RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

This is only going to consist of the build of the AFV Model M1 Hull kit itself and not the painting or the modifications I made to the Hobby Engine M1A1 upper hull, though at the end there will be a couple pictures showing the complete tank. Quite frankly, its because I suck at those things - really suck. I may do a listing of most of what I did to the upper if anyone really cares enough for it.

I'm going to straight up admit it. I suck at everything I attempt to do. I haven't built a r/c tank before. I haven't even built a static model since I was 8 - and that one was an unpainted F-14 mostly held together with glue and a large amount of scotch tape. Now why am I stressing this point so much? Because the kit was so damned easy to build even though AFV Model reccommends it for experienced builders. It also took a good chunk less than the 10 hours they said it'd take to build.

This is going to be an image heavy thread - I believe 54 for the build, 16 for the instructions and 3 of the complete tank. They will be presented as thumbnails, click them for a large image. The text will be the actual German text of the instructions followed by their(rather bad) translations, a parts picture before sub-assembly, what I actually did and a picture or the completed sub-assembly. It will not all be in one post, each post will probably encompass a page or two of the instructions. You may notice things in the background that are done before they are built here. Thats because I built some things out of order to make things easier one me - mainly bulk things like the roadwheels, rubber rims, swingarms, etc. The thread will be presented in the order of the instructions.

The slabs the hull components are cut from are 2mm styrene. most of the parts are reinforcemnet parts. Its incredibly strong when you're finished. Everything else is metal except the resin hubs and the rubber liners for the roadwheels. And the tracks. The tracks and standard plastic Tamiya Leopard 2A6 tracks.

So lets get the show on the road:





Page One:
Bauabschnitt Polystyrolwanne
"Section polystyrene tub"

Engraten der bohrungen 10 mm
"Close rates of the drillings 10 mm"



It means to enlarge the holes to 10mm because they're a fraction of a millimeter too small or something. Me being laid off and almost broke found this to be completely unneccesary. Poor men find better ways.

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von außen Eindrücken der Bronzelager
"from the outside impressions of the bronze camps"



Now we take...I guess the "bronze camps" and push them into the holes from the outside. I just put a tiny bit of grease around inside the holes and pushed them in, careful not to push hard enough to break the side.

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bündig drücken - Seitenteil nach Oben
"concisely press - side part upward"

Ummm....We already did that in the last step Herr-Chef...

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Seitenverstärkung mit Kleber versehen
"Side reinforcement with adhesive provide"



Take the side panels and the reinforcement panels and glue them together.



Again being careful not to press the "bronze camps" through the holes in the reinforcement panels too hard. For parts like this and joints, I use a 2 part 1:1 5 minute epoxy.



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And that's it for Page One. Tune in next time for Page Two, featuring:


Struts!


Reinforcements!


More epoxy Resin!

Not to be featured in the next episode:


A Hull!

Very well done,will follow with interest.The German instructions are a nice touch and shows off your skill as does your modeling efforts.Saxondog

very nice build so far, looking forward to the updates

cheers,

Matt

looks to me like they parked that tanker in tesco's car park

nice start barking squirrel

I hope that container ship isn't the one with the Mato shermans.

And we're back(Not a Dinosaur's Story). Continuing were we left off because...well its where we left off...



Page Two:
Bauabschnitt Polystyrolwanne
"Section polystyrene tub" Continued

Federgegenlager verkleben
"Feather/spring back supports stick together"



Now we take the 4 pieces for the struts and glue them together to make 2 struts.



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auf Deckungsgleichheit achten!
"to congruence pay attention!"

:sigh: Make sure the edges and holes line up! Because, ya know - you wouldn't make sure if they didn't remind you to...

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Aufkleben der Querwände 02 bis 04
"Glue the transverse walls 02 on to 04"

Now we take the bottom panel:



And glue to it the side wall reinforcement struts. There's four total though we'll only be using 3 at this point. Each has a specific spot on the bottom panel, and is designated by a number of dots(one through four) etched into each of the side wall reinforcements.



Starting at the front groove and going back, we'll glue in numbers 2, 3 and 4. I forgot to take a picture of the completed sub-assembly, but you'll see it fine in a following step. I forgot to take some more pictures later, the'll be noted when the time comes.

