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I really love Ratgard's Chimera conversion kits so I thought I'd have a go at making my own.
So far I've got two kits ready for casting.

The first is a chassis kit to turn the venerable Imperial Guard Chimera into a Stug type self propelled artillery piece. The kit comes complete with three different weapons which are interchangeable. In order to use this kit all you need are the Chimera sides, floor and front chassis.









The kit was created using styrene sheet and tube. Joints were then filled with copious amounts of Liquid greenstuff and then filed smooth using an emery board (several in fact!).

The second kit is a straight up turret kit to turn a Leman Russ into a Ragnarok, similar to the one I featured in the Tanks Tanks Tanks entry. This too will feature interchangeable weapons although I may create different ones from what is shown in the photos below.






Both of these models are now ready to be cast up which I will attempt in the coming weeks. Stay peeled for more updates. My ultimate aim is to cast them in resin and offer them for sale so if you're interested, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get in touch.

That reminds me, if any of you know of a decent brand of resin please do give me a shout. I'm intending to use Easy Flo as I've used it before and found it easy to use, but if you know of anything better I'd be interested in hearing from you.

that is pretty damn cool

once it's up for sale you should post in News and rumors.

So I've been preparing the conversion kits for casting. I'll be using a two part cast for the Stug chassis and a single part cast for the turret and weapons.

I've found that a single part cast works best if the parts are glued down, otherwise they float in the silicone which fairly easily wrecks what you're doing. I can always go back and clean them up later for a second mold.

For the two part cast I've been trying to work out which end to pour the resin from. I figured that a front down configuration would work best so I've glued several gates to the back end of the model. This is a flat area that can easily be sanded flat again by the user.

Here are the pics:





I sat down last night and built a couple of mold walls out of lego, then watched as my silicone ran out half way through the job. (Note to self: buy more silicone.)

That StuG conversion looks so cool. Good luck with the casting!

That's a nice looking kit. Consider my interest piqued.

The stug variant is cool, could also use it to turn Chimeras into Counts-as Russes as well.

This is really terrific work. I look forward to seeing more, and as KK said - once you have some ready to go, you should post in N&R. Any idea on costs yet? I know that's very early.

You might consider, on the very first model, making a slightly different one that has a wider barrel channel, and including a long barrel, a short fat one, etc.

Very impressive. Hell of a job.

Thanks for the all the input. It's great to know that it's something that you think might sell. I was thinking around £15 for the stug kit, £13 for the Ragnarok turret. I'd just be happy to sell a few.

I'll be sure to keep on posting updates here throughout the process. I'm currently waiting on more silicone at the moment. Once that arrives I'll post more pictures.

I think if you want to make some money write an ebook on how to do what you just did in this post - generically speaking of course. I wanted to make an IG Colossus gun. I built it out of some card board and wood doweling but looks nothing like the stuff you're doing here. I'm sure there are a bunch of newbies who would kill to learn those skills. Unless of course an ebook already exists in which case could someone please direct me to it?

That's definitely an idea although I'm happy to answer any questions or free to be honest. For the greater good and all that.

Your basic shape was made out of lego strangely enough, then covered in plasticard. The joints were then filled with copious amounts of liquid green stuff and then sanded flat.

You can then panel to your heart's content.

The trick is to get hold of various thicknesses of plasticard. Any superstructure should be 2mm, whilst the panelling work should be around 0.5mm or less. Also, keep an eye out for which end you're going to be pouring the resin from when you come to cast it. You don't want overhangs which will not cast unless you have access to a vacumn chamber or a spin casting machine.

Having said that, I haven't cast this thing yet so it may all go horribly wrong.

I'll keep you posted.

To get the measurements correct I drew the pattern out in Adobe Illustrator first (I'm a web designer by trade.) although I'm sure even Powerpoint would work just as well. Tape the print out to the plasticard and cut away.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to add: use real life an your inspiration. Look at how certain things appear on WW2 tanks. So much of 40K's source material is based on history.

I am in absolute love with the stug inspired kit I'd change my tanks into them, I don't know what I would count them as but I'd had them anyways, maybe for my planned armoured company...

Crikey, I better get casting then.

Ah, ok then that would be very helpful. Like I said I've tried dabbling in conversions, etc, and really not happy with most of my outcomes. So here's some, probably easy, questions:

1. How do you cut your plasticard? No, seriously. I've been using an exacto blade and a metal cork backed ruler and my cuts are usually not nearly as perfect.

2. How do you cut perfect circles like that so small?

3. How did you make your rivets? Some look inverted - more like holes.

4. On the gun barrels are those just telescoping plastruct tubes? How did you cut those ridiculously small circles for the ends?

I'm sure more will come to me but I know that's a lot of what I've been struggling with.

How hard would it be to do a version if the StuG without the gun in the front and a mount hole for the turret in the top instead?

It's how I want to build my Russ variants.

 Ross74H wrote:
How hard would it be to do a version if the StuG without the gun in the front and a mount hole for the turret in the top instead?

