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Tintin's Moon Tank


Unkempt

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I've been on a bit of a Tintin binge lately; my girlfriend bought me the complete book set for my birthday, I did a Revell Arado as the plane from 'The Shooting Star' and I'll probably even get around to seeing that film at some point. But the main point here is that when I was reading 'Explorers on the Moon' for the first time in about thirty years, I thought, 'Ooo. That's a nice tank.'

moontank.jpg

moontank2.jpg

NASA has a little golf cart made of tinfoil and string; Tintin takes a tank. To the moon. Why? Don't care, that's just the sort of guy he is.

There's no kit of this tank in any scale that I could find, but it's a fairly straightforward, boxy shape that should be doable with plastic card. Obviously I needed something for the bottom half; looking through a bunch of tank pictures I thought a Centurion would be pretty close, but I couldn't find anything suitable at the local Modelzone. They did have this, though:

box.jpg

It's the right sort of proportions, it's got the right number of roadwheels and, most importantly, it's got this:

label.jpg

- which is nice. Lots of bits inside:

bits.jpg

Pity I'll only use about half of them.

So, the basic plan is:

-Use the bottom half of the Pershing for the suspension

-Use some plastic card to blank off the top and build the superstructure and turret

-Build some detailing bits (winch, hooks, ladders etc.) out of card/spare parts/anything that comes to hand

And finally, worry about those transparent plastic domes when I get to them. No idea how I'm going to do that at the moment.

Building will begin sometime this week, and hopefully finish before February. I'm not going for any kind of super-accuracy here, it's based on a comic after all, I'm just going for something that's recognisably the tank from the story.

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Don't know quite how big they are in comparison but don't Kinder Eggs have a transparent bit?

Will be watching this one with interest!

I thought of that and need to find one, but I think it'll be a bit big. Worth a try, though.

Cool what a great idea, look forward to seeing this develop - Any idea where your GF got the book set from? I wouldn't mind a set myself

Wayne

She got me This One at a discount 'cos she works there. They're smaller than the old A4 editions, about A5, but they're beautifully printed.

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I thought it was interesting that TinTin's tank carried the full complement of engineering tools: shovel, axe, sledgehammer and pickaxe. I didnt see a cable cutter, but certainly TinTin would not leave that out of his kit.

I was also piqued to see the rotating antenna atop the searchlight thingie on the turret.

Edited by dahut
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A bit of progress:

A reminder of why I don't normally do tanks - so many wheels...

somanywheels.jpg

The main body, with all its many, many suspension bits (minus one piston that the floor monster ate):

arse_end.jpg

That back end doesn't work for my plans; there's a flat plate at the back with a winch mechanism, so the sloped bit has to go.

sawn_off_arse_end.jpg

That's the basic shape I want, and probably most of the kit I'm going to use. I've given the wheels a coat of Humbrol aluminium, but I'm leaving them off for now, while I start on the top. I've got to build up a flat top before I put the superstructure on it, and attach the... mudguards? Whatever you call those mudguard-like things that go over tank tracks.

I've made a bit of a start on that; I built a loosely attached balsa frame inside the hull:

frame.jpg

... and I've glued that to some plastic card.

frametop.jpg

The main structure's going on that. That's where I am at the moment. Still to do: build that up, then there's the front (with 'cockpits'), turret, rear with winch, detailing and painting, not necessarily in that order.

Oh, and the bloody tracks at some point. Bah, tracks.

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Unkempt,

How did you go about painting the letter on the sides of your 1/32 Tintin Revell Arado? I am in the process of building the DC-3 in the "Red Sea Sharks" . I am 80% done. I will post the pictures probly later this week.

Regards

Vivek

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Unkempt,

How did you go about painting the letter on the sides of your 1/32 Tintin Revell Arado? I am in the process of building the DC-3 in the "Red Sea Sharks" . I am 80% done. I will post the pictures probly later this week.

Regards

Vivek

I printed them onto decal paper; I think I got it from here, but I'm sure other suppliers are available.

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... why would you want a tank on the moon? - perhaps they're worried about the Clangers, who can get a bit lairy when they've had one or two jars (of soup).

Have you come up with a solution to the domes? I'd be tempted to vac form/plunge mould a couple if I could find a suitable master.

Andy

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This side of the pond you can't pass a set of gumball machines without at least one offering some little trinket that comes in a container that is half a clear dome. Only problem is the end is where they injected the plastic so has a little nib. I have also seen clear domes at the local craft shops like Michaels and Hobby Lobby here. May be something similar over there.

And while google eyes for dolls don't have enough curve to them for this, there may be something else in the dollhouse or railroad stores that might work.

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No, still haven't found anything for the domes yet. I know those gumball machine things but I think they're a bit too big. I might end up trying the plunge moulding thing, which I've never done before but looks a lot of fun (naked flames and plastic! What could go wrong?)

Not a massive amount of progress this week as real life intervened, but I've got the bottom half pretty much finished:

bluebase.jpg

... and a basic top to build on.

bluebase_whitetop.jpg

Still lots to do, hopefully get a bit more done next week.

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