99 Malcolm Collier, Tank Builder

This entry is part 3 of 10 in the series 99 - Non-Build Topic

Here’s an interesting tidbit. What does Malcolm do when he’s not building airplanes?

He builds scale WWII tanks (insert original Flight of the Phoenix movie reference here).

Here’s one of his masterpieces.


See the tow cables on the side of the tank? The little helmet on the side of the turret? Oh yeah… and the treads; they actually move.

The back of the tank.

How about that little tiny bucket? It’s hand made… Out of metal. I’ll bet it actually holds water.

Back of the turret.

Check out those canteens. And this tank is about SIX INCHES LONG. Many of the parts on this tank are fabricated from scratch in Malcolm’s model building facility. He uses pictures of actual tanks, maintenance manuals, construction drawings (the original 70 year old documents), etc. when building these tanks. The detail is almost scary. Most of the times when he shows me what he’s working on, I can barely see it. He makes bolt heads that are only a couple thousands of an inch across.

Series Navigation<< 99 MBA Kris99 Sun-n-Fun 2011 >>