1/50 Mark IX "Duck"

[rockpaperscissor]

Not a tank in true sense of the work, the Mark IX was a purpose built armored personnel carrier (the first), and supply vehicle. Rather than design an entirely new "tank", the Mark IX was basically a stretched Mark V. Officially, it could hold 30 troops, or 10 tons of cargo. Ultimately, 34 of the vehicles were built with only a few completed before war's end. To test its amphibious abilities, a Mark IX was fitted with large pontoons along each side, and a smaller one at the front. Openings were sealed, bilge pumps were installed, and exhaust pipes were extended up above a "conning tower" which sat atop the hull. For propulsion, hinged paddles were affixed to the tracks. On November 11, 1918 (armistice day), the "Duck" was tested in Hendon Reservoir. After several minutes in the lake, the engine stalled, killing the bilge pumps. The vehicle started taking on a dangerous amount of water, and frantic signalling from the conning tower resulted in it being dragged to shore via ropes.

This is the first Wayne McCullough designed model I have ever built, and it's a honey. The fit of each and every part was perfect, and I encountered no difficulty during the build. Wayne obviously took into account the thickness of the paper in some of the parts. There is a disclaimer on the download page that the bounding box (whatever that is), is incorrectly sized on the parts page. Wayne's original model is 1/72 scale. I resized mine to 1/50, and did a Photoshop recolor to add dimensionality to the rivets. I used toothpicks and paper Q-tip shafts for all the stuff sticking up out of the conning tower. I wanted to show the paddles in their down position, and the only way I could do that was by elevating the model above its base. I textured the display base with green marble, hoping that it would also read subliminally as water.

It's a dark and dreary rainy day today, so the photos are a bit grainy from the low light.

Oh, I almost forgot. Landships II hosts the model, and it can be found here Landships II

[jagolden01]

Beautiful, neat, build of an interesting subject.
Nice work on the rivets and other bits.
Love how you showed the cleats in the down position, it really adds to the model overall.

JoeG

[Don Boose]

Great job on Wayne's model, Don!

Don (too)

[CharlieC]

Nice to see another build of one of Wayne's models. I always like comparing builds since everyone has a different take on how a model should be enhanced to make it look more convincing. I used 1mm copper wire for the exhaust pipes - I thought about paper lollipop sticks but the bends were too difficult.

I particularly liked the display stand - my build just sits on a bookcase shelf. My build is here Mark IX 1/50 - Duck

The name of the body of water the Mark IX Duck was tested in has changed over the years - back in WW1 it was called "Welsh Harp" - currently it's "Brent Reservoir". It's not far from Dollis Hill
which was a tank testing ground in WW1. About all that's left of the testing ground (it's called Gladstone Park now) is a railway line which runs through the park. I recently found an image on the IWM
website which shows a Mark VII tank with the Mark IX Duck behind it at Dollis Park.

Regards,

Charlie

[Mike1158]

Very nice, great build.

[rockpaperscissor]

Thanks for your comments, fellas. Charlie, I wonder if that photo was taken before or after it's short aquatic journey?

[eatcrow2]

Excellent display of a great looking model!!

[CharlieC]

Originally Posted by rockpaperscissor

Thanks for your comments, fellas. Charlie, I wonder if that photo was taken before or after it's short aquatic journey?

There's no indication when the image was taken. The Mark VII prototype was
built at the end of 1917 so it had been around Dollis Hill for quite a while. There were various prototypes lying around Dollis Hill until after the end of the war. Little Willie was there before it was moved to Bovington.

There are another couple of images of the Mark IX Duck in the IWM collection. I particularly like the image of the Mark IX afloat - this is a great image to show health and safety nutjobs - the guy standing on the hull in suit and bowler hat gets me - I think he may have rubber boots* on as a concession to the activity (* known as "wellies" in the UK).

Regards,

Charlie

[waynemac]

It looks Great! it is always a joy to see my models built, especially this well.

[southwestforests]

Adding dimensionality to the rivets sure worked well. Gotta say, that thing is an interesting beast.