Wood you believe there’s not a whole lot of wooden tank templates available online? ( yes, that ‘wood’ was intentional. I’m an English major, remember?).
I wanted to build a toy tank for my baby nephew but could not find a design I liked. I’m completely new to wood-working so why not build something from scratch? See below for the “plans” although I would still call this project a prototype.
This was the start. The body of the tank is 5 main pieces: the center, sides, and “side caps.”
The center was built with 2x4s. First, cut out the center, and the sides using a band saw. The two sides should be identical, and a little different than the center. This gives the tank a more realistic effect. But feel free to use your own creativity.
Once’s you cut the pieces the way you like them, give them a test fit!
Starting to look like a tank, right?
Ok, so we wan
t this thing to move right? Otherwise, what’s the point? Here’s what I did. I cut some wholes in the side pieces…. enough to accommodate some wooden hobby store bought wheels. Then, clamp the center and sides together.
Also, feel free to stain your pieces however you see fit.
Here’s an underneath picture. You have the center pieces, dowels, wheels, then the side caps. I used two wheels per corner to make it more tank like.
Here is the top. Pretty simple to make. I tried to build this as a “wood only” toy, so in order to make the top move I used a larger dowel with a smaller dowel as a pin to hold it into the top.
What you do next after you figure out what your top will look like, is cut a slice off the bottom. Then you can drill a large hole in the top slice to accommodate the pin, and a smaller hole in the bottom slice to accommodate the dowel. This is going to allow the tank top to move.
Wooden dowel in the top part. Glue the bottom slice to contain the dowel and pin.
Once the bottom slice is glued you’re top is done! Be careful not to get glue on the dowel or it won’t spin.
Now we just put the two main pieces together..
And…. money shot! Completed tank!