1/35 E-KAT

[frank2056]

A week ago, I got the re-release of the AMT 1/25 Sandkat. It was last available in 1969.



The first step was to scale it to 1/35. The vehicle is pretty small even in this scale. The easiest solution is to source a 1/35 engine, slap in a slightly smaller seat (or use the existing one) and call it a day... but I can't leave well enough alone.
 
I'm still undecided if it's going to be a post apocalyptic vehicle, or some sort of military FAV. Until then, I'm playing with some ideas.

The double rear tires are cool, but I want double front tires as well (even though that would make it a bit tough to steer) or at least thicker tires. I haven't found a suitable 1/35 replacement, so I found some interesting tire treads online and I'm in the process of building them in Rhino3D. Both tires are big - about 45" (114cm) in dia. and around 20" (51cm) wide.

This image shows the tires with their tread patterns:



Just tires:


The tire to the left reminds me of the Aliens APC tire tread, while the one on the right is an interesting sand tire tread I found online. I haven't decided which to go with - I may print both styles and see which looks best on the vehicle. I still have to design the hub.

I found a 1/35 engine to fit in the rear, but it and its transmission take up most of the space available. I also tested two of the spare electric motors from my Theseus 8x8 Amphibious cargo hauler build and a large box to represent the battery box. The steering wheel is from one of the trumpeter Aerosan helicopter kits I built last year. Thankfully, it's not very wide. The bench seat is the rear seat from a Tamiya Jeep kit, cut and trimmed to fit. I changed the front axle so the wheels can now turn:



Those two electric engines probably put out as much power as the V-8 it may replace. Now there's cargo space or room for one or two passengers.


I'll move the battery box forward to keep the center of gravity closer to the middle of the vehicle.

[rickshaw]

You've got the steering wheel on the wrong side...   

[perttime]

You've got the steering wheel on the wrong side...   

Nah. It just isn't on the right side.

[zenrat]

Nice idea.

You going to build rear suspension?

[frank2056]

I could move the steering wheel to the middle and appease/insult everyone equally!

Fred - I'll have to add a suspension of some sort at the rear. The original kit parts just have the transmission firmly attached to the frame in the same position. It would be a pretty unpleasant ride in anything but sand...

[Wardukw]

Oh I love sand dragsters and sand buggies and I'm am going to be building one with these awesome paddle tyres I scored with much thanks to Fred .
I'll be watching the hell out of this one Frank mate 

[frank2056]

Not much to show, even though I spent a few hours on this.

Here's "Nigel" (the driver from the Tamiya Quad tractor) showing how small this vehicle is, even when scaled to 1/35. Changes/additions are:
- two small plastic tubes to act as guides for the steering track rod - the brass wire kept popping out. The whole front end will be somewhat hidden, so the primitive steering mechanism will be mostly hidden
- small plastic crossbeams in the rear
- suspension and mount for the twin electric motors. They're modified M113 wheel arms.



Slightly better view of the motor mounts:



I'll probably add a support rod to connect the ends, but for now I like the Blade Runner Spinner look.

Here's Nigel modelling the position of the two rear passengers/cargo area:



I thought of designing paddle tires, but I was distracted by  the other two tread patterns and forgot.

I'm running some exposure test on the resin I'm going to use, since I noticed that the ideal exposures for my printer have been shorter than typical (a good thing). If they are shorter for this resin, I should get nice crisp prints, so it'll still be a few days before the tire designs are finished and printed.