I go by IronPeregrine in most online spaces, and have as of the last couple weeks have found this wonderful forum and am now making my first post with this one (Almost accidentally posted to the general Tanks page by mistake). I have been researching the tanks of WW1 to make a game to play with my friends (an online version of a tabletop game played in an Excel spreadsheet, to keep it short) and in the process have found a particular fascination with the vehicles, especially the K-Wagen superheavy tank of the German Empire. It's quite incredible that the vehicle was not only planned, but actually started production! Two prototypes were made and nearly ready by the time of the war's end, but as it came they tragically had to be scrapped to comply with the Treaty of Versailles. Even more depressing, the vehicle's history seems to be very hard to research given its lack of interest from the internet and in turn amount of available material regarding it to look at, with other vehicles like the British Mark tanks or the A7V taking center stage on the topic of WW1. Surely if the war had lasted even three months longer we'd know every little thing about the K-Wagen, as horrible as continuing the war would be. Regardless, does anyone have any documents regarding the K-Wagen that they can link here? It is a wonderful machine and it would be amazing to learn more about it.
On another note, after seeing the "Fiat 2000 Replica" topic, I was struck with a thought: Could we make a replica of the K-Wagen? I believe if we put some elbow grease into it, got our community together, and tried to follow in the footsteps of the Italian team we may just give the world a chance to see the great beast in all its glory. If we can find the right platform to make our plans and get the word out, we may be able to draw the necessary resources and people to get together and make a real, in-the-steel replica. Of course, this is an exceptionally ambitious proposal, but if a ball bearing company could take on the task of building one of those monsters, then I feel a dedicated team of us enthusiasts could make it happen again. If we managed to build the replica successfully, we could take the title for the largest tank ever fully built and ran! Such a claim would certainly get the attention of the public eye and in turn support and donations for the project. Imagine seeing that monster in the Tankfest Arena one day! What are your thoughts on it?