George Newbill Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 We have all seen Kelly's Heroes and Paving Private Ryan's fake tiger tanks, looked awful, to me obviously a T-34. I saw an ok T-55/Tiger. One really good T-55/Jadgpanther and another great FV-235/StugIII. At some point will someone build a perfect 1 to 1 scale tank that otherwise would just exist in grainy old WWII clips? There was an M-4 rebuild that had a Deisel engine and converted M-26 tracks but looked really good, the sound would be wrong but at least the re-enactors have a runner. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 There was a guy that built a full scale mock up of a Grant in his backyard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 ISTR that the older members of IPMS-Philippines built a 1/1 M3 or M5 Stuart made of plywood etc. Not working of course. Rotted away I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojan Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 He says his dream is to built a full sized working model of an aircraft-carrier. http://englishrussia.com/?p=542 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearded-Dragon Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 As I assume you're not going to think about building in armour plate, then it would be quite possible to utilise lightweight materials like fibreglass or other plastic sheeting (for the flat-faced AFV). If you use those, then it would be quite possible to utilise heavy truck transmission and gearbox. The main problem would be in the running gear and tracks. That is where using existing hulls is really required, which rather limits the possibilities. If it was possible to build realistic tracks and running gear, then again it would be possible to recreate virtually anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougRichards Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 For the movie 'ANZACS' a mock up of a WW1 Mk V was built, based on a bulldozer for automotion: it is on display at the RAAC Museum at Puckapunyal - photo can be found here. http://www.armytankmuseum.com.au/images/markv.jpg I think that is pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Newbill Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Littlefield's panther is maybe 60% original the rest like the turret is fabricated. At some point someone will build a 100% not original tank, probably a Tiger as 75% of fake tanks are Tigers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 There was a vid posted on this board of a Warhammer 40k vehicle. They VISMOD'ed a FV432 or an M113 for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Up here there are lots of M3 Stuart hulls and M4 hulls turned into drills. These would solve the hull problem. Building up the hull for a Stuart or Sherman would not be hard, but a working turret would be difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Newbill Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 By up here you mean Canuckdia? Yeah you can get a new build Sherman hull and running gear from a Canadian company, if I get rich I might buy one and build a mongo stupid looking Warhammer tank just for fun. If you look at the cost of restoring a Panther plus the purchase price, at some point 100% fake will be cheaper. Any one got any URLs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol Paint Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) 1:1 Tank: The 'lumbering mass of steel' was a fully functional replica of a German 1917 International Mark 7 army tank used in World War I, designed and built by George Gibbs. According to Gibbs building this tank was the most difficult task of the film. These tanks were thirty-six feet long and weighed twenty-eight tons and only seven or eight of them were built for the First World War. The only one left in the world is located in the Tank Museum in Bovington Camp, England. Since both Spielberg and Lucas wanted the tank to look as realistic as possible, Gibbs built one on the chassis of an old excavator that also weighed twenty-eight tons. The tracks alone weighed seven tons and were driven by two Range Rover V-8 engines, which in turn powered two automatic hydraulic pumps - one to drive each of the two tracks. It also had big bulldozer motors in the back to power the whole tank and guns that actually fired blank charges. Overall, the tank was quite accurate. The only real difference between this tank and an actual World War I model was that the First World War tanks had extra eyeball guns on each side and they did not have a turret that turned around. For the construction of the tank Gibbs chose to use actual steel and not prefabricated materials such as aluminum or fiberglass. His goal was not only to enhance the tank visually, but also to help it withstand the abuse it would take during the intensive weeks of principal photography. "World War I tanks did not have suspension, so we build ours without suspension also. Because of that, I knew the vibration inside that tank would be absolutely tremendous and would shake a mockup vehicle to pieces. For that reason, I decided to build the tank from steel. Also, if any of it ever broke apart we could quickly weld it back together. As it turned out, the tank went down the sides of mountains and over really hard, rocky surfaces without any damage at all-and I knew then that I had made the right decision." The tank was built in four months and then flown to Almeria, in southern Spain, aboard a British Belfast plane - one of the largest aircraft in the world. To transport the monster tank from location to location, it was placed on the back of a low loader truck. "We were lucky," said Gibbs. "Shooting went smoothly and the tank only let us down twice. The first time was because the rotor arm in the distributor broke and it took us a day to get a new one from Madrid. The second time, it was so hot that the solder in the oil coolers actually melted and flowed around with the oil into the valves, shattering two of them to pieces. So we had to change one of the engines and that also took one day. I think everyone expected to lose a lot more time, but the tank worked really well." Driving the tank was effects technician Brian Lince, who had to weather the extreme heat and the torturous terrain. "Brian did an excellent job. Being in that tank was like being in an oven, and he was in there every day for nearly eight weeks. We had ten industrial electric fans inside to try and keep Brian cool, the engine cool and the hydraulic oil cool. Not only was it hot in there, but since the tank had no suspension, Brian got rattled around so much that when he came out and tried to take a cup of tea, he would spill it before he could get it to his lips." To accommodate an elaborate fight scene on top of the tank, Gibbs duplicated the upper portion of the lumbering vehicle and mounted it on an ex-army searchlight trailer towed by a four-wheel drive truck. The eight-ton partial tank was