This review covers both the Chaos Rotten Dedicated Transport Conversion Set and the Chaos Spike Tracks for Rhino conversion pieces by Grim Skull Miniatures. These are available to purchase from the Wargame Exclusive website.
- Chaos Rotten Dedicated Transport Conversion Set
- Chaos Spike Tracks
I personally bought this conversion kit as I am starting a Death Guard army for 8th Edition. I have painted many rhinos and wanted to give the death guard another unique model. Accompanying my corrupted redemptor dreadnought Brother Grod.
Packaging
The Conversion kit comes in a cardboard box with a sleeve of thin cardboard surrounding it. The sleeve is decorated with the Grimskull miniatures iconography. Inside the resin conversion parts were wrapped in bubble wrap.
The spiked track links were presented in a clear plastic blister with the smaller pieces being contained within a sealed packet inside the blister.
What is it?
This is a full conversion set for games workshops plastic rhino kit. You need five pieces from the rhino: floor, inner track sections, central support console and a hatch.
Here are the two side panels you get with the conversion kit. The amount of detail in these is insane.
You get a top panel, front plate and door which come lavished with the same amount of detail.
Assembly
Due to the design of the right hand outer track I had to do some surgery and remove the hatch from the plastic rhino inner track portion.
The conversion piece then fit snugly in place.
Initial test fitting revealed that I needed to trim some of the parts to make them fit correctly.
With the very small amount of trimming completed the parts fit perfectly.
The spiked tracks were an option I wanted to employ with this model. They gave me no issues beyond the fact that due to a packing error I got two of each small piece (which only fitted one side.), but this was solved via cutting off the guide posts from the track sections in question and lining them up with those that fit perfectly.
Price
This is probably the only issue many will have with this kit, it costs more than the model it is designed for. You could get two Rhino kits for the cost of just this kit and its shipping alone.
Quality
The Quality and level of detail is exceptional, the resin feels nice and takes paint easily. I like the finished look this gives to the rhino and does really set it apart from a stock model, but even I will agree that the price is a bit much.
Finished and Painted Rhino
I have painted assembled and washed this rhino to use with my 8th Edition deathguard forces.
Here is the rhino amongst my fledgling 8th edition Death guard force. I have enough pieces to try to resurrect a land raider for them. Which I will attempt to imitate the look of the rhino using green stuff and sprue offcuts. I am still unsure of how I should base this army, hence the paint splattered but unpainted bases. Suggestions would be welcome.
While I do not own a current rhino for my chaos army (I have a couple of rogue trader rhinos, but none of the current kit), this converted Dark angels razorback shall serve as a comparison piece to show the difference this kit makes.
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Great review, and it is a damn sexy kit. The price is the catching point for me, but if you want a showpiece then why not? It’s too bad things didn’t all fit perfectly, but I’m also not really surprised. Still, I didn’t seem like a huge deal overall.
It does make a nice showpiece and shows just how far behind GW and FW are in what they have done with the rhino kit. (Just the OOP ork looted rhino conversion kit, the Diemos pattern and then doors and front plates for a handful of chapters.)
A minor shave using an exacto blade made the parts fit (the removal of the panel was the hardest part of the construction) which when compared to the tracks of a Diemos rhino based kit or Fellblade {The two FW kits I had the most issues with} so a very minor issue.
Good review but I am not sold, the sheer price of it for a rhino is crazy. I know you say as a centre piece but a transport is rarely a centrepiece.
Hi Rory,
The price is what held me back into only grabbing one conversion kit. To me it was worth buying, as when you have an army as heavily stylised as the Deathguard are even a basic transport needs to stand out.
Nice counter point.
Nice review! Man is your Rhino pooping everywhere or is just a light trick? I’m a Nurgle painter and I have seen tons of Nurgle minis but no one is pushed so far!!!
I like your style. You use a lot of colours maybe some natural/neutral bases could help to pop the miniatures and balanced it. Howevert recently I used not natural colours for bases according to the opposite colour theory, it is quite harsh and nice!
Not a light trick it is pooping as it traversed the battlefield. (Its part of the moulding of the conversion kit. I suppose I could have made it leak some of nurgle other favourites, pus for instance but I preferred it to be spreading diseases waste in its own way.)
I will give natural bases a try (Perhaps dead grassland.. hmm) on a test model and see how it looks, thanks for the suggestion.
Yeah, it looks great, but I just can’t justify dropping that much. Especially on a basic Transport like a Rhino. At that price point, I would probably go for a similar conversion kit for a Land Raider, but not for a Rhino.
Its an option but an expensive one at that and I only plan to have one rhino for the army anyway (I have 3 plague marines squads. and with the enhanced rapid fire range the deathguard get, walking is not much of an issue.) so it was worth it for me.
Its an option but an expensive one at that and I only plan to have one rhino for the army anyway (I have 3 plague marines squads. and with the enhanced rapid fire range the deathguard get, walking is not much of an issue.) so it was worth it for me.
Yeah, if you’re only running the one, it’s easier to justify. I’m looking at 3-4 Rhinos for my Death Guard tho, at least in some builds.