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1/48 Plastic WW1 tank kits?


Gorby

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1/48 tank kits have been around for a while, so why aren't there any plastic WW1 tanks available? I know that they are probably less popular than WWII tanks, but I find it odd that I can't find any on Scalemates.

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Because 1/48 scale is a niche market area for armour and WWI tanks are a niche within that (but I'd love to see some released).

 

There is only one manufacturer regularly releasing 1/48 scale plastic AFV kits and that's Tamiya. Others have tested the water and decided it isn't for them, which says a lot about the (lack of) sales potential for the scale. The majority of available kits are WWII German as you might expect.

 

If you don't mind 1/56 scale then there are some very nice resin kits from Warlord Games of all the major WWI types. Empress Miniatures offer a very nice 1/50 white metal Rolls Royce  armoured car in two versions, along with various other armoured cars (their own and also some HLBS products).

 

Regards,

John

 

 

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36 minutes ago, John Tapsell said:

Empress Miniatures offer a very nice 1/50 white metal Rolls Royce  armoured car in two versions, along with various other armoured cars (their own and also some HLBS products).

Thanks John. Although not plastic they look like they do quite an interesting range, particularly in these two categories:

 

http://www.empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart23.htm

http://www.empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart13.htm

 

I also like the inter-war military vehicles so I may give some of these a go.

:thanks:

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Gaso.Line have the FT17, Schneider CA and St Chamond, along with the A7V in 1/48 resin.  Deep pockets needed though: Priced at €40-70!  RPM have 2 styles of Ford T ambulance at about €14.  But yes, it's wafer thin.  Not a sniff of anything British.

 

As John T said, this is a minority sport within a minority sport.

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31 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

Gaso.Line have the FT17, Schneider CA and St Chamond, along with the A7V in 1/48 resin.  Deep pockets needed though: Priced at €40-70!

Yes I was aware of Gaso.Line as there are several on Scalemates (although I didn't know they are still in business) but as you mention, they aren't exactly cheap. I've just looked though their web site and there are a few things that I'm seriously temped by, so thanks.

 

I just posted the original question as more of a moan really, I was thinking of building a tank or armoured car, but there were none that I was interested in. Perhaps I may have to venture into 1/35. :o

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1/48 is also my preferred vehicle scale. In addition to the above, there's

Airfix, with their Albion Fueler &etc.

Accurate Armour. Similar to Gas O Line, very wide range of resin kits but not inexpensive. I do pine for some of their subjects!

RPM do IP, mostly Soviet, but also a Model T ambulance

Lukgraph do resin kits of Jeffery and Nash Quad variants.

Belcher Bits do a Minneapolis-Moline NTX

Resin 2 Detail do some resin ground equipment

 

I have caved to 1/35 for some specific things, like a CWIS, single 20mm Oerlikon, twin 40mm Bofors in a naval mount, and MARRS.

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13 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Accurate Armour. Similar to Gas O Line, very wide range of resin kits but not inexpensive. I do pine for some of their subjects!

I often look at the Accurate Armour site in the hope that they will have a '50% off for Britmodeller members', oddly enough they haven't - yet. Personally, I blame Mike for not arraigning these things for us. :crying:

Thanks for the other links and for taking time to reply.

 

 

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Great subject Gorby! I started to become interested in 1/48 vehicles as a potential complement to the many aircraft I had acquired and the dream of one day being able to create a diorama of sorts. I would have liked to have done one such scheme involving a WWI Mk V Male painted in the fictitious scheme of 'Black Bess' from the game 'Battlefield 1' with a fighter plane flying over the top. Alas, like yourself I struggled to find any kits to fit this niche so abandoned the idea, though I was eventually hooked in by Meng's beautiful Mk V Male in 1/35 in the absence of a 1/48 version. 

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5 hours ago, Nocoolname said:

Great subject Gorby! I started to become interested in 1/48 vehicles as a potential complement to the many aircraft I had acquired and the dream of one day being able to create a diorama of sorts. I would have liked to have done one such scheme involving a WWI Mk V Male painted in the fictitious scheme of 'Black Bess' from the game 'Battlefield 1' with a fighter plane flying over the top. Alas, like yourself I struggled to find any kits to fit this niche so abandoned the idea, though I was eventually hooked in by Meng's beautiful Mk V Male in 1/35 in the absence of a 1/48 version. 

You could use a 1/48 aircraft and a 1/35 tank in a forced perspective diorama. Depending on the scene, 1/72 and even 1/144 aircraft could be appropriate separately or even all together in one dual-, tri-, or even quad-scale extravaganza!

