Campaigns
Where Armorama group builds can be discussed, organized, and updates posted.
Strange and Weird Military Machines
WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: June 01, 2011
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Posted: Monday, May 07, 2012 - 01:42 PM UTC
Bob .. heres one thing for ya ,, was the sprue which had the road wheels and suspension on a different colour from the rest of the kit ?
I noticed in your pics the bolts on your road wheels ,,exactly the same as the italeri ones .

Phill
PantherF
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Indiana, United States
Joined: June 10, 2005
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Posted: Monday, May 07, 2012 - 03:37 PM UTC
Hey Bob!

I have an unstarted Italeri Hetzer in 1/35th you can have if it will help you out with your build.

Just let me know. I have no plans for it. The box is a bit split at the ends but it's a brand new kit.

All yours!









~ Jeff
bwiber
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Washington, United States
Joined: August 03, 2008
KitMaker: 436 posts
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Posted: Monday, May 07, 2012 - 04:07 PM UTC
Jeff,

Thanks for the offer.... it is much appreciated. However, the funny thing is that when my kit went flying not a lot happened....

I picked it up and was really surprised to see that the basic model only had one broken part (which is fixable) and that the track I had first put on was STILL IN PLACE! Heck, even the one that had pissed me off so badly was in 2 parts. I may even be able to use them to do the track on the second side.... or I will have to find one of my other Hetzer kits and pull the track out of it.

Have a couple more of the Dragon ones.... never to be built with full running gear, they might end up being put into a diorama being pulled out of the mud and muck or on a firing range as a target. Even have an Italeri one that I had been converting to a G13.... will do that with the Eduard Late that I have once I get the Academy kit to steal the right idler out of.

Funny thing is that I did a Panzer IIIJ in Sal's Dragon OOB Campaign and the tracks were fussy but not unmanageable like these. Of course, they were Magic Tracks and the Hetzer is an early Dragon kit so that is a lot of it...

Thanks again.....
Bob
geogeezer
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Arizona, United States
Joined: February 17, 2011
KitMaker: 263 posts
Armorama: 258 posts
Posted: Monday, May 07, 2012 - 04:09 PM UTC
Hi folks,
Well here she is, the Howie-Wylie Machine Gun Carrier, also known as the Belly Flopper and probably by many other names unsuitable for tender ears. All the photos were taken in bright sunlight, so the shadows are very strong.
Left side view. The figure behind the vehicle represents Staff Sergeant Wylie, the tanker responsible for most of the mechanical work. His figure came from a Tamiya WWII U. S. Field Maintenance Yard kit. The campaign hat (lemon squeezer to you Kiwis) was made from a disk of styrene, a short segment of styrene tube, and a gob of Tamiya putty. Aftern the putty was hard, I used a Dreme tool fitted with a round tipped burr to put the dimples in. The infantry blue hat cord is sewing thread. The sergeant's uniform is typical of the late 30's, when the U. S. Army still had vast stocks of clothing left over from WWI, and was beginning to re-equip. Campaign hats were phased out around 1938 except for mounted troops, and the spiral puttees went about the same time.
Right side view, showing the M1917 Browning machine gun.
Left rear quarter view, showing how the gas tank and radiator are mounted.
Top view, showing the general layout of controls, the gun mount, and ammo boxes. In the photos I have seen of the carrier in use, there is never a belt in the machine gun, nor is there an ammo box beside the gun, although the water hose is clearly visible. There are five wood ammo boxes with leather strap handles across the front. What looks like a sixth box on the far left in front of the driver is actually a water chest for the Browning machine gun, but it's lying on its side. In the enlarged photo,the drain plug in the bottom is clearly visible. It's the early model with the exposed and vulnerable plug, not the later A 1 model which has the plug recessed and protected by the rim of the can. It doesn't seem likely that the water hose from the gun could reach that far, so it was probably just put there for the photo.
The original idea was that the carrier was to transport the gun, ammo, and related equipment, and the specification specifically stated that it was not to be mounted on the vehicle. However, according to Captain Wendell Johnson's article in the Infantry Journal the gun was mounted and fired from the carrier with great accuracy, both stationary from defilade, and while the vehicle was moving.

In the above picture, you can see what looks like the dismounted gun lying on the right side of the carrier. There is no sign of the gun mount, and no row of ammo boxes across the front.

