The green looks great!!! 

That Marksman turret looks insane though! 

The "tool" is all green now, next step is a shot of clear so I can add markings. No rush there, I'm still not sure of the final scheme.

IMG_4377 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I've done a little detail painting but there's just not that much to this thing. Tracks are also being painted.

While I was pondering my next steps, both with this thing and a Challenger 2 I'm working on, I had a brain storm. A while ago I bought a Cheiftain Marksman, mainly becasue it was cheap and I thoght the Marksman turret might come in handy one day, shelved it and forgot all about it, except for when I needed the gun tube, oddly included in the box even though no other turret parts were. Sitting in front of my on the "lazy Susan" I keep ongoing builds on that I'm not actively working on was the original M41 hull I started for the Stingray build, with an M48 turret stuck on it, mainly for kicks. Thinking I had something, I quickly assembled the basic Marksman turret, stuck the base of an M41 turret ring on it and by golly if it didn't make me laugh out loud. It's also a good fit, so I'll be working on it as well. Think Sid from the "Ice Age" movies....

IMG_4379 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Shark mouth would be nifty, but at this point I'm either going for solid green as tested by the US or the hull solid green with the turret in a mottled brown over green as tested by the Thai Army. I'm in a group build on another board, the theme being "best tank that never was" so I'm trying to do it as factual as I can, although it's real tempting to do this scheme:

IMG_4269 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I forgot to get pics but before I shot the green on it I made up an aux muffler and finished the gun travel lock. I'll get pics up asap.

Yeah, she's coming along nicely!!! Have you decided on how you're painting her yet? Green would be nice but I'm thinking MERDC would look fantastic! I'd be half tempted to paint a grinning shark mouth on the lower half of the wedge shaped turret! 

I was thinking if you had some PE, it might look more realistic. Just my 2 cents. This is coming out really well. Looking forward to the painting, weathering and finish product.

Thanks all! At tthe risk of sounding like a broken record, I like this kind of modeling, a lot.

I have pretty much everything done now, maybe except for tow cable brackets and a cable, so primer is in my future.

IMG_4367 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4370 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4371 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I was thinking about how to do the muffler heat shields and thought I'd try thinning a kit part, just to see if it would work, and it actually came out nicely. I did the other side, trimmed them to the correct depth and moved on. The tool rack is an extra from a DEF M47 set, tools out of the spares.

Gamera

Wow, thanks for putting up the bare plastic parts before painting so we can see all the work you put in there. 

She's lookin' good!!! 

 

Yes indeed. Seeing all the different parts you added in their original plastic color really shows all the great work you've done here. I can't believe that I haven't checked this post out sooner, although I have been busy with two (2) projects of my own. Excellent work so far RBaer. this is really exceptional.

You're really hitting on all cylinders with this build. I really enjoy seeing what you've done.

This continues to confirm my thoughts that this kit is really worth its cost and will be a good tank kit for the beginner and expert.

LOL guys, now I'm thinking of the Korean Western 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird' which she kinda is all of them 

Thanks G. It's a "work in progress", right?

T-B, maybe it needs a soundtrack from a spaghetti western playing in the background.....

Hi!

 Well, I have seen tanks tha look "Bad",And I've seen them that look "Good" but you've done an gone and created one that looks "Good'n Bad".   T.B.

Wow, thanks for putting up the bare plastic parts before painting so we can see all the work you put in there. 

She's lookin' good!!! 

Thanks G. I've had a couple of afternoons in my happy place and have a fair amount of hull stuff done. Mufflers are made and mounted and the headlights, splash shields and brush guards are made and mounted.

Mufflers are made from laminated plastic sheet, shaped and with Tamiya ends added. I knew I was hanging on to that old box of Eastern Express KV parts for something.....

On the front, I made the headlight splash shields from stock, added welds and mounted the kit headlights after cleaning them up. I considered making the brush guards from brass, but in the end I just thinned the kit parts, given that the real things are kind of chunky anyway. Lift rings are out of an M60 kit. 

After cutting the fenders as was done on later builds, I trimmed them with stock and made new (and missing from the kit) front braces from stock. Now that I've cut the fenders, I know the aux generator's muffler will be on the right front fender, next to the tool rack, so I can move forward there too.

I still have to add the braces and stops for the driver's hatch, then I can move on to the rear hull.

Pics so far:

IMG_4363 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4362 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4361 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4360 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

It may very well have been faster to have used the AFV Club kit as a starting point, but that would have been easy and where's the fun in that? 

She's coming along really well! 

Thanks!

Looking nice, Russel!

S.H.

I got off work early yesterday, so after a couple of hours in my happy place, I'm calling the turret done unless I decide to detail the insides of the hatches.

Turret MG and wind sensor are Takom parts, from one of the M60H kits I have parts left from, smoke paunchers are mostly Tamiya Cr2 parts and the rear lifting eyes are out of a Tamiya Bradley, left over from the FART build. 

