British WWI Heavy Tanks & Gun Carrier

[Mossie]

We rarely venture into the Great War.  These early tanks with their romboid construction must be ripe for whiffing.  Most of the British tanks from the Mark I to Mark X were largely similar in form & with mostly incremental improvements.  I can find one or two oddities, there must surely be plenty of designs that never made it, or unusual field mods.  Not to mention the wild stuff!

I'll post some pics tomorrow, it's a bit late!

Simon.

[jcf]

Landships is a great site for the subject:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/tank_articles.htm

[philp]

And most of the Warhammer 40K stuff.

[NARSES2]

Well apart from the Gun Carrier (60pdr) there was also the supply tank loaded with barb wire, amo, food & water etc.

There were plans for an early APC but I'm not sure if they came to fruition. There is mention of infantry being carried forward by supply tanks in some of the later battles.

Other types built (not all necessarily used in action) were fascine carriers, wireless tanks, supply tanks fitted with 6" mortars, salvage (crane) tanks, bridgelayers and an early form of mine roller. So basically an early form of 79th armoured div.

As alluded to in an earlier post the Airfix Magazine had loads of conversions when the kit first came out and I have it somewhere   

[Mossie]

Landships is a great site for the subject:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/tank_articles.htm

Thanks for the link Jon, very useful.

Well apart from the Gun Carrier (60pdr) there was also the supply tank loaded with barb wire, amo, food & water etc.

There were plans for an early APC but I'm not sure if they came to fruition. There is mention of infantry being carried forward by supply tanks in some of the later battles.

Other types built (not all necessarily used in action) were fascine carriers, wireless tanks, supply tanks fitted with 6" mortars, salvage (crane) tanks, bridgelayers and an early form of mine roller. So basically an early form of 79th armoured div.

As alluded to in an earlier post the Airfix Magazine had loads of conversions when the kit first came out and I have it somewhere   

Chris, within that site that Jon links to are some modeling articles.  There's a list of kit reviews on that site:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/reviews.htm

And there's a link on the same site to an Internet Modeller artcile on how to convert the Airfix Mark I to a Mark III:
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2006/april/armor/Mark_2.php

More from that site, there seems to have been plans to use the Mark V* (lengthened Mark V) as an APC, although the poor ventilation didn't lend itself to troop transport.
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/new_pages/Mk5-star_info.html

And most of the Warhammer 40K stuff.

Phil, yes, several of the Imperial & Space Marine armour from Warhammer 40K seems to be heavilly influenced by British WWI tanks, being of rhomboid form & including sponsons.  The Land Raider is probably the most faithfull, being taller & having the Rhomboid pattern in reverse.

[Mossie]

Quite a few grainy, but useful pics on this page.  Includes a Mark IV recovery tank & Mark V bridge layer & mine roller.
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/GreatBritain/BritishHeavyTanks.html

Nice cutaway of a Mark V:
http://military-photo.blogspot.com/2008/12/ww1-british-tank-cutaway.html

Pics of some more unusual variants:

Gun Carrier Mark I.  Worlds first SPG & used the same basic chassis as the Mark I Tank.


Mark IX amhibious APC 'Duck'.  Only one was built


Mark VI mock up, note the six pounder turret on the front.  Seperate design from the hull of the Mk.I-V, never went into production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_VI_(tank)

[Mossie]

Some fictional tanks based around the British WWI tank:

Tank from Indiana Jomes & the Last Crusade.  Fairly closely resembles a Mark VIII tank with a turret.  I've realised that adding a turret creates space (see Mark V cutaway above) & weight distribution problems, but it looks good!  Real world, it could have been created using a Mark V* or Mark IX APC.  Found in this blog:
http://glorbes.blogspot.com/2008/12/indiana-jones-vs-tank.html


Several from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000:

Leman Russ:


Basilisk:


Mk.III Land Raider


'Mk.I' Land Raider, a Land Raider converted into something closely resembling a WWI tank, found in this blog:
http://gardeimperialew40k.blogspot.com/2009/03/mki-land-raider-conversion.html

[NARSES2]

Of course the ultimate development was the TOG I & II

http://www.tankmuseum.org/ixbin/indexplus?_IXSESSION_=&_IXDB_=&_IXSPFX_=templates%2Fsummary%2Ftvod%2Fb&_IXFPFX_=templates%2Ffull%2Ftvod%2Ft&_IXMAXHITS_=12&_IXACTION_=summary&_IXMENU_=Vehicles&%3Amus_administration_name=VEH&%24+with+mus_catalogue+and+(B*+in+mus_current_location_building+index+mus_text_location)=.&_IXtext=tog&_IXbov_entry_number=Please+enter&_IXbov_basic_name=Please+enter&_IXmus_object_name=Please+enter&_IXmus_brief_description=Please+enter&bov_main_utility_type=

[pyro-manic]

The Death Korps of Krieg range from Forge World (Games Workshop's resin brand) draws very heavy influence from the Great War and trench warfare: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/acatalog/DEATH_KORPS_OF_KRIEG.html

[ChernayaAkula]

The Death Korps von Krieg soldiers somehow remind me of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in the Hellboy film.

<....>
'Mk.I' Land Raider, a Land Raider converted into something closely resembling a WWI tank, found in this blog:
http://gardeimperialew40k.blogspot.com/2009/03/mki-land-raider-conversion.html

How awesome is that?   Wow!

EDIT: Lots of whiffing goodness in that blog! 

[Joe C-P]

Maybe combining one of these with the ideas of the "Funnies" from WW2 - flamethrower, dual-drive, ladder, bridge-layer.

[philp]

Like this one?

[Mossie]

TOG I & II are beasts aren't they???

The A7V/U is worth mentioning.  Although German, it was pretty much a copy of British tanks.  After the failure of the A7V, the Germans decided to use as much as possible of the A7V (the chassis & sprung tracks were retained, while using a very similar arrangement to the British.   It was faster than British tanks due to the sprung track, but it's was heavier.  It never made it to production due to the end of the war.  More here:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/new_pages/a7vu_info.htm

[NARSES2]

TOG I & II are beasts aren't they???

I've got some TOG II's on order from the Flames of War site 

[Mossie]

Looking forward to seeing them Chris!