Tanking takes a mindset. At lvl 10 you would be squishy but not necessarily incapable of Tanking the best xp/time for a team that averages around your lvl with good support. Be patient and progressive. Patient in finding your skills and progressive in finding your limitations. I guarantee at 50 there will still be stuff to learn. All the problems and the worries in levelling up are good to have and you should find "your" way through it all.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
Best advice I can give is:
(i) Don't base your long-term performance on your current performance. Before SOs or the equivilant IOs, tankers are rather squishy after level 22 (when you can use 25 SOs/IOs) you will be a lot tougher.
(ii) Don't focus entirely on defenses at the expense of your offensive set. My INV/SS did this before a respec, and soloing was very, very, very boooooring with just Jab, Boxing and Haymaker until level 38.
(iii) Keep a stock of purple inspirations handy. They, more than anything else, will vastly increase your survivability at low levels when you get into tough fights.
About suggestion (ii)
Applies only if you aren't going to build a tanker that tanks for a team, but for a tanker that usually solo missions (and this btw is against the MMO rationale -- common sense suggest that those who want to play solo, don't pay subscription).
Also you may want to check this if you decide to team with others with your tanker: I'd really like to know why
Think of tanking as a progressive shift from Scrappy type tanking to Tanky type tanking as you progress from 1-22
To begin with, get two attacks (so hyou have a little fun), and confine your tanking to "First in".
At some point around lvl 6-10 start progressing to "First in, and make sure you have the boss' attention."
In your teens, when you have DO and start to feel a bit more reslient, progress to "First in, and make sure you take a fair bite of the aggro". Something like 50%% for a large (5-8 man) team is what you can safely handle. Beleive me, teams will still thank you for it. By this time you really MUST have a taunt aura (or get taunt if you are an invun tank). Whilst you arent going to be able to soak up everything, teams will expect you to grab a pretty decent sized proportion of aggro, and you will need one of these powers to do so (Punch voke just dont cut it).
Finally, when you hit the mighty 22 and your defences are fleshed out, you should now be in full "Tank" mode. Nobody expects you to take everything all the time, but you should go in with the philosophy that you soak up most of it, and your team mates should only be dealing with "light showers" of aggro.
Also, be prepared to modify how much you can take according to your set. Psi damage for instance would relegate you back to the "First in" mode, as you have little to offer but a stack of HP allowing you to take the alpha. The same, to a lesser extent, might apply to an Ice tank facing Pumpkins in Croatoa.
I dont know if that helps, but I think thats the way to concpetualise your journey.
Tanking at level 5 is a lot different from tanking at level 25.
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About suggestion (ii)
Applies only if you aren't going to build a tanker that tanks for a team, but for a tanker that usually solo missions
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No it doesn't. A tanker that can't contribute usefully in areas other than pure damage mitigation is frankly sub-par. It's quite possible to build a good tank that has optimum resistances/defences and can still output a decent amount of damage. Even a Stone Tank can drop out of GA and use their secondary set to solo faster.
It's very rare to be able to team the entire way from 1-50 in this game unless you join a regular "superteam". The INV/SS I mentioned ended up soloing regularly whilst "looking for a team", and was a team-built tanker.
Invulnerability is also a tank defence that takes a while before gets powerful.
Basically, the only powers you should need at your level is temp invulnerability, Dull pain and Unyielding, the rest of the defences available at your level dont really make that much of a difference.
The other reason inv is hard to tank with at the early stages is that it dont get its taunt aura until 18. Making it hard to tank appropriately in the first levels.
Because you are nothing like squishy. You have more health than any other AT, you have resistances that removes some of the damage and you have wonderful mez resistance.
UNION
Officer Cuffz lvl 50 Inv/Nrg Tank
Badge lvl 50 dwarf/human Peacebringer
Dark Air lvl 50 Ice/Cold Corruptor
Ayre lvl 50 Storm/Elec Defender
Total Cat: @Officer Cuffz
"When I say interview, I mean engage in combat and defeat..." -Laura Brunetti, on how to deal with Warriors.
Thank you very much for the advice.
Time to get a tank to 22 then 
If anyone else want to add more to this thread, feel free to do so. I will be keeping an eye on it.
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The other reason inv is hard to tank with at the early stages is that it dont get its taunt aura until 18. Making it hard to tank appropriately in the first levels.
