Raafif's profiles

[Tophe]

Amazing!

[raafif]

Mono-rails reign Supreme !!

[GTX_Admin]

 

[elmayerle]

If it stops between stations, watch out for that first step, it's quite a drop.  That's definitely something different and I imagine you'd need some tall supports to carry the rail for a three-decker car.  of course, it'd look worse on an Alweg-style track.

[raafif]

could'a, should'a but wouldn'a -- WW1 deMole Tank

While surveying land in Western Australia in 1911, engineer Lancelot deMole came up with his idea for a track-laying vehicle.  He drew up plans & submitted them through the official channels to the War Office in England in 1912.  DeMole only drew plans for the rolling-chassis as he believed that the War Office had other people more experienced in designing engines, transmissions & armaments for his machine.  At the time, his designs were rejected as the British Army had stopped experimenting with "chain-rail" vehicles.  DeMole's friends urged him to sell his design to Germany (as the foremost country in vehicle engineering at that time) but he refused on patriotic grounds.  When a Tank was needed by Britain in 1914, it seems that all previous submissions of military designs, regardless of merit, were ignored & only a few tracked (mostly American) farming machines were studied.  He re-submitted his design in 1916 (& a working 1/8th scale model in 1917) & was again ignored by the Army, even when (tho being classed as unfit) he had managed to join the Army & was then fighting in France.  The British Army fought WW1 with an inferior machine.
DeMole should'a approached the First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill, as Churchill was encouraging the Royal Navy to adopt all new innovations from aircraft & remote-control drones to armoured cars.  Maybe Landships would'a remained as part of the Navy till today with the Army only having the infantry & artillery.

After 1919, deMole was credited with designing the first practical Tank & awarded some money to defray his costs.  Several concepts of his design like bogie-suspension & track-warping on the front bogie/idler for steering, would not be incorporated in armoured vehicles until many years later.

DeMole's 1/8th scale model is now in the Australian War Memorial storage facility (open to researchers who need to apply for access 6mths in advance of their planned visit !).


Here are prototype & production machines had Britain accepted deMole's design in 1912 ...



could'a, should'a but wouldn'a -- WW1 deMole Tank  (take 2)

Having his design rejected by Britian in 1912 & again in early 1913, deMole sells it to Germany.  They see the slow speed of the machine as no hinderance in infantry support & fortress attacks, they still have the horse cavalry for fast attacks on the plains (trench warfare is still in the future) .... as it turns out the German Panzer-zugs turn the tide of the Trench War in Germany's favour in mid-1915 .....  Britain is still to get it's design onto the battlefield ....

[Buzzbomb]

Really nice ideas with colour and layout for this forgotten piece of history

Glad you bought his visions to life

[raafif]

thanks Buzz,  not many appreciate whif or paper tank designs & their innovations.  I've been reading up on the strange French WW1 pedrail & multi-hull  tank designs that were actually built & tested ..... look out for a few more I'm drawing

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Not quite on-topic but seeing your DeMole tank and the strong resemblance it has to another WW1 tracked vehicle that was used to create trenches with a cover name that was not associated with a tank.  What was the name of that tank-like vehicle that was used to create trenches?  I recall an image of it and it looked to be about as large as the DeMole design but mounted some kind of auger device at the front of the vehicle which channeled the spill out to the sides to provide additional height to the trench that was being excavated. 

[raafif]

Not quite on-topic but seeing your DeMole tank and the strong resemblance it has to another WW1 tracked vehicle that was used to create trenches with a cover name that was not associated with a tank.  What was the name of that tank-like vehicle that was used to create trenches?  I recall an image of it and it looked to be about as large as the DeMole design but mounted some kind of auger device at the front of the vehicle which channeled the spill out to the sides to provide additional height to the trench that was being excavated.

well there was the German "Schutzengrabenbagger" trench-digger based on A7V chassis plus WW1-era commercial machines of several nations that used caterpillars & bucket-conveyors to dig trenches for sewerage pipes & phone cabling - quite a few were impressed into military service.
Also there was "Nellie" - a British WW2 device that looks like a very lengthened WW1 tank with a giant plow on the front

Some are very difficult to draw as there is really insufficient drawings or photos of them - the French seem to have documented most trials with film tho

[raafif]

[apophenia]

Love Old Ironsides but it's nice to see that you're still working on the DeMole too  :)

[Dr. YoKai]

Smashing concept and execution! If we can get a Great War GB going next year, I'll have to give this
some thought. On the subjest of WW 1 paper projects, the excellent site http://www.landships.freeservers.com/  has unfotunately been "disabled due to a billing issue", but
it might be findable through the Internet Archive site. It had some excelent articles on several of the
more amazing and outrageous tracked and 'Big Wheel' concepts that never got off the drawing board.

