Thunderbolt project ressurection

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Hello again and Happy New Year.

In 2013 I was engaged in a project to make models for resin casting. I had the idea of making a series of 28mm fictional tank models which I might sell online. This project lasted for about two years and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but eventually my lack of casting success and the prohibitive cost of importing all the materials that were required meant that I finally gave up on the idea. It didn't help that I found no one in Denmark who even knew what resin was and that whilst I was painstakingly researching, designing and building my first models, the rest of the world was busy playing with 3D printing.

I did not throw away my models however. I had finished the first one; an assault tank which I named the Suffolk, and which I had used to make my first viable two part mold (at some considerable expense).  I cleaned off the Suffolk and rebuilt the damaged parts (the mold making process was a bit hard on the model) and painted it. You can see it here. 

Another of my fictious tanks was called the Thunderbolt. It was designed to be an infantry support tank that would operate along side the Suffolk. These models were part of a project to create a faux-historical American tank building project following World War One. The idea being that after the war, the Americans saw the British Empire as their primary competitor and anticipating a war along their northern border, designed and built a clandestine armoured force which would spear head the American forces attacking Canada as a part of War Plan Red.  A platoon might consist of three Thunderbolts and one Suffolk - since the Suffolk had a 75mm main gun, it would be used to clear away bunkers, field guns and other fortified positions. The third model I built for this idea, was the Ford Liberty tankette. See here.

Over Christmas, I realised that I was irritated by the thought that I have so many unfinished projects lying about my little room and I decided to go back and finish as many as I can before I lose interest again. The Thunderbolts were designed as far back as 2011 and I started to build them in 2013. They got shelved when other projects captured my interest. I had a previous bout of model making activity a few years ago but the Thunderbolts were not finished then either.

Originally I was going to make one model and then use it to make a two part mold, and then cast myself a full platoon. When that didn't happen, I built two more models and so now there are three Thunderbolts to form a single platoon, along with the Suffolk. Each model has 1,107 rivets made from 0.50mm Evergreen #218 styrene rod. The turret shown below belongs to a different model but is roughly the same shape and design as the turret I have in mind. I shall only build one turret as due to the nature of the polystyrene glue I use, the rivets tend to fall off curved surfaces and I don't want models which keep shedding such tiny parts. I will use the turret to make a one part mold and cast six turrets in resin.

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