RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hello,
Now I my modelling break is over I have been working on my first scratch built tank .
I have always liked the S tank and it’s unique way of elevating the gun. I bought a 1/35th scale kit and started scaling up from there.
The lower hull is 3mm aluminium the upper hull 2mm it’s all held together with stainless steel screws and bolts.
I am trying to make most of the details from brass and aluminium but I will revert to styrene for some parts.
I have been at it for a few months now and after making the basic hull I am working on the upper hull details while I ponder making the running gear.
I do have the drivers hatch , the commander’s cupola and the other top hatch in various states of completion.
Prior to being on holiday I was working on the engine hatches I’ll add those later as I don’t want to add too many images to one post.
Paul

The basic shell without any hatches etc cut out The lower hull with the 1/35 hull for size My taigen Tiger stomping its authority

Years ago I studied an MOD paper on the "S" Tank,
The conclusion to the paper was that if Vickers had designed it there is little doubt that it would have been commissioned into service with the RAC (Royal Armoured Corps).
I am looking forward to the progress of this build.

A novel build, and one worth following! A small favour, though; could you possibly post pics in a higher resolution? The site allows for photos up to 351kb in size. Larger pics will allow us to enjoy the build more and, at the same time, provide invaluable detail for would-be modelmakers, wishing to have a go along the lines of your design- or for related projects

Are you going to recreate the hydraulic suspension system for elevation?
Dozer blade as well as Heat Slat armour?

I notice the reference model and the book in the backgrounds of your images.

Thanks for the replies ,
Sorry about the image quality I will reshoot the work I have done and go from there.

As for the elevation. Hydraulics would be a real challenge, I did think about using high torque servos I’ve not fully got it all mapped out in my head yet.
I haver never tried anything Hydraulic related before so it would be a fair bit of trial and error all time in the shed so not time wasted if I can’t get it to work.

I will fit the dozer blade Once I get the suspension to work I can play construction site with it but I don’t think I will fit the slats at the front they are my least favourite parts.
Cheers Paul

This is the first big part to be completed ,well almost On the real thing this part comprises of engine hatches with the barrel mount in the centre. Mine won’t open though as the whole top of the tank lifts off for access to the gubbins.

The plate is 4mm aluminium with the raised bars (defection bars) are made from brass. Each bar is attached via screws underneath the plate will be fixed to the hull by large screws into a few of the brass bars.


The barrel shroud is brass that was bent over a hard wood former and has a few plates soldered on the underside so it can be screwed down. The bolts you can see n the end of the barrel shroud are from a cheap spectacle repair kit from eBay not sue what thread they are but they look the right size. The brass looking bolts are fake. After drilling the holes I turned down brass hex bar to slightly oversize and press them in place.

I’ve not made the hole for the barrel yet in the plates at the end of the shroud I will do this when I have mounted the barrel.

The whole thing needs weld seems adding, there are so many. I have really enjoyed building this part the hull with this plate fitted is about 5kg
Paul

Hi Barthez.
Its nice to see another scratch builder on the forum, looking really nice so far, i will be watching with interest.
Regards.
Sub.

Thank you Sub,
I have been working on the commander’s cupola I started a few months ago.
The base was turned from a solid block of Perspex , I bought a big 20mm slab of it on eBay ,very cheaply ,a few years ago and not really used much of it until now.

The machine gun is very much a work in progress and still needs a few bits and bobs and some surface finishing before primer. I could have made it from styrene , it’s a bit quicker and I am more at home with styrene. I chose to use brass because I had quite a bit of it lying around and I thought it would be more robust and I wanted to try something new, which is the whole reason for building this tank.

I found just using the kit version for scale made it a little too chunky , I do have some photos and there is a fair bit of looks right about it but I don’t think it’s too far off.

For years I worked in 1/96th ,building my warships, and I am still adjusting to what looks right at 1/10th scale if that makes sense.

After a week of soldering and grinding my fingers are getting used to handling hot metal, I’m too impatient to let it cool.
My hard worked Dremel again on Friday , it’s been repaired so many times I have let it rest in peace . I have a one arriving today so I can get back at it tonight.
Regards

Paul

I really like this choice of model Do you know how you will build the tilt of the tank?

I have been giving the suspension a lot of thought still not sure possibly Servos but hydraulics would be great