A Report To The Cabal: A 1/16 Post War Tank Turret??
 

Cabal:

This is David Jacob's - 'Jake' as he prefers -- a local friend who is an r/c tank driver and builder. His game is 1/16 WW2 era tracked vehicles. The below shots are of a post war German tank turret he's building. Specifically it's a foam core, epoxy resin protected, and Evercoat filler surfaced master that will be used to make tools from which copies can be pulled for himself and customers.

Yes, yes ... it ain't submarine related (unless the tank fords a particularly deep creek), but interesting to those of us who scratch build. Enjoy: As the substrate on this turret master is polystyrene foam Jake had to first coat it with epoxy resin -- to form a barrier that would prevent the styrene loaded polyester filler (needed for final contouring and fillet work) from attacking and melting the foam. Once the resin coat had cured enough, Jake mixed up many small batches of Evercoat filler and 'iced' the surface of the master -- establishing a new substrate, that will produce a smooth finish and can be worked with fillet and sanding tools.

Once a layer of filler was put down, it was allowed to cure to a point where it could be worked with course files and #100 gird sandpaper. Between each abrasive

operation Jake would re-mark the master with an array of longitudinal and transverse datum lines.

Once Jake had the basic shape of the turret established he transferred the work to my overhead milling machine where he would cut out a transverse 'trench,' needed to accept a length of brass tube that would represent the optical range-finder, unique to this particular type of tank (Leopard?).

A standard 1/8" end-mill cutter was used to cut the optical range-finder tube trench.

To be continued! ...