Stuart Tank Project

[ATC]

Wet and sloppy snow today so I spend some time on Joe projects. The Joe tank project made some progress today. The challenge was the driver and gunner area of the tank. First I cut two holes in the head wall so that I could make more room for the driver and gunner, and also have a hole I could pass the radio through.

I'll mount the radio underneath on the rear headwall.

Then I made a form-fit plastic cover. This plastic cover fit over the electric motors and front electronics.



Then I made two seat backs - they fit into the holes I had cut earlier. These hold the driver and gunner quite nicely.




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[ATC]

Here are the rest of the pics.



now I need to think about the next step. Will this be a turretless kangaroo? Will I just pull the top panel off the hull, mount a 37 mm Cannon and make it a tank destroyer? Or just go ahead and put the turret back on? Decisions, decisions! I'm toying with the idea of mounting the Hasbro 37 mm anti-tank gun in the original turret of the Stewart, cutting out the floor of the turret so it can have a basket like a real tank, and doing a little bit of detailing inside the turret. That's probably the direction I'll go. This is a "plan as you go" project!

[ATC]

Here's the tank with the top of the hull removed to expose the interior..

[amwic]

Neat work there, I wish I had patience like you.. It's looking very nice, The 37 mm Cannon sounds good to me.

[ATC]

Thanks... I've done a few Stuart projects, along with other vehicles. This is one mod I wanted to do the instant the r/C Stuart was releases. Finally getting around to it. Slowly.

[ATC]

I made some more progress this weekend. having a removable top meant there was a terrible lack of support. So I added some support on each side of the hull. This will make the hull a lot less flimsy, and support the weight of the turret with figures and Cannon. I made the supports far enough out that they would leave an open fighting apartment and double as storage bins if I wanted to leave the whole top open and put an anti-tank gun in it. Either way he supports doubling his storage racks just seems like a good idea.

[GI Defender]

Looking good Dave! I had my MST out today chasing cats. These are so fun!

[ATC]

My 37 mm anti-tank gun became a cannon donor for my tank project.

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[ATC]

I used the cannon in the turret of my M5 Stuart.
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you can see how I cut away a lot of existing plastic in order to make a real turret with access into the hull. It means I lost the ability to have a motorized turret, but I don't care because the "play value" is much greater this way.

[ATC]

Adding the Canon created a crowded fighting compartment in that little tank!

[ATC]

It's coming along, but quite a ways from being finished.