Panzermotorrad PzMd.1 or ‘Kugelpanzer’

[RAFF-35]

This is the Panzermotorrad PzMd.1 or 'Kugelpanzer' as it is more well known. It is a one-man light tank that was first built in the German empire by Hansa-Lloyd Werk A.G. in 1917. After the failure of the company's heavy tank design, the Treffas-Wagen, it was realised that there was more money to be made in manufacturing large numbers of light tanks instead of small numbers of large ones. The concept of the Treffas-Wagen was simply scaled down and turned into the basic and easy to mass produce Kugelpanzer. The first prototype was completed in August 1917 and operational evaluations were completed by early October. During these trials, a skid was added to the front of the vehicle to stop it from tumbling down slopes. Also, more effective ventilation and an exhaust were added to prevent the driver from choking on the engine fumes.
The Germans had little idea how to best make use of the Kugelpanzer initially, so they were used sparingly until the mechanised cavalry tactics were formed during the summer of 1918.
After the armistice, almost all trace of the Panzermotorrad was wiped out due to the treaty imposed on Germany. One example survived however and was given to the Soviets as a present from the German army in the mid 1930's.

[Wardukw]

Love it Raff ..great painting and very nice weathering  ...top marks mate 👌 👍 👍
I'm wondering how that would have worked out on a WW1 battle field..one shell hole and bugga another one stuck or just vanished into the mud.

[frank2056]

Nice camo! Good idea to make it WW1.

Is that a modified Das Werk Kugelpanzer?

[RAFF-35]

Love it Raff ..great painting and very nice weathering  ...top marks mate 👌 👍 👍
I'm wondering how that would have worked out on a WW1 battle field..one shell hole and bugga another one stuck or just vanished into the mud.

Thank you very much!

I've no idea either, but the first generation of tanks all suffered similar issues with mud and massive shell holes. Perhaps the Germans would've learned to deploy them in specific conditions like the French did with the FT-17's?

[RAFF-35]

Nice camo! Good idea to make it WW1.

Is that a modified Das Werk Kugelpanzer?

Very kind, thank you.

It is indeed, a nice, simple kit. I know it's a one man tank but it's surprising how small it is 😄

[buzzbomb]

great work on the colour scheme.. that scheme really works for this

[Wardukw]

Love it Raff ..great painting and very nice weathering  ...top marks mate 👌 👍 👍
I'm wondering how that would have worked out on a WW1 battle field..one shell hole and bugga another one stuck or just vanished into the mud.

Thank you very much!

I've no idea either, but the first generation of tanks all suffered similar issues with mud and massive shell holes. Perhaps the Germans would've learned to deploy them in specific conditions like the French did with the FT-17's?

I've seen plenty of pics of MK 1 males and females stuck in shell holes ..they were the very first as ya know so they didn't really have an idea where to take em and not to but they learned...unditching beams and so on .
Guess the French got the message pretty fast  .

[RAFF-35]

great work on the colour scheme.. that scheme really works for this

Thank you! It's always puzzled me why this is supposed to be a WW2 design when everything about it looks like a hair brained proto-tank from WW1 

[frank2056]

It's no more harebrained than this perfectly reasonable post WWI design:

[Old Wombat]

The artist & designer had obviously not served in the trenches of WW1!    

[Wardukw]

Dudes u don't know if you have ever heard of this but some nutta in WW2 designed a jumping tank ..with one freakin leg ...stupidity abounds with this one lads .

[NARSES2]

The artist & designer had obviously not served in the trenches of WW1!    

What I find interesting about it is that a US magazine is showing what appears to be British troops in 1914/15 uniforms crossing relatively open ground. Do we know when that edition was published ?

As an aside I'd hate to have to propel those things with my knees even before they went AWOL 

[frank2056]

What I find interesting about it is that a US magazine is showing what appears to be British troops in 1914/15 uniforms crossing relatively open ground. Do we know when that edition was published ?

I was wrong; it's actually from the  November 1915 issue (full issue)

Archive.org has copies of many of the old Popular Mechanics

If you just want to browse the covers, you can also look here.

[Old Wombat]

OK, I'll give them a bit more lee-way but, by the time that was published in 1915 (obviously written earlier), the green was mostly gone from No Man's Land, although it took 1916 to turn it into a total Hellscape.

[zenrat]

They could double as coffins to ship the bodies of the dead back home.