Hey Jeremy ,, ok first things first ,, back story .. never done one of those before so if you could give me some idea that would sweet .. i'm guessing here but is it to do with the evolution of the vehicle and its use or what evil little thoughts i had to come up with the idea :

Oh also is it cool to enter more than one vehicle .. i have another idea for a machine ,,scored these very cool looking wheels and been wanting to do something with them ,,this is the perfect place to make it happen

Phill

Sean: Alright then

Matthew: Feel free to throw it out on the table, I'm sure we can help you work out any details

Phill: A back story is nothing more than a history behind either the design of your vehicle or the events the led to your vehicle being wherever it happens to be. It can be as brief or as detailed as you want it to be, just so long as it makes sense at least on a theoretical level. If you want to run it by me first before you post it here then feel free to message it to me.

And by all means, you can enter as many builds as you want! You will only be awarded one ribbon, but all of your builds will be put into the campaign feature

Wait, I thought it was clear that this was a "what if" campaign?
LOL, cheers fellas

My current idea is to depict a tank built during the Anglo-German arms race in the decades prior to WWI (C 1890) using a model 1931 t-26 flametank http://www.o5m6.de/t_26m1931.html as the basis. I think it has the right look for the period. Assuming this fits the campaign, what I am having trouble with is designing the engine (steam) which for the most part will sit on the rear deck of the tank. I have some the components, but it is the overall design and the fact that I don't want to spend more for the remaining parts than the whole tank that are giving me fits. The rest of the conversion is easy peasy

Now that's an idea!

Here's where I am at as of Saturday night. I snuck in a few moments after work.









I stripped the insulation from a length of copper telephone wire. I used the wire as a power cable, and bits of the insulation as the connectors at each end.

G

Jeremy ... ok thats good news and now i have an idea the ol mind can go to town on the history of the NightWraith Air Defence System and the other machine i have in mind will be started as soon as i find the wheelsl lol

Phill

Matthew: If I understood that correctly, you are planning on converting that little beast into a steam powered tank? If so that shouldn't be too tough. If I remember correctly, steam engines are pretty straight forward but it's been a while since I've looked into them.

G: Well I must say that you put those few moments to good use

Phill: Excellent, looking forward to it

Ok here we go ..My back story ......

The Nightwraith Air Defence System came about dew to the long sort out battles of the 22nd century ... high mobility air defence was the order of the day but nothing came close to the type of system that was needed ..mostly old open turreted twin gun systems were in use making the fighting a rather unpleasant at the best of times ..all weather and night vision were dreams to many AA users and dew to the massive use of EMP based weapon systems many modern systems in use at the time now don't work at all ..its back to the old style of air defence used in WW2 with optical sights and range finders mounted on a solider's shoulders ,,many could easly see that something much much better was needed .
The plan for a all weather .night fighting ,multi gunned vehicle was put forward ,,something using a proven chassis was needed and one which was easy to maintain was essential .
The only vehicle that fit this requirement was the Ackerman 884 8x8 APC ,,a old vehicle by anyones standards being first used some 37 years ago for the first time but with plenty in storage and spares filling many warehouses this was the perfect choice .
Dr Ramon Wraith designed the turret using everything he could lay his hands on ..the weapons chosen are the PSC 209 25mm rapid firing cannons with a rate of fire of 1200 rpm per gun ,,fitted with brand new fully EMP protected electronics (exact type is still a close guarded secret ) the new system has found huge favour with the crews that man this vehicle .












Cheers

Phill

Awesome Phill, try to get bigger pictures in the forum here if you can. Not sure how that works with Imageshack though.. Looking forward to seeing your other project as well

That is exactly my plan, my problem is my brother is the mechanically inclined one in the family (he's an engineer). I'll be bugging a buddy of mine tecnical advice on this one in about two weeks. In the mean time, I am going to finish collecting the bits and pieces I need for the rest of the conversion and flesh out the backstory.

Good and bad news...
Good ones, the final pics of my E-25, finished !!!











Jeremy I will post only one pic in the Gallery due to my lack on space MB/quota.

Now for the bad news...

After the photo shoot, I putting the E-25 on a shelve when gravity ... well it fell.
I managed to grab it but still.. only one MG and the main gun broke.

Matthew: Alright then, sounds like you have a plan. When you have everything sorted out as best as possible we can help you with the details.

