Author Topic: Steam Landcrawler MkI (1905) (Read 11568 times)

AndyJ · « **on:** January 24, 2013, 11:54:58 PM »

Hi All

First post after a period spent lurking and admiring the talent and imagination that's been on show here. Thought it was about time I shared an on/off build that's been going on since 2010.

First a bit of background on the vehicle:

Landcrawler Mk I (1905), designed to counter Johnny Martian in WotWII, armed with two 8" guns and a reverse engineered heatray, protected by steel plate and Tesla electromagnetic shield with power provided by four Parsons 500 kW steam turbo-generators with steam provided by a closed loop Babcock marine water tube oil-fired boiler. The build is stalled at the moment as I need to replace the return rollers with a track skid as I didn't leave enough room under the sponsons for the tracks. I also need to design the track tensioning device and work out how I will build it. I might get it finished in 2013.

The thing is huge, to the same scale is a WIP StuIG 33B

Boiler, turbines and electrical stuff

Air-filtration to protect from the Black Dust and turbine exhaust to the condenser array

Close up of the two sirocco fans (based on designs used for the RMS Titanic)

Tracks are WWI style as these look better than the donor kit manganese steel webbed links.

The business end of the two guns and the heat ray projector

Engine deck, with the two fans for the condenser. Somewhere on here I have to find room for the Tesla EM shield projector...

The turret is finished whilst the hull is a bit of WIP at the moment. For now it's back on the shelf whilst I work on a pair of StuIG 33 and work out how I'm going to approach the problems of the idler and return rollers.

Hope you like.

Doom! · « **Reply #1 on:** January 25, 2013, 01:47:43 AM »

Hmmmm, can we say AWESOME!?! :)

Logan Hartke · « **Reply #2 on:** January 25, 2013, 01:55:19 AM »

I can! Awesome! Very steampunk! How much of that is scratchbuilt and how much is other kits? Is that a Karl-Gerät suspension?

Cheers,

Logan

GTX_Admin · « **Reply #3 on:** January 25, 2013, 02:30:42 AM »

Wow!!! I mean, seriously Wow!!!

The man lurks...carefully plans and conspires and then without any warning, launches himself on us with this. Not even the slightest hint of mercy for our bottom jaws!

AndyJ · « **Reply #4 on:** January 25, 2013, 02:46:46 AM »

Thanks for the replies chaps

Having seen the work on here I was a bit apprehensive about posting this monster.

Well spotted Logan, it is the Karl-Gerät suspension, I had a spare set left over from my build of Karl-Gerät IV and I had no idea what I was going to do with the thing. I also had an E100 turret left over from a build of a E100 StuG. The two seemed to be made for each other and so the Landcrawler was born. With lots of help from my sister on the steam system, she used to work for Babcock designing such things for power stations, and the whole concept appeared to be feasible. I tried to keep all the technology limited to what would be available in Edwardian England after the Martian invasion even if I have used items from kits of more modern vehicles.

As to how much is scratchbuilt? Hmmm 70 - 80% if I was going to hazard a guess, there are a lot of kit parts on there but pretty much all of them have been modified to some extent. The keen eyed will doubtless identify the other parts I've used

ysi_maniac · « **Reply #5 on:** January 25, 2013, 03:11:43 AM »

WWWOOOWWW!!!
That turret

deathjester · « **Reply #6 on:** January 25, 2013, 08:18:06 AM »

Totally incredible!! You've made what amounts to a steam powered Bolo!! So looking forward to seeing how this one turns out!!!

Jeffry Fontaine · « **Reply #7 on:** January 25, 2013, 10:37:22 AM »

Lady Clankington would be very impressed with your incredibly large infernal device :)

father ennis · « **Reply #8 on:** January 25, 2013, 03:36:04 PM »

Very very IMPRESSIVE !!! I can't wait to see it finished !!! I would suggested that you give it some side armor to protect the running gear. Something like the Landships of the French or Russian designs of the late 30's. That can cover a lot and silver you delima about the upper tracks and help with the drive sproket as well. I just love your ideas. This is tremendous but your E100 stug great,too. You need to get this bad boy done !!! I can't wait to.see how it looks ...

AndyJ · « **Reply #9 on:** January 25, 2013, 07:01:36 PM »

I had to Google Bolo as I was sure you weren't referring to the Douglas B-18, rather glad I did as I'm now entranced by reading up on them and admiring the rather excellent artwork. However, my Landcrawler is a lot smaller at about 150 - 200 tons and has a crew of eight but it has the same mission as the Bolo, namely providing distress and consternation to His Majesty's Martian foes :)

I would be delighted to present this infernal device to Her Ladyship and to describe its workings to her in a private audience

An excellent suggestion Father Ennis, and one which I have been toying with as a means to get round the current problems and get this one back on the bench. It's currently sat on a shelf whilst I work on the two StuIG 33s, so updates could be few and far between but with the inspiration from the other builds on here I can see it progressing a bit more over the coming weeks.

Jeffry Fontaine · « **Reply #10 on:** January 26, 2013, 02:45:30 AM »

Quote from: AndyJ on January 25, 2013, 07:01:36 PM

I would be delighted to present this infernal device to Her Ladyship and to describe its workings to her in a private audience

The cue for that opportunity is rather long

apophenia · « **Reply #11 on:** January 26, 2013, 05:05:04 AM »

That is astonishing! My praise would be more specific but I clicked on Jeffry's Lady Clankington link and my brain has turned to goo ...

