THE TANK (Mechanical Toy)

thingiverse

Italian children of the early 1900s enjoyed building a small mechanical toy that they called “**Carroarmato**” (“**Tank**”), obtained from a wooden spool, a piece of candle, a piece of inner tube and two match. This is the 2.0 version that I designed starting from the original idea. Here you can download the chassis (instead of the wooden spool) and the pin that holds the elastic in tension, but you will still need **a piece of candle**, *a piece of inner tube* (or a simple rubber band) and *a match* (or in any case something long and narrow, made of wood, metal or hard plastic). **The piece of candle is essential** because it allows the mechanical force of the elastic to be released slowly and steadily, so that the toy progresses slowly and inexorably, even managing to *overcome small obstacles*. If the elastic is strong, the toy can walk for more than 20 minutes, covering more than 250 cm. You can print the 3d model without support (but you have to lay the pieces on a flat side). For the *assembly instructions* look at the last picture. Probably in the future I will design improved versions of this tank :)