View from above, showing the overall layout.
With the exception of the M1917 Browning machine gun, from a Master Box kit, the figure of the sergeant, and the wheels, from a toy John Deere front end loader, everything was scratch built.
Two of the wheels are mounted backwards. Unfortunately, I only caught that after I had taken the photos. I may try to work them loose and reverse the directional tread later. They aren't glued on, but the paint holds the hub caps quite firmly.
I'd welcome any comments and suggestions on how it could have been done better.
Cheers,
Dick
WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: June 01, 2011
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Posted: Monday, May 07, 2012 - 11:44 PM UTC
Richard ..... OHHH bloody well done man .. that little machine turned out brilliant and well worth all your work ,, I'm pretty damn proud to have that in my campaign

Excellent work mate ,,excellent work indeed .. now start on number two

Phill
bwiber
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Washington, United States
Joined: August 03, 2008
KitMaker: 436 posts
Armorama: 320 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 12:01 PM UTC
@Richard....
Very nice indeed. I like how it all came together, and you have to love those fenders....

@ Phill.....
For some reason I thought of you when I ran across this....
Phill's Surprise Believe me it was something of a surprise as I had never heard of the kit or the company....

Bob
WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
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Posted: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 06:09 PM UTC
Bob ,, oh the Tzar tank i have seen a few times and yep i did know of the kit but i had no idea you can still buy it ..and look at the price !! ouch!!
Very cool model and wicked bit of engineering
Nice find Bob mate

Phill
bwiber
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Washington, United States
Joined: August 03, 2008
KitMaker: 436 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 05:20 AM UTC
Phill and other lovers of strange tanks....

A site called Dark Roasted Blend is doing a Stangest Tanks in History series.... Some of them are new to me, and a couple are kind of interesting. Sort of wish I had seen them before I started the build for this campaign...

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/05/strangest-tanks-in-history-part-1.html

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/05/strangest-tanks-in-history-part-2-first.html

Enjoy,
Bob
geogeezer
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Arizona, United States
Joined: February 17, 2011
KitMaker: 263 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 08:20 AM UTC
Hi Bob and Phill,
The links Bob provided have a lot of fascinating stuff, but no mention of the "Big Wheel,"one of the designs considered by the Landships Committee which developed the first British tanks. It is often confused with the Russian Tsar tank but was quite different in concept. You can find a history and brief description of the "Big Wheel" and several other landships at http://grognard.com/zines/ga/g3a.txt Three 40 ft diameter wheels, weight 300 tons, armed with 3 turrets mounting twin 4 inch naval guns, WOW! Unfortunately, it was never built, except for a wooden mockup, and that may not have been to full scale. I found this artist's conception on the Landships web site.
The wheels don't look big enough and are too narrow. The specs say the tread of the front wheels should bw 13 ft 4 in wide, and the rear wheel which does the steering should be 5 ft wide. I might take a stab at building a model of one if I had a decent drawing and could figure out how to make those monster wheels.
Cheers,
Dick
Spiderfrommars
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Milano, Italy
Joined: July 13, 2010
KitMaker: 3,845 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 11:38 AM UTC
Hey guys

Here a bounch of weird (and beautyful) war machines

http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-S-300PMU-TEL-TL.html

WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: June 01, 2011
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 01:37 PM UTC
Glad to see you guys are still going nuts hunting these wicked machines down ,,
Bob ..I have been all thru that site and damn it is a good one ..thats why its been saved on my bookmarks page for ages .

Richard ,, tell that machine is one of the last i would ever set foot in .. looking at the pics how the hell is it supposed to say up right ? ,,,and as amazing as those pics are i doubt very much that would have worked but ohh i would have loved to see them try .

