Picture 15 Planning Turrets: The basic
octagonal box structure was repeated for two turrets. Note the top panel of the turret is sloped
down at the front so top and bottom of the turrets are not identical. This is structure, so thick plastic again.
Picture 16 Assembling Turrets: Assembling the
turrets. Note the spacer to establish
the height of the turret and that the front spacer slopes down to the front.
Picture 17 Plating Turrets: Thinner plastic card is
used to skin the turrets.
Picture 18 Basic Turrets: The basic turrets. A thicker plastic sheet will be used for the
front plate of the turret.
Picture 19 Tubes and Cylinders: A second
structural element is round-section tubes. Four machine gun turrets are required on each
vehicle. Here, suitable diameter Evergreen
tube is capped with thin sheet. When
thoroughly dry, the cap can be trimmed and sanded to match the outside diameter
of the tube. The tube is cut to length
and the open end capped, trimmed and sanded. The capped tubes are then sliced vertically
into halves.
Picture 20 Taking Shape: The machine gun turrets are added to
the crew compartment. A plastic tube was
added to the turrets to form a pivot. Also
added was a disk to the bottom of the turret to allow it to turn freely. Some small similar thickness spacers were
later added to the bottom of the turrets to eliminate wobble. The upside down turret has a thick front plate
added and has yet to be trimmed. Note how
the hull’s base plate will form the front fenders and rides above the area the
tracks will run.
Picture 20A Taking Shape: Top and rear view of the basic
structures. At this point, other than
the tubes for the machine guns, there have been no curved structures. This complex shape is built up with layers of
flat sheet.
Great progress!
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