I've always liked the Christie wheeled tanks of the 1930s. The Russians did, too - they bought the Christie design (as tested by the US Army) and turned it into the BT-2 and later the BT-5 and BT-7, which were used in WWII.
The Christie T3 tank, as tested by the US Army is still around:
http://www.peachmountain.com/5star/tanks_Christie_T3.aspxI decided to build a production Christie tank, had it been accepted by the US Army. The base kit is pretty easy to find; Zvezda has used the base design for their series of BT-5 and BT-7 tanks. They're a little rough, but quite buildable. I used their BT-5 tank and Eduard BT-5 PE set as a start.
The original MG based T3 turret was not going to be effective, so I borrowed a turret from a Tamiya M3 Stuart tank, and added a coaxial 0.50 cal gun.
I didn't take many pictures during the build, but this picture shows the restored pointy nose that was lopped off in the Russian BT series:
I redid the top of the turret as well. The engine air intake vents show tule backing. This was later replaced with Eduard PE mesh.
The three figures I'll eventually add are from the Miniart "Close Combat U.S. Tank Crew" set 35135:
The tank is almost finished in this picture. The cooling slats at the rear are scratchbuilt and are similar to those on the T3 tank. The BT-5 wheels have styrene covers, similar to those on the T3. The rear track drive wheel is completely scratchbuilt. The angled fronts on the engine air intake covers are similar to the ones on the T3. They're designed to allow the turret to rotate 360 degrees. The Stuart turret was hitting the covers as well, so I added the angled front. The BT-5 turret is taller, so it clears the covers.
I was tempted to leave it as a wheeled tank but I saw the Hobbyboss BT-7 fast track set and was impressed that the tracks were click together and workable. No gluing means that it'll be a fast build, right?
I wasted two days trying to get the track to stay in one piece. I ended up gluing segments together and even those came apart as I tried to put the track on the tank. I rand through my supply of curse words in several languages, and had to invent some. The brand should have been warning enough that it was not going to be a pain free build. The main issue is that the tracks use tiny plastic bumps that click into matching holes. Unfortunately, clinking the tracks together is enough to slice off or damage one or both of the bumps and the links won't stay together.
I ended up using the kit tracks, which are link and length. These tracks will hold together without glue long enough to place them on the tank.
Here are some pictures of the mostly finished tank. I dropped it just before taking the pictures, so the right side tracks are a little wonky. The tank is named "Never talk to strangers" which is also the name of a ship in the Iain Banks "Culture" series.
I added a steering wheel:
The 0.30 cal MG is from the Academy set. The front headlights are from a quad .50 kit that Jeff sent me.
The shiny spare track is just the kit part painted black and rubbed with Lifecolor reflective pigment, which is probably just graphite. I also made a basket and rudimentary interior for the turret. The 37mm gun breach is scratchbuilt, although I used some turret parts from the Tamiya 1/35 sd kfz 222.
The twisted right drive is due to the twisting of the front right roller. The red color on the hull isn't rust, but dirt. The serial number "TC-201410" is just Tank Christie and the year and month I finished it.
"Never talk to strangers"
Next is fixing the right track damage and finishing the three figures. I'm not sure what the back story will be - either a fast recon tank during the Aleutian Islands Campaign or as a fast recon tank in Northern Mexico, fighting an aggressive Communist Mexico in the 1930s.