John: Not a biggy, just glue the guns back together for the final photo. The damage shouldn't even be visible with how small the pictures will be.

I glued the gun.. no problems..
I uploaded 2 of these photos, didn't made any other changes.

I'm still finishing 4 kits for other Campaigns,
Mobelwagen, 234/4, SturmTiger, Hetzer , 2 of them will be over in 1 or 2 weeks so I'm guessing late July-early August I'll tackle the 2nd build for this Campaign.
The background story is the same it's just another unit but a different front.

Thanks again Jeremy for a great Campaign !!!

Sorry to disappoint you-all with my confusion but I meant Pevensey Bay, Sussex.

Now I just need to post some progress pictures

WOW this tread is moving fast and its hard to keep up with all the fantastic builds that are going on here, keep up the good work guys

I have made some progress on my JS-3 primed and base coat of dk green applied but the charge for my camera battery has been misplaced, a la my daughter and now the camera is dead so i need to find the charger or buy a new 1

Ok, so I thought I found the answer to problem of my design, but it only presented me another problem. My idea was to use the business end of the MiniArt Soviet Field Kitchen, but then I realized I don't really want to chop up a $35 kit to put on the back of $20 (common problem from what I have seen with you armor guys), so now I have find things with the appropriate shapes in order to do this on the cheap.

John your E-25 looks awesome! It's like a hetzer (my fave Pz) on steroids Cool camo too.

My Tiger Walker is on hold for a bit, as I need to chew through some campaigns coming to a close in the next couple of months. Just to show some that I'm not just eating popcorn and forum browsing, here's a little of what I'm working on:

End of Days Campaign ending 8/15/11 (scratchbuild / conversion for zombie apocalypse, nuclear holocaust, etc):


The basis for the build, a fast moving high tech zombie recon machine...


Where I was at at the end of yesterday, after letting it sit for the better part of 4 months.


Scratchbuilt 1/24 scale M61A1 Vulcan 6 barrel cannon. After looking at it, I should have probably used brass rod instead of plastic to account for the inevitable warping with the plastic. Lesson learned.




Getting closer, scratchbuilt roof sensor package includes 2 boom microphones and a camera turret (off a 1/48 F-16 FLIR pod, I think). Picked up some aluminum mesh that's about the right scale for 1/24 chain link fencing. It's going on both windows, the engine deck and most of the windshield area.

The wheels are from some R/C car I lost the battery packs for, and was going to toss it. The "zombie chopper" saw assembly is the gearing I stripped out of it, sanded down, and painted with a mix of German Grey and Gunmetal. Still working out some details, but all of this chopping and bashing is just sharpening my skills for the Panzer Walker.

Cheers!

John: Awesome! Would be nice if you could get a photo from the side or front that didn't chop off part of your build, but the ones you uploaded will be ok. I'm glad that you were able to glue your guns together without any problems
I'll be tagging along in most of the other campaigns you are in, and I'll be looking forward to seeing your next build here

J: Alright enough teasing, now let's see that build

Sal: This thread is moving pretty fast, wasn't expecting that but I'm glad everyone is enjoying it
I'll keep my fingers crossed that the charger shows up

Matthew: Just scratch the parts you need, it shouldn't be too complicated.

Matt: Not worried about you bud, I know you've always got something in the works. Thanks for sharing your EOD build, that's probably the only Ferrari I've ever seen that actually looks scary!

That's my plan I just have to figure what I am going to use.

HAHAHAHA Matt .. oh mate i love that beasty .. now you can fight with speed and style

@Matthew:
That was a good one, Hetzer on steroids !!
It was a fun build despite the small problems, I will return with a E-50 pretty soon..

@Jeremy:
If you need I can post some more pics from different angles.
I'm almost over with the "Targets shoot back" & "Armooured wheels" Campaigns, I really need to speed my builds up..
I usually take the instructions sheet and do 1 step / day, except Dragon instructions which require some more time, but with this system I can finish a build in a month.

@Matt:
Looks like a Mad Max car... the Modena is always a beauty even with a M61 Vulcan on the hood..

ok had a little juice left in the camera battery so here is what I got
tried a little pre shading with some black before the 1st dark green coat was appliedthen i sprayed some Model masters Dark Green on to itI see that there is still some spots that need some more paint so I'll hit that with some Testors OD. I'm trying to use up the rest of my rattle can paint, so i figured why not being that this is a what if