djizomdjinn Posted February 18, 2016 Author Share Posted February 18, 2016 (edited) That heraldry marker was one of the first details I painted on, if not THE first after the base shading coat. Amazing how just one little thing made me feel so much better. Also I can't stop winging it it seems. I tried the scale chicken wire for the sides, hated the look, quickly primed and painted some metal strips and glued them on. These'll retain the sandbags, which will pretty much be the final step of this whole project. Stowage painted separately and then glued into place. The rifles and LMG aren't glued, I just wanted to show them off. They'll go on the back somewhere. Chunky mud effect created by running unthinned paint through the airbrush. Reaper HD Umber Brown finds a use after all. I'd debated using the numeric decals that came with the kits; I eventually decided against it since they were all white. It's a training tank, not really assigned to a frontline unit, so I feel I can get away with it. Story time! Marie was first into the assault gun, almost diving through the side doors and working her way behind the gun, over her seat back and into the driver's seat. Renee was right behind her, taking up position to the left of the massive cannon, eyes to the periscopes, hands to the gun laying wheels. Amelie and Odette climbed in, latched the doors shut, and set about checking the ammunition and loading the machine gun. Patricia made it up the left side ladder, mantled over and into the hatch, and wedged herself into the back of the command superstructure, sliding her headset on and jacking into the intercom. Charlotte was last into the Dover, slipping through the hatch mounted on the command tower and dogging it shut, muffling the not-so-distant pops of rifle fire and rhythmic chatter of machine guns. With a hiss of compressed air, a gutteral growl as eight pistons roared to life, a second growl as the second bank of cylinders spun into motion, fifty-five tons of steel rolled into battle. "Gunner! AP! Tank, direct front!" Charlotte shouted. The steady creak of handwheels. "Identified!" Renee replied. Two dull clanks, then the rasp of metal on metal. A heavy lever is thrown. "AP up!" Amelie called. "Fire!" "On the way!" The ground beneath them quaked as a shell designed to penetrate eight yards of steel-laced concrete met barely an inch of armor plate. Edited February 18, 2016 by djizomdjinn 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knarthex Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 Very Nice! You might want to darken the exhausts with some soot / rust, as they get filthy fast, even o a brand new tank.... Same for any engine air intakes... I am looking at the 3 large grills on the back in particular. The end connectors and center guides on the tracks also get rusty very quickly, but the outside edges of the center guides where they rub the inside of the road wheels tend to be bare metal. Just some thoughts from an old Tanker! George 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malefactus Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 FANTASTIC! It has been a pleasure following the evolution of your BEAUTIFUL creation. The finished piece is OUTSTANDINGLY WELL DONE! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sundseth Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 So, I was considering how to do the stowage tarp. I ran across references to lead foil, and how it's used to simulate cloth, tarps, etc. I can't find it anywhere near me, but maybe embossing foil would do...? The traditional way to get lead foil was from decent quality wine bottles. Peel it off, flatten it off and Robert is one of your parents' siblings. This works less well now that cork is used less often (as are actual bottles). Available from Amazon at only slightly extortionate prices, of course. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitterwolf Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Awesome machine! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Chaoswolf Posted February 19, 2016 Moderator Share Posted February 19, 2016 That's pretty cool! You put a lot of work into this; it looks amazing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckotter Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 I agree with the wolves. It's great! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hosercanadian Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Looks good. Only change I might suggest is adding the same wire on posts out from the machine gun area. Look up the. Sdkfz 222 for pics where the chickenwire was added by crews to protect against grenades. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djizomdjinn Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) Looks good. Only change I might suggest is adding the same wire on posts out from the machine gun area. Look up the. Sdkfz 222 for pics where the chickenwire was added by crews to protect against grenades. Well, the sides will be sandbagged to the level of the wire and maybe a bit above; I'm not quite done yet, even if everyone seems to think so. Edited February 21, 2016 by djizomdjinn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djizomdjinn Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 So, she's pretty much done as a model. All painted, prettied up, and then dirtied again. This picture shows off the true color a bit better, I don't know why the previous one was so yellow. Note I said "as a model". As a diorama, well... They converted the assault gun into an improvised mobile bunker, and what's a bunker without people inside? 