Hello all! I've been having tons of fun in this community and have had tons of inspiration seeing all the different projects from all the members. For some odd reason, I've been heavily into tanks recently and just cannot get enough.

So...I decided to build myself a non-scale tank to kind of, ease myself into the whole armored vehicle thing. Testing myselft to see if I can handle building tracks and especially tracks that work. Kind of pointless for a static model, but I just couldn't refuse myself!

Anyhow, this little tank is about a tad bit bigger than an average person's fist. Right now, it has over 60 pieces not including the tracks. At it's current stage, I'm ready to start sanding and filling. Once that's fairly completed, I'll then start adding the rest of the details such as rivets, panel lines and some of the finer things as well. As for paint scheme, I plan on doing 3 - 4 diff types. So yeah, I'll have fun making the molds for this.

BTW, the ugly screws were used due to the fact that I just had to make them work. But for display purposes, I'll be taking them out and inserting a styrene rod in it's place and just tack it down shut.

I know, it's shaped oddly! I gave it a cartoonish shape so yeah...nothing will make sense on it in terms of reality. So that's why it's considered to be a "non-scale" I suppose. Thanks for your time!

Look like an Italian M13-40

Awesome plasticard work here. Can you give a little details on how you made the tracks please.

This cartoonish tank would feel right at home in a Warhammer 40K army

Hi Rohby,
That looks cool I'll go with what Richard says "an Italian M13-40"
You mention molds?If you do Tiger 1 later I'll buy one from you
Look forward to seeing it finished.
Well done so far
Andy

One of these:

L6/40

30's era tanks lend themselves to cartooning (in an affectionate way) and yours is really nice.

David

V-nice!!! I have no idea whatsoever as to what kind of tank it is as my knowledge of tanks is limited to the fact that they exist. Although I agree that it is cartoon-ish (not that that is bad and seems to be intended), I do not agree that it would fit into a Warhammer 40K army at all. Im not offended by that comment in the least because having a game to go with my minis is soooo much better than only being able to stare at a model on a shelf. Nice work indeed!!

Hey guys thanks for the comments!

And the winner is DRADER!!! It's an L6 / 40 Light Tank. The M-13 40 guesses was very close.

BTW, what's a warhammer 40k?

RichardM, thanks for asking about the tracks. I forgot to mention some details in regards to that. Wow, the tracks were sooo tedious!!! There's about 27 links to each side of the tracks. I started by making 4 master links and then just made a mold for them and casted the rest of them. Even so, it's still super tedious and time consuming. For the masters, I just used thin styrene strips. I couldn't find the exact thickness that I wanted so I had to double up on the strips. The tracks a simple design actually. I had to do it as simple as possible for fear that it maynot work correctly and wasting my time. But it's just 4 tiny strips laid out parallel to each other and one strip going across the 4 glued together. Ofcourse the 4 strips are evenly spaced to allow for the linking. I then had to individually drill out pin holes on each link. I used a regular tiny pin needle to attach the links together. I could also use tiny copper wire for this job as well. This way, it wont be as visable. I'll get some up close pics of the tracks later on.

I am a little confused. Was it your intent to make the tank look out of poportion (cartoon-ish)? I can not tell from the pic of the real tank. Either way you have done an excelent job!!!

As for your question about 40K, it is a tabletop wargame. Check out the link here... 40K

Hey Coldwarrior, thanks for the info in regards to the 40K warhammer! It's crazy!! I had no idea about this game!

As for the design of the tank, yeah it's on purpose the way the tank looks so cartoon-ish. I wanted to build a off scaled tank that way I didn't have to worry about being too accurate in terms of details and what not. I know, lazy lazy.

Here's a couple of sketches I did before I got started in building it:

Wow someone is talented!!! I love the drawings!!! I dont blame you about accurate scale. Im not accurate either. Especially at this beginning stage of learning the basics. As for the 40k game you should check out Imperial Guard in particular as they have lots of tanks and mechanical vehicles. Also forgeworld.uk, a sister company to GW, has a lot of really cool stuff! That is where I got the pics for the vulture gunship I am building right now!

I actually like the idea of using the screws to assemble the tank. You could reproduce them and sell this as a kit. Then do a few more to complete the set. Then move on to a line of fighter jets and so on. I know its been done, but it would be an appealing line of models. Great work, keep em coming!

Coldwarrior, yeah I thought about selling this as a kit, but it maynot be feasible in terms of it's style to pple's collection/interest. None the less, I do have plans on making molds for this so I can have a few of them for myself to use for different camo schemes. I guess selling a a few of them wouldn't hurt in the attempt to regain some of the cost of materials

Anyhow, here's some updated pics! I finished cleaning up all the mess and imperfections so far and primered it up. I even did a few rivets on it as well but havn't finished it yet. All I have left to do is, finish rivets ofcourse, finish some doors/windows, detail the front and rear wheels, and that's about it.

On the contrary!!!! I believe this model is of a very high standard. It is very clean and snap from what I can see. When it comes to moulding it I can see a few problems . Right off the top the treads will be a problem. I dont know if I can help too much in this area as I have only ever used one brand of rtv (Synair). The tank kits from Warhammer 40k come on the sprue but the layout of the treads might help you. They have several long sections, several short sections and several individual treads. As for cost of materials, the mould would cost more than the rest of the materials combined. If you want several for yourself its worth it and if you only ever sell say 5-10 you can pay for the mould. You really have done a great job on it though!

Now I have a question for you. How do you go about joining the styrene in such complex shapes? I know how I do it, but I have all sorts of bracing to get the angles right and it still does not come out as clean as what you have shone here. Do you bevel the edges to join an angle and if so how? I use a v small hand plane.

Hey Coldwarrior,

The tracks were actually okay in regards to the moulds. I had already casted them and I didn't have much of a problem with them Originally, I had made about 4 master links and with those I made the a mould and casted the rest of the track pieces.

I totally understand what you're saying about complex shapes and what a pain they are to get down accurately! But in my case, this design was actually rather simple. Alot of flat surfaces. The only painful parts other than the tracks were the two parts I circled in the picture below:



These two parts were the hardest to get right. Infact I just couldn't get them right at all! So I simply framed them up and just puttied it instead. Like you mentioned, I do do some beveling especially on the turret section with all those angled pieces. I just use my trusty filer and file the edge down to a desired angle. A bit time consuming, but get's the job done nicely.

BTW, do you work in the modeling field for a living?

great scratch build, Looks like that took some time, Id like to see the painted final product

Thanx. Na Im more of a fiddler (every spare moment kind of fiddler, hehe). I have made a few moulds and learned a few things, but Im no pro with them. I had forgotten you mentioned casting the treads I was just meaning that cast the treads as a whole would not work (or not easily), but Im sure you knew that.

Its been a while. Hows it going? Probably same as with me no time. Cant wait to see more! Later

That's really good. You should try and market them. I'd buy one and build it!

Cool!! I'd buy one. Kit or finished.

Hey guys, thanks for the wonderful comments! It's all done as far as I see it, I've finished adding some more minor details to it since the last pics. Just simple things like the rest of the rivets, some details on the doors and what not.

Hey Coldwarrior, yeah I've been super busy lately too! Havn't had any time to make molds for the parts yet. Hopefully soon!