SimonT - Hobbyboss 1/35 Russian T-18 Light Tank

[SimonT]

Morning all,

you may have seen in the Latest Acquisitions thread that both myself and John Race purchased one of these dinky little Russian tanks

John is already well on with his build

I am a serial starter and couldn't help but start cleaning up a few parts

It is such a small tank it is like building a 1:72 kit






all nicely packed inside a stout box that is actually the right size for the contents for a change

A couple of sprues are even contained in a bubblewrap bag

Nicely moulded in hard tan plastic that is much better to work with than the soft stuff used by Miniart



basic tub assembled and suspension started - looks like a skip with wheels

looking at the reference pictures showed that HB have simplified the suspension slightly, no doubt to make moulding easier

I have managed to photograph it from such an angle that you can't see the mods but basically I trimmed a little plastic off the sides of the suspension units and then carved out a notch on each side at the base of the central part


rear plate installed - needed a little trimming to get a flush fit


a few other parts cleaned up and the idlers assembled

each half of the idlers has three release pin marks on the inside faces so these were filled and sanded prior to assembly as they can be seen from the side

the track guards are commendably thin mouldings however they do not feature the return lip on the edges so these will be replaced with pewter as usual

 

[Steve Jones]

You need a bigger bench. How many builds do you have on the go now Mr T??

Off to a flying start. Good luck with the rest

 

[SimonT]

Bench? I need bigger knees and a lot more time

Rather a lot Steve - JSIII, Iraqi T55, T34-76, SU-122, this T18 plus at least six others, if not more, plus the 222, viking and civil war bust in for paint
I just chip away at them as the fancy takes me until something reaches paint - track links are always a stumbling block and take me ages to clean up. The JSIII is a big tank - I seem to have been cleaning up links for that for a very long time. No matter how many I do there always seem to be the same number in the to do pile

 

[Jim R]

Morning Simon
Certainly a lot on the go at one time. The solution, of course, is to combine them all into one monster build. Stick the barrel from this onto the mini and convert the civil war guy into the driver - see I've helped already
Jim

 

[SimonT]

Thank you for the invaluable help Jim

 

[Si Benson]

You can’t deny the logic Simon

 

[Deleted member 7237]

Hi Simon nice clean start which we have come to know, I'm glad to see pewter hasn't disappeared since I've been away .
Pete.

 

[SimonT]

Si - maybe I should use A1 from one box, A2 from another and so on and see what I get

Pete - good to see you back again Yes the pewter is still here, in fact see below.......


bent up some pewter to make replacement track guards



cut the track guard support outriggers from the kit track guards


boxed in the side sponsons - as it happens this was pointless except that it gave me something to stick the pewter to


track guards installed along with the etch engine grille. The etch didn't go too well - a lot stiffer than Eduard etch sheets so could have done with some softening up


while wrestling with the etch I broke off one of the wheel units - they are quite delicate and do not take kindly to being bashed about

Luckily it was an easy fix - drill and pin with brass wire then CA together


good as new

 

[Steve Jones]

It wouldn't be a Mr T special if you didn't break something LOL. Nice update. Enjoying your work

 

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
Pewter and breaking bits - now I know I'm watching Simon T. Just blood to add
The track guards looks so much better than the kit parts. I suppose plastic will only stand so much thinning. Pewter must be far easier to replicate damage in as well. Just out of interest does it cut with scissors?
Jim

 

[SimonT]

I shall put a new blade in - that usually does the trick

Pewter does cut with scissors - tends to bend the edges a bit but running a steel rule over it on a hard surface flattens it down nicely

 

[scottie3158]

Simon,
Your off to a great start will follow along.

 

[Deleted member 7237]

He's off and running, nice upgrades with pewter track guards.
It's good to be back and seeing all this nice work being done
Pete.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Hi Simon,

Very impressive work as always and even more impressive is the new 'doesn't show the blood too much' Jeans you are wearing. Best of luck finding bigger knees to use though. Top stuff Sir!!!

Prost
Allen

 

[Si Benson]

Lovely bit of pewter-ing Mr T

 

[SimonT]

Cheers Scottie - I wonder if I will ever finish anything. Really good at starting them

Pete - good to have you back

Allen - yes, the dark jeans are much more blood friendly

Ta Si


Made a start on cleaning up some track links last night - four attachments per link but since I remove all parts with my trusty JLC saw they will just need a quick swipe with an emery board

Luckily with it being so small there are only two sprues of links - one set removed just need a quick sand now

I did a bit of a test fit and it appears that the links do not fit under the track guards very well

The links are wider than the guards even though I made the guards the same width as the kit ones and there is no clearance over the rear top return roller

Some studying of photos is required to see how the tracks / rollers should sit together

 

[SimonT]

after a lot of searching I found this shot which shows a vehicle close to that depicted by the kit

Most of the photos purporting to be T-18 have different suspension layouts, tracks and other details - some of the museum / monument examples are missing bits or look to have had random bits added to make them look complete so I don't trust them

At least this is a period photo so I shall use this


first thing I noticed is that I have the return edges too deep at 1mm - will need to halve that so a new set of guards required

the track width does appear to be wider than the track guards so I think that aspect is correct

the vertical dampers look to sit below the hull floor and there looks to be a gap between the top of the road wheels and hull floor as you can see ground - looks like the entire suspension should possibly sit slightly lower in order to get the gap above the return rollers

first task is remove the pewter and try again

I can then assess the gaps with some track in place and see if the suspension has to move

 

[Jakko]

The mudguards on the real vehicle don’t seem to have any real thickness to them at all, except for that bent edge at the front. Instead of making entirely new guards, I think the first thing I’d try would be to fold the edge all the way over on the ones you have, see if that looks more like the photo. If not, you can always make new ones after

 

[SimonT]

They are a lot thinner on this one than on the previous reference - it could very well be that I destroyed the kit ones for no good reason

 

[Jakko]

Always fun to discover that something you took off, you now get to rebuild as it was