Current and Finished Projects > Land
Stridswagn 103 S-Tank without main gun
Jeffry Fontaine:
The recently acquired 1/35th scale Trumpeter S-Tank captured my interest last night while checking out the kit contents. Being that this kit was one of trumpeter's first kits it is blessed with a low parts count.
Other modeler's have built what-if subjects in the past based on the Trumpeter S-Tank so I am certainly not boldly going into unexplored territory but trying to create my own interpretation based on the S-Tank.
My attempt begins with filling in the void in the hull where the main gun passes through the hull. I placed a piece of scrap plastic underneath the void and traced the circumference of the oval shape with a permanent marker on to the piece of plastic.
Next step was to rough cut the oval shape using my sprue nipper. Once that was done I began sanding away everything that was not an oval shape.
Repeated sanding with a coarse sanding board and equally coarse sandpaper finally got the shape that fit in the hull.
I glued another piece of plastic scrap behind the void for strength and then glued the oval shape piece into the hole.
I recall reading about some modelers having issues with the early Trumpeter kit and the plastic glue most often used for building models so I used my Tamiya liquid cement first and followed up with some Plastruct cement designed for ABS plastic. So far it appears to be a good fit.
Two attached images showing top and inside of the S-Tank upper hull with the now filled void.
apophenia:
Nice work, Jeff :smiley: I'm interested to see where you're going with your gunless S-Tank :D
Buzzbomb:
Plenty of ways forward with this vehicle.
Jeffry Fontaine:
To ensure that the possibility of cock-ups are kept to a minimum. I opted to assemble the rather anemic looking main gun barrel and the flexible gas turbine exhaust duct. The turbine duct was a bit fiddly and one end cooperated while the other end did it's very best to self-destruct. I attempted to use a small[ish] clamp to secure it and force the damned thing to stay together but that failed as the force of the clamp was far too much for the parts and the one end went sideways trying to split apart so the clamp was quickly removed and I resorted to finger pressure until the two parts set up and started to cure/dry.
The gun barrel was much less problematic and went together as well as expected but it suffered from a case of extreme seam issues. Much energy was expended in getting rid of the offending seams using sandpaper and a sharp knife blade followed up with some wet sanding and I set it aside to dry.
I may bin the gun barrel after some additional deliberation but it also might find a new purpose elsewheres.
Old Wombat:
OK, a "gunless" S-tank ... with a gun!? ???
I'm guessing MGS but I could be wrong. ;)
I didn't have any issues with my Trumpy S-tank using Tamiya cements.
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