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Ãœberstand 1,0mm Auf exakte Ausrichtung achten!
"To accurate adjustment pay attention! 1,0mm projected"

Make sure the wall ribs stick out 1mm on each side. Again assuming you couldn't figure it out on your own(they're 2mm too wide for the baseplate).

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Aufsetzen der Federgegenlager
"Touch down the feather/spring back supports"

Now this makes no damned sense. What its actually telling you is to make sure the struts are facing front(incase you didn't realise Slanted=Front and Flat = Back) and to make sure each strut is on the proper side as they are made specifically for a side. Luckily they show a picture so you know which side each goes on. Slot first = Right. Circle first = Left.

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Verkleben der Polystyrolteile
"Stick together the polystyrene parts"

The struts fit into the two grooves on each to the wall ribs.



And that's it for Page Two but we're going to do Page Three as well today.



Page Three:
Bauabschnitt Polystyrolwanne
"Section polystyrene tub" Continued, Again.

Verkleben der Grundplatte
"Stick together the baseplate"

Hey, this one makes some sense. This can't be right! Anyways we now glue the reinforcement sub-assembly built on Page Two to the floor plate of the hull to create the bottom hull sub-assembly. Boy, this is hard! This is the internet so you can't see the sweat pouring off me at the moment. Because it totally is. The next two steps we've heard before so I'll spred the three pictures for this one over these three steps.



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auf Deckungsgleichheit achten!
"to congruence pay attention!"

Ah, nice to see you again old friend!



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3,0er Bohrer zum Ausrichten nutzen!
"3,0mm drill for aligning use!"

Ah yet another reminder to align holes. This time we're told to use a drill bit to ensure alignment. Or you could, you know....Look at the holes.



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Ankleben der Seitenteile
"Glue to the side parts"

Now we take the hull sides from Page One and glue them to the completed bottom hull sub-assembly.



The next two steps should really be part of Page Four, so I'll leave those until tomorrow when I shall do Page Four. So tune in next time for exactly that, also featuring:


More Reinforcements!


More Gluing Hijinx!


Attachment Points!

Not to be featured in the next Episode:


A Hull!

*Note Those translations aren't by me. They're Bablefish translations. They're not neccesary but I felt that leaving them out would be loosing a big part of the true AFV Model M1 kit building experience. However you get the benefit of an explanation of someone who's actually done it. I had some(Thanks Chilipiper) but not alot.

Still following with interest,and the translations may not be yours,but does add to the over all build experience I think.Least ways it does for a poor southerner from the land of cotton,not many Germans around here,but I do love their Tanks.Saxondog

Page Four(Plus a bit of Three):
Bauabschnitt Polystyrolwanne
"Section polystyrene tub" Continued, Yet Again

"Anyone care to guess which idiot among us forgot to take pictures of the next few(albeit almost identical) steps? Who was it?"

"Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know! Pick me!"

"Yes, the spastic in the back row, go ahead."

"It was ME! Wait...Crap :-[ "

Vorbereiten der Frontplatten
"Prepare the front plates"

You heard the man, prepare them! Anyways we take the two pieces to will become the front plates and clean them up. Big one on bottom small one on top as if dryfitting them to the hull sides wouldn't tell us this. And we shave the top and bottom edges of the plates to about 30 degrees so they smoothly fit together without large gaps at the joints.

Pro Tip: Make sure cats don't attack your leg while you're grinding down an edge with a dremel or you'll have to fill in a gap created by accidentally plunging the grinder into the plate.

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auf Deckungsgleichheit achten!
"to congruence pay attention!"

I think they're breeding now. I swear - if I see face huggers, I'm outta here screaming like a little girl.

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Innenkanten nachkleben
"Inner edges after-stick"

I'm not even going to pretend to know what this means.

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Einsetzen der Querwand 01
"Begin the transverse wall 01"

Ah this makes a little sense. Remember that #1 hull wall reinforcement that we ignored earlier? Well I didn't either but now we install it in its slot. Any ideas where it goes? No you silly, it doesn't go on the outside bottom! It goes into the slot in the front like the others did.



