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1/50 Pilsudski's tank
This is CT Ertz's excellent design, enlarged to 1/50 scale and texturized by me using Photoshop.
History: In the very last days of WWI, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was disintegrating, and Poland was working to establish its Eastern border. The contested city of Lwow (Lviv) became a flashpoint between the Ukrainians and the Poles. In an effort to gain an advantage, Poland's first armored vehicle was designed, ordered, and then constructed in a mere three days. It was dubbed Pilsudski's tank after the great Polish hero Marshall Jozef Pilsudski, and aside from a half dozen period photos, there is very little information on the vehicle. From a Polish website, I learned that it was probably built using a civilian Praga V 5-ton truck chassis as a starting point. It had a crew of seven, and was armed with 4 machine guns of uncertain manufacture. A chain mail curtain was installed all around the perimeter. If the bare sheet steel of the hull was painted at all, the color is unknown. A relief sculpture of a Polish eagle was mounted to the front of the vehicle, on what appears to be a painted rectangle, probably red. The "tank" saw action twice in the streets of Lwow: on November 9 offensively against Ukrainian forces, and again on November 22-24 during the Ukrainian withdrawal, to quell subsequent riots. Kit mods: To make my model more closely resemble the old photos, I removed the right side door, and reduced the size of left side door. I also added an extra armor plate to the left side, and changed the shape of the front vision ports. I reduced the span of the axles, and detailed the underside with a quickly drawn 2D chassis. The wheels have too many spokes for a Praga V, but they can barely be seen anyway, especially after the model is mounted on its base. The eagle on the front isn't exactly like the one in the photos, but I just couldn't find an image that matched. I "painted" it olive drab overall, but it might have been more interesting to leave it grungy bare metal like the recently constructed full scale replica. The build: to avoid sagging paper, I reinforced the interior of the hull with corrugated cardboard. For a better appearance, I used internal glue strips to join the two roof parts rather than overlapping the paper. I didn't close up the model until all the exterior details were added (except for the machine guns which were mounted at the very end). The wheel halves were laminated to beer coasters, glued together, and then wrapped with the tread strip. The chain skirt (which could be a bit longer), was edged glued all around. Everything fit perfectly. CT did a great job on this kit. I chose to leave off a spotlight which is indistinct in the photos, and an American flag which was sometimes/somehow mounted on the roof. The photos aren't the best, 'cuz it's dark (will it ever stop raining?), but at least there's a lot of them, LOL.
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Regards, Don I don't always build models, but when I do... I prefer paper. Keep your scissors sharp, my friends. |
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#2
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-excelente modelo, como también, la historia del mismo. Felicitaciones.
-excellent model, as well, the history of it. Congratulations. |
#3
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Great work, as always, Don!
Thanks for including the historical background and the details of construction. Don too |
#4
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Good job on this armored vehicle from my country. It's nice to see there're some people all over the world interested in Polish history and engineering.
Personally, I'm not really interested in history before 1930s so I don't want to add or correct anything in your informations Don(rockpaperscissors); they seem to be ok in my opinion.
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Kacper |
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Very nicely done, amazing from so little info.
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Well done! Yet another of your repaints which is simply great. The only thing I would change it the eagle (it was different than the modern one you used) and the color (it was probably grey).
I love almost all improvised armored cars (especially Spanish "tiznaos"), but Pilsudski's Tank is definitely in my top five list. As for the vehicle itself, according to the latest research, it was built on the chassis of a Büssing 5 ton army truck. |
#7
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Nicely done my friend!
I gotta say that I do get a big kick when folks make any of my models. I love to see the builds, the changes and repaints and the wonderful finished photos! Thank you! You made my day today. Corey
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My models are available here http://ecardmodels.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=62 |
#8
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Great work Don! And many thanks for the historical review on this vehicle.
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#9
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Thank you all for your enthusiastic comments. This was a fun build, so CT, thank you for hours of enjoyment. I knew the eagle plaque was wrong from the beginning, but I just couldn't find a clear image of one that matched the original.
The recently completed replica (either it's a lot smaller than the original, or those guys are huge) was left unpainted. I could probably have textured the whole thing with what I used on the underside. Green, grey, unpainted, Bussing, Praga, unfortunately, no one knows with absolute certainty. I wish there was a rear view photo: could there have been a door on the back also? The entry hatch on the left hand side was very small and high up, and was probably difficult to climb up into. Poland was a valuable ally to my country during our struggle for independence, so yes I have an interest in Polish history: Sobieski and the massive cavalry charge at the seige of Vienna saved the west's bacon, Kosciuszko and Pulaski's contributions during our revolutionary war, Krasinski's Polish lancers during the Napoleonic wars, the Polish 303 squadron during the battle of Britain, and the many contributions to the Allies by free Polish military during the whole of WWII. And then there was the conference at Yalta.
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Regards, Don I don't always build models, but when I do... I prefer paper. Keep your scissors sharp, my friends. |
#10
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If you would like to send me the updated model I'll put it on Landships with the appropriate attribution.
Polish armed forces also aided Hungarian Independence in the 1840s. At the recent Hungarian Independence Day celebration speech Viktor Orban made special note of Polish help during the independence struggle - his speech is on YouTube (with translation). Regards, Charlie |
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