Beyond The Sprues

Modelling => Ideas & Inspiration => Land => Topic started by: raafif on September 05, 2013, 05:12:18 AM

Title: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: raafif on September 05, 2013, 05:12:18 AM
A new book is coming -- "Stalins Balls of Steel", designs especially for us >:D

(http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/yuripasholok/765139/98049/98049_original.jpg)


Those old Mechanics Illustrated magazines & DRB's webpages are gonna get a lot of re-reading !
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: GTX_Admin on September 05, 2013, 06:15:02 AM
Is it in Russian or English?
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Diamondback on September 05, 2013, 07:27:23 AM
LOL, me I'd rather have seen Stalin's balls IN steel--crushed in a vise.
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: raafif on September 05, 2013, 12:49:13 PM
Quote from: GTX_Admin on September 05, 2013, 06:15:02 AM
Is it in Russian or English?

probably only Russian - have asked, waiting for reply.

Author says "More than 50 wartime projects of soviet spherical vehicles, with scale drawings and 3D-reconstruction. More than 300 pages"
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Alvis 3.1 on September 05, 2013, 10:58:46 PM
Uhhh..what? Seriously? They had designs for spherical tanks?

Cuz I made a parody of that whole idea somewhere around 15 years ago....

Egads! I'll have to find the models and take some pics. *Sigh*

Alvis 3.1
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Jacques Deguerre on September 05, 2013, 11:55:31 PM
@ Alvis- Yes, please post photos if you get the chance. I would love to see them.

@ raafif- A couple of questions; are there other books in the series and do you know where they may be purchased?

Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: raafif on September 06, 2013, 05:51:50 AM
the book is Russian language for now - English version later (couple of years).

All projects in this book were REAL proposals.

The author has written a few books on Russian armour - the latest is on KV-based SPGs (production & prototypes).

Ordering ... seems anyone really into these books knows where :icon_nif:
apparently they have their own site which is currently down, also possible to buy via "Viktor Kulikov" & in Moscow hobby shops.
You're travelling around the wrong countries Greg ! ..... can't we do some business with Yak, Mig etc ???

More on Ball-Tanks here ...
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,3708.0.html (http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,3708.0.html)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: GTX_Admin on September 06, 2013, 06:03:14 AM
Quote from: raafif on September 06, 2013, 05:51:50 AM

You're travelling around the wrong countries Greg ! ..... can't we do some business with Yak, Mig etc ???


Not adverse to the idea...though I prefer Sukhoi and Beriev. ;)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: raafif on September 06, 2013, 01:42:03 PM
Quote from: GTX_Admin on September 06, 2013, 06:03:14 AM
Quote from: raafif on September 06, 2013, 05:51:50 AM
You're travelling around the wrong countries Greg ! ..... can't we do some business with Yak, Mig etc ???

Not adverse to the idea...though I prefer Sukhoi and Beriev. ;)

well , we did build a few small ekranoplans up in Darwin for the Asian river-transport market - apparently they weren't too enamoured with the concpt tho :(
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Kerick on October 02, 2013, 01:40:36 AM
I've looked up a site recently on one wheel transportation. Seems an Englishman built a couple versions of the "Dynasphere".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasphere)
It seems that a major problem was steering and "gerbiling", the tendency for the car the driver sat in to climb up the wheel when accelerating and ride up the backside when braking.
It would seem to make accurate weapon siting difficult at best and keeping the crew from upchucking nearly impossible. There are a couple of old films of his invention driving around on youtube and such that show what I mean.
But, this is whiff world so just say a brilliant engineer solved that problem and go for it! Just like the hover cars and walking tanks!
I'm secreting trying to figure out how to build a miniature one for radio control.
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Old Wombat on October 02, 2013, 10:46:40 PM
A self-propelled mine! Awesome idea! :D

:)

Guy
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Kerick on October 03, 2013, 01:38:49 AM
It appears American inventors were also interested in this concept.
http://www.military-history.org/articles/the-tumbleweed-tank-back-to-the-drawing-board.htm (http://www.military-history.org/articles/the-tumbleweed-tank-back-to-the-drawing-board.htm)
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/novel-war-tank-resembles-a-rolling-ball/ (http://blog.modernmechanix.com/novel-war-tank-resembles-a-rolling-ball/)
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/war-tank-on-one-wheel-operated-by-one-man/ (http://blog.modernmechanix.com/war-tank-on-one-wheel-operated-by-one-man/)
It seems we can get quite a bit of mileage out of this idea.  ;)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: raafif on October 03, 2013, 06:10:53 AM
people have already built models of the three basic shapes & displayed them at shows.  The idea is basicaly from the 1910-1944 time-frame so mainly steam-punk in concept ...... how about a modern 21st/22nd Century take on it ?
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Dr. YoKai on October 04, 2013, 12:52:57 AM
Quote from: Old Wombat on October 02, 2013, 10:46:40 PM
A self-propelled mine! Awesome idea! :D

:)

Guy


Coming right up!

