Chapter House Studios is Alive and Well

You may have heard rumors that Chapter House had closed... I had. Fortunately for us all the rumors were just that, rumors. Chapter House Studios posted an retourt on their website to the misinformation:

February, 2016 update.

There has been a lot of rumors going around that Chapterhouse is out of business.  While we have not had the resource or time to release anything new lately we are still taking orders and producing kits.  Many kits are being recast as we speak, such as the conversion kits for the Storm Raven, Razorback and Land Raider tanks.

We just shipped out 50 orders that were waiting...

So do yourself a favor and check out their lineup of quality resin bits and kits for all your wargaming needs. I highly recommend the wheeled conversion kit for use with the Games Workshop Imperial Guard Chimera.

Inquisitorial Chimera with Chapter House & Forge World

Back in February of this year I set about making a one of a kind Inquisitorial Chimera using the Chapter House Studios six wheel kit with iconography and a rear door from Forge World. At that time I completed a review of the Chapter House Studios kit so I won't go into great detail about it in this post but you can check that out by clicking here.

The Chapter House kit required some modifications to fit. I was very happy with the Forge World kit. It was very detailed and I knew it would add a load of detail to my Chimera. 

I was disappointed however (this was my first Chimera) that there were no interior details in the crew compartment. So I made some.

I created a rear entrance and command module for the interior using styrene, sprue, guitar wire and green stuff. I also created some details for the side walls but I didn't get any pictures of them before they were painted.

The hull of the Chimera had to be modified itself. I filled in the driver's hatch and gun ports with apoxie sculpt and sanded them all smooth. I think the gun ports on the sides of the Chimera look stupid with the lasgun array sticking out so I wanted to cover the ports.

Using hatch pieces from multiple kits as well as some styrene rod I created the above gun port covers. I think they look a lot better than the standard lasgun array.

Adding the Chapter House Kit to the Chimera hull was a giant pain in the ass and required a lot of apoxie sculpt, putty, and a razor saw.  I also had to replace all the rivets on the front and sides of the hull using a small diameter styrene rod, but in the end it was worth it. 

I wanted the Chimera to appear to have been requisitioned from an existing Imperial Army so I searched for some obscure Imperial regiments and settled on using the Jouran 29th and an urban camo scheme. You can also see below the magnet in the turret.  All turret mounted weapons are magnetized.

 Initial weathering was completed by sponging to create a chipping effect.

 Decals were added using Microset & Microsol to get a nice painted on look.

After setting, the decals were worn down using a tooth pick.

Additional weathering was created using an oil paint wash.

I also used Secret Weapon Miniatures weathering powders.

 Purity seals were added on various parts of the Chimera to give it an added Inquisitor feel.

 Some bed rolls and other packs were added to give a lived in feel.

The name Jouran and number 29 were added using rub on transfers. I like these because they can be worn down easily with a toothpick.

 And the finished product...

Chapter House Studios - Chimera Wheeled Conversion Kit Review

UPDATE: Click here to see the finished product.

After the release of the Codex: Inquisition I knew I wanted to build a show quality Inquisitorial Chimera.  In order to achieve the standout quality I was looking for I knew I was going to be adding some aftermarket bits to the standard Chimera from Games Workshop.  I chose the Chimera Wheeled Conversion Kit from Chapter House Studios.

At $18.50 it was priced right for the size of the kit.  And at first look is well cast and had very little flashing and only one very small bubble on one wheel, which will be hidden from view when completed.

The master model was clearly a 3D print which was polished up with a little putty and sanding.  That being said there are some parts along the top edge where either the master model wasn't cleaned up very well or they have some serious lines in the mold.

These lines where not easy to clean up and required a bit of "carving" with my x-acto knife to bring back in line with the rest of the model.  I had to be very careful not to remove the rivets.

I had already read reviews of this kit at Codicium Aeternum and WarFrog's Hobby Blog so I knew that there was going to be some work involved.  Both of them complained in their blogs about the poor fit of the kit.  This had been explained by Chapter House representatives as a result of the conversion being designed for the older Chimera model.  While it can still be used on the new model without any modifications, it just looks a bit off.

Taped into position the asymmetry of the kit becomes apparent.  This also created an odd ridge along the sides of the rear hull where the kit extended over the model edges by about 1.5-2mm.  I didn't grab a picture of this but it can been seen to some extent on the Chapter House website, as can the rest of the perceived misalignment discussed here and in other reviews.

Given that this kit is shown on the Chapter House website assembled just as it would out of the box, it is my impression that they're choice was one of aesthetics.  And while I prefer WarFrog's finished version to that shown by Chapter House.  I think mine is going to fall somewhere in between.

For persons like myself, who are hobbyists first, gamers second, this kit will require some skills to assemble/modify in a way which is pleasing to the eye and satisfying to our level of perfection.  For those with fewer hobby skills the kit will still work out of the box, will still make your model a unique addition to your army, just understand that it will look like an aftermarket kit when finished.

Right about now you may be wondering where my pictures are of the modifications and finished product.  Well that will come later in my Inquisitorial Chimera build posts.  I couldn't just order the Chapter House kit and call it a day!  I've got some Forgeworld, some scratch built and what I think will become one of my future product lines in the works for this.  Stay tuned.