Landships II

compound eye · Colonel

Supply Tank stowage boxes... and best track option?

Mark Hansen · Legend

compound eye wrote:

...On a MkI Supply tank, I've read of a stowage box between the rear horns and offset left away from the crew door. Can anyone comment on the size/shape, wood/metal nature &�placement/attachment of this box?

Same question for the roof stowage boxes on a Mk1 Supply tank?

How about the cab hatch for a MkIV Supply tank? Apparently the driver/commanders cab has some form of specialized hatch for supply tanks only - what does it look like? plans/photos?...

Tough questions!

The Mk I did have a stowage box at the rear of the tank but it wasn't offset from the rear door - it completely covered it. As for what it was made of, from photos it looks to be sheet metal.

The roof box was different from the Mk IV roof box in that it sat vertically instead of an angle. What it was made of I don't know but would guess sheet metal.

The cab hatch on the Mk IV supply tank, as far as I can tell from photos, looked just like the one fitted to a few other Mk IV's and the Mk V's (A fairly bad photo attached). The cab roof hatch on the Mk I & II was different and there are good photos of this on the main Landships site here. Just scroll to the bottom to see the walkaround of Bovington's Mk II.

Hope this helps. Unfortunately I haven't used any replacement tracks so can't comment on them.

compound eye · Colonel

Mark Hansen wrote:
Tough questions!

The Mk I did have a stowage box at the rear of the tank but it wasn't offset from the rear door - it completely covered it. As for what it was made of, from photos it looks to be sheet metal.

The roof box was different from the Mk IV roof box in that it sat vertically instead of an angle. What it was made of I don't know but would guess sheet metal.

The cab hatch on the Mk IV supply tank, as far as I can tell from photos, looked just like the one fitted to a few other Mk IV's and the Mk V's (A fairly bad photo attached). The cab roof hatch on the Mk I & II was different and there are good photos of this on the main Landships site here. Just scroll to the bottom to see the walkaround of Bovington's Mk II.

Hope this helps. Unfortunately I haven't used any replacement tracks so can't comment on them.

Thanks Mark,

It would be good to see the�photos of MkI supply rear stowage boxes that you refer to.

In David Fletchers 'MkI' Osprey book, he refers to the box as I�related it�- which leads me to believe that he was describing the tank 'Dodo' as shown in the colour plates as there is also a very smoky photo of the rear of this tank with a low slung rear box - that seems to come to a level below the crew door and may be ofset - which seems to have either a 5 or S in black on a white ground painted on it. This also leads me to believe that Supply Tank mods were somewhat variable - some with a small box about the size of a MkIV fuel tank, and some with huge rear bins as you describe.

As for the roof stowage, I'm guessing the dimension would be from the rear of the roof to the front of where a MkIV box would finish - with a horizontal top edge, instead of mirroring the roof angle.

Ah well, if MkI supply tanks were a bit 'garden shed variety' at least I'm not going to be 'wrong' if I model things one way or the other... haha

Paul

Rhomboid · Field Marshal

Here's a photo comparing the Accurate Armour (uppermost) and Panzershop tracks. The Accurate tracks have underside detail which is lacking on the Panzershop castings. Holding them next to each other, their size is identical, but the Accurate tracks are noticeably thinner, giving a bit more scale appearance. Either set will be a major improvement on Emhar's tracks.

compound eye · Colonel

Thanks Rhomboid, great comparison!

Am I right in thinking that the AA tracks have separate links for putting round the sprocket & idler? Can't imagine that a resin length would flex that much.

Those photos are great - 'Dodo' is the tank I want to model. The rear shot shows the bin very clearly. Big innit? Do you have a larger copy of this shot you could e-mail to me? I'm curious to read the smaller rear markings and work out if the rear bin was of welded or riveted construction and�whether it had an external�lid/door or if it was accessed from inside via the crew door.

In fact a larger file of the side shot would be nice also - some of the front sponson lettering is a bit 50/50 as to whether its one letter or another.

Thanks

Rhomboid · Field Marshal

Both track sets include individual links. I have a slightly higher-res copy of the rear view, but it still doesn't show much detail�about the construction of the box - send me an e-mail and I will attach it to the reply. The box appears to have a lid in the centre of its roof - I suspect that loading the box through the rear hull hatch would have been very awkward. Bovington Tank Museum probably has better copies of these images and David Fletcher, the librarian at Bovington, can be very helpful.�A portside view of a MkI supply tank (AWM�� E01418) shows that it has been retro-fitted with a cylindrical exhaust silencer, without the exhaust pipe leading to the�rear horns.��

lostiznaos · Field Marshal

I used both tracks lengh on my models. Accurate gives better details and the tracks come without the massive resin blocks you have to remove on the Panzershop ones. From other point, Accurate gives very long section you'll have to cut to fit on the tank.
gilles