Strv 103 in RAAF Service - FINISHED - pic's pg. 2

[rickshaw]

I'm having a job getting my head round an Air Force operating tanks...

How else can they get longer wings?

They attach a Bushmaster to each wing and pull!  Oooops!  Sorry, we appear to have pulled the wings off your plane, Sir...   

[zenrat]

I meant longer wings on the tanks.  I think I wasn't clear enough.

No change there then.

[PR19_Kit]

My Dad was in charge of a bunch of RR Armoured Cars when he was 'marooned' at Habbaniya during the siege there in 1941, but  they had wheels of course.

[Old Wombat]

Finished!

I'll (try to) get photo's up tomorrow!

[Old Wombat]

And the FINISHED BUILD!























Compared to the RAAF FV107 Scorpion;








OK, that's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed the show!

As usual, all constructive comments & criticisms welcomed.


Cheers!


Guy

[Old Wombat]

One of the unmentioned benefits of using the Strv 103C on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands was its ability to swim, which made it easier to move the tanks between islands without specialist water vessels being required for the purpose.

[Wardukw]

Nice one Guy 
A fun camo paint job and nice amount of weathering..bloody good point about the 103 being able to swim..once the crew got the flotation screen up their good to go ..not fast but hey would rather be able to swim slow and get there than move damn fast and not swim 

[Pellson]

Awesome job!!

[Pellson]

So, we are forgiven for the Collins's now, are we? 

The Collins debacle was the creation of the Department of Defence & the RAN's senior command deciding, after construction had commenced, to add equipment that they had been told beforehand would be needed for the ships to perform their duties satisfactorily, which required the deconstruction of the boats to fit it.

Of course, neither the DoD nor RAN command could be seen to be at fault, so they blamed the design & the ASC (the people who told them the equipment would be needed & had to be fitted during construction).

The RAAF is, of course, not the RAN & had not part in it, so didn't care.


PS: Oh, &, in this time-line, Government, DoD, Defence Procurement & all levels of command are highly focused on getting the right things done right the first time around, so there are very few Collins-type stuff-ups (unlike the last 40 years).

Having friends having been directly involved in the Collins struggles, it's nice to see that you all agree on causes and consequences.. 

[rickshaw]

As good as a store bought one guy.  As good as one from the regiment

[NARSES2]

That's come out well mate 

[Old Wombat]

Thank you very much, gentlemen!

As good as a store bought one guy.  As good as one from the regiment

Good grief! How did I miss that one?

Nice job, Brian!



Reminded me to mention the few changes I made (with the exception of the RAAF's Cocos-specific camouflage pattern);
1.) The biggest is losing the two 7.62mm machine-guns in the left side box forward of the driver (including the spent casings chute) & turning that into more storage;
2.) Then there were the pioneer tools, 3 x shovels originally, which I modified or swapped out to have 1 x shovel, 1 x spade & 1 x pick, & changing their storage location; the 2 x axes & 1 x sledge (under the gun barrel) are retained;
3.) I dug 2 x (Stryker?) headlights out of the spares box to make the IR headlights, which the kit doesn't include;
4.) The 2 x star-shell/flare projectors are shown stowed & I had to build the protective plate covering the open ends with thin styrene sheet; &
5.) A couple of lengths of brass rod for the radio aerials.

[zenrat]

Good job Womby.

[Dizzyfugu]

That's looking very good - even though I'd personally be afraid of crossing the open sea with a tank that's kept afloat by a flotation screen! Brave Aussies! 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, guys!


As the islands are an atoll there's no real reason to cross large expanses of open water;





North Keeling Island is about 30km from the main atoll & is an uninhabited national park, so doesn't really count.



Note: If you look up the Cocos (Keeling) Islands on Google Maps (satellite view), draw a line along the airport runway & keep going in the NNW direction you will see a cluster of houses on the western side of West Island. This was the Cocos Islands Immigration Detention Centre. There are 4 buildings lined up along the road, the third one up of these is where I lived for 5 weeks in 2014. Pretty damned close to being the best 5 weeks of my life.