Landships II

drakegoodman · Captain

Hi-Res image of the MkIV 'male' 4022

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Err, handy if you have a magnetic chess set...

Will try to check my database for this tank when I have more time. Unfortunately I have IT problems with it at the moment.

Thanks for the picture.

Gwyn

Pzkpfw-e · Commander in Chief

Good, big photo.
For the benefit of the ignorant (ie me!). The bolted on, circular plates. I assume the one at the rear of the hull sides, are the mounting points for the rear drive (?) wheels. What are the other two? I assume they're drive shafts. Were these tanks driven from the rear sprockets?

mad zeppelin · Commander in Chief

I have an image of the female tank 4690, which fought together with 4022 on March 22nd 1918. - 4690 displays the chessboard as well. - So, a kind of unit or platoon marking might be supposed.

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Pzkpfw-e wrote:
Good, big photo.
For the benefit of the ignorant (ie me!). The bolted on, circular plates. I assume the one at the rear of the hull sides, are the mounting points for the rear drive (?) wheels. What are the other two? I assume they're drive shafts. Were these tanks driven from the rear sprockets?

�These plates do indeed indicate the mounting points for the drive chain.� The final drive sprocket is at the rear.� The others are mounting points for the pinions.

Gwyn

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Just noticed you can't play chess on it after all. The square is 7 x 7 with all the corners white. Chessboards are of course 8 x 8.

Gwyn

LincolnTanker · Commander in Chief

Pzkpfw-e wrote:
Good, big photo.
For the benefit of the ignorant (ie me!). The bolted on, circular plates. I assume the one at the rear of the hull sides, are the mounting points for the rear drive (?) wheels. What are the other two? I assume they're drive shafts. Were these tanks driven from the rear sprockets?

�Hi Adam, they are shaft end supports.�

The shaft�on the joint line is the output from the diff. this drives�with spur gears the nearby shaft. This has a sprocket on it and the chain goes to the next shaft also with a spur gear,��this drives the traction sprocket by way of the track drive teeth.

�

Rectalgia · Legend

Gwyn Evans wrote:
Just noticed you can't play chess on it after all. The square is 7 x 7 with all the corners white. Chessboards are of course 8 x 8.

�Well, 7x7 is a viable chess variant (played without queens) but yes, the corners would usually be black.� Missoum's variants for odd and even NxN are described at

http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/oddchess.html

Conventional chess is a more than sufficient challenge for me!�

But the question, why the 7x7 grid?� Just "artistic interpretation" of a chessboard, maybe, white corners for maximum impact on a dark background?� Maybe designating an "interceptor tank" (thinking of the red and white/yellow "checkerboard" insignia used by RAF 56 and 92 Sqns on their Lightnings). Well, just kidding, but the checkerboard DOES have connotations of area defence (a bit at variance with the nominally offensive tank role though).�

Or heraldic use ("chequy", as the heralds call it).� According to Papworth and Morrant's 1874 "Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arm" (or "An Extensive Ordinary of British Armorials"), there is an extraordinary amount of chequy in public and family coats of arms but I have so far failed to find any 7x7 (49 chequers) examples, which is a high number for heraldry.� But there could be less authoratative though widely used examples (for instance, the Axford arms, of 110 chequers vert and or, doesn't make it into the "British Armorials").

Pzkpfw-e · Commander in Chief

Thanks lads!
Must revisit the one in Lincoln soon.