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Post Info TOPIC: WIP: converting a Takom Male MK IV into a Supply Tank


Lieutenant-Colonel

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WIP: converting a Takom Male MK IV into a Supply Tank
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Hi,

yesterday I begun to convert a Takom MKIV Male to a Supply Tank. I like this special version so I cannot wait for starting it after I built the Tamiya MK IV Landship.

In my opinion is easier to convert Takom sponson parts instead of Tamiya single part sponson. 

As well known the main differences between a Supply Tank and a normal gun tank were:

1) closed side sponson,

2) different rear doors without bottom flaps for ejecting empty shell

3) a MKV's shape escape hatch on the top of the driver cab.

I will add the Top Towing Arrangment also if I am not sure Supplies had never it.

I would like also to scratch a sledge.

This will be a mid-term project because I'm now spending lot of time painting a Landship grandnephew Challenger 2 and then the Tamiya MKIV I finished some weeks ago ( http://landships.activeboard.com/t58392858/tamiya-mk-iv-wip/ )

 

First of all many thanks to Thorsten for his suggestions how to improve Takom hull I will apply on my model.

 

http://landships.activeboard.com/t58478273/mark-iv-female-135-takom/

 

I will not modify the top hatch because I will change it with a resin copy from Tamiya (see my MKIV wip thread)

 

I started modifing sponson front and side armour.

 

- erase all rivets as shown on pictures bellow. You need to to this because Supply Tanks had fewer rivets in different position then gun tanks.

Note theat later I erase also all rivets on the upper area of the front armour.

Be sure to put them aside because you will need them later.

Cut also bolts and outer ring on the MG hole.

In the following picture you can see the left side without rivets and the right one still with them.

 

 

-make the same also on parts G1 and G6. Erase also the pistol port since Supply didn't have it.

After done fill and sand to have a smooth surface (not yet  done on my parts)

 

 

- cut 0.5 mm plastic sheet to fill parts G5, G4, G10 and G11. Use CA glue to attach them to model parts because you need a quick and a very strong fitting.

Fill free to download the following ZIP file where you will find a DXF and a PDF file with sheet shape and marks to cut the vision slots.

Cut paper, glue it to plastic sheet with office stick glue, cut part, makes holes, remove paper with tap water, glue part in place.

Note that the file is provided "as is" so use it at your own risk. I suggest a dry fitting before gluing.

Use a plain sheet metal to have a perfect flat surface. This is very, very important sinche Supply had a single plain armor on sponson front and side.

Remenber also to fill the gap between the two parts of the side armour (I suggest to use a small piece of plastic rod)

 

 

http://www.ferreamole.it/images/modelli/mkiv_supply/sponson.zip

 

- I fill all gaps with Mr Surfacer 1000 liquid putty and then I carefully sand it.

 

 

- repeat the some process on right side. Here I cut the vision slot before gluing and not after as on the left side.

Ok, new vision slot are not so perfect as I wanted but I think they may works.

 

 

And here we go. Note left parts are still waiting for putty.

 

 

The next stage will be filling MG and original vison slot, adding new pistol port on front armour, repositioning rivets and modifing rear doors

 

Regards,

Pierantonio



-- Edited by Pierantonio on Monday 1st of December 2014 10:04:01 PM



-- Edited by Pierantonio on Monday 1st of December 2014 10:06:12 PM

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Hero

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RE: WIP: converting a Takom Male MK IV to a Supply Tank
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Great! Having seen your previous Mk.IV I look forward to see how you'll finish this one! Great work!

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Colonel

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RE: WIP: converting a Takom Male MK IV into a Supply Tank
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Now this is what I'm talking about. Exactly what I want to do with my Takom Male!

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses, and what build considerations you find along the way.

Good luck, and keep the updates coming.

smile

PS - Takom click tracks are now shipping from web shops. If you fancy saving some time.



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Legend

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If you want Top Tower gear then you must fit it to a Female. Males and Tenders weren't fitted with it.

Gwyn

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Lieutenant-Colonel

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Many thanks for your comments.

 

Compound eye: I will change kit tracks with the new ones from Takom but I cannot find them on the net. Have you links to any shop selling them?

Gwyn Evans: thanks for your note. I change my program so I will put the Top Towing Arrangement on the Takom Female I have on my model depot.

