That's an awesome tank!! Love it! It was a lot of work but worth it.

Thanks These things always turn out to be more work than expected, of course ... but then, so does pretty much everything else I build

Great build.  I found it in the Whiffie nomination thread and had to come check it out.  neat idea, great problem solving and an excellent finish.  Definitely Whiffie worthy.

Most excellent.

I ran out of boxes to tick on this build about 5 pages back.. so I just drew my own at the bottom to add some more.
Great build

Thanks, and I'm honoured to be nominated

Excellent finish!

Still needs a BIG box of barf bags in the equipment racks, though!

The driver in the hatch hides the rack for them quite nicely, so I didn't need to build that

Driver is limited to only peanut butter sandwiches for meals while on duty. Tastes the same coming up as it did going down........

It's no doubt hidden in the body of the vehicle, but I assume that the tank is fitted with a BOILING VESSEL  for making mugs of NATO standard tea/coffee whilst the machine is in action.

  It has been said that US tank crews saw this device in use on joint exercises , resulting in a "Heater, Water & Rations"  being fitted in US armour  from about 1990 (ish) onwards..   

Several low friends in high places tell me  :-
 A)  that almost every UK military vehicle now has a BV 
 B)  that a vehicle with a defective BV is not considered properly equipped for active service
 C)  that  the most junior member of the vehicle crew is appointed "BV  commander"   
 D)   It's the most  important piece of kit  in a British AFV
E)  It actually makes good military sense  for crew survival and thus morale.  World War 2  many of the casualties among British tank crews occurred when they were outside the tank brewing up. How well does a tank crew perform over a long duration  if they don't have access to hot food and drinks especially in colder climates? The BV allow the crew have water to heat food, make hot drinks and even to some extent wash themselves without having to leave the relative safety of the tank.

  Forum members with practical experience of this device may wish to comment further.

Quote from: Rheged on May 28, 2023, 12:35:41 PMIt's no doubt hidden in the body of the vehicle, but I assume that the tank is fitted with a BOILING VESSEL  for making mugs of NATO standard tea/coffee whilst the machine is in action.

  It has been said that US tank crews saw this device in use on joint exercises , resulting in a "Heater, Water & Rations"  being fitted in US armour  from about 1990 (ish) onwards..   

Several low friends in high places tell me  :-
 A)  that almost every UK military vehicle now has a BV 
 B)  that a vehicle with a defective BV is not considered properly equipped for active service
 C)  that  the most junior member of the vehicle crew is appointed "BV  commander"   
 D)   It's the most  important piece of kit  in a British AFV
E)  It actually makes good military sense  for crew survival and thus morale.  World War 2  many of the casualties among British tank crews occurred when they were outside the tank brewing up. How well does a tank crew perform over a long duration  if they don't have access to hot food and drinks especially in colder climates? The BV allow the crew have water to heat food, make hot drinks and even to some extent wash themselves without having to leave the relative safety of the tank.

  Forum members with practical experience of this device may wish to comment further.

Since I wasn't a armour crewman I didn't have access to one but we did enjoy the benefits of em more than once 
One thing we did use for those cold days was a trick used by the Brits in the desert in WW2.
Steel bucket..sand..petrol and a lighter 
A super simple device for cooking ..boiling water for the most important liquids in the world..tea or coffee and no exposed flame .
This we found very helpful when there was a group who needed more water boiled than our little stoves could muster...can also be used as a cooking spit 

Quote from: Wardukw on May 28, 2023, 01:04:32 PMOne thing we did use for those cold days was a trick used by the Brits in the desert in WW2.
Steel bucket..sand..petrol and a lighter 
A super simple device for cooking ..boiling water for the most important liquids in the world..tea or coffee and no exposed flame .

Known by the 8th Army as a Benghazi Burner.   I agree they are most efficient at any time and in any place that a brew is needed.     

Quote from: Rheged on May 28, 2023, 01:09:01 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on May 28, 2023, 01:04:32 PMOne thing we did use for those cold days was a trick used by the Brits in the desert in WW2.
Steel bucket..sand..petrol and a lighter 
A super simple device for cooking ..boiling water for the most important liquids in the world..tea or coffee and no exposed flame .

Known by the 8th Army as a Benghazi Burner.   I agree they are most efficient at any time and in any place that a brew is needed.     

Ahhh ..mate never knew what that was called..
 We basically called it that British cooker sand idea thing 
But yeah it was brilliant.

Quote from: Rheged on May 28, 2023, 12:35:41 PMSeveral low friends in high places tell me  :-
 A)  that almost every UK military vehicle now has a BV 
 

The Chieftain ARV that I worked on in Newcastle had TWO BVs, the crews reckoned it was the height of luxury to be assigned to one of them. 

Quote from: Rheged on May 28, 2023, 12:35:41 PM"Heater, Water & Rations"  being fitted in US armour  from about 1990 (ish) onwards.. 

The most recent TM I have is for the M2A2 and M3A2 ODS Bradleys, dated January 1997, and it includes instructions for the use of the MRE heater (this is the name used in the manual) that it comes with. The thing itself is a rectangular box with controls on the front and a removable lid, as well as a removable "container" inside. Apparently it's intended both for heating MRE rations and boiling water, the latter by removing the container and putting about four litres of water in to the heater itself, which can then be gotten out by means of a tap on the front.

So yeah, sounds like the American version of the British BV. Except I suspect the British don't issue four pages of instructions on how to use it, let alone say:—

QuoteWARNING
Hot parts can burn you. Container and handle will get extremely hot. Use lid hooks and gloves to handle container.

... four times in three pages

Not being a Tread-head, I never saw or used on of these, when I was in the army.  Anyway, we more often than not was "tac" or "tactical" and not allowed hot meals.  We basically subsisted on cold food, usually straight from the RAT packs.  We could do that in Australia and the regions to our north where we used to deploy to.  The thing was we learnt the hard way in Vietnam that it was quite easy to smell diggers from quite a distance away because of what they ate and what they cooked, so we learnt to go cold.  About the only thing we used to have hot was Char and coffee.