Christie 1921 Tank
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In the Great War, America found itself with a muscular heavy equipment manufacturing industry that could have readily produced tanks; but it had no tank designs. The US ended up building licensed copies of the French FT-17 light tank, and the Mark VIII “International” heavy tank as the war ended. After the war, the US began experimenting with tank designs of its own. Walter Christie was a talented and experienced automotive engineer. He submitted designs and working prototypes of tanks to the US Army throughout the interwar period. In WW1, tanks were viewed as an armored, self-propelled siege-engines for breaking through the trench lines at which point their job was done. They were slow, the speed of a walking infantryman, and mechanically unreliable. Christie’s 1921 prototype had a two-man crew, was small, turretless, armed with a 57mm gun and two .30 caliber machine guns. It was fast – 13 mph (20.9 km/h). Christie solved the problem of getting slow, unreliable tanks to the battlefield by removing the tracks, storing them on the fenders, and running on the road wheels over improved roads. The downside of the Christie suspension design was its very rough ride. The US Army Ordnance Department requested that Christie improve the suspension system. Although only a single prototype was built, it laid the groundwork for future high-speed tanks.
This is the Vargas Scale Models 3D printed kit built out-of-the box. This kit shows off the capabilities of 3D printing. The 3D printing process allows a surprising amount of detail to be represented on a single large part that might require dozens of parts if molded in styrene or cast in resin. The hull is printed as a single piece. The running gear and tracks are a single piece – no road wheels to clean or individual link tracks to labor over. The front suspension includes fully functioning coil springs.
It was primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 black. I carefully sprayed Tamiya XF2 onto the upper surfaces and plates to highlight the sunny areas. The model was painted with Vallejo Olive Drab and weathered with a dot filter of various Winsor and Newton oils. A dark enamel pin wash was applied followed by a light dry brushing with Winsor & Newton Yellow Ochre oil paint. AK Streaking Grime and Rainmarks for NATO tanks were applied sparingly. The tracks were painted with Tamiya XF84 Dark Iron. AK Track wash was applied and finally Uschi Chrome pigment was rubbed on the high points.
This was a quick and fun project.
