Here are some pictures of the model in the early to mid stages of construction.
The basic parts of the toy tank (with some work already started on the surface detail)
Two views of the re-assembled tank with basic external detail finished, plus hatches cut out
and fixed in the open position
Gun breech and gunner's chair
Unpainted interior
Two views of the painted interior
As you can see from pics 2 and 3 the tank had no "clutter" (spares, tools, track links
etc.) on it at this stage - the finished tank, however, most definitely does! - along with
other external details such as a turret aerial.
The pictures show the original metallic green and black finish, but the completed model is painted
in an olive green/green-black two-tone scheme, with markings for the 8th Armoured Brigade.
The original toy is simply labelled "Battle Tank", and is sold for about £4 by the company "Time4Toys". I actually picked
mine up 3 weeks ago at the shop in the "Cobbaton Combat Collection" military vehicle museum in Devon, England. It is moulded in polystyrene (making it easy to glue and reshape) apart from the tracks/suspension which are a slightly softer black plastic (and had to be Superglued)
Since I finished this project I've been looking for similar items in every cheap toy shop I pass (does the same
company make other WW2 tanks? maybe a Tiger, Stuart, T-34?) but I haven't seen anything yet!
However last Sunday I visited a car boot sale (garage sale to US inhabitants) and picked up a toy M2 Bradley for 50p (about $1) which is even larger (appears about 1/18 scale). However, whilst the basic shape is accurate, the surface
detail (hatches, engine grilles, vision blocks etc.) is completely and utterly wrong - everything is in the wrong place,
it's as if someone took all the external fittings off a Bradley and put them on again whilst blindfolded! For example, there is a large engine grill on the upper hull at the position where the troop compartment hatch should be. So I've decided to convert it to a M2A2 which has extra armour plates bolted on to most surface, and large armoured side skirts, allowing me to sand off the inaccurate detail and cover it up with scratchbuilt armour plates. I'm using the FSM article on the scratchbuilt 1/16 Bradley (I forget the modeller's name, it's in a 2002 issue) as a reference, and for the interior, the instructions for the Academy 1/35 kit. (Are there many interior differences between the M2A1 and M2A2?)
BTW I do build plenty of conventional kits too - I'd say my interests are about 50% aircraft, 40% military vehicles, and 10% ships and vintage cars. I also do some scratchbuilding, one project I've completed recently is a waterline 1/200 WW2 destroyer (HMS Cossack).