well it's actually started with the M113- during the 73 war the Golany infantry were given the task to retake the outpost at the top of Hermon mountain (at the top of the the Golan Heights) the road to the outpost was too exposed, so they tried to use choppers but it didn't work so they used the newly M113 (just gut in from USA) but the vulnerability of the M113 cost them a lot, they did take the outpost but with the old WW2 M3's, the lesson was that front fighting infantry needs more protection so IDF used captured T55 to make the first heavy APC (Achzarit), why IDF used T55? we had a lot of them from 67/73 wars and not enough money to build one from scratch.
the Russian also using the same ideas and also has T55 base APC.

Well, the 40k Chimera sides are about to be redesigned, ala:




Link to big picture.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

And when is it released? he asked rhetorically.

Yes, I remember reading about that battle. I've seen pics and footage on the news of the T-55 turned to APCs ... Excellent idea since the M113 is a very old school design and very fragile.  I remember seeing a pic from Vietnam of an ARVN M113 hit by an RPG. It was a burned out hulk, barely recognizable ... probably was a gasser not diesel.  But it would have still been KO'd by the RPG regardless. Probably just less catastrophic ...  Like I said, the other Mech Cdrs mentioned how often I dismounted my troops ...  I remember one of my ROTC intructors, an Airborne Ranger CPT who did 2 tour in 'Nam.  One tour with the 1ID. He discribed how a fellow Co Cdr removed the KIA'd charred body parts of his M113 driver after an RPG hit ... IIRC it was a gasser.  It was a story I wouldn't forget ... (again sorry to go OT ... )

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

That's a good idea !  Maybe a new Chimera design !  That would be very cool !

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Still off topic L4 but how does the general purpose fuel x (6, 8, 9?, whatever its called) compare to petrol and diesel in terms of cooking vehicles? I know a mate from your signals people ('you want to hear war stories - ok let me tell you about the time in the desert I couldn't find any twisted pairs with a 24 AWG stranded conductor' - etc, he found it bored people to death and made them shut up about the army) who in Iraq saw an Abrams catch fire due to the fuel/engine spraying gizmo still working, or the tank crew expecting diesel for some reason, and trying to use the engine smoke generator for a laugh. Many fire extinguishers later the tank was saved.

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'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
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Aughust the 1st in the UK.

The new Leman Russ Demolisher is released on the same date, so I'll be grabbing one then to make my Russ.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Thanks, you're an excellent straight man.

My point being, I really want to get something in the pipeline now. If I wait until August, then it will be a few weeks until I can get the design done, modularize it, and so forth, then PrintAPart, then refine, green or bronze, etc.

And I will make the new Hellhound. It's not a question of which one to do, both will be done. I just want a new style Chimera, that is distinct from the old one, but is still Imperial and Chimery.

This one might be too Albanian, though, since I used that 2 headed Eagle.

That is interesting ... When I was in, we didn't have General Purpose Fuel ... sounds like a good idea from a logistics standpoint ... especially for a highly Mechanized force like the US Army who lives on petroleum products.  However my guess is Gen Purpose fuel maybe a little bit more volatile then diesel, but much less then gas ...  But obviously doesn't work like diesel in all cases ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

So ... back OT ... So we'll see EnC Russes(DKoK) ... And "Ottered" updated Chimera & H/hounds x 2(F/W Graia & Artemia ... Or ?!?) ...  Is that a good estimate ?  

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

I would like to do the FW patterns, but haven't really reached a decision yet. Besides, I like the informal bashes that E&C made.

They sucked.

If you're gonna do a Chimera hull, it takes relatively little to do other Chimera vehicles.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Yeah, the tracks are usually the biggest pain in the ass.

I prefer the new-style GW Chimera sides to the older GW design, they’re subtly nicer (wheras oddly the new Demolisher seems subtly worser). If you wanted to make your basic Chimera vehicles using them you shouldn’t really have to wait till August – there are photos of it about the internet on places like Warseer, see here for an example. You surely already now the length and height of that and could probably measure out how big things should be with good accuracy.

Or you could go with the slab sort you have designed already. It’s really up to you and whatever direction you want to take them.

An Artemis Hellhound and/or the new GW design one could be cool

But if they don't precisely match the plastic, then E&C will be cross at me, and I will cry.