Mauro ,, ,,Very cool site and as above ..its already saved to my bookmarks

Phill
geogeezer
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Arizona, United States
Joined: February 17, 2011
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 03:43 PM UTC
Hey Phill, I don't think the "Big Wheel"would have been that unstable. According to the dimensions I found, the overall length was to be 100 feet with an overall width of 80 feet. Assuming the three wheels were placed near the vertices of the triangle, you're pretty close to an equilateral triangle, a pretty stable configuration. Ground clearance was supposed to be 17 feet, so some of the mass would be carried below the axles. The overall height was 46 feet, and they may have intended to have fenders with a machine gun turret on top as shown in the artist's rendering. I'm guessing the third twin 4 in gun mount would have been forward of the rear wheel where it could fire to either side. The rig was intended to be powered by an 800 hp diesel engine driving a generator which in turn powered electric motors in the wheels, not unlike some large mine haul trucks today. I'm guessing it would have been located somewhere amidships. There was also supposed to be enough fuel on board to operate for 24 hours.
I doubt 800 hp would have been sufficient, and overheating the electric wheel motors would be a serious problem. Still, it was a fascinating idea, and it all came about because they wanted something which could span a 9 foot trench.
Cheers,
Dick
WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: June 01, 2011
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Posted: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 06:33 PM UTC
Dick ,,, all the work for a 9 foot trench ,, talk about taking it to the extreme but when the only thing you know is wheels i guess they way they would have thought is that the bigger the wheel the better .
Well sorry guys but good bit of thinking just not along the right lines .
800 Hp wouldn't have been anywhere enough to move those generators and another thing in those days they really couldnt build anything big without it weighting one hell of a lot of weight so it would have been slower than a snail moving backwards up hill .
The concept might have been there but its the engineering which would have let them down i think .
Now which one of us nuttas are going to build it

Phill
Tanksami
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Victoria, Australia
Joined: August 06, 2011
KitMaker: 1,314 posts
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Posted: Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 09:49 PM UTC
Hello Phill & everyone else,

I have a question to ask you all & will understand if the answer is No, so please be honest as I not want to step on anyones toes or be seen as trying to cheat.
I have joined Phill in a couple of upcoming campaigns & he is well aware of my lack of expereince & lack of speed building. I have seen this campaign & have a "creature in mind". But I have just joined the motorcycle & mayhem campaign & what i want to make also fits into this nicely.
So would you gentleman consider letting me enter it in this campaign as well?? My reason for asking is so that I could hopefully have as many people as possible see what I am trying to make & learn as much from you all as I can to hopefully make something that comes out ok & improve my skill level.
As i said i will understand if this isn't acceptable & thank you for your time & consideration.

Cheers Mike
WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: June 01, 2011
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Posted: Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 10:09 PM UTC
Mike ,,, Considering that this is my campaign i have the final say in what ever happens in it , so its as simple as this ,, sign up ya wally .
Dude this campaign is one year long not six months so 1,you have plenty of time ,2, we have some bloody good builders in here and not only that they are a bunch of bloody nice guys .. just talk to Bob and Dick and of course Jeff S .. they will help you if they can mate ..we all have ideas and techniques and we are happy to shear them .
All ya gotta do is ask matey

Phill
Tanksami
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 10:15 PM UTC
Phill Mate,

Thank you for that but I will still wait to see if the guys over on motorcycle mayhem also agree to me sharing my idea & no skills across two campaigns & then if the do I still have to wait until 1st July to cut palstic as it doesn't start until then.
Thank you again for the ok & consideration of my idea
Cheers Mike
PantherF
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Indiana, United States
Joined: June 10, 2005
KitMaker: 6,188 posts
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 03:34 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hello Phill & everyone else,

I have a question to ask you all & will understand if the answer is No, so please be honest as I not want to step on anyones toes or be seen as trying to cheat.
I have joined Phill in a couple of upcoming campaigns & he is well aware of my lack of expereince & lack of speed building. I have seen this campaign & have a "creature in mind". But I have just joined the motorcycle & mayhem campaign & what i want to make also fits into this nicely.
So would you gentleman consider letting me enter it in this campaign as well?? My reason for asking is so that I could hopefully have as many people as possible see what I am trying to make & learn as much from you all as I can to hopefully make something that comes out ok & improve my skill level.
As i said i will understand if this isn't acceptable & thank you for your time & consideration.

Cheers Mike




Just do whatever our leader here (Phill) says and you'll be alright!

Heck, I am signed up for 7 Campaigns (COUGH COUGH) and I ain't even breathing heavy ... yet!

(just gotta make one more major purchase )








~ Jeff
bwiber
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Washington, United States
Joined: August 03, 2008
KitMaker: 436 posts
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 03:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Just do whatever our leader here (Phill) says and you'll be alright!

Heck, I am signed up for 7 Campaigns (COUGH COUGH) and I ain't even breathing heavy ... yet!

