Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Land => Topic started by: Frank3k on August 06, 2021, 12:16:32 PM
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I'm a fan of Christie's early tank designs so I was eager to get the Vargas Scale Models 1/35 Christie Tank M 1919. The kit is 3D printed. I wanted to both build the kit and learn from how the parts were oriented and supported for printing.
Here are the kit parts:
Turret:
(https://i.imgur.com/GxNW8MP.jpg)
Hull, top view:
(https://i.imgur.com/JDoxGyJ.jpg)
Hull, side view:
(https://i.imgur.com/jo3LYWS.jpg)
Tracks and running gear:
(https://i.imgur.com/BbFcVNZ.jpg)
The supports were thin and easy to remove. There are some printing artifacts that I didn't remove, in part to see how visible they'd be after priming. It looks like the layer height is around 50um.
I used some Stynylrez olive green primer and it looks darker than in these pictures. I went for a slightly dirty but not filthy tank:
(https://i.imgur.com/BgRcqGr.jpg)
There are some printer artifacts on the panels over the tracks. The weird shadows behind the turret are from the LED lights and not artifacts:
(https://i.imgur.com/nh38PGv.jpg)
There are also printer artifacts on the lower front and on the front sides:
(https://i.imgur.com/GRKuD6B.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/w4u5qM4.jpg)
Here's Michael from "Hot Fuzz" saying "yarp":
(https://i.imgur.com/hKOxYAt.jpg)
The green is almost certainly wrong and should be darker. The track/running gear are press fit and glued in place with Crafter's Choice glue, so they're a little wonky. The model also needs a flat coat, although I'm tempted to redo the hull and remove the visible artifacts, then repaint in a much darker olive color. Still, it was a quick and instructive build and with the small number of parts, easy to redo without damaging the kit.
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Unique and interesting subject, has a good look, almost steam-punkish. Well done !!
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Nice looking little kit! 8)
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Great job!
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Thanks, guys. This is mostly a cleanup and painting job, since construction is minimal.
You can draw a family tree going from this tank directly to the T-34.
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Looks good.
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Cool project! :smiley: This 3D printing stuff sure is amazing.
Regarding the actual tank I wonder: didn't they think it should have more bogeys? To better distribute the weight along the length of the track.
Or is that me looking back at it knowing that dozens of other tank designs had more bogeys/road wheels and therefore thinking it odd?
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One of the complaints about this tank is that the ride was very, very rough. He kept improving on the design and eventually ended up with the Christie M 1931:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Christie_M.1931_Rahway.jpg)
Which was a pretty good design, but the US Army didn't buy it. The Russians bought the design, up-gunned it and renamed it the BT-2 (alter BT-5, BT-7):
(https://i.imgur.com/X8dAaaN.jpg)
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That came out beautiful, artifacts & color notwithstanding. I like the Christie designs a lot myself - but every time I think about scratchbuilding trackwork my mind blanks and I wake up in some seedy bar in Madagascar or Finland.
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Surprisingly, the Zvezda link and length tracks for the BT-5 and BT-7 are really well made and look good. I tried using the Bronco workable tracks on another kit (https://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4862.msg79276) and... well, Bronco.
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... I tried using the Bronco workable tracks on another kit (https://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4862.msg79276) ...
And what a great build that was! These two Christies will look great parked alongside each other :smiley: