Hydra Kitbash

Like many people, I saw the obvious possibilities in the new quod autocannon turret that comes with the Aegis lines kit for a kitbashed Hydra.

The issues were: (i) Where to mount the guns, and (ii) how to mount them.

I decided that they should be mounted in/on the rear of the APC, where the passenger bay is found. This is normal practice for fitting heavy weapons to an APC for a couple of good reasons. Firstly, the passenger bay sans passengers has space for the turret, rotation motors, ammo feeds, reinforcement struts etc. Secondly, this keeps the weight distribution evenly mounted over the axles, an important consideration when adding weight to an already overloaded vehicle.

I wanted to use one of the Chimera hulls I have already built. I did not want to have to cut down the rear hull so I built a plasticard armoured bridge over the superstructure and cemented on the bunker top from the Aegis kit to hold the guns, rather than use a turret, as the latter would sit to high and make the Chimera look overbalanced.






The Hydra has radar dishes and augur sensors added to model the search and tracking radars of AA weapons. A 'dozer blade seemed a logical requirement for a defensive vehicle with only modest armour. The crew would want to 'dig in' whenever possible.

I removed the heavy bolter from the bow and welded it over as Imperial doctine would discourage a Hydra from engaging enemy infantry at close range, given its long range autocannon. I assume the crew might pintle mount a heavy stubber themselves, in case the enemy are not familiar with Imperial doctrine. The crew have also welded on additional armour plates on the front.






The concrete dust is a mixture of MIG powders and diluted PVA 'white' glue. The grease/fuel oil leaks are burnt umbar oil paint. This takes forever to dry but is suitably gunky.






The final pic is of a gun line moved in to to plug a hole in the line through which enemy infantry is flooding.