[raafif]

thanks Doc, I'd like to see the deMole in plastic

Landships is the best for WW1 info :)  but they moved without telling anyone ! -- now at http://landships.activeboard.com/

I will be doing other WW1 armour whifs based on real-life alternatives when I get the time

[GTX_Admin]

If we can get a Great War GB going next year

I think there is a reasonable likelihood of this...probably a good chance of being from 28 July – 11 November  ...but what would I know?

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Not quite on-topic but seeing your DeMole tank and the strong resemblance it has to another WW1 tracked vehicle that was used to create trenches with a cover name that was not associated with a tank.  What was the name of that tank-like vehicle that was used to create trenches?  I recall an image of it and it looked to be about as large as the DeMole design but mounted some kind of auger device at the front of the vehicle which channeled the spill out to the sides to provide additional height to the trench that was being excavated.

well there was the German "Schutzengrabenbagger" trench-digger based on A7V chassis plus WW1-era commercial machines of several nations that used caterpillars & bucket-conveyors to dig trenches for sewerage pipes & phone cabling - quite a few were impressed into military service.
Also there was "Nellie" - a British WW2 device that looks like a very lengthened WW1 tank with a giant plow on the front

Some are very difficult to draw as there is really insufficient drawings or photos of them - the French seem to have documented most trials with film tho

I suspect it was "Nellie" that I was thinking of. 

[raafif]

for those familiar with MaK sci-fi kits ....
In 3056 the new Porsche 895 racer was "rolled" out.  Based on an old LunaDiver hull from the MaK wars, it had new rocket engines & for lift, had an improved anti-grav unit that maintained adequate ground clearance while hugging the terrain.  Wearing the Martini sponsor's colours, it was entered in that year's LeMans 24hr race on the moon ....

[Old Wombat]

 

[ChernayaAkula]

  That's just inspired!

Some PKAs Gustav or Ketzer for a pit crew?  :)

[GTX_Admin]

Oh yeah!!! :) :)  Inspired!!!

[raafif]

Boston with Allison engines


Russian Boston with engine pods off an La-5FN & twin 20mm to the belly-pack (ex-ferry-tank).

[Tophe]

Interesting! Will you dare drawing a twin-boom Boston?

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Boston with Allison engines

Thanks for sharing the Havoc/Boston with the V engines.  It certainly does give it a different look.  I have enough A-20/Boston/Havoc kits in the stash to consider something like that if I can find a suitable pair of engine cowlings and propellers.  The P-38 Lighting might be the best choice at this time.  If the resin XB-38 engine conversion for the B-17 had been of better quality that could have been the best source for the parts but that is never going to happen.  Of course propeller spinners always make things look better. 

The ferry tank that fits on the bottom caught my interest when I first discovered the parts in the kit.  If you take two of these tanks and glue them together you end up with a very interesting looking fuel tank or cargo pod shape.  No idea what to hang it on yet. 

The cannons mounted in the tank are a great idea.  Should be room for a lot of ammunition and the spent casings and links can accumulate in the bottom of the pod to be disposed of later so as to not upset the balance of the aircraft. 

[cptmike2012]

Boston with Allison engines


Russian Boston with engine pods off an La-5FN & twin 20mm to the belly-pack (ex-ferry-tank).

Hi Raafif,

Very nice A-20's; could you indulge another "what if" on this theme?  Let's say that some wag gets ahold of a couple of captured Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines and tries them out on a Havoc?  Could you please show us your vision of what this might look like?

Regards,

CPT Mike

[raafif]

Interesting! Will you dare drawing a twin-boom Boston?

Stop reading my mind Tophe !! ..... already in progress ......

a couple of captured Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines and tries them out on a Havoc?  Could you please show us your vision of what this might look like?

Hmmm, a jet Havoc = Javoc ...... the Germans did experiment with captured planes so a test-bed for the Ar-234 program or a US Navy test-bed ??

[elmayerle]

How about a pair of Jumo engines per side, allowing neat nacelles still with suitable MLG bays.