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Scratch built T-80

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  • Member since
    August 2020
Scratch built T-80
Posted by lposter on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 3:22 AM

Hello

 

I have been busy with my Su-12 but this tank was started before that and now I am going at again after a little break.

This is the T-80...not theusual one but a T-80 light tank in 1:16 with the anti-aircraft shooting main gun and the offset turret and a lot of towel drying attachments on the hull.

  

I had bought some tracks I thought would suit but they didnt so I will have to make something up.

And I started with this:

and then I made up some gears and drive system. Look rough but they work quite nicely.

This them in the start of the hull

 

I also made some swing arms which you can see here:

 

I hope this is how the battery will sit. The suspension racks stick out a bit so I made need a smaller battery.

This is the hull being fleshed out.

Then I made the turret:

Had to take some liberties with details but I can live with it.

And thats where I stopped. Mostly because I needed a big disk which sits under the turret. I could not make one so I ordered it from China and it arrived on the slow boat.

 

So while I was waiting I made the Su-12. But now my eye has turned back to teh T-80 and hopefully I will make some progress!

 

P

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 8:20 AM

Looks fantastic.  Ever think of kitting something like this?

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 7:09 PM

Yeah that's so cool!!! 

The T-60 was an interesting little tank, the T-70 and T-80 weird and wonderful offshoots. 

I had a T-80 in World of Tanks, which was a very strange concept of the tank, they made it into some sort of whacky light sniper tank.

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    August 2020
Posted by lposter on Wednesday, August 16, 2023 12:26 PM

Now that I finished with my Su-12 I returned to my T-80.

Spent a bit of time sorting out the hull. Not happy with the bulge on the front - had to use Milliput - but it will just have to do. The real thing was fairly crude in reality.

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Then I installed my suspension. Its fairly soft and “dainty” but the tank is-currently-light.

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Then I painted it my standard issue gun metal to cover the rust.

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And I made some wheels and idlers (same thing!)…

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Then I had to deal with the tracks.
The T-80 uses some weird double toothed track with a single row of teeth on the sprocket engaging in the middle.

The only two toothed track I know of is the Sherman. So I got some metal ones. Then I filed, ground, Dremeled and sanded off the chevron things. Then I made a little jig and drilled a hole in the dead centre of each link. Tedious work. The aim is not so much to produce a T-80 track, but to produce any track that works and that doesnt stink of Sherman.

Then the sprockets wouldnt fit correctly. So I ground off the back of the sprocket until I had just a disk of teeth left.

Then I adjusted the teeth spacing with a file. Then I mounted that disk between two steel “rims”, checked that the “sprocket” was running true, then bolted the two “rims” together ending up with a rudimentary sprocket with a central row of teeth.

They need some finessing and a means of getting them on the drive shaft but that shoul dbe OK.

They engage nicely with the tracks at any rate.

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Dont think I will be driving it on the wooden floors at home.....the wife will kill me.

 

p

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Wednesday, August 16, 2023 7:39 PM

Oh that looks great! All that work on the track links looks like a pain but yeah it does break the M4 look on them. 

Hope you do another video of this vehicle, hope your dog is in it too! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2021
Posted by JoeSMG on Thursday, June 20, 2024 3:55 PM

No finished pics? Did this get completed?

This looks so bad @$$ in bare metal I would have been tempted to polish it and clearcoat and call it done.

Beautiful work

- Joe the SMG

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