Landships II

Andrew Gorman · Corporal

Navy Behemoth?

Roger Todd · Legend

Welcome to the board, Andrew! Unfortunately, the URL you posted isn't recognised - could you instead just paste the ebay ID number, please? And please specify if it's ebay.com or a regional ebay - ta!

EDIT: Ignore the above, it's pretty obvious from Andrew's post what the ID/item number is:

110024566784

And boy, what a weirdo thing! It looks to me like some kind of mock-up (perhaps made of wood, perhaps made from thin plate, even scrap sheet) mounted on a caterpillar tractor.

-- Edited by Roger Todd at 21:54, 2006-08-22

Centurion · Legend

Looks as if it might be on a Holt tractor. Possibly an entrant in the 'design something even uglier than an A7V' competition!

Mark Hansen · Legend

The bodywork is possibly canvas over a timber frame. The area above "Great Lakes" has a rippled appearance and it would be easier to shift around than a metal covered behemoth.

Bodlosh · Sergeant

What do you think that are those 2 strange "thing" on the top.. on the both cupolas? Some kind of lights or speaking-trumpets?

Vilkata · Brigadier

I believe this was a mockup vehicle designed to train troops how to deal with or cooperate with AFVs.

I had found this picture on Ebay, but from the quality of it, I couldn't even tell if it was a painting, or a real photo, but now I realise it is a photo, just touched up with fake colors. Very odd "Automatic Land Cruiser" looking thing.

Wait a minute - look at this picture. This thing has two frontal wheels. Holts only had one, right? That clue should narrow down which tractor they used to build a mockup tank out of.

---Vil.

-- Edited by Vilkata at 03:44, 2006-08-25

Centurion · Legend

The Linn Tractor of 1917 would fit

Centurion · Legend

Or alternatively a Bullock Lombard

Andrew Gorman · Corporal

It has some resemblance to a Caterpillar experimental tank shown at:
http://wwi.sbn.bz/
the site vad26 posted a link to. Look for Испытания Caterpillar on the first page of tanks/ТАНКИ. Big A7V box, tracks in the rear, wheel or wheels forward AND a turret.
Andrew

Roger Todd · Legend

That's one of various Holt mockups, the Holt G9 - the turret notwithstanding, it was rubbish:

US Medium Tanks

Also, have a look at this thread (Centurion's last post):

Centurion's drawings of Holt & Best mockups

I suspect it's a Bullock Creeping Grip tractor:

Note the distinctive curved spokes of the sprocket and idler. Now look at this blowup of the USN mockup:

Note what appears to be a horizontal structure two-thirds of the way up the track unit, which corresponds to the girder on the Bullock carrying the top wheels; another, chunkier object midway along the lower track, which corresponds to the Bullock's road wheels; and is that the ghost of a curved spoke directly above the red line I've added? Also, it was a very long machine, the two wheels being far in front of the tracks. The USN mockup also appears to have its wheels way out in front as well (just like the Bullock Lombard and the Lin Tractor, actually, so that's a bit of a non sequitur).

-- Edited by Roger Todd at 11:03, 2006-08-26