Thinking tanks

[PR19_Kit]

Every time I look at the title of this thread the idea of a Dalek like vehicle crosses my mind 

Looking at a front view of a Challie 2 I'm not surprised! 

[Old Wombat]

Or a BOLO.

Or any other autonomous, self-aware AI tank you may conjure up.

[PR19_Kit]

I like that Swedish one with the gun fixed to the chassis, and to elevate the gun they raised and lowered the height of the tracks! 

[scooter]

I like that Swedish one with the gun fixed to the chassis, and to elevate the gun they raised and lowered the height of the tracks! 

Enjoy:

Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: Strv 103C part 1

Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: Strv 103C part 2

Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: Strv 103C part 3

[PR19_Kit]

BLOODY tank kits! 

Some of the bits on this blasted Challenger 2 are SO small, and so awkwardly shaped that you can't grab hold of them cleanly enough to put them in place for gluing!

I've just been trying to glue the headlamp brackets onto the front panel of this thing and my tweezers have fired one of them into orbit. NO way will I ever find it, so this Challenger's going to have into go into battle with only one headlamp, or maybe none if the same thing happens to the other bracket as well!

This may well be the first AND last tank kit I ever build. 

[Old Wombat]

Build more armour kits, Kit, that way you get used to their foibles ... I had to with aircraft.

[PR19_Kit]

Checking lots of pics on the net, it looks as if some Challies didn't carry the lights sometimes, but I haven't found any pics of one with only ONE headlamp. So I may not fit either of them............

It looks like there'll be LOADS of small bits left over once I've finished it, so I'm wondering what all the other bits are for. 

[Old Wombat]

Put up a pic & I'll see if I can identify any of them.

[Steel Penguin]

I can try to help on parts as well Kit, if push comes to shove ill break out my copy of it and have a look at the distructions 

[PR19_Kit]

Here's how far I've got so far.



All the wheels and stuff down below are painted up and in place now, and the turret is primed and painted in the basic green.




I've got all the gubbins installed on the rear end now too, except the tail light lenses as I need to hand paint them. Some of the bits, the big fuel tanks for two, just WON'T fit where they're meant to, they're a little bit crooked, but I can't get them to fit any better. I noticed one bit where the green spray hasn't reached though, arrowed on red.




The turret was a PAIN to paint as I had to mask  off all the umpteen little periscope lenses first, and they're TINY! Quite how I'll get the tape off later I'm not sure, but we'll see.

[Steel Penguin]

with the periscope lenses, one option is to use a high gloss royal blue with a touch of a sky blue at the top to give the impression of glass..   a version of which  here http://forum-of-doom.com/index.php?topic=17590.25   similar to some of the painter cockpit canopy's people do

[PR19_Kit]

Oooooh, that's a clever idea, never seen that before.

I may give that a try if any of them have been oversprayed, thanks.

[PR19_Kit]

I'm putting the Challie 2 on the back burner for a bit.

All the teeny weeny bits are driving me NUTS, and I want to get the KMD-11 and the SM-77 under my belt before I get back to this tank business.

[Gondor]

An idea for a replacement "brush guard" for your lights that dissapered into the great beyone. Make a replacement out of wire using the mounting holes and the other guard as a basis for what your building.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

It wasn't the guard that's gone into orbit Alastair, it was the mounting itself.

It's an odd tri-angular shaped thingie with all sorts of bits and bumps on the back of it. I suppose I could scratchbuild another one, but it would be even fiddlier than gluing the original into place.