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Taunt aura at 18??? wot do you mean by that? i got "taunt" at lvl 10 and there are no taunt auras in the INV set (as far as i know)
For what its worth, I would build it something like:
1. Temp Invun
1. Stone Fist
2. Stone Mallet
4. Dull Pain
6. Swift or Hurdle
8. Unyeilding
10. Taunt*
12. Travel Power
14. Travel Power
16. Health
18. Invincibility
20. Stamina
22, onwards - take your pick.
*I wont go into the whole "Taunt" and "Tank" debate here. Surfice to say, many people feel this is an absolute must to be a true tank, some feel its not. I am of the former. About the only thing that can be absolutely, unequivically said is that you MUST have it for the Statesman TF.
I like taking it early, because it costs 0 endurance (and end is a problem at low level), and it only needs 1 slot (and slots are at a premium at that level)
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For what its worth, I would build it something like:
1. Temp Invun
1. Stone Fist
2. Stone Mallet
4. Dull Pain
6. Swift or Hurdle
8. Unyeilding
10. Taunt*
12. Travel Power
14. Travel Power
16. Health
18. Invincibility
20. Stamina
22, onwards - take your pick.
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Nice! 
That's pretty much how my Inv/SS looks (subsititute Stone Fist + Stone Mallet for Jab and Haymaker, then swap #2 for #4) except Boxing is at level 6 and Taunt is taken at 24 after KO Blow. It can be very useful to have a 3rd attack at lower levels, I went with Boxing since it opens up the route to Tough/Weave (both very nice to have on a team INV tanker).
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Taunt aura at 18??? wot do you mean by that? i got "taunt" at lvl 10 and there are no taunt auras in the INV set (as far as i know)
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The INV Taunt Aura is Invincibility, which you can take at level 18. It's one of the few (along with Chilling Embrace) that doesn't do any damage.
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The other reason inv is hard to tank with at the early stages is that it dont get its taunt aura until 18. Making it hard to tank appropriately in the first levels.
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Taunt aura at 18??? wot do you mean by that? i got "taunt" at lvl 10 and there are no taunt auras in the INV set (as far as i know)
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No, it doesnt say so in the power description, but Invincibility, apart from adding tohitbuffs and adding defence in proportion to number of enemies surrounding you, also pulses a Taunt aura lasting almost 12 seconds unslotted.
The +def and +toHit is nice, without a doubt, but its for the Taunt that every inv gets (or ought to get it) as early as possible.
UNION
Officer Cuffz lvl 50 Inv/Nrg Tank
Badge lvl 50 dwarf/human Peacebringer
Dark Air lvl 50 Ice/Cold Corruptor
Ayre lvl 50 Storm/Elec Defender
Total Cat: @Officer Cuffz
"When I say interview, I mean engage in combat and defeat..." -Laura Brunetti, on how to deal with Warriors.
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The other reason inv is hard to tank with at the early stages is that it dont get its taunt aura until 18. Making it hard to tank appropriately in the first levels.
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Taunt aura at 18??? wot do you mean by that? i got "taunt" at lvl 10 and there are no taunt auras in the INV set (as far as i know)
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Invincibility at level 18. Taunts foes around you and gives you a defence bonus for each one within range.
I too have struggled to tank during my time here. It's only been recently that I found Stone/SS to my liking. There is something nicely heroic about standing in the middle of a mob of foes, keeping them from attacking your team-mates. Even though I'm still only level 15, the difference between TOs and DOs is very noticeable. I can't wait to see how it goes after 22 and SOs are in place.
Good luck with your tanking! 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Ahhh... now i see. Checked ur info on invincibility in "Mids hero designer" and proved u right
I'm gonan respec my tank soem day soon, to make him more fun to play.
thank u very much for the advice
I have played for 13 months now, but have never been able to make a tank i actually enjoy playing! I've tried every possible combo in many different ways but still can't get it right. I usually end up a taunting squishy!
thx
My latest try and best so far is an inv/stone tank (currently lvl 10), but he can't take the beatings and therefore kinda lose his sole purpose! I have so far taken only defenses and taunt, and have slotted my defenses only... but still feel so very squishy!
Any help to unlock the secret of tanking would be wonderful