Jeffry Fontaine · « **Reply #12 on:** January 26, 2013, 10:19:58 AM »

Quote from: apophenia on January 26, 2013, 05:05:04 AM

That is astonishing! My praise would be more specific but I clicked on Jeffry's Lady Clankington link and my brain has turned to goo ...

She is rather fetching and quite uninhibited which is very refreshing :)

arkon · « **Reply #13 on:** January 26, 2013, 01:06:46 PM »

are all the black dots rivit heads you have placed?
if they are ..............................wow
and the fans and pumps... great work!!
love the belts on the fans

AndyJ · « **Reply #14 on:** January 27, 2013, 01:55:48 AM »

Quote from: apophenia on January 26, 2013, 05:05:04 AM

That is astonishing! My praise would be more specific but I clicked on Jeffry's Lady Clankington link and my brain has turned to goo ...

She does seem to have that effect

AndyJ · « **Reply #15 on:** January 27, 2013, 02:00:04 AM »

Quote from: arkon on January 26, 2013, 01:06:46 PM

are all the black dots rivit heads you have placed?
if they are ..............................wow
and the fans and pumps... great work!!
love the belts on the fans

Yep they are! Although I did cheat a bit by using Archer surface detail decals so at least the rivets can be applied in strips, even then though it was still a route to insanity that rivals cleaning up Atelier Infinite E100 track links. There are a load more to apply but not until I've added the turbine exhausts and details on the condenser intake grills and access hatches.

Brian da Basher · « **Reply #16 on:** January 28, 2013, 05:57:40 AM »

Man is this baby out of this world! Love all the wheels...makes me want to call it the Centipede!

Those details really make your Landcrawler come to life! Welcome to BtS, Andy!

Brian da Basher

Panzerroland · « **Reply #17 on:** February 28, 2013, 06:56:31 AM »

This one is really cool! Great idea!

Regards
Roland

Brian da Basher · « **Reply #18 on:** February 28, 2013, 07:07:17 AM »

Now that's a truly epic project, Roland!

Most impressive!!!

Brian da Basher

Daryl J. · « **Reply #19 on:** March 01, 2013, 01:08:14 PM »

Here's to figuring out the engineering quickly! :). That's cool.

Claymore · « **Reply #20 on:** March 01, 2013, 04:28:53 PM »

Wow very impressive. And totally rivet-tastic! I like it a lot. :)

taiidantomcat · « **Reply #21 on:** March 03, 2013, 04:21:15 AM »

I can't believe I missed this! Excellent scratching and well done on the rivets!

Weaver · « **Reply #22 on:** March 03, 2013, 05:01:00 AM »

Wow - an awesome project and every detail right on the ball: excellent work! :)

(Just as I was conducting an exhaustive inspection of that Lady Clankington site to er, determine it's modelling usefulness, an energetic little ditty was broadcast on the radiogram, in a style I believe to be called "funk", with the repeated lyrics "Do ya know what it is? Well do ya?"....

)

raafif · « **Reply #23 on:** June 10, 2013, 02:36:12 PM »

just a thread bump ..... any movement on this beast Andy ??

know it's a long-term project but it deserves to be completed

Old Wombat · « **Reply #24 on:** June 10, 2013, 05:22:33 PM »

I was sure I had posted on this build when it 1st appeared but, obviously, I did not.

So...

Awesome build! Love the rivets, but it possibly needs a few more ([voice = kid from "The Sixth Sense"/] I can see gaps! [/voice]), & all the detailing work.

Fantastic! :)

Keep it coming, Andy!

Guy

finsrin · « **Reply #25 on:** June 26, 2013, 12:58:25 PM »

Such steam punk powered rivet-tasticness - cool

Envision it as a navy operated land crawler (great term) to do battle with ships offshore.
I'm classing it as a Coastal Defense Vehicle (CDV). A vehicle type I would like to build. This sets an example for CDVs.

Old Wombat · « **Reply #26 on:** June 26, 2013, 01:45:21 PM »

Quote from: finsrin on June 26, 2013, 12:58:25 PM

Such steam punk powered rivet-tasticness - cool
Envision it as a navy operated land crawler (great term) to do battle with ships offshore.
I'm classing it as a Coastal Defense Vehicle (CDV). A vehicle type I would like to build. This sets an example for CDVs.

Don't forget that the 1st tanks in WW1 were originally a Royal Navy project & were considered to be "land ships" until their cover designation took over.

Guy

Claymore · « **Reply #27 on:** July 17, 2013, 03:49:57 PM »

Absolutely fantastic work! I can't wait to see the end product. :)

Brother Macal · « **Reply #28 on:** August 17, 2013, 07:17:08 PM »

Hi There!

Fantastic Build! :) Very impressive job, nice ideas, and the model has the feeling :) That feeling of steam :) Waiting for updates ;-)

AndyJ · « **Reply #29 on:** March 31, 2014, 05:20:19 AM »

Thanks for the comments chaps and the thread bump!

I would love to announce progress but alas I've been snowed under with work and other projects. I did complete the StuIG 33B that was lurking in the background and a M4A3E2 is nearing completion. However, what with the support from here I think that this going from the "shelf to shame" and back to the workbench :)


"From the Sea" Amphibious GB

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Author Topic: Steam Landcrawler MkI (1905) (Read 11568 times)

Brother Macal