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Chaoswolf Posted February 27, 2016 Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2016 That looks very cool. Good work here. I'm looking forward to seeing how you expand into a diorama. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hosercanadian Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 If you want to tinker more, look up assault trucks from Korea and Vietnam. They jury rigged fighting compartments like you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djizomdjinn Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 I'm looking forward to seeing how you expand into a diorama. Well, I say diorama... it's mostly just sculpting the figures that'll be on the back deck, positioning those guns and ammo boxes and gluing them down with some white glue. If you want to tinker more, look up assault trucks from Korea and Vietnam. They jury rigged fighting compartments like you have. Yeah, I wanted the modifications to look very hastily done. Something you could do in an hour just by welding bits of fence onto the vehicle. At one point I considered plopping a Flakverling quad 20mm AA gun on the back deck but... You are right though. I do want to tinker more. ... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djizomdjinn Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 Alright, having being humbled by looking around at other people's scratchbuilding projects (admittedly, they had reference photos to use whereas I only have my imagination), I've decided to try and step up my game with this one. Modern (or at least post-war) tanks don't have the cobbled together look that World War 2 tanks do. They look a lot more unified and integrated. Which means winging it doesn't look anywhere near as sleek as other tanks of the period. The base chassis is a Tamiya Kampfpanzer Leopard, or Leopard 1 as most people know it. Chosen for a couple reasons (track type, I like the Leo 2, near ubiquitous for the 1960's+ L7 cannon). So, design goals. The idea for the Dover 2 is to create a Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicle, that is to say, a vehicle equipped with tank-grade armor, capable of both fighting and transporting infantry at the same time. Carry six infantry. Most HIFVs solve this by flipping the tank around so the engine is in the front. For a few reasons, I don't want to do this. Inspiration is taken from the IDF Achzarit, where they took an old T-55, changed the engine for a smaller one, and shoved it to one side, giving the rear room for an access ramp. Tank grade armor. This is easy enough. If I leave the sides flat, there's room for add-on armor packages later. Carry a 105mm L7 cannon. This is the big what if. Tank turrets don't just get plopped on top of a hull, they protrude significantly into it, often all the way down to the hull floor. Most HIFVs make space for the infantry by removing the turret. An autoloader for that same cannon. This country is small, so cutting crew requirements from 4 to 3 means 33% more crewmen available for more tanks. The solution I finally came up with, namely, raising the hull roof a foot. This thing is huge. Like, really huge. Dover was slightly bigger than a Tiger I. Dover 2, will be wider than a Leopard 2 with the add-on armor, longer if measured with gun forward, and taller than an M2 Bradley, which is already notoriously tall. Weight? My best guess is 75, 80 tons, maybe more. Driving range and speed? It might outrun a Matilda tank. On the other hand, if it does get into a hull-down position, it'll have a tiny turret to be shot and plenty of gun depression to work with. The turret is a design that's popped up a few times: The cleft turret. Mostly seen on prototype tanks like the T92 or Strv 2000, and similar to the AMX-13, it's essentially a gun mounted in a housing between the crew members. If you extend it backwards, you can put the ammo rigidly in line with the gun, simplifying autoloading, and the gun is no longer limited by the turret roof, meaning gun depression is great. Generally, the turret is smaller, due to less protected volume, which means saved weight. Most real-life examples ended up going conventional due to difficulty with NBC-sealing the system, unreliability of autoloaders, and poor gun elevation due to the cannon housing hitting the hull roof. Either way, due to the passengers, the turret ring needs to be moved forward, and then the turret basket would hit the driver, so it needs to offset slightly to one side, which means that the gun needs to be offset to cancel out the offet... But it's quirky, and I like quirks. Add-on armor concepting. I'm thinking I'll build them with magnets inside, and just snap on the add-on armor when I like the look of it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitterwolf Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Superb! Only minor nitpicking on the painted/finished machine... the emblem is very clean. It would be a little dirtier IMHO. Maybe a small wash over it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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