Australian Cruiser Tank MkIV(AC4) 17 Pdr
Prototype made and tested extensively, 400 ordered
- Scale:
- 1:35
- Status:
- In progress
- Started:
- September 10, 2021
Using the lower hull and tracks from the M3 Lee with modifications to the suspension. I'd planned to substitute the Hotchkiss suspension but it was too small and slightly different. So scratchbuilidng suspension too. Upper hull and turret will be scratchbuilt from styrene and putty and may use existing parts from kit. Barrel will be a metal 17pdr in 1/35 with correct muzzle brake.
Development of the Sentinel began in 1941 when Australia was fighting the Germans in North Africa with Allied forces, and US and England had no tanks to spare. Australia made 64 x Mk I tanks in less than a year which mounted the 2-pounder gun (which was common at the time), small turret. It developed into the Mk IV by 1943 with much heavier armament (17 pounder/76mm), 70 inch turret ring and 55 kmh speed. Program ceased in 1943 when US and British tanks became readily available and we would confine our fighting to the Japanese only, who had much less powerful tanks than Germany.
Project inventory
Full kits
Detail and Conversion sets
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Comments
7 10 September 2021, 00:06
Kevin ThieleThe turret will be the most difficult because of all the compound curves. I was planning to do it in layers of styrene, add putty to smooth then hollow it out with a dremel. Also looking at Patton style tanks for a similar turret and then copying it with a resin mould. Interesting project!
15 September 2021, 06:35
Adrian ForestFor compound curves, you might find it useful to look at some of the techniques used by gunpla scratch-builders, i.e. making profiles from styrene to define shapes, then putty to fill gaps
15 September 2021, 11:53
Kevin ThieleThanks for that, I dont even know what gunpla is, but there's Google.
16 September 2021, 00:18
A.J. MadisonI've done construction with all well known techniques, and a couple that aren't known. Depends upon your confidence level and how much you want to be faithful to the plans. A lamination can hit the profile perfectly, but applying the putty (2 part epoxy?) and sanding it smooth is very labour intensive. Building a rough profile with frames (like a balsa wood model) and filling that with epoxy also works, but has the same labour intensive problem of sanding it smooth. From then picture I'm looking at, I would build a profile with frames, but *skin* the the profile with 15 thou sheet, because what I see is a frustum (truncated cone) for the upper, a step, and an upside down frustum for the lower, which could be a lamination. Wish I had converted this photo album to scale mates, but it's here for the time being, hope it gives you ideas on how to scratch out your turret:
facebook.com/media/s..et=a.323441348115164
16 September 2021, 06:38
Adrian ForestAJ, this is amazing work! Sort of the next step of the kind of thing I was thinking of.
16 September 2021, 08:53
Kevin ThieleThanks AJ, that was exactly the information I needed. I can now move ahead confidently. Making the turret in 3 sections with the bottom virtually a mirror of the top, and using ribbing with a 0.15in sheet skin seems the way forward. I have crude plans and photos but they will be adequate. I will use some of the M3 Lee kit parts (it was the original inspiration for the tank, although heavily modified) in the detail. The War Thunder image (main photo) seems very close to actual photos and I can get any angle I need from the game.
16 September 2021, 22:46
Kevin ThieleI've decided to abandon using the M3 Medium as the basis. I was only planning to use the lower hull and suspension anyway but they changed the design to an adaptation of the French Hotchkiss system with volute springs, which I can use from the Hotchkiss H38/39 kit with little modification. And the tracks bear a better resemblance to the Australian style tracks that were adopted for production. Also the upper hull looks like I can modify without too much work. The turret, I'll wait until it arrives to check out its dimensions. Otherwise, scratchbuild!
4 October 2021, 06:30
Kevin ThieleAbandoned using the Hotchkiss kit. The items are way too small so will be kitbashing from M3 Lee and scratchbuilding bogie parts of the suspension from styrene square tubing. The design is similar to the Hotchkiss with horizontal volute springs, and wheels are closer together than the M3 so a full redesign necessary.
26 November 2021, 03:25
A.J. MadisonOnce upon a time, I started making suspension parts for a 1/35 US version MBT-70 based on the Hunnicutt Abrams Vol 2. (MBT) pictures. The parts came out looking pretty good because of the scale, including the bolts. This was before RTV casting was a thing. Your project is ambitious for sure, but I post to give you encouragement for the success of your project.
4 December 2021, 04:51