M47 Patton II

[AVeryNiceSpacePenguin]

M47 Patton II

Tanks?!

Tanks are quite the rarity here - maybe because Kerbal Space Program is not a tank building sim. But that hasn't stopped me from combining 2999 of KSP's parts into replicating one. Yes, you heard it right, 3000 parts.

Some history - By the end of WWII, America was already fielding and producing the M26 Pershing in large quantities. However, by this point, the M26 was almost outdated, as it featured an under-powered engine and lackluster performance overall. This was remedied with the introduction of the M46 Patton, which was an overall improvement. However, it still featured the old M26 turret. The M47 Patton II was intended as a stopgap measure, while a far improved tank could be developed. So the US Army just put an experimental T42 turret on the M46 hull and called it a day.

Overall, this was some of the hardest 'sculpting' I had done in KSP. Grip pads lend themselves nicely as sculpting material, and they have been used (and abused) here in very large quantity. The rear of the turret (called the "bustle") is positioned asymmetrically compared to the center of the turret. As such, each side of the turret (the thing that rotates) had to be built individually. The 90mm gun is made of ~200 thermometers. Overall, 80% of the tank is made of grip pads.