Ron Bell Posted July 4, 2017 Report Share Posted July 4, 2017 A little history. At the start of WWII, Britain realized that it would need a heavier armoured/armed tank than it had, so it set a group of designers made up of men experienced in tank design from WWI to work. They became known as "The Old Group", so their design became the TOG. Their first effort had the tracks going around the hull a la WWI designs and mounted a Matilda II turret. Found lacking, it was redesigned wth a different power plant, tracks on lower runs, torsion bar suspension, and a much larger turret with a 17 pdr gun. At 50 tons it was one of Britains heaviest tanks, but came on the scene just as the Churchill did, so it was relegated to museum status. Simple model with only eight parts. However, the surface of the side panels was quite uneven, so they needed to be sanded smooth, then rescribed and drilled. The turret has odd striations on it that should be removed, but I noticed them too late. The brass plate on the glacis is actually a name plate placed there by the Tank Museum, but Giesbers molded it as part of the vehicle. The kit comes as the vehicle is in the museum, without the side sponsons. The original design specification was for MG coverage in all arcs with the guns in sponsons. I modified some female sponsons from a Mk IV tank to do the job. As the real ones were never fitted, I can find no pictures or drawings to dispute my guesstimate. DSCN4677 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4678 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4680 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr DSCN4679 by Ronald Bell, on Flickr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted July 4, 2017 Report Share Posted July 4, 2017 Interesting subject, and yet another I was unaware of. If you hadn't mentioned the turret striations as being "wrong", I'd have taken them to be some sort of casting marks. Same goes for the sponson mods. Your work is so clean that they look like they belong there, especially with the great looking bolt detailing at their top and bottom. Nice one Ron! GIL :smiley16: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBill50 Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 Good show! Nice looking tank sir. This thing looks 'heavy'. Well done. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted July 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 Fifty tons of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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