identical in detail to its full-size counterpart except that it was constructed from lightweight aluminum and had tracks made out of rubber so the actors and stuntmen could fall on them without being injured. It also featured 'people catchers' on either end in the event anyone accidentally fell off. In total it took two weeks to film the ten minutes shot at a cost of $200.000 per day.Obviously, the Mark VII was a British tank...and I believe it should be Mark VIII International, right? (http://www.geocities.com/gpmatthews/mkvi_x.html) 1/2-scale Stug: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/shul004.html1/3-scale Panther: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/shul003.html1/3-scale JagdPanther: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/shul002.html Douglas [Edit: Here's a link to a Canadian outfit: http://www.morpac.com/crawlers.shtml] Edited July 21, 2009 by Ol Paint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougRichards Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 1:1 Tank: Obviously, the Mark VII was a British tank...and I believe it should be Mark VIII International, right? (http://www.geocities.com/gpmatthews/mkvi_x.html) 1/2-scale Stug: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/shul004.html1/3-scale Panther: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/shul003.html1/3-scale JagdPanther: http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk/dhmg/shul002.html DouglasAnd I don't think that the International Tank had an turret. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Mark_VIII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Newbill Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Thanks for the pics! 1/2 scale, 1/3 scale why the hell not go 1 to 1 scale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol Paint Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 And I don't think that the International Tank had an turret. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Mark_VIIIYep, but I didn't point that out since the article had already mentioned it. As for why not 1:1 scale, the only good reasons I can think of would be storage and/or weight. But the part I don't get is why bother with radio control at that scale--that's big enough to drive! Douglas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Newbill Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 So how heavy would a bathtub (lower hull and running gear) + fiberglass upper be? 10 tons, 15? There are people who have and drive tanks in that weight class on the streets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.G.Erickson Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Kevin Wheatcroft...IIRC was going to use the Aberdeen Tiger 1 as a blue print to make mild steel copies. Plans were for 4 replicas. Dont know what has become of that project. Maybe more interested in getting his Panther running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Newbill Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 See that is what I was thinking. I saw a Tiger I for sale out of a Russian hard target range, the guy probably did not own the thing anyway but the price was $1,000,000 USD for a 40% shot-up hulk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Files Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 There was a guy that built a full scale mock up of a Grant in his backyard. For years after the movie 1941 came out, 'Lulubelle'(M3 Lee 1:1 model) was being advertised for only $17k. from DVDtalk-vehicle expert Pat Carman found a self-propelled gun with the same basic chassis as the extinct M3 Lee, being used for gunnery practice on an Air Force target range. Its purchase was completed but the time factor for delivery had some red tape snafus, so together with Ken Swenson and some cooperative servicemen, Carman 'legally' smuggled the tank from its desert base in an operation worthy of the Impossible Mission Forces. Within weeks Pat had a new diesel engine in the beast, and with a plywood facelift it became the fullsized 'Lulubelle' tank named after Humphrey Bogart's honey in Sahara. Later, it was Pat himself who manned the tank with pinpoint accuracy when it crushed cars and drove into the midst of hundreds of rioting extras. Weirdly, in an unreported late-night incident, someone used the tank to crush a number of vehicles parked on the TBS lot in Burbank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unreal John Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 OT, since the subject is tanks, but there is a true 1:1 scale model of an historical capital ship: the Dingyuan (spelled Ting Yuen in Jane's), flagship of the Chinese fleet at the Battle of the Yalu in 1894. To commemorate this period of history, the Weihai Port Bureau and local Weigao Group invested 50 million yuan (US$6 million) to construct a replica Dingyuan. The replica's construction began on a scale of 1:1 on December 20, 2003. The duplicate Dingyuan is now a floating museum. Inside are records of Dingyuan, the Beiyang Fleet, the First Sino-Japanese War and life-at-sea exhibits. (Wikipedia) http://www.beiyang.org/dingyuan/bd.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 There is a hull of a Bren carrier here, that I have toyed with the idea of turning into a Vickers MkII light tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 For years after the movie 1941 came out, 'Lulubelle'(M3 Lee 1:1 model) was being advertised for only $17k. I've always wanted to build a 1/35 model of Lulubelle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curious123 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) Sorry about posting in this old thread but I wanted to share these great looking Tiger replicas. The running gear and tracks appears to have been built from scratch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJs4H_eQQoc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlv6iuLT6-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLV6Sx87vsQ Edited January 25, 2021 by Curious123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 You might find this interesting, behold the FrankenTiger, Muhhahahaha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootER5 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Coincidentally, I was poking around evilBay tonight and happened to come across this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW2-US-Tank-M-3-LEE-Chrysler-built1942-U-S-A-3029014-original-Sherman-father/114459560200?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3D122a7262bb43415ca7b2c7f9d09bcd0f%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D360375509393%26itm%3D114459560200%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithDarwoV3BBEV2b&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 That would be a good restoration prospect if they can find a spare turret and 75mm gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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