During WW1 the General staff were trapped miles behind the lines in commandeered chateaux.  Obviously they would have loved to have got closer to the action but they were prevented by the inability to travel far too from the essentials (5 square meals a day, the wine cellar, Nanny etc).  The invention of the camper tank provided the means for them to transport[/b] their corpulent selves closer to the front.

I have a Kitech 1/48 T-72 and an AMT allegedly 1/25 camper body.  Camper is to be scaleoramaed to 1/48.
Camper Tank. by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

I have been working on this while the mods were rejecting my early concepts for its purpose and so can show you all this mock up.

Camper Tank WIP 29-11-2022 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Keen eyed readers will have noticed a bag in the first pic containing a motor and some gears.  Yes, it's one of those kits.  Back when the Japanese manufacturers put motorised parts in them as a tax dodge.  Having lost my soldering iron in the move to 'straya in 2003 I had bought a new one last year which was still in its packeting.  So I broke it out, plugged it in, and surprised myself by managing to motorise the chassis without burning anything to the ground.
I can't work out how to embed a video from flickr but here is a link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/156376527@N06/52531492955/in/dateposted-public/

Quote from: zenrat on November 29, 2022, 01:48:49 AMKeen eyed readers will have noticed a bag in the first pic containing a motor and some gears.  Yes, it's one of those kits.  Back when the Japanese manufacturers put motorised parts in them as a tax dodge.  Having lost my soldering iron in the move to 'straya in 2003 I had bought a new one last year which was still in its packeting.  So I broke it out, plugged it in, and surprised myself by managing to motorise the chassis without burning anything to the ground.
I can't work out how to embed a video from flickr but here is a link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/156376527@N06/52531492955/in/dateposted-public/

HILARIOUS laughter here! Love the whole idea, but the vid is a scream, NOTHING stopped it!     

Oh that would make my dog go crazy! She already hates the Roomba vacuum!

I think this idea is absolutely fantstic, I can,t wait to see the end.
The dialogues when they arrive, uanounced at a camping site are fantastic.

Crazy idea! Hope you manage to complete it. You could also have the camper body turn on the turret ring, so generals could have a panoramic view of the battlefield without moving their fat asses. 

I hadn't thought of a rotating body.
I have thought of a verandah and a roof top deck.  Possibly a flagpole.
No interior detail though.

How about a hot tub? 

Quote from: PR19_Kit on November 30, 2022, 03:12:50 AMHow about a hot tub? 

For those "Eureka!" moments ... that result in another 100,000 unnecessary deaths.

Quote from: Old Wombat on November 30, 2022, 07:33:34 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on November 30, 2022, 03:12:50 AMHow about a hot tub? 

For those "Eureka!" moments ... that result in another 100,000 unnecessary deaths.

Hot tub is an excellent idea.
Verandah may well have to extend to become a deck.

I have decided against a revolving body.  Far simpler to just align the whole vehicle with the sunset.

Researching hot tubs.  A wooden clad round one should be easy to scratch up.
Of course, I could make it a Finnish vehicle and have a sauna instead.

Did some digging in parts boxes today and found the original kit "glass" for the camper body.  I'm thinking of making some floral curtains out of paper and gluing them on the inside to obscure the lack of interior.

I think the tank itself needs to have wooden panel sides like the 1940's woody cars. And it needs to be painted metallic lime green otherwise.

Lime green station wagon woody tank (with panoramic scenic roof)?
That would have be a separate project.

Nice idea though.

I assembled a figure today to give some idea of scale.  Here is Field Marshal General Fedor Fedorovitch posing on his deck with a mock up of his proposed hot tub.

Camper Tank WIP 03-12-2022 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

I then started thinking about the structural arrangements under the camper body.  This was a mistake as I haven got carried away scratching up an H beam and RSJ sub structure.

Camper Tank WIP 03-12-2022 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

It now turns out the entire camper body is removable for carriage by other vehicles such as ACVs, pontoons, and even helicopters.

Camper Tank WIP 03-12-2022 03 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

I will create a drivers compartment that fits neatly under the sleeping compartment of the camper body.

Camper Tank WIP 03-12-2022 04 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

All these revelations are troubling me as they are creating more complications.

 

Quote from: zenrat on December 03, 2022, 04:52:41 AMAll these revelations are troubling me as they are creating more complications.

 

Ah, but at least sorting them out will stimulate the mind