Landships II

That's what i call modeling, what a great job, what was the most difficult part of the build? Something i would like to do but its working out the measurements from a model to the real thing. I have a Takom 1;16 FT but would like to see how far i am out with the calculations to an original part, the more precise the better the fit when its put together, shame there wasn't a blueprint plan pack. Once i built one of these i would have a go at a Mk4.

Thanks all for the comments. I measured the individual parts and constructed it on the computer using a free 3D CAD application called Google Sketchup. I was surprised to see just how well everything fit together when I built it out. I did a tracing of one of the most complex parts, the engine hatch covers, and my part was almost an exact match to the tracing from the real hatch cover. So the scale models are pretty accurate. I would say that's the hardest hull part to make since it has no right angles. The best way to build the hull is by making the hull panels first then building the steel frame to support putting the panels together.

The track pads are 16 gauge sheet metal. I had the pads cut and stamped to the correct shape by a metal shop. I made the rest of the track parts myself using a bit stronger steel, 11 pieces per block in all. Then I welded up each of the 64 blocks. That took all last summer. I also had the sprockets laser cut from steel plate then did some additional welding of some parts to make the sprocket teeth wider. All the rest I made from scratch in my garage. I recommend a web forum called scaledtanks.com where ideas are shared for building mainly 2:5 scale driveable model tanks.

Tried to join this forum but had no reply as of to date. Is an active forum.