Troop Transport part 3

Picking up from where we left off, the hull, we’ll be covering the wheel rim covers, wheels, and tank treads.

Materials:

Cardstock

For Sale Signs

Black cheap acrylic paint

Tools:

Paint brush

Hobby Knife

Self healing cutting board

Metal ruler

Circle cutter capable of ¾” diameter

Again we will be using our For Sale signs as building materials.  We will begin by measuring the width of the Rhino’s wheel rims.  Using your straight edge, cut a long strip to the width you measured.  Cover the front, front angle, top, back angle, and back portions of the wheel rim.  Duplicate this for the other wheel rim.

Now take a small scrap piece and cover the area on each side which is still exposed.  Trim away any excess after the glue has cooled.

To create the wheels, I use a circle cutter which creates ¾” diameter circles cut from the card stock used earlier.  Double these up and glue them together.  In all you will be cutting 28 card stock circles.

Now before putting the wheels on the Transport, grab your paint brush and paint the wheel wells and the bottoms of the expose Styrofoam.  The reason we do this is once the wheels are glued in, it will be very hard to get a paint brush in those areas and any exposed Styrofoam which isn’t properly painted over will get eaten away by any spray primer you use.  Do this a couple times to ensure a good coat and exposed areas are protected.

After that is finished, glue your wheels at each exposed slanted edge in the front and the back.  Then evenly space the remaining 5 wheel rims, exposing roughly ½ of the wheel.  After the glue is dry, again grab your paint brush and paint the wheels a couple times.

Now we can create the Transport treads.  Measure the width of the openings above the slanted wheels.  This will determine how wide your tank treads will be.  We’ll be cutting 2 strips at that width roughly 8” long.  For mine the opening was 3/8”.  After the piece is cut measure a section which is equal to 3 7/8” in the center of the strip.  Mark the edges of this and then mark 1” on either side.  Continue to mark at 3/16” intervals until you reach the end of the piece on both sides.  These points will mark where we will be bending the track to fit with the wheels on the Transport.

Lightly score between these points with the hobby knife across the 3/8” width every 3/16” or so to create the illusion of individual treads.  Gently bend at the places we marked earlier and glue the tank treads into place.  Be careful or the treads will pull apart!  Since we scored it, the treads should wrap around the outer wheels very easily as seen in the image.

Well, that’s all for today.  Wednesday will see the side, front, and top detail plates.  Afterward we will tackle the exhaust ports on the side and the escape hatches.  Again, any questions or concerns are welcomed.