[MOC] M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

With all of the posts about the new Porsche set, this vehicle would be considered the Porsche or supercar of tanks (it's a tank destroyer), this vehicle was the fastest armored vehicle used by the Allies in WWII. It can travel at 55 mph (88 kph)... now that's not some lightweight sports car that packs a 1000 hp engine, this is a 19.5 ton AFV with a 9 cylinder 400 hp radial aircraft engine... and a high velocity 76mm gun. This impressive weapon allowed the Allies to combat the larger and later war German vehicles such as the Tiger II and Panther. It was known to be the most effective Allied tank destroyer fielded, with higher kill to loss ratios than other Allied tank destroyers.

With my model I attempted to copy the drive train and focus on the aesthetics of the vehicle. The most challenging parts of the model would be the upper glacis (topmost armored plate in the front of the vehicle), as where this part met with the "cheeks" above the sponsons. I think a brick solution would have worked here, but I lacked the pieces to build it and all of the available parts wouldn't have been steep enough to work. The open topped turret was also a challenge, as everyone who builds with lego will know round shapes aren't easy. I decided to omit some features on the turret, as they didn't look correct and they effected the smoothness of the turret. The open top allowed me to use an interesting compact turret traverse/gun elevation unit that is rather compact and functions decently (I would like to add more reduction to the traversing gears). This was difficult to mount into the hull, as it is already packed with full-length torsion bars, the torsion bars are 10 studs long, this allows them to be softer for the light model. Overall I am pleased with the amount of SNOT work on the hull and turret. I think I replicated the model to the best of my abilities, though I wish more detail could have been added to the turret, as the massive breech guard limited the gun elevation, and took up lots of space. I also compared the model to the blueprints, and it seems to be mostly faithful to the real counterpart. The most impressive part about this model is the size, I was able to put most of the functions of some of my larger tanks into a footprint smaller than a 32x16 baseplate. I wish Lego made parts for radial engines, as it is very difficult to build a functioning one at such a small scale, as I wished I could have included that in the model too, The only case where I was able to mount one was in my M6 heavy tank. Another interesting engine that would be very difficult to replicate is the Chrysler multi-bank, a 30 cylinder engine mounted in later versions of the Sherman. I would like to sometime replicate that and put it in a M4A3E8 "Fury" tank.

I had a lot of fun with the editing, my new photography backdrop makes it easy to clean up photos, just by adjusting the RAW exposure, you can get a pure white. It also rained today, so no outdoors footage, but I had some fun with photographing the model in puddles, as there are interesting reflections.

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

A comparison with blueprints, there are some minor perspective differences, but it is relatively close for Lego.

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

an underside shot... not too much here to see, but you can see how the swing arms alternate between half-stud offset, and full stud offset, this allows for a 5.5 stud space between road wheels. Also note how the left side torsion bar is leading in front of the right side.

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

A couple renders of the traverse/elevation mechanism, instructions for that will be comming soon.

Lego M18 Hellcat turret traverse/gun elevation mechanism. by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat turret traverse/gun elevation mechanism. by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

The unit markings for the Hellcat are from "Black cat" both of my cats were wandering around when I was filming.

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

IMG_1591 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Turret details

IMG_1597 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

IMG_1601 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

IMG_1602 by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Suspension

Lego M18 Hellcat suspension by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Edited June 15, 2016 by Tommy Styrvoky

[offroadcreations]

This is amazing! I love all of the details, and the outdoor photos turned out great. The tanks you build are always awesome.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Offroadcreat1ons

[Trawler Man]

Dude, this is wild. Well done.

[jorgeopesi]

Awesome again, congratulations for another small monster.

[Sylvian]

The tankmaster has delivered once again,. Awesome!

[jgw]

Lovely! One of my favourite tanks, build from lego. I like how you did the muzzle break, such a small thing, excellent detail. Keep up the good work!

[__________________________]

tank master slays as always

[BusterHaus]

Nice work, the narrow tracks must limit the scale, but you seem to be fitting more and more features in each build. The speed and maneuverability are well executed.

[Victor Imaginator]

I like that reflections in the 1st photo) Very cool model, I like non symmetrical bottom. Will you share more details about suspension?

[Tommy Styrvoky]

I like that reflections in the 1st photo) Very cool model, I like non symmetrical bottom. Will you share more details about suspension?

Yeah, It's basically a simple torsion bar suspension, but it mimics the actual design, as the swing arms are offset.

[Edwin Korstanje]

Great work again Tommy :thumbup: .

Even your small scaled models are spot on and the level of details is .

That everthing is working and controlled by S Brick make it complete

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Great work again Tommy :thumbup: .

Even your small scaled models are spot on and the level of details is .

That everthing is working and controlled by S Brick make it complete

I just need to get another Sbrick, for my next model... I wonder how it works connecting 2 Sbricks to a single device, as my current device seems to work fine, but occasionally the Sbrick will disconnect.

[TheNextLegoDesinger]

i really like it, m18 Hellcat is my favorite WOII tank. i like houw you captured the spirit of that thank. the speed is superb but maybe you could have made the truttet traverse a littlebit slower. another thing those gears above the wheelsshould have been smaller, maybe use 8 thooth gears and put the 1/3 of a stud higher or is that impossible?

[Tommy Styrvoky]

i really like it, m18 Hellcat is my favorite WOII tank. i like houw you captured the spirit of that thank. the speed is superb but maybe you could have made the truttet traverse a littlebit slower. another thing those gears above the wheelsshould have been smaller, maybe use 8 thooth gears and put the 1/3 of a stud higher or is that impossible?

I would have liked to have the turret traverse slower, but because of space constraints, I don't see any other possible solutions. I attempted to limit the maximum value of the turret traverse m motor to 75% power, but it just stalled out the motor. For the road wheels the 8z gears wouldn't have worked, as they are too small to act as return rollers on the tracks, and the teeth don't mesh with the tracks.

[TheNextLegoDesinger]

yeah, i tried it now and saw the problem

still, it a great moc and tank

gonna play WOT so i can get my hellcat :grin:

[1711902090]

amazing details !

[Kelkschiz]

Lovely model. Cool photo of the two hell kitties :).

[Tommy Styrvoky]

http://tommystyrvoky.blogspot.com/2016/06/m18-hellcat-tank-destroyer.html blog post with more information.

[MRP_]

WOW that scale was NOT what I was expecting! Still looks great though! also your cat has the derpiest face! lel so cute

[MRP_]

was SUPER bored so ALL HAIL KITTEH

[Sariel]

Love the inside of the turret. Did you consider hiding the bottom plate showing below the front armor somehow?

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Love the inside of the turret. Did you consider hiding the bottom plate showing below the front armor somehow?

I thought about it, but couldn't find a good way to make it work and not be too cumbersome for the model. Also the way the first torsion bar is mounted made it difficult to affix anything to the hull floor. If you look closely at the point where the glacis and the hull floor meet, you can see a torsion bar that is overhanging by 1/2 a stud. If only lego made a 1x3 technic brick with 2 holes, As I couldn't use a full 1x4 technic brick there.

It's best shown in this photo

Lego M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (Sbrick by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Edited June 21, 2016 by Tommy Styrvoky

[Sariel]

What if you used black plates on the bottom? Wouldn't the front edge of the plate be hidden by hull's shadow for most of the time, then?