1/35 M70A2 Krueger MBT, Desert Storm, 1991

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
I can see why the idea never took off.

[Guest]

Something similar took off around the same time:

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… and had the same sort of problems The gunner on the AH-56 Cheyenne was in a seat that turned to track the target of the TOW missile, and got the same kind of motion sickness as MBT 70 drivers.

[Guest]

As if I wasn’t making things difficult enough for myself, I decided that I did really want to add the mine plough from the same Tamiya M1A1 that also donated the gun barrel. Unfortunately, of course, the hull front of the two tanks is entirely different, so the main plate to which the rest of the plough attaches doesn’t fit onto an MBT 70 hull. There’s really only one solution:

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Initially I looked at various ways to modify the Tamiya part that you can see in the photo, but in the end I felt that scratchbuilding a replacement would be just as much work. As you can see it’s maybe half finished at the moment, but it fits quite well. Now I’ll have to figure out the front end, where the raising and lowering mechanisms attach — and preferably so they don’t get in front of the headlights.

[minitnkr]

Really looking the part. Great blog (both research & scratchery). PaulE

[Guest]

Here’s the mine plough mounting now it’s almost complete:

[ATTACH]352379[/ATTACH]

I had to modify the winch/locking mechanisms to fit:

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And with the arms temporarily in place:

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I’ll leave these off until after painting. The hooks that hold them in the up position are also loose, as are the pieces the arms hinge into underneath the plough.

Next, the mantlet is finished. Here is my effort compared to the MBT 70 standard mantlet:

[ATTACH]352376[/ATTACH][ATTACH]352377[/ATTACH]

The three spikes on the left-hand side are for attaching the searchlight bracket, which I’ll be leaving off. On the right front I drilled two holes for the gunner’s auxiliary sight (top) and the coax machine gun, with bits of tube for both as sunshield, flash suppressor, or whatever.

And then it all went pear-shaped

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I applied superglue to the white plastic tube sticking out of the front of the turret, but probably because I had to apply stuff to the inside of the tube in the mantlet, to get superglue to stick to the material, the mantlet didn’t slide on all the way about a millimetre too far forward, it got stuck fast, I couldn’t push it on further and I couldn’t pull it back off … This required a few choice words.

Luckily when I tilt it all the way up, there’s enough of a gap on the underside to get access to the white tube, so I’ll probably be able to get a small saw in there to cut the whole thing off and find a solution, probably by drilling into both sides and adding a pin. But not today

[scottie3158]

jakko,
Nice work on the mounting plate. I have had that happen as well when the glue sets before its in its final position.

[Guest]

It’s certainly not the first time this has happened to me, but never with something as awkward to take back off as this

[minitnkr]

Bummer. Got the t-shirt & the soundtrack. PaulE

[Guest]

It’s fixed now

[ATTACH]352557[/ATTACH]

As you can see in this photo, the underside allows access to the trunnions, so I put a sawblade into my knife handle and cut off the mantlet:

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That went much more easily than I had expected. Of course, the result was uneven, but had removed about half the necessary thickness, leaving me to file down the part in the mantlet until it fit to my satisfaction. Here’s everything in place:

[ATTACH]352559[/ATTACH]

The gun barrel is by now also glued in, and at that point, of course, I discovered it’s heavy enough to pull the whole thing down if the gun is horizontal. I suppose I’ll have to glue the thing solid after all.

Let’s see, what remains to be done? Machine gun turret, finishing the plough, drilling holes in the spare wheel, um … what else? Not much, I think. Other than crew and stowage, that is.

[Guest]

We’re at the detail stage now, I suppose. Here’s a jerrycan holder, based on the type on the M1 (not M1A1 or later) turret:

[ATTACH]353120[/ATTACH]

This is completely different from the familiar, standard American jerrycan holder, so I couldn’t just use an etched one. Luckily it’s relatively easy to build from some thin card and strip. The trickiest bits were the diagonal braces, and trying to glue it on the turret side behind the basket

20 mm ammo cans on the back of the stowage basket (“bustle rack” in American terms):

[ATTACH]353121[/ATTACH]

Just some from the AFV Club set of 7.62 mm, .50 and 20 mm ammo cans. The ones from Tamiya’s Modern U.S. Military Equipment Set are slightly sharper in detail, but I only noticed that when I had already put these together, and in any case the difference is very minor.

Then the smoke grenade launchers:

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The actual launchers are from an ancient Tamiya Chieftain (ancient as in: one I built 30 or so years ago, and have since mostly taken apart again for various parts of it), which is whey they are two different colours. I drilled out the launch tubes and inserted 2 mm rod so it extends out of the tubes, which replicates the double-loading American crews sometimes do: two smoke grenades in each tube, to thicken the smokescreen.

The mounting brackets are from the same Tamiya M1A1 that supplied the gun barrel and mine plough, but thinned down and with bolt heads added. After doing so I discovered that on the M1 these are socket bolts, not hex-head ones, but who is to know besides me? Well, you, now you’ve read that, of course …

Everything else is scratchbuilt: the wires are copper wire from an old computer monitor, the angle iron protective channels are inspired by the Abrams again, and made from L-profile plastic with rod and strip for the brackets. Those were a job and a half to get on because they’re so tiny The number on the turret is from digits I shaved off a Tamiya sprue, again replicating a detail of the M1 Abrams.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Glad the mantle was sorted ok. I am really impressed with the detail you are putting into this. Love the number.
Jim

[Guest]

Thanks I’m now mainly pondering the remote machine-gun turret. I’ve mostly finished scratchbuilding the M85 machine gun (no photos yet) but still have to work out what to put into the turret, and how, because Dragon’s offering is both simplified and completely lacking. The top of the mounting is there, but needs detailing — if not a major rebuild to be replicate the real thing more closely — and everything below the actual mounting added, as that will be visible but is not included in the kit. Think stuff like an ammunition bin, feed and empties chutes, a lot of wiring, even the traverse motor.

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
The fine work continues.

[Guest]

As far as I know, nobody sells an M85 machine gun, so I had to build my own. Luckily I could use the barrel from an Italeri (ex-Esci) M60A1 kit, as the flash hider would probably be the hardest part to scratchbuild. Everything else is plastic card, strip and rod:

[ATTACH]353249[/ATTACH][ATTACH]353250[/ATTACH][ATTACH]353252[/ATTACH][ATTACH]353251[/ATTACH]

I didn’t build the feedway as hollow, nor add detail inside of it, because there will be feed and ejection chutes running to the gun, so there was no point in trying to build this area completely.

[scottie3158]

Jakko,

Very nicely done.