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Vorbereiten der Frontverstärkung
"Prepare the front reinforcement"

Geez if only the Military had this many reinforcements.



So we have vaguely triangle shaped pieces that look exactly like the shape of the front of our hull sides, I wonder where they go, hmmm...

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Einkleben der Frontverstärkung
"Bond the front reinforcement"

Good lord, a straightforward translation for once. Thanks Babelfish!


(Crappy Picture Of Epic Proportions)

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And thats it for Page Four. What horrors await us on Page Five? Surely not the same thing as Page Four except for the rear, right? .....Right?

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INTERMISSION
I just want to apologize. I'm trying to be funny with healthy doses of sarcasm/blatant jokes and failing horribly. But this freak show shall go on!
INTERMISSION

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Page Five:
Bauabschnitt Polystyrolwanne
"Section polystyrene tub" Continued, Again Damn it

Vorbereiten der Heckteile
"Prepare the plotting hurry"

...I...I uh...Yeah.

Grab the two plates for the rear section. The plate with the small section removed is the top plate. Again we shave the edges so that they go together smotthly - except for the top edge of the top plate.

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Einkleben der Heckteile
"Bond the plotting hurry"

Glue the to each other and the hull, HURRY! Not much time left, the self destruct has been activated!

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Vorbereiten der Heckverstärkung
"Prepare the tail reinforcement"

If you thought we'd get away without some more reinforcements, then you haven't been paying attention. Again two more pieces that are shaped like the rear of the hull sides. When these are added they will leave a gap that will be used to hold a couple pieces that close the gap after the gearbox is installed later.



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Einkleben der Heckverstärkung
"Bond the tail reinforcement"

Pro Tip: Telling it to sit and stay will not work.

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Kanten von Innen nachkleben
"Edges after-stick from the inside"

Glue them again from the inside? Okay I know I made an Aliens/Xenomorph joke earlier but I am not a chestburster, I can not get inside the piece. I can however epoxy it where it meets the inside of the hull. So I'll do this instead. Ah, halfassed work, the American Way.

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Fasenkanten nachkleben
"Chamfer edges after-stick"

I'm not entirely sure what it means so I just epoxy'ed the hell out of where the front and rear hull pieces meet the sides and bottom.

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And thats it for Page Five. We shall continue to Page Six though as its relatively short.



Page Six:
Bauabschnitt Polystyrolwanne
"Section polystyrene tub" Continued, Why God, why?!?

Vorbereiten der Haltelasche
"Prepare the lug"



This piece is the component is one of two for holding the front of the upper hull to the bottom hull. This is the one thats fitted to the lower hull and it catches the piece on the upper hull.

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Anfasen der Unterkante
"Chamfer the lower edge"



Now we shave down a side of the middle edge to make the upper hull piece slide in easier. The angled side will face down when installed in the lower hull.



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Einkleben der Haltelasche
"Bond the lug"

Glue it in its designated slot. Do it! Do it now!

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Nachkleben der Vorderkante
"after-stick the front edge"

Not good enough, do it again, from the inside!

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Bundbuchsen ausrichten, von Innen mit dickfl. Sekunden festkleben
"Flanged bushes align, from the inside with dickfl. Seconds stick"

I can't believe they said that about Florida. I live in Florida! Anyways again something vague about glueing. Judging from the picture they want us to go around all the joints on the inside with glue. Go, go, Gadget Epoxy Filled Syringe!

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Sekundenkleberstellen mit Füllstoff auffüllen, Arbeitsgang 2 ausführen!
"Second adhesive places with filler fill up, processing step out 2 would drive!"

Seriously, what the hell Babelfish? That's the best you could do? Its another vague instruction to glue all the inner joints.

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And thats it for Page Six. As well as most of my picture idiocy A.K.A. The Land the Photographer Forgot

Tune in next time for Page Seven, featuring:


Nuts!


Batteries!


Wheels!

Not to be featured in the next episode:


A Complete Hull!

cool build and a funny read as well

I'm having fun,keep up the show.You don't have to be critical of your self,we can do that for you! Just a little reverse humor,I really am enjoying this build and the way you are presenting the play by play.1-Saxondog