One Great Panjandurum, piping hot! (http://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/second-world-war/the-great-panjandrum-scares-a-dog/1123500263001/)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Old Wombat on October 04, 2013, 02:45:49 AM
Not quite what I was thinking of, Doc. ;)

My thoughts were more along the lines of the remote-controlled "steel ball" variety. A section of paddock (or field) near a road strewn with motorised spherical mines, packed with explosives in both anti-personnel & anti-vehicle configurations, which are controlled by a radar/sensor-suite unit via secure data-link. The radar/sensor unit picks up vehicles or troops moving along the road & commands the mines to converge on the road, guiding them via data-link to hit the front & rear of the column first, then the rest of the travelling mines disperse along the body of the convoy/troop column, close on it & wreak havoc! There are no tell-tales on or overly near the road & the mines can be buried, while the radar/sensor-suite units can be camouflaged as rocks/tree stumps/what-ever. You could even have "sentry" fields, possibly guarding the main mine field, specifically designed to interfere with mine clearing vehicles & personnel.

:)

Guy
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Jeffry Fontaine on October 11, 2013, 04:11:15 AM
Interesting enough, in the television science fiction series Firefly (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)), episode 12 - "The Message" where Mal has a flashback to the war and a firefight with the Alliance that has what appear to be some kind of spherical tank thing that crashes into their position and forces them to flee.  I watched that scene over and over again trying to get a decent view of the tank things that were called "rollers" by Mal but they are always just a blur in the background animations. 

***Edit to try and fix broken/missing links.  Attempt to fix links failed.  Text and related html has been removed since it can not be supported. 
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: raafif on October 11, 2013, 04:55:29 AM
he's done a nice model !  Looked at buying that kit but at US$50 for a kit that's just 1½" round is too much :(
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Story on March 19, 2022, 02:08:23 AM
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/89/9a/f7/899af7ea1628b1277fbd2f618bb4167b.jpg)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Story on February 24, 2023, 08:11:58 AM
(https://64.media.tumblr.com/790ff160274f001bf9c2f6d942cd59b2/tumblr_nss3g2yUuZ1uryk28o2_1280.jpg)

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/b7/08/4fb70890d473523ebe576ff02484c673.jpg)

(https://64.media.tumblr.com/edc07671cf2119f22de0b837529d1e00/tumblr_nss3g2yUuZ1uryk28o3_1280.jpg)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Old Wombat on February 24, 2023, 10:38:00 AM
I missed this one, somehow.

Quote from: Story on March 19, 2022, 02:08:23 AM
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/89/9a/f7/899af7ea1628b1277fbd2f618bb4167b.jpg)

I'd love to see it when the gun fired! :o ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Old Wombat on February 24, 2023, 10:43:18 AM
Quote from: Story on February 24, 2023, 08:11:58 AM
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/b7/08/4fb70890d473523ebe576ff02484c673.jpg)(https://64.media.tumblr.com/edc07671cf2119f22de0b837529d1e00/tumblr_nss3g2yUuZ1uryk28o3_1280.jpg)

If they're light enough to manhandle into position, they're too light to give any significant level of protection, whether metal or fibreglass.

If they're fibreglass, the flamethrower is more dangerous to it & the crew than to the enemy.

Reload time of the 105mm recoilless will be negatively impacted by the "flexible stainless steel tube", which, when it starts leaking propellant gasses into the "turret" pillbox, will severely hamper crew effectiveness.

The thing is, for all intents & purposes, a three-man coffin-come-crematorium. :o
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Story on February 26, 2023, 08:55:14 PM
Quote from: Old Wombat on February 24, 2023, 10:43:18 AM

The thing is, for all intents & purposes, a three-man coffin-come-crematorium. :o

Hush, now - you're retroactively breaking some contractor's rice bowl with that sorta talk.

Legg's Eggs would be about the right size for 1/35th, ya?
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Story on February 26, 2023, 08:59:21 PM
Quote from: Old Wombat on February 24, 2023, 10:38:00 AM
I missed this one, somehow.
 
I'd love to see it when the gun fired! :o ;D ;D ;D

Soviet crew training.
(https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExYzljZDJmMjdhYzk2NmQ4YTkzNzQ2OWZkM2JjNzlkNDA4YzdmNzVkMiZjdD1n/lcySndwSDLxC4eOU86/giphy.gif)

(Only sorta a joke - we had to do "rollover" training in MRAPs before going to Mesopotamia.)
Title: Re: Great Balls of Steel !! (Kugelpanzers and Spherical tanks)
Post by: Old Wombat on February 26, 2023, 10:10:20 PM
I was thinking more along the lines of;

(https://gifdb.com/images/high/spinning-car-crash-h0497thn42pbs41z.gif)