Tank Hull Spaceship part1

In the middle of detailing the film can spaceship I had an idea about trying to build a spaceship model using tank kit hulls for the main structure from the large stash I have stored in a couple of plastic containers. 

 

The green container for the bottom hulls on the right is about twice as big as the one for the tank tops as the tank tops are more useful as large areas of detail and I find myself using them more often in projects than the tank bottom hulls. 

Of course I had to try it out and therefore started another new project the result of which can be seen below.
The structure is built on a length of pine to which I have attached a couple of 15mm water pipe flanges for mounting in exactly the same way as the film can spaceship. All the 1/35 scale tank hulls are strung along this wooden spine using 2mm styrene sheet bulkheads and connecting panels.

 

The bridge section is made from two Stryker kits of different types. I have detailed the interior and made windows from 2mm acrylic sheet. It is lit in the usual way with a led light strip consisting of the shortest possible module of 3 leds at 12 volts. The bridge top is removable for access.

 The neck is made from two gun turrets from Tamiya Flakpanzer Gepard kits followed by two Dragon Jagpanzer top hulls top and bottom with two cut down Dragon Maus bottom hulls on the side.

The middle section is a combination of two Italeri DUCW amphibious upper hulls and two lower LVT amphibious hulls on the sides. Added to each side is a Maus turret.

The rear engine section is made up from two Geppard hull tops and two Hobby Boss Land Wasser Schlepper amphibious vehicle lower hulls on the sides. I used the Land Wasser cockpits on two previous projects, the Science Vessel project and the Heavy Salvage Tug. One of the Land Wasser hulls has some nice raised line detail on the bottom of the hull and strangely the other doesn't. They both came with the same box art but were purchased a couple of years apart.

For the engines, I am going to use a number of LED garden lights I obtained cheaply as they were being discontinued at my local Bunnings hardware store. They have a convenient bell nozzle shape and I have used them before on my Escape pod mark II project. They are not particularly bright but will do for this project.

The bridge section is yet to have window mullions added to break up the large areas of glass. I will also add some 1/72 scale figures to the interior. 

 The model currently measures 885mm long with the engine nozzles still to be added.

Thanks for looking.

More soon...