 

Now some news from the workbench.

First of all in this post you will find some pictures of the real tank I found on the net. As usual all pictures are only for discussion purpose and copyright is still of their owner.

 

Rear doors

 

As you can see in these picture sponson doors lack of the bottom flap (in the gun tanks they were intended for ejecting empty shell case) and of the pistol port.

 

 

 

Looking at these pictures I noted I cut wrong front armour vision slot because I started from these on the right side but I didn't note in the gun Tanks it was in a different position then Supply.

On Supply Tanks they are at the same height of those on the side so I fill them and cut new ones (see pictures at the end of message)

 

I draw the door profile on CAD, cut the bottom flap and then reported side edge lenght on CAD. Doing this I could cut the bottom profile to fit exactly the cutting line.

 

 

Then I glued them to doors, cut the pistol port, filled with Mr Surfacer 1000, and sanded smooth.

 

 

As usual I can download files I made

 

http://www.ferreamole.it/images/modelli/mkiv_supply/rear_doors.zip

 

To fill the side MG holes I follow the metod suggested by Paul Budzik in this video

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaXWFM6zbLc#t=242

 

Since I had no dental resin I use normal epoxy resin

 

First attach a piece of sell tape on the outside of the armour

 

 

then mix resin componets and pour it inside of the hole. Wait for hardning.

 

 

Peel off sell tape

 

 

Fill with some MS1000 and carefully sand smooth.

 

I made some resin copy of pistol port cover from part E6 and E7 (I need mirrored cover) and I glued on the front armour. Put them at the some heigth of those on the side and refear to pictures for the orizontal position (look at pictures of original tanks to fix the correct position).

Make a paper rouler to fix revets you saved before, glue them on one armour (side or front) and use this as a rouler for the other armour (rivets were at the some height).

 

 

 

Now start asesembly sponson. Fit is not so good so check several time before gluing. I had to modify some parts on the internal side to have a better fit and then still fill some gap.

The first sponson finished. Note front vision slot on their new position and the older filled

 

 

 

 

 

Fit to side hull is very bad so I think I will glue sponson before starting aseembly it,

 

 

but the next stage will be to modify the drive cab with its new upper hatch.

 

Please feel free to make your commets and give suggestions.

Regards,

Pierantonio

 



-- Edited by Pierantonio on Sunday 7th of December 2014 06:39:07 PM

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Colonel

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Ordered my replacement tracks from Hobbylink Japan - hlj.com. They tend to keep much more stock than 1999.co.jp.

Yet to recieve them, so cannot report, but as long as the track plate is well moulded and they assemble to 90 links a side, then all is well.

Your build is looking superb so far. I know full well the hard work involved in blending a kit surface with a filled hole, after doing 2 tank destroyer conversions with blank hull plates instead of gun mantlets.

Is the fit poor because of sponson part misalignment, or is it just a weak point of the kit? I am wondering about the idea of retracted supply sponsons as a conversion option, so any comments about accuracy of sponson apertures - which seem to be bevelled for retracted sponson possibilities, would be welcome.



-- Edited by compound eye on Sunday 7th of December 2014 07:10:47 PM

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"You there on the port!". "S'gin actually, but thanks for noticing [hic]".


Lieutenant-Colonel

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Compound eye: fitting is poor because of sponson part misalignment and not because of kit weak point. In my opinion there are too many parts in the sponson so it is a little difficult to mantein a perfect alignament of all of them.

Some modellers on the net complained about general fitting but I found many problem are caused only because a wrong shape and dimension of some joint. Cutting and sanding some plastic frome edge improved fitting a lot and it became near perfect.

In the following pictures you can see where and how I improved some areas.

 

The drive cab

 

 

 

 

 

Sponsons

 

 

 

 

I cut also part G17's edge to improve parts G10 and G11 fitting. I used parts G16 and G17 as a base for parts G1 and G6

 

 

Gas tank

 

 

Tamiya tracks fit Takom sproket and idler wheels near perfectly.

 

 

 

At step 20 and 30 the stated upper returner roller is wrong because it was a type A and not a type B.

 

I finished also the right sponson

 

 

 

Then I made tyhe upper hatch on the drive cabin roof.

I had only these two picture (only for discussion) and I am not even sure these were supply tank because usually the three digit number was for training tanks in England.

