1918 Structo Wind Up Tank Restoration Motorized Army Tank Toy Rare Antique clockwork

I purchased this 1918 Structo Wind Up Tank on eBay November of 2021 for $ after shipping. This thing was extremely rough... just the way I like them! Every piece of this tank was rusted and corroded solid. I had to cut the axle shafts just to get the wheels off and the axles out of the hubs. The tracks were entirely rusted through, the clockwork motor was seized and had a broken spring. I knew after disassembling this poor tank; that I would need to remake the majority of it from scratch if it was to ever come alive again. I enjoyed making parts on the CNC mill and new Precision Matthews 1440TL lathe as well as my favorite new toy, the Senfeng Fiber Laser. The most challenging part of this entire build was recreating the wheels, I originally wanted to stamp them, however I found the stamp was not going to work, so I created a die to spin the metal into on the lathe which worked wonderfully after about 20 tries. The tracks were extremely fun to create and were pretty simple outside of the shear amount of work it took to make 80 individual track links all identical and fit them correctly so they freely move, I don’t have an exact number but I believe to have somewhere around 35-40 hours into just the tracks, with design, testing, peening and polishing. I wanted to nickel plate each track link in house, then I realized, doing each of the 80 links individually would take 15 minutes of plating each for a total of 1200 minutes or 20 hours if I didn’t’ loose anytime at all. I quickly realized that was not going to happen, so I cut the track links out of a mirror polished stainless steel sheet with laser film, this cut down the time considerably and gave me a very similar finish. I spent four weeks trying to make my own clock springs from scratch and ultimately failed, if the video wasn’t extremely long I would have loved to show you how I went about this. I need to do some more research on how they were originally formed. Overall, I really love how this Army Tank turned out and look forward to my next project to be a smaller one. Thank you! Want to send Chip Channel something? Restorable toys, tools, etc. Donations can be sent to: USPS Chip Channel Restorations PO Box 1178 Grand Island, NE 68803 Lathe details Precision Matthews PM-1440TL Check out their website at CNC Fiber Laser Details Senfeng SF1313G Check out their website at Need Parts??? Check out Gasoline Alley Toys! Use this discount code for 15% OFF !!! Discount Code: CHIPCHANNEL15 !!! Additional Vendors below !!! Extra content on Instagram Check out my Facebook Page Watch my Previous Videos Here 1960s Rusty Structo Emergency Rescue Van 1930s Marx Battery Operated ElectroMagnetic Crane 1953 Tonka COE Livestock Semi Truck 1961 Tonka State Hi Way Department Mobile Crane 1960 Tonka Sanitary System Garbage Truck 1962 Tonka Allied Van Lines Moving Semi Truck 1960s Tonka Green Dozer 1930s Metalcraft Light Up Coca Cola Truck 1960s Buddy L Ladder Fire Truck 1962 Tonka Cement Concrete Truck 1955 Tonka Green Giant Brand Semi Truck and Trailer 1930s Wyandotte Folding Wing Airplane 1954 Tonka Mobile Fire Department MFD Ladder Truck 1953 Tonka COE Tow Truck Share this video with this link Products that I use for ChipChannelRestorations Nylon Punch Nickel Plating Kit Ultrasonic Cleaner Blasting gun Blasting Media Wet Sand Paper Deburring bits Black Gloves Metal Polish Small Cut Off Wheels Buffing Wheels Buffing Compound Lead Test Kit Paint Stripper Camera Tripod Led back lights Camera light Camera light soft boxes DSLR Camera As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Buy parts from these sources below and ChipChannel can earn a commission as an eBay affiliate associate. Toy Decals eBay shop - Decals, parts, toys, vintage items Rivet Tool Link #Restoration #DIY #Vintage Filmed in 4K