Ultra Heavy Amphibious Assault Tank "GohTenGo"

[Dr. YoKai]

 In the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 7, 1946, the submarines I-501, I-503, and I-505 surfaced two kilometers of the coast of california,
 a mere ten klicks north of Los Angeles. Massive door opened on their bows, and out paddled the last gasp of Imperial Japan,
 the 200 ton GohtenGo...Mission: Destroy Hollywood!

 

 Armed to the teeth with a 90mm, 2 x 47mm, 2 x 70mm*, a single launcher for 200mm artillery rockets, and the ultra secret 'Zero
 cannon',  these steel  behemoths would wreck great destruction before ultimately being stopped mere blocks from their
 objective by a determined company of visiting Cascadian militia, and a sadly inaccurate map that neglected to include a
 specific terrain feature - the la Brea Tar pits.


 I didn't really think I'd get as far as I have with this, and for what is really my first nearly fully scratch-built armor, I'm
 reasonably pleased. The body is .04 sheet, with not-structural elements in sign sheet - which I'd guess is about .01,
 but without a micrometer I wouldn't swear to it. The main turret is a much modified Panther turret from a Hasegawa
 kit. (Hows that for violating a Panther? ) while the sub-turrets are built up from a combination of styrene tube,
 sheet, and a bit of Aves putty. The pontoons are next.

 * Maybe. I'm thinking of mounting two more sub-turrets on each of the pontoons.
 

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Weaver]

Well violated sir! 

[Frank3k]

Wow, that's some drill, too! I love the smaller turret; were the Japanese trying to copy the T-28 or T-35?

I imagine that the Japanese landed on the beach in Santa Monica; probably on or near Pico, since the tanks wouldn't have been able to go up the bluffs further north. They probably turned left after getting to Beverly Hills (where Pico turns away from Hollywood), then turned right on the first major avenue they encountered, assuming it would be Santa Monica Blvd., which would take them straight to Hollywood.

Typical tourist mistake. They actually turned onto Wilshire, which swaps position with Santa Monica in that area. They were lucky they ended up in the Tar Pits and not further East.

[Jeremak]

This summer...
...It's back...
...A sequel for much beloved "1941"...
..."1946"!
(Japanese tank commander, sitting in turrent hatch, screaming): "Hollywood!!!"
Or something like this, in this style:

1941 (1979) trailer

[Feldmarschall Zod]

That looks great. I can see Ned Beatty firing a 40 mm AA gun at that thing.

[Buzzbomb]

Well this is a surprise.. looking forward to see how this turns out

[apophenia]

Brilliant  :)  And you've just gotta go for the extra sub-turrets on the pontoons!

[finsrin]

Well this is a surprise.. looking forward to see how this turns out

What buzzbomb said  :)

[jschmus]

This is just the sort of insanity I have come to expect from the laboratories of Dr. Yo.  Lay on, sir!

[Dr. YoKai]

 Thanks for the kind words, colleagues - its coming along. The pontoons are pretty much done, just
 need to do the scribing & detailing, and add the guns to the sub-turrets. Pics in a day or two.

[Dr. YoKai]

 Could I get this moved to the appropriate build forum? Thanks in advance.

[Brian da Basher]

I just love that "Journey to the Center of the Earth" auger on the front, Doc!

Now that'll chew up some infantry!

Brian da Basher

[Alvis 3.1]

Golly gosh geepers, where's the Rocketeer when you really need the guy?


Awesome tank, can't wait to see it finished!

Alvis 3.1

[Dr. YoKai]

Getting closer. The turrets and most of the small details are in place.


and the pontoons worked out fairly well. I had to tweak the alignment a bit, but it wasn't a difficult as I feared.



There is still a fair amount of sanding on the seams and gaps, and some refinement of the pontoon fittings to go - I
also need to build rudders and propellers. This is something of a chimera, combining features of Japanese and German
Amphibians, but I think I've gotten a fair amount of the look right, while giving it a touch of a SciFi spin. One more minor
hurdle will be the treads. I had intended to use the set you see in the right background, but after putting the drive
sprocket and forward idler, they were about 3 cm short...I may just bite the bullet and fabricate a complete set of treads.

[elmayerle]

Golly gosh geepers, where's the Rocketeer when you really need the guy?

For this, you need more than the Rocketeer, you need the King of the Rocketmen (for those who remember the old Republic serial that inspired Dave Stevens, or the comic adaptation done 'bout 20 years ago).

[finsrin]

First rate concept and build.  Way cool 
Like it so much.  Is on my wanna do list to build something similar.
Bunch a turrets must be better than one !

[Dr. YoKai]

Golly gosh geepers, where's the Rocketeer when you really need the guy?

For this, you need more than the Rocketeer, you need the King of the Rocketmen (for those who remember the old Republic serial that inspired Dave Stevens, or the comic adaptation done 'bout 20 years ago).

 aka Commando Cody - I believe my ancestor, Clark Yo jr. worked with him during the Secret World War.
 ( I read Steven's The Rocketeer regularly, or as regularly as it appeared back in the late
 80s & 90s. Great stuff, indeed, and I do remember seeing the Rocketman serials a number of times
 on saturday television when I was a kid.

 The design is very loosly inspired by a couple of the late-war Japanese Super Heavy, which were
 still a good fifteen years behind the times in concept. Most everybody experimented, or at least
 contemplated multi-turret designs in the '30s, but nobody put a whole lot of effort into actually making
 them work..

[elmayerle]

If memory serves me correctly, the two Commander Cody serials recycled the rocket suit from King of the Rocket Men.  Shortly after The Rocketeer hit the screens, one of the smaller comic publishers did an updated adaptation of King of the Rocketmen that was pretty good (I checked the serial out from my local video rental place just to compare).

I think mul;ti-turret tanks only work when you get into very large tanks, like Keith Laumer's [/i]Bolo[/i] series.

[Alvis 3.1]

Golly gosh geepers, where's the Rocketeer when you really need the guy?

For this, you need more than the Rocketeer, you need the King of the Rocketmen (for those who remember the old Republic serial that inspired Dave Stevens, or the comic adaptation done 'bout 20 years ago).

I find that the "Rocket Jock" as seen in "J-Men Forever" would likely suffice on his own!
"Let's see, I want to turn it on, I want to go up, and I want to go fast..."

J-Men Forever Part 7

Alvis 3.1

[Brian da Basher]

That little turret is the cherry on top, Doc!

That was a brilliant choice.

It's gonna be fun to see your next update!

Brian da Basher

[Dr. YoKai]

Took me a bit longer than I expected - but I'm getting there. It still needs some tiny details ( tools, tow hooks & cable, couple more
 mg barrels ) and I'm torn between leaving it in this approximation of the standard overall green, or some cammo appropriate to
 SoCal in the winter...

 

 Alongside an old Fujimi Chi-Ha medium to give a better sense of the scale of the brute.

 

 and with the pontoons attached

 

 Thats a 20 cm artillery rocket projector on the forward deck

[GTX_Admin]

Wow!!!!

[Old Wombat]

Woh!

The Japanese loved camo with some weird colours - you could give that a bash!

:)

Guy

[Brian da Basher]

It really comes together nicely when the pontoons are added.

You have a mad genius for AFVs, Doc!

Brian da Basher