avatar_Weaver

Revell M-48 bridging tank ideas

Started by Weaver, July 28, 2012, 10:04:21 AM

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Weaver

July 28, 2012, 10:04:21 AM
Revell re-released their 1/40th scale M-48 tank with scissors bridge a while ago. However, it couldn't have stayed more firmly stuck to the shelves if they'd been painted with superglue, and MZ are now flogging them at £5 (1/4 of the original asking price), and still don't seem to be getting many takers.

The reason why AFV modellers don't want a crappy old kit in an oddball scale are fairly obvious, but from a whiffers point of view, this is now an awful lot of useful plastic on sale for not very much money:



  • The cast hull is practically a ready-made spaceship (picutres later)
  • It's got a full working track system, which is a good basis for any sci-fi vehicle
  • The bridge and mechanism are a huge source of panels, girders, rods, tubes and boxes
  • The bridge mechanism works, and so is a source of telescoping tubes, pivots etc...
  • It's got two funky MG turrets that could be easily scaleorama'd to 1/76th or 1/48th


So let's have some ideas for ways to use some or all of it: everybody chip in! I'm going to post some pics later, but here's some to be going on with that gives you a good idea of what's in the box:




Good blog on building one OOB: http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=171502

Modelstories article (in French, but with a gazillion photos of both the kit and the real thing): http://modelstories.free.fr/analyses/avions/MS2010_02P/REVL_M48BRIDGE/index.html


Immediate thoughts:

1. Turn the hull into a spaceship in 1/72nd scale, or 15/20/25/28mm wargames scale (to go with figures). The most obvious route is the "Anastasia Option": put a dome over the driver's hatch and a clear panel in the hull top, with lounge/labs/cargo etc.. visible through it. The track fittings can be either cut off or used to mount engine pods.

2. Use the hull and track system as the base to build some sci-fi tracked vehicle on. It's a decent size and very "generic". You could even use the bridge panels/structure as part of the new vehicle.

3. Re-arrange the bridge bits to some other purpose, such a mast-mounted weapons system. For the funkier version, the dual-track bridge means that there are a LOT of pointy girder sections in there, possibly enough to make a spider-shaped walking machine..... :wacko:

4. Use the turrets on something else, scaleorama'd. The .50 cal mouldings arn't so sharp that you couldn't disguise them: all you'd really need to do for for 1/72nd is make up a roof panel with in-scale hatches.


"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot."
 - Sandman: A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Neil Gaiman

"I dunno, I'm making this up as I go."
 - Indiana Jones

PR19_Kit

#1
July 28, 2012, 10:44:01 AM
Hm, I built one of those in 19-waybackwhen........

Amazing that they decided to re-release it. AIR it went together quite well, but armour wasn't (and isn't...) my thing so I gave it to my brother.
Kit's Rule 1 ) Any aircraft can be improved by fitting longer wings, and/or a longer fuselage
Kit's Rule 2) The backstory can always be changed to suit the model

...and I'm not a closeted 'Take That' fan, I'm a REAL fan! :)

Regards
Kit

martinbayer

#2
July 28, 2012, 12:23:01 PM Last Edit: July 28, 2012, 01:18:43 PM by martinbayer
Would be marching to the beat of his own drum, if he didn't detest marching to any drumbeat at all so much.

Weaver

#3
July 28, 2012, 01:45:01 PM
Okay, good start: great pics Martin!  :thumbsup:

Here's some sprue shots. I've left out the gazillion wheels 'cos we all know what they look like, but trust me, there are a gazillion of them.





You see what I mean about the hull? You could just glue that together and stick some jets on it.... :wub: :wub: :wub:



Walker legs anyone?







Loads of lovely greeblies there, in fact looking for pics, I happened upon a couple of mentions of this kit on sci-fi forums. It seems that it's been around so long that bits of it actually featured in various Gerry Anderson studio models.
"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot."
 - Sandman: A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Neil Gaiman

"I dunno, I'm making this up as I go."
 - Indiana Jones

PR19_Kit

#4
July 28, 2012, 03:35:27 PM
You know, I may just go and buy another one of them, just for old time's sake.  ;D
Kit's Rule 1 ) Any aircraft can be improved by fitting longer wings, and/or a longer fuselage
Kit's Rule 2) The backstory can always be changed to suit the model

...and I'm not a closeted 'Take That' fan, I'm a REAL fan! :)

Regards
Kit

Joe C-P

#5
July 28, 2012, 06:55:53 PM
Hey, broadside cannons!

The bridge would work for 1/48 and maybe 1/72.
In want of hobby space!  The kitchen table is never stable.  Still managing to get some building done.

Jacques Deguerre

#6
July 28, 2012, 08:38:41 PM
I still have this kit on my "want list" but haven't gotten around to buying it yet. I've always thought it was such a cool and odd subject.
Some clever and amusing quote goes here.

scooter

#7
July 28, 2012, 08:42:49 PM
Use the decking and tubing for solar arrays for scratch build space station or other some such
The F-106- 26 December 1956 to 8 August 1988
Gone But Not Forgotten

QuoteOh are you from Wales ?? Do you know a fella named Jonah ?? He used to live in whales for a while.
— Groucho Marx

My dA page: Scooternjng

NARSES2

#8
July 29, 2012, 02:05:14 AM
Like Kit I built this way back when, when scale hadn't really entered my head. The moulds seem to have stood the test of time very well  :thumbsup:

Must admit I didn't understand the hull for a spaceship idea, but having now seen the pics it's obvious - a case of a picture equaling a thousand words  :thumbsup:
Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

JayBee

#9
July 29, 2012, 02:16:02 AM
Quote from: Weaver on July 28, 2012, 01:45:01 PM
Walker legs anyone?


Doesn't look a bit like a bottle of Johnny Walker whisky.  :wacko:
Alle kunst ist umsunst wenn ein engel auf das zundloch brunzt!!

Sic biscuitus disintegratum!

Cats are not real. 
They are just physical manifestations of collisions between enigma & conundrum particles.

Any aircraft can be improved by giving it a SHARKMOUTH!

NARSES2

#10
July 29, 2012, 02:52:55 AM
Quote from: JayBee on July 29, 2012, 02:16:02 AM
Quote from: Weaver on July 28, 2012, 01:45:01 PM
Walker legs anyone?


Doesn't look a bit like a bottle of Johnny Walker whisky.  :wacko:

Might after you drank it ?  :drink:
Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

raafif

#11
July 30, 2012, 05:43:32 PM
Interesting ...... I have that kit -- I put the bridge on a Tamiya Centurion (Danish Army).

They have changed the upper-hull of the kit tho -- it is now very simplified -- my upper-hull is a quite accurate rendition of an M-48, including the engine deck.  Wheels in my example are primitive & clunky but good for whiffing - tracks were flexible silver plastic that have gone brittle & are disintergrating.
you may as well all give up -- the truth is much stranger than fiction.

I'm not sick ... just a little unwell.
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