I can see differences between what I've built and the examples of Stingrays in Thai Army service, but not so much in the pic of the original demo, so I'm thinking they may be due to production and prototype examples. I'll keep telling myself that. Anyway, pics as of last night:

IMG_4354 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4352 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4351 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

I plan on fixing the really obviously "wrong" stuff on the Tamiya hull and adding a few missing details but I don't want to go nuts on it (meaning I'd like to actually finish this model).  We'll see how far I get with that.

Thanks. I've got a few more detail bits done on the turret, very nearly finished with it. Then it's on to the hull.

Looks good to me! 

More on the turret. I was getting hesitant to do anything because I couldn't find any good detail shots of what I needed, and the ones I have show a slightly different turret on the actual Stingray than what appears to be in the original pic I started from. Thinking I ought to just go ahead and do it as best I could, I got busy again and built up a bustle basket and side racks. They look the part so I'm happy, of course until better pics show up and I can tell where I goofed. In this case, I hope ignorance is bliss. Anyway, pics:

IMG_4341 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4343 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4342 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

While I was there I also started cleaning up the upper glacis so I could do the lights and brush guards, driver's hatch rests and welds. 

I'm still wondering what to do with the other hull I have going. It looks a little too comical with the M48 turret on it.

Something about carrying a big stick maybe? I've got something else percolating but I need to get at least one of these and the Tamiya Cr2 I'm also working on done first.

Oh that's cool! Reminds of the Polish prototype tank Real G posted here a year or so ago that looks like the ones from the coin-op 'Battlezone'. 

Like the giant barrel on both turrets, bit of intimidation factor there for the enemy tank crews eh? 

I got the gun tube about 90% done today, wife is out of town so i had a modelpalooza.

I used a Takom Chieftain barrel, a Trumpeter Centauro muzzle brake and a bunch of plastic tube stock over brass tube to line it all up. The bellows is made from a bunch of rings cut from tube and stacked onto a piece of smaller tube, then formed a bit while chucked up in a cordless drill. It's coated with MrSurfacer so I can clean up any booboos.

IMG_4323 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4322 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

And purely for fun, I'm playing around with the other hull, and I do mean "playing".

IMG_4325 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Baby M103? Anime tank?

I just realized I should have done the goofy one for April 1st....

That is really detailed!

S.H.

S Hollowell

Good work!

 

S.H.

 

Thanks!

So after some careful consideration, and taking into account I had one more Tamiya M41 in the stash, I decided to do this as accurately as possible, given my very limited references and the rather "basic" Tamiya kit. I also had a set of actual M41 tracks arrive, ebay specials, that are actually very nice. 

First to do was turret work. Hatches and vision devices are done, based on some ground-lvel pics and one simple line drawing I found on the web of a Stingray, probably based on the WoT examples. I still have the turret basket and main gun to do but it's coming along. Also begun is the "new" hull, on which I have removed the simplified mufflers and heat shields, intending to completely re-do them. Running gear is done. I had to widen the sprockets by .020" to fit the tracks, and use 74 links per side instead of the actual 75 the real thing used. I think the links are a tad big but it's not a noticeable thing. I made the hatches operable in case I want to add figs later. Weld beads are stretched sprue, softened and textured.

I haven't decided if I'm going to make the actual prototype or one of the converted examples used by the Thai Army.

Pics so far:

IMG_4313 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4314 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4315 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

IMG_4311 by Russel Baer, on Flickr

Good work!

S.H.

CapnMac82

That's pretty cool, nad a unique sort of subject.

I could not help but think of the proposed by General Dynamics but never fielded (to my knowledge) M-60 conversion where an M-1 turret was grafted on. 

Memry gets murky on whether the notion was to use the L45 105mm turrets or the 120mm ones--and either would be a cool model in their way, too.

I want to remember it was considered for those nations with M48 as well.

Mind, the mental images of an M48 or M60 chassis with an M1 turret with the cupola weapons station fit, do intirue a touch.

Further, a conversion of the 48/60 to the Mine Countermeasures turret assemby could also be interesting, too.

Your Mileage May Vary.

 

There was/is a Sabra upgrade to Turkish M60A3 to add a 120 mm gun with sort of Abrams/Merkava looking turret features instead of an entire Abrams turret.

https://www.army-technology.com/projects/sabra/?cf-view

Great looking built there Russel. I will always say that the old Tamiya Walker Bulldog is a good kit to work with.

That's pretty cool, nad a unique sort of subject.

I could not help but think of the proposed by General Dynamics but never fielded (to my knowledge) M-60 conversion where an M-1 turret was grafted on. 

Memry gets murky on whether the notion was to use the L45 105mm turrets or the 120mm ones--and either would be a cool model in their way, too.

I want to remember it was considered for those nations with M48 as well.

Mind, the mental images of an M48 or M60 chassis with an M1 turret with the cupola weapons station fit, do intirue a touch.

Further, a conversion of the 48/60 to the Mine Countermeasures turret assemby could also be interesting, too.

Your Mileage May Vary.