(just gotta make one more major purchase )

~ Jeff



Gee, I am signed up for only 3.... two of which don't start until July and I am sweating and panting like I ran a marathon. You must be in much better shape modeling wise than me....

Mike..... sign up with us even if the motorcycle guys don't go for your idea. Because I have seen your message about the vehicle you want to build and frankly I have never see it before... so thanks for bringing it up. Not to mention it would make Phill sad to lose that little beast from our build.

Bob
PantherF
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Indiana, United States
Joined: June 10, 2005
KitMaker: 6,188 posts
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 04:11 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text


Just do whatever our leader here (Phill) says and you'll be alright!

Heck, I am signed up for 7 Campaigns (COUGH COUGH) and I ain't even breathing heavy ... yet!

(just gotta make one more major purchase )

~ Jeff



Gee, I am signed up for only 3.... two of which don't start until July and I am sweating and panting like I ran a marathon. You must be in much better shape modeling wise than me....

Mike..... sign up with us even if the motorcycle guys don't go for your idea. Because I have seen your message about the vehicle you want to build and frankly I have never see it before... so thanks for bringing it up. Not to mention it would make Phill sad to lose that little beast from our build.

Bob




Well, 2 are pretty much on their way to being finished. I try to stragitzize my purchases so they are not WAY too detailed and can be built expeidiantly.

Plus, the more the merrier and for the exception of a couple of kits, I need to "build down" my collection so I can add some newer ones.








~ Jeff
GaryKato
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California, United States
Joined: December 06, 2004
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 06:28 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Mike ,,, Considering that this is my campaign i have the final say in what ever happens in it , so its as simple as this ,, sign up ya wally .
Dude this campaign is one year long not six months so 1,you have plenty of time ,2, we have some bloody good builders in here and not only that they are a bunch of bloody nice guys .. just talk to Bob and Dick and of course Jeff S .. they will help you if they can mate ..we all have ideas and techniques and we are happy to shear them .
All ya gotta do is ask matey

Phill



Actually, it's a rule here that a kit can only be in one campaign. The exception is if it will be part of a build in another campaign like building a BMW R-75 for Motorcycle Mayhem and as part of a diorama in Atlantic Wall where other things are being built for that. This way people don't start picking kits to build to win them the maximum amount of ribbons.
GeneBest
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Indiana, United States
Joined: April 11, 2010
KitMaker: 9 posts
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 08:33 AM UTC
How do you guys find the time for multiple campaigns?

I'm only in this one and I am STILL stuck on the suspension for my Maus, but when you work 10 to 16 hours a day it cuts into "play time".
WARDUKWNZ
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: June 01, 2011
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 08:59 AM UTC
Morning guys .. Sometimes i have seen campaigns which allow models from other campaigns to join there campaign but i will admit thats not often at all and Gary is totally right too ,,would make it super easy to get 2 ribbons for one model ,,that aint cool .

So as Bob says mate ,,join up here anyway .. would be good to have you join us ..we all like to see the strange and the weird here

7 campaigns Jeff mate your a nutter dude ,,then i made the mistake of looking at how many i have signed up for ,,15 of them ,, looks whos the nutter now .

Gene ,, ya poor bugger ,,used to work hours like that myself but most of us here are either retired or invalided or got normal work hours ..do feel sorry for ya so looks like you only have a couple of things you can do ,,either quit..get a new job or give up modelling ..we know the 3rd one aint happening so you have 1 and 2 ,, glad i could be of some help

Phill
geogeezer
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Arizona, United States
Joined: February 17, 2011
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 09:10 AM UTC
Hi Mike, come on in and join the insanity. Plenty of room in this asylum.
Cheers,
Dick
Tanksami
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Victoria, Australia
Joined: August 06, 2011
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 09:35 AM UTC
Hi Guys,

Well thank you for considering my question but as Gary has informed me it's not allowed to be done & that is fair enough.

If it's ok tho I may just pop in with a picture or two as i build it & finish it for some pointers??

Once again thanks for considering my idea
Tanksami
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Victoria, Australia
Joined: August 06, 2011
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Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 - 12:06 PM UTC
Me again guy's

Well I just feel over hit my head & coloured myself stupid, I have seen two different verisons of armoured kettenkrads now thanks to Frenchy so I could do one of each for seperate campaigns if that is allowed??

Please advise if that is within the rules??

Ta Mike