Hi all,
I am wondering, Does anyone know of a good walkaround(s) of the MBT-70? I have decided to try and tackle scratchbuiding one in 1/35. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Chris.
There was a member here a few years ago that did the old 1/48th Aurora kit and updated it with scratched details. I think Brian hangs out with the L.E.M. now. If you try a forum search you may still be able to see this great model.
May I suggest you contact James Wechsler and see what he used? Have a look at his incredible build (which I saw at this year’s AMPS show)
Thanks guys for the replies
Rob- sweet pics thanks for the link.
Crockett- I found the one you were talking about, but all of the pics seem to have red ‘x’ instead.
T26E4- James did an amazing job on his, I’m just trying to decide on which prototype to do.
Chris,
Hi, Crockett! Does my heart good to hear a few folks around here remember me!
And thanks for the kind words about that old build of mine. I still check in here at FSM pretty much every day, but just haven’t had much to say lately.
Rob helped me out with pix when I was doing that first build, and actually helped me get into two more Aurora MBT70 kits that I later did straight OOB. Here’s a link to my gallery, where I threw a bunch of raw pix of the original “accurized” build and the first OOB build I did. There’s one more build I did OOB of the German Kampfpanzer 70 version, but I don’t seem to have taken any pix of it yet…or at least I can’t find any (EDIT: Found a couple, added 'em)!
Anyhow, here’s the link:
http://gallery.mac.com/briankeaney#100271
The version I built was the roll-out prototype, before all the test weights and other equipment was attached. I had the hardest time finding shots of the engine deck, and actually went back and rebuilt the whole deck during the build when I came across some good shots.
Chris, please feel free to ask me anything about my build, although if you are intending to scratchbuild the whole thing in 1/35, I’d wager your modelling skills far surpass mine!
Looking forward to seeing your build!
Roy, that build by James Wechsler is phenomenal! Absolutely stunning.
I actually took time to look in person, at James’ MBT-70 at this year’s AMPS show. I had already seen pics of it in the TL gallery. It was great to see his work.
James is the same person who won this year’s IPMS USA Nationals “Best of Show” with his Sherman collection, too. And he’s a nice guy to boot.
I had a chance to see the incredible Sherman display at the IPMS Nats. Very impressive, as a collection, and as individual works. I’d love to see his MBT70 in person. Perhaps he’ll bring it to the Nats next year?
Brian, You did an amazing job fixing up the Aurora kit the work you did on that far exceeds my scratchbuilding ability. This MBT-70 I’ll be building will actually be my first scratchbuilding project but I’m planning on buying a couple of “host” kits to salvage parts from so it wont be exactly 100% scratchbuilt, I do have a question for you though, Did you scratchbuild the suspension arms? and if so how did you go about doing it? that seems like it’ll be the biggest problem for me. Also do you know of any books with good pics and/or history of the MBT-70? Thanks for the help.
Chris,
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the kind words about my build. It is by far the most extensive scratchbuilding I’ve done to date, but even then it was just the basic scratchbuilding of details, nothing really tricky. I have yet to attempt a full scratchbuild!
The suspension arms with all the hydraulic actuators were scratchbuilt from bits of plastic tubing, 1/35 100mm rounds from the Skif BMP-3 kit, and the actual suspension arms from a 1/35 Tamiya King Tiger. The KT arms were just the right size for 1/48 MBT70 arms, and although the detail is not exactly right, the basic shape seemed close and the detail a reasonable facsimile (a common theme throughout the build!). In 1/35 I would think some Leopard I parts could be tweaked to MBT70 standards.
The only books I’ve found on the MBT70 were a few issues of Ground Power and Panzer magazine, the issue numbers of which I don’t recall right now. I can check when I’m at home later and give you those numbers. I mostly used the reference photos Rob pointed out, plus a lot of Googling of “MBT70.”
From doing the research to spruce up the old Aurora kit, I really came to appreciate the MBT70, and it’s now one of my favorite tanks. I know it’ll never happen, but I’d love to see one of the big manufacturers do a nice version in 1/35, in affordable injection-molded plastic. Sounds like a job for Trumpeter! Sometimes as a joke I ask Mr. Tamiya when the 1/16 R/C MBT70 is coming out…he just laughs…and laughs…
Good luck with your build, and please keep us posted!
I have two press release photos of the MBT 70. One with the hull in the normal position, and the other in the hull down position. Both are from the side, and as far as I know it’s the only photo in the hull down position.
gary
Thanks for the help brian I should probably be able to round up some extra parts from other kits to make the suspension, and dont worry about the issue numbers, I can probably go on the pictures I found on the internet. Thanks again,
Chris,