Project Tonks: Part 4

Ah right, part 4. Let's do this. 

 

As you may recall from part 1, the plan was now to do scratching and heavy kitbashes, and on a very rainy day, I started on the first of four new Tonks. This was going to be a mix of techniques my research had previously turned up, although I hadn’t given much prior thought as to how it would all go together, it was very free-form. The hull was a cut down jenga tile, with cut-up pens for the wheelbase. Its tracks were then created with strips of EVA foam, layered with cable tie segments. I will admit to this being simpler than some of my previous works, but sometimes you skip the dull stuff. The main hull was built up around this, going for a still ramshackle look but less orky than my usual. I had various modern tanks in mind, mainly NATO ones, although that may not be apparent. I had aimed for a 7 by 5cm hull, but as so often happens, the model grew during assembly so it's more like 9 by 6. The turret was made from a hand-soap pump and a bottlecap, salvaging part of the mechanism for turret rotation. The turret and main body were painted separately, and not attached until painting was almost complete, something I should have been a touch more careful about, but rust covers my mistakes. Speaking of painting, I experimented with a Halfords grey primer and some watered-down Vallejo 70.873 US Field Drab as a base coat. I'd ran out of both my preferred and backup spraypaints, but I'd heard good things about Halfords rattle-cans, so I gave one a go here. Initial results seem satisfactory. 

 

While it generally came out well enough, I’m not entirely satisfied, like I’ve not quite got it down. It looks like a scrap tank, the EVA foam tracks work OK as a technique, but its not quite me. This prompted me to mull over how best to approach the next one. I gave some thought to casting a smaller style of track links. Then I thought about cut-up cable ties on double-sided tape. And then about the assorted kitbash ready tracks I already had. Then about cutting up shower gel bottles for their shape.I went back to my (unfeasibly large) bitzbox, and had a rummage too. I decided to sleep on it, before picking up fresh modelling supplies the next day.

Of course, this was just me suffering being a perfectionist, when I started sharing these images with people, the Tonk was well-received. So, I’ll accept this how it is. The next one will  hopefully feature milliput tracks though...