It's how I want to build my Russ variants.

Kinda defeats the purpose of a stug doesn't it Technically it wasn't a 'tank' but was categorized as self-propelled artillery. Just saying...

Necron99, in answer to your questions:

1. How do you cut your plasticard? No, seriously. I've been using an exacto blade and a metal cork backed ruler and my cuts are usually not nearly as perfect.

I use an exacto blade and a steel ruler. Ditch the cork backed ruler as the you need to get as close to the metal as possible. The cork just gets in the way. Make several light strokes. With the thicker card it's better to do a couple of strokes then snap the card. Any rough edges, when joined, were then filled with Liquid Greenstuff and sanded down.

2. How do you cut perfect circles like that so small?

I use a circle cutter. You can buy them fairly cheaply on Ebay. They basically look like a compass with a blade one one end. Be careful not to press too hard when using one as the circle distorts fairly easily. Again, several light strokes are required.

3. How did you make your rivets? Some look inverted - more like holes.

For most rivets I simply use the smallest gauge of Evergreen tube (0.2mm I think) and shave off several ends at once. Of course, actually glueing them in place is then really time consuming. For the Stug, I actually did invert them. They are indeed holes. With this method, I marked out with a compass needle where I wanted an inverted rivet, then made a small hole with a pin vice.

4. On the gun barrels are those just telescoping plastruct tubes? How did you cut those ridiculously small circles for the ends?

They are indeed just telescoping plastruct tubes. The small circles at the end are tube inside another tube, with a smaller tube inside that (if you follow). Adding rivets then gives them some semblance of reality.

Hope that helps.


Ross 74H: You could put a turret on the top, but that does tend to negate the idea of a Stug. Still, this is a sci fi vehicle and there's no reason to constrain yourself with real world examples. Tell you what, if this Stug kits casts ok and sells, I'll take a vote as to what the next kit will be. I'm erring towards it being something along the lines of my Renegade laser platform featured in one of my other posts, but I'm open to requests.

@tomcra - excellent, thanks!

I've been looking for a decent circle cutter but haven't seen anything for really tiny stuff. Could you tell me what you're using?

Do you use any CAD software or do you just measure and cut? I've been tinkering with the idea of learning sketchup or something similar.

How do you cut your tubes? I've been using the exacto-saw but it's not very fine - leaves a real mess on the end of the cut. I know I can just sand it up but I was interested in seeing if there's a cleaner way to cut. I've been thinking about using my scroll saw just haven't gotten around to it yet. Plus I'd need a jig to keep the cuts straight. No bigee just something else I'd have to build.

I use one of these for the circle cutting:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rolson-Tools-Compass-Circle-Cutter-Cuts-Perfect-Circles-for-Paper-and-Card-/310596721889?pt=UK_Papercraft_Tools_Accessories_2&hash=item485101dce1

For measurements I lay out the plan of what I'm making in Adobe Illustrator, then print off and tape to the plasticard. Anything that allows you to make 2D shapes by entering exact measurements would work.

The smaller tubes you can cut all the way through. Larger tubes I tend to roll them with the knife blade (as if I'm rolling modelling clay) then snap. Any rough edges can then be cleaned up by sanding against a carpenter's mate (basically a two bits of MDF on top of each other to provide a right angle). Don't be tempted to cut through a larger tube, it will just distort and you'll get play at the bottom as the cut leans away from you.

That Stug would make a great armored top Griffon mortar. Make that compartment taller and it would work a a closed top Basilisk. Nice design, hope it works out.

Hey

Very nice clean plasticard work and good luck on casting them, I have been thinking of doing similar with my tank builds for a while now.

a few tips: you might want to use thinner pieces for the main body with supporting ribs inside unless, it helps reduce the error on the edge joints that you have to fill in otherwise also it looks like your using, the only time its best to use 1mm or thicker is with 90 degree joints otherwise it can get really messy.
Oh and try cling film between the Lego and silicone next time

I really don't like the shape of the turret or the guns (except the flamer that looks excellent) this is just my opinion and taste so feel free to ignore it

But like I said I like the quality of you builds, everything is nicely aligned with really nice detail work, you can be proud of that.

keep up the good work

Noodles

Ok, so we have molds!!

The extra silicone arrived the other day and more than covered what I needed. In fact I had some left over a trio of turrets that I've also been making so I'll offer those for sale too.

Here are the pics:

A simple, one sided mold for the Ragnarok turret and the interchangeable guns:



Another one sided mold for the trio of turrets.
Two of them are intended to accomodate a weapon (not supplied). The third is intended as an unarmed, observation or communication turret.




Finally, the two part mold for the Chimera conversion kit:



As you can see, all the details appear to have been preserved (phew). Now I just need to buy some resin. Which brings me neatly on to my next question.

I was going to use EasyFlo for this job. I've used it before. However, I've always found the results a little plastic for my liking. I wondered if any of you knew of a reliable resin, more similar to the sort used by say Maxmini or even Forgeworld. Give me a shout if so and I'll look it up.