Fan email! This is pretty cool.

I received a terrific email on the Fourth from reader Chris Jachimowicz. He gave the Lost Squad some nice props but also sent along photos of a project he's been working on inspired by the Lost Squad's Spider Tanks.

Here's part of the email:

"The photographic results of my first project are attached. I spent about three months scratch-building a Spider Tank or, "Spinnergewehr." The body is a combination of styrene plastic sheeting for the sides and basswood for the top and bottom (due to the difficult angles). The legs are all styrene plastic rods and tubes. The legs are joined to the body with half-spheres of wood. The neck is a piece of sump pump tubing and the head is a used "Bubble Tape" container. The gun itself is a 1/35 scale 88 gun - "36 FLAK" without the carriage. I then added bits from a tank model to add some realism. The driver/gunner is from a West Wind miniatures "Secrets of the Third Reich" walker model (I did it "buttoned up" so the figure wasn't needed).

I've been purchasing other 28mm figures and should soon begin work on Nazi zombies, rocket troops and the Squad itself.

Thank you again for your imagination and for the opportunity to share these with you."


Check out the photos.

How cool is that?

For the record, I nicked the idea of the Spider Tanks from Jonny Quest (and not the awful Wild Wild West movie), but the actual design of the tanks came from the mind of Alan Robinson. He's really the one who brought them to life.

Thanks for reading, Chris. Make sure to send photos of your next project.