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On 9/29/2018 at 5:30 PM, Gorby said:

Thanks John. Although not plastic they look like they do quite an interesting range, particularly in these two categories:

 

http://www.empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart23.htm

http://www.empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart13.htm

 

I also like the inter-war military vehicles so I may give some of these a go.

:thanks:

This was my attempt at their original Rolls Royce A/C: http://smallcoginabigwheel.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-rolls-in-theiraqi-desert-whilst-im.html

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Realize this is a older thread, but for anyone interested, I just saw 3d printed WWI armor by a seller on ebay. He seems to produce in different scales. Close ups look a little rough, but might be worth it for vehicles not available elsewhere.

 

Link to a 1/48 RR AC: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1-1-48-Scale-Rolls-Royce-Armoured-Car-High-Quality-3D-Printed-Tank/183489177145?hash=item2ab8cea639:g:bhoAAOSwHI5bxfT8:rk:1:pf:0

 

No affiliation, just came across it looking for 1/72, remembered this thread from before.

 

Jim F

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13 hours ago, JimF said:

I just saw 3d printed WWI armor by a seller on ebay.

That's a point Jim I didn't think about that. As you say, the ones you link to do look quite rough, but it's certainly something to look out for in the (near :fingerscrossed:) future.

 

Thanks. :thumbsup:

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WWI Heavy tank in 1/48th?

 

Well if you go to the Landships SITE there are a very nice set of cad drawings available. Once you've got the four track frames cut out, maybe using a cutter(?) off the CAD, It might be worth looking at THIS thread for more on that. Once past that it's all flat plates and straight edges and lots of rivets. Which you can buy HERE The last bit that may be an issue is the running gear detail on the hull sides, Possibly make one and cast them in a simple drop mould. Or make a jig and do them that way, this is my preferred method and is very quick and relaxing work.

 

Aha you say the tracks SS the tracks. A bit of lateral thinking have a look HERE Evergreen also do similar. 8 rivets(?) per link may be tedious but again a jig and good back ground music will make life easy. The ridged bit is the track grip. Cut a strip the right width (they varied between Marks), then cut each link at the ridge then to length.  

 

If you look at an early rhomboid the plates have noticeable gaps between them so they make excellent subjects. As soon as I clear a couple of rather complex shelf queens I'll be doing a couple of Mk VIII 'International' tanks using these techniques. The only issue may be getting addicted to rust coloured detail bits :D 

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/11/2019 at 11:25 AM, Gorby said:

That's a damn good point @SleeperService, I was intending to have a go at more scratch built stuff so this might be the right subject to start on. 

Thanks for the suggestion and the links. :thumbsup:

Call me shrewd, but l reckon you could probably produce a very fine German tank (WWI) in 1/48 with a bit of work. I know you want to. 😜😜😜

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22 hours ago, McNab said:

Call me shrewd, but l reckon you could probably produce a very fine German tank (WWI) in 1/48 with a bit of work. I know you want to. 😜😜😜

Perhaps I should add a link on this thread, to my stab at it:

 

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Obviously l was being very silly as l know you completed an extremely fine job on your scratch build. But a link to it would be appropriate for this thread 😊

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On 9/27/2018 at 5:55 PM, Gorby said:

1/48 tank kits have been around for a while, so why aren't there any plastic WW1 tanks available? I know that they are probably less popular than WWII tanks, but I find it odd that I can't find any on Scalemates.

Hi Gorbs,

Rubicon models produce a good range in 1/56th scale, I saw them at last years nationals & was impressed enough to buy half a dozen, not W.W.1 though.

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On 16/05/2019 at 16:32, Nick Belbin said:

Slightly off-topic and certainly not plastic and possibly expensive, there is also ASAM Models;

They look really good, but are a lot more than I'm willing to pay.

 

On 16/05/2019 at 16:48, spaddad said:

Rubicon models produce a good range in 1/56th scale,

They also look like nice kits and at good prices as well. Unfortunately I'm a bit OCD with scale so 1/56 is out for me at least - what a weird scale. If they'd been 1/48 I would have been very sorely tempted by some of them.

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2 hours ago, Gorby said:

They look really good, but are a lot more than I'm willing to pay.

 

They also look like nice kits and at good prices as well. Unfortunately I'm a bit OCD with scale so 1/56 is out for me at least - what a weird scale. If they'd been 1/48 I would have been very sorely tempted by some of them.

I know it's fairly common with modellers to be OCD with scales but I've never got it. it just seems to limit your choices unnecessarily. Those Rubicon kits are really impressive, they may not be the most detailed or accurate kits but once again the kits I build don't have to be.They are easy to construct, fairly well detailed & if you want to build up a large collection each kit provides the parts for at least 2 variants (the T-26 contains parts options for 10 variants) without having to buy conversion kits etc.

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