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Old 02-02-2011, 08:04 PM
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bob martin bob martin is offline
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A7v german tank

Whipped this one out today. scaled this one down to I don't know what. Anyway,I was able to get all 7 sheets on two 8 1/2 X 11...

This one was the only German tank in production during WWI. The A7V was introducted by Germany in 1918, near the end of World War I. One hundred vehicles were ordered, but only 21 were delivered. It was nicknamed "The Moving Fortress" by the British because of the shape of the hull, Incredibly, The A7V had a crew of 18!!



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Old 02-02-2011, 08:29 PM
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bob is there any chance that thing would move anywhere but cement roads?
what did it weigh?
gary
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Old 02-02-2011, 09:35 PM
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The all up weight of an A7V ready for combat was 30 tons. It was a lot faster than the British or French heavy tanks 14-16 km/hr on roads 10 km/hr cross country.

It had a couple of major mobility problems - the ground clearance was only 20cm because the gearbox housings were much larger than originally specified and the front idler was flat on the ground which meant the tank couldn't climb over obstacles. Provided the ground wasn't too muddy or churned up it could operate reasonably effectively. The first tank vs tank battle at Villers-Bretonneux resulted in 2 badly damaged Mark IV female tanks, the A7V retired after being hit by a Mark IV male.

There were only 20 A7V tanks - plus one prototype A7V-U with British type tracks. There were a total of 100 A7V chassis built - most of them were completed as A7V Uberlandwagen Tracked Lorries.

There was another German tank in production in 1918 - the LK-II - a light tank similar to the Mark A Whippet. Small numbers of these turned up in Sweden and Hungary after WW1.

Regards,

Charlie
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Old 02-02-2011, 09:58 PM
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bob martin bob martin is offline
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Again Charlie, Thanks so much for all the history.
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Old 02-03-2011, 12:36 AM
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CharlieC CharlieC is offline
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If I may make a comment - the running gear on the model looks too high. I have the advantage of living in the city with the sole surviving A7V - you can't see the suspension springs on the original from the side.

An A7V was recorded as carrying 50 men - must have been like sardines inside. You can't stand up inside an A7V except for the gangways alongside the engines.

Regards,

Charlie
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Old 02-06-2011, 12:10 AM
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50 men in one? That would have been a high value target for planes and heavy guns! Wow. I like the look of this tank though, just looks mean.
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Old 02-06-2011, 11:34 PM
John Wagenseil John Wagenseil is offline
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50 men?
I suspect that a lot of them where carried on the tank. I have seen a photo of the A7V in transit with all the non engineering crew sitting on top of it. The conditions inside of the tank were less than pleasant, the two gasoline engine's radiators were in the crew compartment so the crew rode on top whenever they could to avoid the heat and fumes.
The Renault FT17 and Whippet unlike the heavy tanks of the era put the engines and crew in separate compartments.

@CharlieC:
I hope that you and your family came through the flooding and the cyclone OK.
Some of the pictures I saw of the suburbs upstream of Brisbane were frightening as were the pictures of the more recent damage on the coast.
Did Mephisto survive last month's flood? The museum is right by the river and I had heard that a lot of the commercial blocks in South Bank ended up under water. There are a couple of nearby maritime museums right on the river which must have ended up underwater as well.
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Old 02-07-2011, 04:15 AM
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There were occasions where an A7V carried a double crew (36) back to base after an A7V was disabled on the battlefield. I agree with the internal conditions of the early heavy tanks - they were awful. There was an attempt to carry infantry in Mark V*s towards the end of the war. It was only tried once - the infantry were incapable of going into action after a ride in the tanks. It was well known that the crew on tanks would vomit when they exited the tanks and hit fresh air.

Mephisto got its tracks wet in the flood but no damage otherwise. The Qld Museum got a metal conservation expert up from Sydney to advise on the tank once the flood had receded. The Maritime Museum had HMAS Dimantina in a dry dock - I saw it on Thursday just after the flood peak - the Dimantina was floating - you couldn't see the dry dock.

We were ok - the flood didn't reach our house although we lost power for 6 days and Internet for 10 days. Cyclone Yasi hit North Queensland last week - it was similar in size and strength to Katrina that hit New Orleans a few years ago - only one fatality from stupidity.

Regards,

Charlie
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