Landships II

andiS · Captain

Tank photo at Arras - what is it?

Hughbearson · General

The link doesn't work.
Can you add another one?
As for your model, here is a list of modifications I do when I ame my Mark IIs:

Halve the number of rivets*

Do not add the exhaust, cover the holes with a bent strip of plasticard to create three triangles (one per hole

Make a small box to attach to the rear, and add two poles that connect the box (from near the corners) to the end edge of the hull

Scribe vison slots to the side of the cab*

Add rivets to the top of the sponsons*

Make two (Rather than the single included) towing hooks, and add them together (in the same place as the original one, of course)*

If you are building a Female, then replace the machine guns with straight small tubes

*Non mandatory

Cheers,
Hugh

-- Edited by Hughbearson on Monday 8th of November 2010 07:47:00 PM

andiS · Captain

Hi
Here's the target for that link, sorry about the fault with the other one - copy and paste this into the browser and it should go

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/jpegs/mk1_bw44.JPG

andi

PDA · Legend

Ah yes. That is the Iron Duke. Or, more correctly, that is "Iron Duke". A famous Mark II male.

The Airfix kit is of a Mark II. All the usual corrections depending on how much work you want to do (top of sponsons, and sides of front cab), plus the track grousers, plus a small square plate and an off-centre box on the back. EXCEPT, for the Iron Duke, specifically, you could model it with the rear damaged, and track torpedoes fitted, as in this video, at 1min10sec to 1min30sec:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbvYa609Gi8

Hope this helps.

Hughbearson · General

I don't think you need to modify the side cab, am I correct?

PDA · Legend

Hughbearson wrote:

I don't think you need to modify the side cab, am I correct?

"Sides of�front cab", not "side cab",�might need work, depending on how much work you want to do.

In this article:
http://www.landships.info/landships/tank_articles.html?load=tank_articles/Marks_I_III.html

you can see that the Mark II had rivets and a pistol port on the side of the front cab.

In this article:
http://www.landships.info/landships/kit_reviews.html?load=kit_reviews/Airfix_Mark_I_Male.html

that details what is good and bad about the Airfix kit, it is noted that the kit is undetailed on the sides of the front cab.

Whether the model "needs" it or not is an aesthetics decision. The real thing had some details there,�and those details�are not present on the kit.

-- Edited by PDA on Tuesday 9th of November 2010 12:53:22 AM

Mark Hansen · Legend

Just a small addition to the above with regards to markings. The WD number 781 is below the name. Not sure if you can make it out on the linked photo.

andiS · Captain

Thanks for all your input, one question PDA (because I get a bit confused with all the various types of track furniture), does Iron Duke have torpedos fitted in the photo - I can see what I think are grousers but I can't see if there are torpedoes as there are in your video clip.

Would the crew have chosen between torpedoes/spuds/groucers/nothing on an ad hoc basis depending on the terrain. personal preference and the weather, or were some types of fitting more generally used under differing circumstances?

PDA · Legend

I think the photo was taken at the same time that the film was made (there is a character, who looks like Winston Churchill to me, and he is in both the photo and the film. Also, the damage to the rear of the tank is identical in the film and the photo). So, although you cannot see a track torpedo in the photo, I believe it is fitted, in addition to the grousers that we can see.

I don't know, but I think it was up to the tank commander to decide to fit grousers, spuds (lumpy things that make the track dig more into the ground), and/or torpedoes, or not. Although I am surprised to see a torpedo fitted to the Iron Duke, as the tank is clearly in a town or village and so, one assumes, on reasoably firm ground. I would have thought that torpedoes were only fitted when the tank had stuck fast in soft ground.

In the Mark IV, the unditching equipment was introduced, so they would have used the unditching beam instead of track torpedoes. But still in addition to grousers (the angular, pointy things, that project out the side of the track, decreasing ground pressure).

andiS · Captain

Ta PDA - as always the people here are a mine of information!