Forgeworld Are Assholes (How to Build the Hydra)

I picked up two of the Forgeworld Hydra kits to make nicer versions of them than what I previously had (Aegis Gunline converted to get the job done), and after assembling the Chimera parts... I was not exactly elated about what I received:

Ezmode Building

WTF Garbage

Now... what the image above does not tell you is the hour I spent with two bowls of water (one hot, one cold) dipping pieces of resin in to make them soft, bending them into shape, then quickly dunking them in the cold water to set them. Oh, and within about 30 seconds, the freshly boiled water is no longer hot enough to soften it again. Someone mentioned trying a blowdryer, but there is a risk of bubbling the resin, so not happening. I would also suggest keeping away from your deep fryer.


Furthermore, those flat top hatch pieces were just... odd. I have no clue how two pieces coming out of the same mold could be so different. Different lengths and varying widths meant they were not good enough for what I just paid for. So, for the first time ever, I decided to try some 'hobbying' (I have never done this before, but it seems to mostly involve swearing at inanimate objects, which I picked up quickly). Enter Plasticard:

Cutting that hole in the centre is a bitch.

I used something called Sheet Styrene produced by Evergreen Scale Models (1mm thick, and with 1/8" squares marked on the rear which made for really easy cutting).

All done.

WTF, seriously?

 So, one more piece of my plastic cleaned this whole thing up nicely, after knifing down those rivets to get a clean seal:

Doing Forgeworld's job for them.

Completed model.

Actually, in preparation for this I looked at a few entries people have posted about how to get this done and kind of combined the ones I thought looked best. Pretty simple steps, but I think it is one of the better ways to get this thing looking nice and clean. No greenstuff!