding, but its getting there.

Also keeping with the updated look are some Cadian torsos with MOLLE and a few of my veterans with retrofitted MOLLE




I hope you enjoy, and I'll try to update shortly.

Sorry, What's MOLLE?

Vehicle has lot's of potential, keep us posted.

cakefool wrote:Sorry, What's MOLLE?

Vehicle has lot's of potential, keep us posted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOLLE_%28military%29

I love the MOLLE idea, I thought of doing the same thing to my next vets with pouches.

Very sharp sculpting skills!

Wouldn't it be easier to just use plasticard all the way? I was going to say it needed a lot more work smoothing it out then I relised it was WIP. The tops looking good!

Seems like the MOLLE gear should be used i.e. canteens and ammo pouches. Takes a little away to have the high speed gear, but still have their equipment on the belts.

Yeah I know - it sucks a little...

...But the boring fact is, I'm not about to break apart or discard old models just for that.

Besides, any detail on the front would be partly obscured by weapons and arms, so the MOLLE is mostly there for my own kicks. Also I trully hate that armored bra look-a-like that the Cadians are wearing.

Treadheadz wrote:
Yeah I know - it sucks a little...

...But the boring fact is, I'm not about to break apart or discard old models just for that.

Besides, any detail on the front would be partly obscured by weapons and arms, so the MOLLE is mostly there for my own kicks. Also I trully hate that armored bra look-a-like that the Cadians are wearing.

You could always molle out the front of their armor, kinda like the IBAs. Then, take pouches and canteens and apply them to the model.

GS work on the top looks sharp! How did you fill out the middle when modeling? I would assume you're not using that much Green Stuff.

Nice GS work, the Chimera conversion is looking good too.

Well I started by cutting the model in half, then filling any "holes" with plasticard and GS. Then added plasticard spacers to get the right width. added a bit more GS to to seal of any gaps. And then filled the whole interior with resin, to provide a stable platform for further GS work...

...I think I will try an easier and less time consuming method for the next ones...But I'll most likely just go and then go crazy with RTV-rubber and resin!

Ok then, time for a small update.

The hull is coming along fine, I couldn't resist giving it an undercoat before the rivet work and 40K bitz adding.

Turret still needs weapons and bitz and I'm still in the dark as to hull wepaons.

Comparizon to the unmodified Destroyer and Chimera

Top

Front

Side

Rear - "I like big B's and I cannot lie...hum hum.."


I also still need to redo the front bumper and top hatch, hopefully I'll get some more work done tomorrow and it should be ready for the weekend.

Enjoy!

Looking good.

I think if you're going to do more of these this way, though, you would be better off just re-skinning the top with a layer of plasticard, rather than trying to fill the gap with putty.

Yup, theres plenty of GS and time to save on that.

...Oh and thanks for moving this to P&M Blogs.

KICK BUTT this is rather cool I will admit. I love the molle as it reminded me of the one I used to wear. Would be tops if you put a camelpack on their backs for agua

Right then, I got a little work done yesterday, so here goes.

The front bumper and top hatch are nearly complete, and I still need to add smoke launchers to the turret. But progress is good.

I'm still strugling a bit with the hull weapons. But I've come up with a acceptable solution.

One of my main concerns with this project, was to keep the weapons in relative same positions and to match the Chimeras profile as much as possible. I think that goal is met.

Also I've done some test scheme for my AirCav Veterans

Enjoy the show!






Veterans

Going for a SWAT look I take it on the veterans?

Those look like an interesting variant on the existing Chimera. How did you do the turret? I'm considering modifying some vehicles into Chimeras at some point and would like to steal that idea!

Those look quite nice, though I think you will be able to save yourself a lot of work (and resin) in the future. The new chimera kits are going to be a good bit thinner if their side compartment bits (the long parts you glues onto the sides of the track parts currently) follow the current Hellhound design where it is all one peice. That seems to shave nearly 1/2 an inch off the width of the vehicle, so the unmodified AT-43 tank might be just about the same, or a tad smaller.

Great work though man, I might have to pick up one or two of those for =][= storm trooper vehicles or something.

Actually Wehr gave a great idea... Make another then cast it as you have taken it far enough out of the IP rights of other companies.

[Steps up to the podium] Ahem. Gentlemen...and lady, I can not neither confirm or deny, any existence of a devious/genious plan to up anywhere of around 8-10 of this model... [steps slowly away, and awaits the hazing].

The 10 procent deviation is a myth BTW.

Lookin' great.