1/48 scale Tanks coming.....

Very interesting!  Glad to hear that someone else is listening to the 1/48 bunch and their requests.  Now, if we could only get a 1/48 (or 1/43) Post Office Model AA Ford mail truck.

Paul Fischer

Great news. The ones by Bandai are a bit pricey. Where would one go to find out more about the 1:48 Sherman tank kit?

Any hobby chop can get them. And most any online hobby retailer will have them. Also I think I forgot another good thing......they sell for about $9 each!

I may have to get one each as I have a bunch of flat cars that need loads.....

Lol...are you talking a re-release of these relics?

...crud, so much for collectability...the Panzer was the hard one to find...was!

All that I can find are Revell 1/35 or 1/72 military models, can you give me the web site where they at located at. Thanks,

Look for Tamiya kits. They make all sorts of armor in 1/48. I've built a few, the kits require paint and glue, but done well, look great on flatcars.

Oh, these old snap kits need paint too...I'd say you guys would be happier with the Tamiya tanks and the like...I can show you what the Patton looks like since it's open and put together.

Pretty sure the 'new' kits will be slightly revised versions of those kits. Dump them now before everyone finds out!!!!

Tower Hobbies has the kits listed in the new section.....I think you can pre-order if you want them that bad!

Tamiya has been on the 1/48 wagon for a while....but few of their kits are $9 and these snap kits take the effort I want to put into a flat car load! THX

Tamiya kits are very detailed, and I like the metal chassis for weight that many of them have, but frankly they a bit of a pain to put together.  The snap-tite kits look good enough (particularly when painted well) for all but the most close up locations where that detail will matter, and are so much easier and cheaper. 

At a train show years ago I bought a box full of Kusan depressed center flats. RMT has the mold now. But I paid for the box what I'd pay for one new O scale car so I took them all. I have been painting them and making loads.....these snap kits will be the exact amount of cash and time I want to put into a load for a $5 flat car. When they roll by on a WWII fast freight no one will notice they are not super detailed.

Ok, here's afew pics of the snap patton, tiger 1, and one of my tamiya 1/48th tanks for comparison...I placed a tank on a regular{non scale} flatcar just for a visual reference...added shots by a ruler as well.

I'm still messing with the tamiya jagd panzer and haven't touched the duce and a half.

Hope this helps-

Good info Bob.....THX!

I'm waiting for someone to do the Alco RSD1 military export road switcher, such as was sent to Uncle Joe during the Great Patriotic War. An O gauge version should not be all that tough, to either tool up for or convert via resin or ?? Both slant cab and straight cab versions were included in the lend-lease deal.  The cargo for this chooch will be a collection of 1/48 Tamiya T34/76 or M4 Shermans.  Can you dig it?  Dah!

No problem fellow Mopar owner...and just for laughs I pulled out a 1/35th scale tiger 1 shell and turret...those are alittle larger than the snap kits, but as you could see by my pics those snap kits aren't all the way down to 1/48th scale either, going by the true scale tamiya sherman kit.

Was eyeballing one of my old aurora tucumcari boats to see if they'd work on a flatcar{and no, don't know how I'd pull that one off}....ships are too small anyway{1/84th scale}.

When I made my War Train I got six Corgi Patton tanks and put them on standard flatcars (left).  I had the same problems others do with Pattons and Pershings - severe overhang.  I like Sherman tanks a lot more as a manageable load for a flatcar.  On the right is the recent MTH flatcar, which came with one Sherman each - I bought two and put both tanks (nicely enough detailed) on one car and used the other for something else.

What do the Tamiyas go for?  They are definitely sharp looking models.  You can clearly see the difference in the details and scale dimensions.  Your's looks great. 

I think you may have just inspired me to work on my German made Revell B24 ' Flak Alley' this rainy weekend.  I've got to finish her up.

I also have a pair of those Tamiya 6 X 6 Cargo trucks with the die cast frame. I'm planning on adding them to my military train once finished. they are nice kits.

I have a 6 pack of the MTH Pattons on 40' flats, a couple flats with Willy's jeeps, a pair of Army Missiles on depressed flats from RMT (short, but I like them), a 3 dome tank car, a gondola with boxes, and a pair of weaver Heavyweight Troop train cars at the end.

I still need to add several jeeps, the 6 X 6's and perhaps another troop car or two.

At first I thought that the scale of that Patton tank model might be wrong because I have had real M1A1 tanks on flat cars that didn't hang over the side anywhere near like that Patton is doing.  

Then, I looked at the flat cars. Take the Patton tank (left) off of that scrawny undersized traditional flat car and put it onto the more to scale flat car on the right and see how much it overhangs then!

AMCDave,

I'll second Paul's question, where did you see this announcement?

Yeah, I meant to note that.  It still overhangs but no so much that the treads are about to fall off of both sides.  A Sherman fits nicely, almost flush with b oth sides, on a normal flatcar.  The one supplied by MTH is about a scale 3/16 or a bit more wider on each side (scale 18 - 20 inches).  

I'd like to find some nice diecast Lee tanks if I could, given their name!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news about this re-release.  On You-Tube is Revell's midyear update video.  Under the Snap-tite section, it does show a re-release of the tank models, but they come "pre-decorated" with garish cartoon like graphics on the side panels.  

