Hi! I am an AC modeler. I wanna try tanks now. The problem is, what will I expect in tanks that is not in an AC? Ok, I expect a lot of internal details. What else? I am planning to buy the German Panther 1/35 scale.

Shonen,

Don't expect many interior details. 99% of tank models come with no interior what so ever.

I think the main difference will be in weathering. Even a brand new tank had a lot of weathering, especially on the track and suspension. You will also find that how you approach the building process will be fundamentally different. You will want to determine what to paint and when. There are a lot more details to add to most tanks than planes. You need to figure out whether to assemble before or after painting and should you put the stowage on before you paint it. I think planes take less time to build and about the same time to paint, but I think the process of building tanks is more complicated than building planes. There is also a larger variety of AM stuff for tanks. Not quantity or availability, but variety. You have full interior sets, pe sets, stowage, tracks, barrels, tow cables, figures, engines, you name it. And the variety within tanks themselves is greater and more evident. You really need to sit down before hand and figure out exactly what you want to do with a tank. Thanks for listening.

Rob

Sure about that? I hate doing interior painting that will be rarely or never shown. It's just a waste

hey there.. most tank kits are built to be shown with all hatchs closed.. although if you get so inclined you can buy interier sets for engines and crew compartments to add to them...

The exception to this are armored open toped vehicles. such as tank destroyers. armored cars and such...

also there are some Tank kits out there that come with interiers such as Academys Tiger I with full interier.

anyways good luck and hope you have fun...

check out my site for some of the open top vehicles..

Delbert's Model building showcase

Don't be so quick to make that determination. No modeling effort is a waste if you're doing it for yourself. If you're having fun and decide to do it - then go for it. Over all the years I've been modeling armor, I find it most satisifying when I accomplish what I set out to do, interior or not. I approach it the same and it doesn't matter to me whether or not it can be "seen" in the end. My efforts don't suffer one way or the other...

Gunnie

I am for the most part a tread-head, but from time to time I do build those "wingy things". I feel the difference in the 2 for me at least, is that the building stage for AC is tougher and painting/weathering AV's is tougher.
When building aircraft you have to have every seam perfect which means filling, sanding, and in most cases, rescribing panel lines, which can be a whole other subject unto itself. Yes there is filling to do when building armored vehicles but again for me at least it is not as much and the result does not have to be as "perfect", especially for WWII era because the armor plate and weld seams were not real smooth. Delbert is right about the interiors, if you're modeling a tank you won't need to worry about the interior unless you want to have the hatches open. I respectfully disagree with what Rob said about more details to add to tanks vs. planes. I think that is up to the individual builder. No you don't have all the equipment on the outside of the planes but I have seen plenty of aircraft with various panels and compartments cut open and detailed. It just depends on how far you want to take it.
Painting and weathering is where the 2 really separate themselves because aircraft don't have near the amount of weathering that the average tank does. Like Rob said, even a brand new tank will be weathered some, the tracks will get rust on them just sitting outside overnight and that's just 1 example. It's up to the individual, but for the particular AV you are doing you need to figure out when enough is enough and that can be the hardest part. The main thing is to find a subject you like and enjoy building and painting it, and with that I'll "shut-up".

My long-winded 02 cents,
Mike

PS. The Tamiya Panther is a great model to start with, it looks good and builds easily OOTB, yet lends itself easily to detailing, and the paint schemes you can use are virtually endless.

Hehe, now he's just baitting me. Seriously though, a lot of builders do prefer to do a clean straight forward build and others want to detail and I guess that is going to be universal. I must confess ignorance to a lot of aircraft stuff so I really don't know how hard detailing a plane is, I guess it's just the treadhead in me that thinks mine has to be harder than everyone elses. Hey at least its not cars, we all know how easy they are

Rob

Whos baiting who here?
Another way of leaving hatches open is to add a figure there instead. then there is definately no need to do the interior. A lot of guys spray the inside black when there is no interior, so thats it is harder to see the lack of detail. But i agree with the others ....... just do what you feel is right for you ....... there is no rules!

In armor building you will have a lot more of posibilities to make dios, with figures, buildings, trees, ground simulation. In 1/35 scale there are much things you can find to use in the ambientation than in 1/48. If you have enough space you can make a battle dio with more than one vehicle.

If you are good at A/C modelling, tank will be easier for ya, at least no canopy masking....

LOL! Amen, brother. Canopies and lots of putty!!!!!

But armor kits have those individual link tracks!!!!!!! AHHHH!!

:)

Scott

A single canopy is easier than dozen of individual tracks. Besides, The only hardest thing in an AC is the cockpit .

I have seen a lot of great advice given here. For my two cents, go to a model show and look in detail at all the tanks, take plenty of pictures. I always do that before building a new kit type I am unfamiliar with. I built German for years, decided to do a Sherman and some other US armor. I went to a couple of shows and photographed every US tank that was there. I also visited Track-Link and did the same. Research your subject then you can save a lot of spinning your wheels later

I just had to get in on this. I started off building armor, then a/c, then took that break for girls, cars, liquor etc.. Once I came to my senses and got back into building. I leaned heavily towards armor as it was easier to correct a goof with some mud or extra stowage.(Not many duffle bags on and F105.. lol As I built more and more, my friends who built a/c swayed me to jump off into one. After doing so, I found my armor models were a walk in the park. Seams, alignment, decals, correct weapons stores etc... the list goes on and on. When I went back to doing some armor, I found that the attention to detail needed for my a/c models helped out tremendously with my armor builds. You can go all out with armor just as you can a/c. The trick is to know before hand what you're looking for as your end result. The Tamiya Panther is a great build right out of the box, but can be detailed easily with PE intake screens, aluminum barrel, link to link track, resin goodies....etc. You get the idea. You can do as much to armor as you can to your a/c. Best advice I can give you is to just have fun trying something new. :-) "Q"

I to am in the same situation as the author of this post. I have just finished the Tamiya 1/35 scale T34/85...my first tank model...

I would say that tank model construction is easy when compared to AC. There arnt really alot of parts when you comapre it to something like a Pro/Modeler Junkers Ju88..no real seam lines to worry about..NO canopies to frame..

However, the weathering took along time..I sprayed my base coat then decals, then sevral washes..dry brush....several days.... Then DISASTER.. It was looking real good, then i dull coated the tank...And now you cant even tell i did a wash..I was dissappointed..must have did something wrong???

You guys are fun to read! I build both aircraft and armor models - and there is little comparison in scope. Just wait until you approach Tamiya's Dragon Wagon, FAMO with Trailer, Italeri's LVT (any one of them), AFV Club's LVTP-5A1 Amtrac or DML's SCUD-B with MAZ-543 TEL - your opinions will change...

Gunnie

Gunnie, Too funny. The DML Scud B rears its (very) ugly head once again. That monster is the worst of both worlds. With all of those windows to glue in from the inside it might as well have six canopies... #:-)

Heh heh - I had fortune to see one up close and photograph it in a local private collection. It's an ex-Czech vehicle complete with SCUD missile. The thing looks like it just drove right up off the field and the crew just left to have lunch.

I spent about 20 minutes moving inside and all around it - and came to the conclusion that it would be easier and faster to clean the real vehicle up and restore it than to build the DML model kit #:-) Give me that Ju88 any day!

Gunnie