Chimera Relief Column Arrives!

The spoils of the Battle of Oxford Street 

Today's latest additions to the army: another tank!  Being unable to face painting any more infantry for the moment, I decided to plump for a Chimera this morning, so I could mount my autocannon turret.  After the protracted Battle of Oxford Street (in which I valiantly fended off all efforts by GW staff to laden me down with White Dwarf subscriptions, glue, paint, brushes, books and Finecast, all after a preliminary skirmish battling through hordes of numerically superior spotty teenagers), I managed to walk away with a Chimera, as well as some 60mm bases for heavy weapons teams.  Will probably do a conversion step-by-step on the Palladian HW teams in the next few days.

My main effort this morning was to get the Chimera built.  I wanted to stick pretty closely to the main features, with the only major conversion work required was to cover up the six holes at the back where the lasguns normally poke out of.  Taking out my first GW tank in a very long time, I was pleasantly surprised at some of the features like the new-improved track assembly system (new to me ... it really has been years since I got a tank), as well as an easy-to-assemble turret with a few more options.  However, gutted to find that the old tank accessories sprue (specifically the track guards) are no no longer included.

Seriously?!  Well, I still paid it

Other than that, I was very happy with my new toy and set about putting it together, with the aid of a steaming mug of coffee that was made a la Malcolm Tucker, i.e. 'so thick it's like drinking plimsols'.  The tracks, traditionally the most complicated bits of a Guard tank, were together in minutes.  Apart from that, there are a few very minor tweaks that make the model a lot easier to put together, including a new turret weapon mount, and new hinges on the rear door.  Other bonuses included tougher parts; the thin fiddly things like hinges and handles easily came off without breaking.  I don't know if GW use new plastic (the colour of new plastic parts is a much darker shade of grey than it was 5 years ago), but the quality did seem very high to be fair.  The whole thing was together in about 20 mins: very pleased with the quality and ease of use, not so impressed with the lack of extras which now have to be bought separately.

Self-Stirring Mug:  10pts.  An officer with a
Self-Stirring Mug has +1 Initiative.  In addition,
he may still use a one-handed weapon at
the same time.

 Anyway, the only other thing to add is a promised review of Liquid Green Stuff.  I'm not going to sit and do a whole article on it, I'll just devote special attention to it whenever I use it from now on and tag the articles, so you can search for Green Stuff to see how it's all been used.

Before ...

... after!

Chimera devotees will know that to make it a chimera, you have to slot on the top of the hull, which houses the top hatch, turret ring and lasgun ports.  This leaves a somewhat unsightly gap between the front and top parts of a tank.  After visiting the Land Warfare Centre at Duxford, UK as a boy I once noticed the rough nature of most tanks' finishes.  Far from the smooth, polished finish of the GW plastic most were plastered in rough weld lines here and there.  I decided to have a go and replicate it with Liquid Green Stuff.  It comes in a paint pot with almost the exact consistency of melted chocolate.  Putting a fair-sized blob on the end of a sculpting tool, I ran the blade down the gap.  This filled in the space between the seal, but also left a nice 'furrow' either side that looks a bit like a rough weld.  I also used it to great effect in sealing a gap in the front vision window (also known as the turret weapon mount), and smeared it over the hull-mounted heavy bolter to cover a few gaps.  All in all, a very useful product and given that I only used the tiniest of tiny amounts to do this, I'm guessing the £2.25 investment will last for a very long time.

Rear view, showing the roof rack.

The final effort was to cover up the lasgun slits.  I was in a bit of a pickle over this; an initial attempt to cover it with spare track links looked bad, because pasted so close to the main tracks just looked odd.  I decided to take advantage of the sloped sides to create 'luggage racks'.  These would mainly be filled with rolled tarpaulins but also some fuel drums, odd track link and maybe a lasgun.  See the pic for results ... overall I'm very pleased but I need to get some thread or fine twine to lash it all down.  Incidentally, the racks are created by gluing the internal lasgun mounting platform (which normally holds the lasguns in place) onto the outside vertically.  Oh yes, and a very important check: make sure the turret rotates without smashing into the stowage on the back!

All in all, a successful day I think.  A bit more painting for me now, with plans over the next few days for that promised step-by-step on heavy weapons emplacements, and also a wrecked Chimera ... stay tuned!