86 replies to this topic

[Mike]

I thought it was about time I helped redress the balance away from winged participants of this GB, so I've dug out the box for this diminutive tank, which although it turned up a little late to make any real difference to the closing days of WWI (it debuted in May of that year), influenced post war tank design substantially, as it was possibly the first true tank with a 360 degree rotating turret. It was also the only tank that fought in both the World Wars, as a few were still in use in the very early days of the Blitzkreig, although hopelessly outclassed by their opponents, and thereby easy pickings.

This kit is from RPM, a small Polish company (the tank was used by Polish forces), and is injection moulded, although exhibiting some short-run characteristics such as flash and short shot components - thankfully confined to a number of c-shaped links, which I'll hopefully be able to replicate with shaped brass rod. I bought the kit direct from Poland some while ago, as it was still much cheaper than getting it from the UK, even with shipping.

Seeing as it's a bit out of the ordinary, I'll bore you with a box shot or two







The tracks are made of a very flexible grey sparkly material, and word has it that they don't like to be stuck together. That info, coupled with the quite prominent sink marks in the flat track pads, and the fact that the individual track links are prominent around the drive sprocket (not bendy like the rubber ones) led me to speak to Lou Stener, who has a bit of a sale on at the moment too. He'd got some of the Fruil tracks at a more paletable price, so I took the plunge and am now just waiting for them to be delivered or lost by Royal Mail

I'm going to have a peruse of the instructions for a wee while and then start the build. Wish me luck!

[T-Tango]

Quite a fair bit of plastic there for a small tank Mike.

[ollieholmes]

Is this kit still available? I was browsing the Verlinden Productions website earlier and theres some nice figures id like to put into a diorama with it.
http://www.verlinden...ender-2352.html

Edited by ollieholmes, 03 February 2010 - 07:02 PM.

[Mike]

I think it's still available Ollie. Modelsforsale.com are currently out of stock, but I got mine from Jadar Models in Poland here.

[ollieholmes]

I think it's still available Ollie. Modelsforsale.com are currently out of stock, but I got mine from Jadar Models in Poland here.

Cheers Mike.

[Mike]

No worries Ollie. Speak to Lou Stener (Link above) for some tracks too... good price

Mine arrived this morning and I've been itching to have a go with them but I've been out all day. I snatched an hour or so this evening and got them out of the box for a play.

You get 3 bags in the small box. Two bags of white metal track links, and 1 bag of tiny rollers - again in white metal, and comprising short hollow cylinders. The final part of the kit is a short roll of flexible wire.



If you've not seen or used Fruil tracks before, you usually need to open up some of the holes in the links, so I set about 1 side with a 0.5mm drill chucked into my pin vice. Then I cleaned up all the mould seams round the edges with a medium sanding sponge, and got on with the build up. You hook up the links, squeeze a roller in between them and thread the wire through - it sometimes takes some waggling before it lines up and goes all the way through, but once it's there, chop the wire close to the end of the track and secure both ends with CA. Rinse and repeat!

I built up one track run just to demonstrate the difference between kit and aftermarket tracks.... your mileage may vary, but I'm convinced they'll be a massive upgrade to the look of the machine when I'm done

[stringbag]

Quite a difference there Mike.
Theraputic exercise as well I should imagine.

Chris.

[ollieholmes]

That definatly makes a difference there. Im not sure id have the patience to do an entire track at a time though.

[Mike]

Quite a difference there Mike.
Theraputic exercise as well I should imagine.

Chris.

Aye, not too bad - Nothing really took too long. Probably about an hour to do a track run, which isn't bad

[T-Tango]

Those tracks make a world of difference Mike.

[Mike]

Those tracks make a world of difference Mike.

Oui! Je suis very please with 'em. L'argent well spent

[Mike]

Some more progress - doesn't look much, but there was a lot of work to get to this stage. I assembled both roadwheel sponsons, and noticed that not only were the front suspension arms for the top run of wheels a big chunky, but they were also a bit crap, lacking some prominent flanges to the moulding. I decided to scratch build replacements, which you can see in white next to the original kit parts. I also replaced the blobby spring with some lead wire wrapped around some rod. The 2nd Fruil track has also been made up.

You might notice that one sponson has a white tip. That's where there was a bit missing on the sprue. Not a short shot, but a fracture - a lot of parts seem to have built-in break points where the two fronts of styrene have come together, presumably starting to set as they butt up, so not mixing and leaving a weak point. So far I've had to repair 3 or 4 of these breaks, and of course replace the missing nose of the sponson with styrene sheet.

[T-Tango]

Looking good Mike, well done on the scratch building and the tracks.

[Robert Stuart]

Mike, I don't know if these are Ft-17's, the 7th picture here: http://www.militaryp...l=1#post4345713

That might be of interest?

[Mike]

That's right Robert - I've seen a smaller version of that pic before

[spitfire]

This is looking good, the early tanks are quite fascinating to me, though I must say the Maquette Valentine put me of individual link tracks for life..

Cheers

Den

[Mike]

I hacked a few of the main body parts off the sprues last night, and now understand how the sponsons fit to the hull, so it'll soon start to look like a tank, although I think I'll have some more scratch building ahead of me. One sponson is completed now, and the other one's just lacking a couple of springs before I can put it together, so I'll possibly update with some more pics later.

Den - don't get disheartened with individual track links. They're not ALL bad

[Siggi]

That's going to look mighty sweet Mike. I've decided Fruil tracks are worth the money, just for the fact the paint can be abraded through to the metal.

[Mike]

Cheers Siggi

I got the 2nd sponson finished off, and started working on the hull. There's a bit of detail in the driver's compartment, but it's a bit soft & inaccurate, so I've replaced some of it. The semi-bulkhead behind the driver has a strap across it that acts as a backrest, so I built that out of styrene and tin sheet, the bulkheads of styrene sheet with Archer rivets for detail. There were some sink marks in the driver's compartment, so I filled those with CA, sanded them back, then reinstated the casting texture with a brush coat of Mr Surfacer that was then stippled with a soft brush. It matches the rest pretty well, and you'd never know there was a sink mark there

[Mike]

A quick update on the interior, which I'm partially scratch building... just what you can see

The kit controls were crap, so they're being replaced by parts of my own construction... next job is the gearstick