NöNö Bärs Military Vehicles (Completed: Ukraine Leopard 1 tank)

nönöbär · March 15, 2015, 07:41:46 AM

When travelling, I did several "Duck-Tours" - city sightseeing tours with an amphibian vehicle by land and water.
Very often, old WW2 Dukws - modified to carry more passengers - are used. Which would be a good WhatIf project as well.

So, to start with it, lets make an Dukw OOB, this is an 1/76 scale Airfix model, airbrushed with Revel Aqua Color. I also used some Tamiya rust on it, to have it a bit "used".

I have another of those kits here which should be the base for a "Duck-Tours" Dukw.

PR19_Kit · March 15, 2015, 08:44:58 AM

Great stuff there.

The DUKW is Mrs_PR19's favourite vehicle and she'd have me driving one, given the chance! It'd save on tolls over the Severn Bridge and we could 'drive' to Gloucester up the Severn itself, but I fear the fuel costs would break us and the darn thing would be wider than most roads around these parts!

MikeD · March 15, 2015, 12:44:38 PM

The Liverpool ones should be easy to model, you only need to do one corner of them!

There were two that went down in the Mersey a few weeks apart last year! I'm not sure if they're running again yet, the service was suspended for a while.

There was one dumped down by the river when I was a kid (I grew up a few hundred yards from the Mersey), although I didn't really know what it was when I was a kid, it was just 'the Duck' that we walked past when my Dad took us out for a walk by the river in the summer.

nönöbär · March 16, 2015, 08:08:23 AM

Poor Liverpool-Duck!

I guess I am lucky that I survived the two tours I made with old WW2 vehicles, the Duck-Tour in Boston and Dublin. In Boston, our Duck "died" on the street, so they had to replace it with another one. And in Dublin, they use additional floating bodies which are attached to the vehicle before they drive in the water.

Im Miami Beach. they have much bigger and more modern vehicles, so they should be safe

PR19_Kit · March 16, 2015, 09:05:00 AM

In Wisconsin Dells, which is a bit like a land-bound Blackpool so Brits get the connotation

they have an operation using maybe half a dozen converted DUKWs which take you on a ride down steep gullys to the Wisconsin River, along the River for a bit and back across some mud banks, across a small lake and back to base. I enjoyed it so much I went for two trips, one directly after the other!

As you can see they don't spell too well in Wisconsin.....

nighthunter · March 16, 2015, 10:36:11 AM

Seattle, WA has DUWK tours year round. Never been, but I hear they're fun.

zenrat · March 17, 2015, 03:41:08 AM

There's one parked up just down the road from here near Tyabb International Airfield. Never seen it moved so I suspect it's either sleeping or pining for the fjords.

Put these coordinates in Goggle Earth and you should go straight to it.
38°15'43.60"S
145°10'17.86"E

PR19_Kit · March 17, 2015, 04:48:44 AM

Certainly looks like it from above. Unfortunately from Street View you can't see it, or I can't anyway.

nönöbär · March 17, 2015, 05:18:03 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on March 16, 2015, 09:05:00 AM
In Wisconsin Dells, which is a bit like a land-bound Blackpool so Brits get the connotation they have an operation using maybe half a dozen converted DUKWs which take you on a ride down steep gullys to the Wisconsin River, along the River for a bit and back across some mud banks, across a small lake and back to base. I enjoyed it so much I went for two trips, one directly after the other!

As you can see they don't spell too well in Wisconsin.....

This one does not look as much modified than the ones I have made the tours with. They always had additional seating at the back.
Btw, whats always cool are the drivers - I guess you have to have a certain level of madness to be one

Dizzyfugu · March 17, 2015, 06:10:08 AM

IIRC there has recently been a DUKW "tourist ship" on sale in the Normandy region...

NARSES2 · March 17, 2015, 09:06:25 AM

Been on the Thames one when me and some mates did the Tourist in your own city day. Good fun pointing things out to the real tourists

zenrat · March 18, 2015, 02:18:37 AM

To drive a commercial one here I guess you'd need both a PSV (bus) licence and a captains ticket.

PR19_Kit · March 18, 2015, 02:21:18 AM

A bit like hovercraft pilots, who at one stage had to have maritime and aviation captain's paperwork at the same time, but I'm not sure if it's still like that now.

zenrat · March 19, 2015, 12:34:24 AM

A few years ago I looked into hovercraft operating requirements here in Victoria.
We had one we were using at the Poo Farm.
You basically just had to meet the boat requirements. And then only if you were operating it in places boats went. So you could drive one up and down a beach without a licence but as soon as you hit the water you needed a boat licence. And a captains commercial licence if you were carrying paying passengers.

PR19_Kit · March 19, 2015, 02:51:52 AM

How about driving it down the street to go shopping?