I had so much fun designing and building my recent SCW Barbastro tank
Barbastro tank SCW that I decided to start another project in a big way...a really big way.
The Holt 150 Ton Field Monitor (yes, 150 tons), was a 1916 endeavor by Benjamin Holt of
Caterpillar fame, that never got off the drawing board. It was literally the size of a house: 54.6 feet long (16.6m), 24.5 feet (7.5m) wide, and 21.6 feet (6.6m) tall. At that time there were competing trains of thought on how a vehicle might best handle difficult terrain. Continuous track won out, but the "big wheel" theory was a contender for a while.
Holt's design if built would have been used against Mexican rebels, our enemy du jour, in the southwest USA and northern Mexico. Its paired 6" naval guns would have intimidated the toughest band of banditos. 10 machine guns were carried in side sponsons, 2 rotating turrets, and one each at the front and rear. The vehicle was to be manned by a crew of 20. The massive hull was supported by four giant 20' wheels and was powered by 2 huge kerosene burning steam engines. An interesting article at the Landships forum provides more detailed information.
http://www.landships.info/landships/...s_Designs.html
To my knowledge there is no model of this beast available in any medium, although some intrepid plastic modeler modeler has built one from scratch
Holt 150 ton Field Monitor – What could have been. America's 1915 land battleship. - Gallery - All Scale Modeller I've already begun the line drawing of my 1/72 scale version, and hope to have images of the alpha build of the hull later today. Wish me luck, I'm goin' in.