1/35 Spheroid tank

[frank2056]

This is a build of the AMG Spheroid tank.



During one of his daily visits to the model closet, Felix:



thought this one smelled like a good new project. Maybe Felix thought the kit smelled "off", because while the boxtop and instructions are for the "BT-102", the B sprue (which defines the particular boxing) was for the German variant



Moving on, the kit is a pretty uneventful build. I very quickly got to this point:



The biggest issues I've found so far are the small rollers:


The rollers have pins that fits perfectly into the holes in the main body. If assembled that way, the rollers prevent the round sides from mating to the body. So I had to cut the pins off and mount the rollers flush. Another option would have been to make the holes in the body larger, but the plastic around the existing holes is too thin to support a larger hole. I'll have to do some touch up paintwork.

And the fuel tank:


There's no positive location for the fuel tank - it's just supposed to attach... somewhere. The spheroid tank is very small and fuel tank can get into the way of the driver, so I used a copper wire (looks like a fuel line) glued to the back of the seat to hold the tank next to the driver and mostly out of his way.
I modified the propeller shaft (this was modeled as an amphibious vehicle...) to be the exhaust pipe for the engine.

Next up is a replacement gun. I found a Puteaux SA 18 gun from an old RPM FT-17 kit. It's pretty basic, so I'm modifying it to look more like the real thing. I have to figure out a mount for it and some ammo containers.

I'm tempted to add "training wheels" to the exterior shell as well.

Here's a good article on spherical tanks.

[Wardukw]

Oh that's cute 😄 and also quite cool 😎
I'll be watching this mate 👌

[Rheged]

This is one of those devices where you worry that  a minor mishap would cause a situation known as "Gerbilling"  or "Hamster Wheeling"  where the unfortunate occupant is whirled round inside the spheroid  as it rolls on its way

[Wardukw]

This is one of those devices where you worry that  a minor mishap would cause a situation known as "Gerbilling"  or "Hamster Wheeling"  where the unfortunate occupant is whirled round inside the spheroid  as it rolls on its way

Like going down steep hills 

[frank2056]

Going up/down hills, Gerbilling, keeling over if one wheel goes over a rock or the driver passing out from the heat and the fumes.

Daleks twirl n sympathy

[Wardukw]

Going up/down hills, Gerbilling, keeling over if one wheel goes over a rock or the driver passing out from the heat and the fumes.

Daleks twirl n sympathy

This thing would be classified in the "Not such a bright idea " folder I think .

[Mossie]

Looking good.     I fancied this one, along with Miniart's Sharotank.  The price put me off though as they're pretty small models.

[frank2056]

I got this tank at a pretty good price, straight from Ukraine. It looks like they're around $20 on Ebay, which is a lot more than what I paid. The Miniart Sharotank is much larger, although I still can't see fitting that many people in it.

On to today's work. I made some changes - added a hatch that was included in the German version - just to get some ventilation into the sphere. I added a PE mesh (barely visible), some generic instrument dial decals and pretty much finished the gun:



Gun detail, with telescopic sight:



Fuel tank is now on the sphere wall (not perfectly lined up in this picture) The fuel dial is just a sprue pip painted black, with a generic instrument dial face on it:



Here's "Nigel" (who's seen better days) giving a sense of scale to the Spheroid tank. You wear this tank:

[kerick]

Obviously you can't be over 4' - 11" to drive this thing!

[NARSES2]

That's fascinating, great work as well 

I'd heard about this idea before and seen illustrations, but I didn't realise the "wheels/rims" were canted, I'd assumed it was a sphere and that they were an equal distance apart all the way around. Modelling can be educational, maybe we can get a grant    (second time I've mentioned that idea this morning  )

Great shot of Felix as well 

[kerick]

There seems to be this style or the type with one big tread or tire going around the center. Either way I'm thinking stability would be a problem. Has anyone ever designed a larger one with perhaps two crew, a driver and a gunner? I could just see one of these firing a larger caliber gun or a long burst from heavy machine gun and tipping backwards!
But they are fun to whiff!

[Wardukw]

Ken I believe the Brits and the US did try or yry to design 3 man versions...of course the idea was stupid and so problematic it wasn't really takin anywhere ...when ya think that a little creek 4 ft wide would stop one and a shell hole would bury it..it's a pointless design..still not as bad as a US design for a jumping one legged tank  ..and that was in the 40s 🤪😳

[Mossie]

I got this tank at a pretty good price, straight from Ukraine. It looks like they're around $20 on Ebay, which is a lot more than what I paid. The Miniart Sharotank is much larger, although I still can't see fitting that many people in it.

Unfortunately the cheapest I can find here is about $25 with another $10 for postage.  They've quickly become unavailable here.  Cheapest I can find the Sharotank is around $60 with postage.

Your build is looking great, crazy machine. 

[frank2056]

There were some designs that looked like a can rolling on its side. The only one built:



Moosie - I just checked the prices for the AMG tank and they're through the roof! It must be OOP. There's one seller in Ukraine selling it for $20. The Miniart tank seems to be out of stock everywhere as well.

I think I'm done with the interior of this tiny tank; here are the three main components. I used a Miniart wooden crate (cut down) to hold the ammo for the Puteaux and some beer bottles painted in brass to act as rounds. 12 rounds should be enough.



I had to remount the gun a couple of times because the stock would have been in the driver's face. It's very close quarters as it is!

I tacked the sides on with poster putty, and used the included blocks to steady the vehicle. The disheveled John McEnroe figure is from a Masterbox zombie set, with a new head:





And here is the second spherical tank from the Das Werk Kugelpanzer kit. It looks gigantic in comparison:



Now comes the hardest part - coming up with a paint scheme. The easiest would be some sort of green. I may try Middlestone instead.

[NARSES2]

They look terrific and the figure gives them a sense of scale 

When it comes to weird tanks I've always thought the Tsar Tank takes some beating.

Tsar Tank