 

 

 

It looks like those on the MKV tanks so I cut it referring to some picture of this tank (a rectangular 0.25 mm sheet of 20x16.5 mm) adding a pistol port and some bolts

 

 

Then I glued the resin copy of the Tamiya rear hatch. I had to move hinges but otherwise it works well needing only some filling with thinned Ms Surfacer 1000. Refear to the Tamiya MKIV thread to see how I obtained the resin copy. I glued also the pistol port Takom forgot on the roof.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Pierantonio

 



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Colonel

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Really great work!

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To have a better alignment of wheels (assemblies A and B) I glued assembly A as per instruction and then I built assembly B gluing one wheel A2 to axel A1 and then the second A2 turning it 180 degrees. Since parts A2 are not symmetrical, doing this increases space between wheels to allow a better fitting of flanged wheels A4.

On hull parts many rivets interferes toghether or with wheels so I cut some of them from part C31 and erased all details in bottom part of parts F1, F2, F3 and F4

 

 

 

 

General hull fitting is not so good. Luckly this area is hidden by tracks. Try dry fitting many times before gluing and use side hull part (F3 and F4) as a template for cabin parts and then glue the last hull sponson.

I didn't use all parts which became invisible after assembling hull sponson.  

Muffler PE parts are too long.

 

 

I added a Hotchiss MG from a Meng FT17 on the front plate

 

 

Note that Suppply Tanks retained the pistol port on the floor of driven cab

 

 

Use a home made template to align upper rails.

 

 

 

 

Front hatches are resin copies of Tamiya model.

 

 

The beam with only some work to show wood grain.

 

 

A first try for decals. They will be printed by a professional server.

 

 

And now she is ready for paint.

 

 

 

Regards,

Pierantonio



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Lieutenant-Colonel

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Following this thread

landships.activeboard.com/t58657347/emhar-172-mark-iv-female-tank-build/

and thanks to Gwyn Evans' research I discovered MkIV tanks had different radiators so this is my personal rendition of the tubolar radiator filler cap (I did the same on my Tamiya model as suggested by Gwyn)


and this is the older envelope radiator filler. Rear armour hole dimension is 19x5 inches found on blueprintes publisched on the Heynes book.


Regards,
Pierantonio



-- Edited by Pierantonio on Saturday 17th of January 2015 09:51:57 AM



-- Edited by Pierantonio on Saturday 17th of January 2015 09:52:53 AM

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Lieutenant-Colonel

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I scratchbuild the sladge. No exact dimension (my sladge is 90x70x25 mm), I used my eyeball meter looking at some pictures I found on some books I have. The cardboard on the middle is only to save some wood strip

 

 

 

The End! Two weeks ago she won (with my Black Arrow II MKIV) the second prize at a national contest in Padua, special section "modelling the Great War"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Colonel

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Well done that MAN!!!!!!

THE OLD LANCER

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Hero

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Great looking model! Love the weathering and attention to detail... deserved to do well.

Helen x


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Colonel

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Congratulations to this wonderful model!

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Private

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Bravo! A pleasure to see your work.

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Colonel

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Pierantonio wrote:

The cardboard on the middle is only to save some wood strip. 


If you have coffee in a place like Costa, Starbucks, Café Nero, etc, I always 'borrow' about a dozen of the wood stirrers they supply, every time I'm in. In 1/76th - 1/72nd scales, they come in useful for bridge planks, floor boards, etc, but in larger scales, you could have used them to make your sledge floor.

Just a thought, and something to keep your eyes open for.

Grant

 



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Field Marshal

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Great research and great model!

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Sergeant

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lovely work, just read the whole thread, a great insite.
Thank you
Rich Reid


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Captain

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Hello

Here a MK IV supply , conversion of EMHAR kit

Best Regards

Olivier

Supply.JPG

 

 



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Lieutenant-Colonel

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Fantastic work, Pierantonio, really nice.

 



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Field Marshal

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Beautiful model Pierantonio and congratulations on your second place.

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Has anyone else noticed "new and improved" seems to mean it doesn't work as well as it used to?

 



Commander in Chief

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If that was only worthy of second place, first place model must have been absolutely amazing!

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Hero

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Congratulations Pierantonio, Great blog and excellent model. Olivier thats a great conversion of an EMHAR kit, well done.

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