Given the modeling skills demonstrated on this forum in the past, that's not a show stopper, but an extra step to get these tanks flat-car ready.

Link to video: http://youtu.be/dV2nFtWuEIQ

No mention of pricing.

HTH

Jon

I saw that on the video and contacted my friends at Revell. With these kits being snap and a MSRP around $9 they are trying to get kids to try model building. There are some tank video games out there and these they hope will connect with kids.

When the kits are in market I will show here a how-to about the easy way to remove factory paint, it's not like model train stuff, and making good looking flat car loads from them. THX

Lol- I just got done watching the vid on revells FB page...Quake, Shade and Aftershock..who named these things?...and yeah, folks will be flocking to watch that thread to strip the tanks.....psychedelic man.....almost groovy- but not.

Couldn't find the Revell stuff, but then mebby I didn't wait six months for the page to load. No loss, the Tamiya kits are FAAAAR better, even if more $$$.  Been thinking, I might not have to wait for the Alco RSD1 GPW road switcher....An MTH Russian Decapod could be back-dated and modified for this purpose.  Everything for the Front...Forward as one man! Dah!

Sounds good, I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy the military modeling combined with trains.

Thanks for the link Jon. I guess I'll be able to adding another military train to my roster. I just ordered a few dozen of them at $7 each the price is not bad. And they we also give me a chance to animating some of them like I did about 30 years ago. Now I can't wait for them to be released.

Paul,

Where did you find them for $7?  Tower Hobbies lists them at $8.99.

TIA

Jon

I ordered them from HobbyLinc and they are $7.09 which is 28% off and with what I ordered I'm getting free shipping.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/

and do a search for snaptite

Originally posted by Lee Willis:

When I made my War Train I got six Corgi Patton tanks and put them on standard flatcars (left).  I had the same problems others do with Pattons and Pershings - severe overhang.

You can contact Geller Touy trains. He makes wide wood decks for Lionel "standard" flat cars that would cure to overhang issue!

http://gellertoytrains.com/mcart/index.cgi?ID=INIGWV&task=show&cat=WOOD+FLOORING+FOR+FLAT+CARS

Based on tanks dimension information from war equipment books, the Sherman M4A2 and M4A3 tanks were about 8'7" wide and 9' high. The Patton M46 through M60 tanks were about 11'6" to 11'11" wide and 10'5" high. A flat car can be about 10'8" wide.

FWIW, here are 'approximate' dimensional comparisons.

Alex

Thanks Alex......so I'll order Sherman's and keep it simple!!!

Dave,

My Revell Snap-Tite tanks arrived today. Can you show us your way to remove the paint?

Jim,

You have better service than I do!!! (I was to get a notice when they shipped...yet to) 92% or greater Alcohol has removed the pre-painted Revell kits in the past. Without a kit in hand I can't say for sure....but try it first. I buy a big bottle of the 92% at WalMart. Don't bother with the diluted alcohols. Soak the parts in the alcohol until the paint will scrub off with an old toothbrush. 

Dave,
Thanks.

I got a shipping notice on July 29 that they were shipped.

Good luck!

Just to show that a wild paint job can be converted into decent models, here are my Revell tanks. Just a simple "out-of-the-box" conversion was intended. As Dave mentioned, alcohol easily stripped the paint on these.

Revell "Quake" Sherman tank.

According to references, details closely match the M4 large hatch 105mm gun turret version.

From this;

 To this:

 Tamiya M4 75mm small hatch Sherman for comparison.

Unlike Lee ("but frankly they a bit of a pain to put together"), I found these quite easy to build. Everything fit perfectly, even the single track treads that go around the front drive & rear wheel. Very nice models indeed.:

Revell "Shade" Patton

From this:

 To this:

 I did make headlight bezels to this one as the brackets looked a little goofy sticking up there by themselves.

 The Revell Patton measures a scale 12' 6" across the treads. The Lionel PS-4 scale flat car measures 10' 6" across top, leaving a foot of tread overhanging on each side. You are going to need Hi-Wide clearance papers to move these tanks.

 Revell Sherman on flat:

 Tamiya Sherman on flat:

 Tamiya & Revell Shermans on flat:

Flat used for demonstration purposes only. It has another fate waiting for it. That is why the tanks are not tied down.

Very nice work Big Jim!!!!  Thanks for showing how just a little work makes a nice 1/48 scale tank for our use on layouts!!!!!

Those Revell paint jobs are AMAZING! I don't think I'd like to go into combat with one, though. Jim, nice job of militarizing.

To answer a question raised very early in this thread, the Revell "Panzer" may be a late-version PzKw IV with the large turret and high-velocity gun. It's hard to tell the way the box picture is presented, but that's what it looks like to me.

Jim

Nice job on those. 

Ron

Here's a few shots of a M7 Priest gun (made by Solido) and some Corgi Shermans that I use on some flatcars, shown on both a Lionel scale flatcar, and a Lionel traditional flatcar. Overhang is not a problem with these. The Solido and Corgi tanks are all metal construction and completely finished. These cost more than an unfinished plastic kit, obviously, but I really like the detail, and that they're plug and play - open the box and you're done.