Been wanting to build this one for a very long time now and here are a few pics of the model in progress.
This is a representation of what Da Vinci’s tank may have been had it passed the drawing board stage… Da Vinci’ sketches show a vehicle that may have had a few design flaws: wheels too thin and not enough ground clearance for operations on soft or uneven ground, weaponery located at the very bottom of the hull, restricting its firing range and possibly in the way of the ‘engine’,… Also, talking of the engine, the sketches show that the wheels would have been activated by a system of cranks but the 'detail drawing Da Vinci left us appear to show that the crank would have made the front and back wheels go different directions. No details about how the vehicle was to be steered made it to us either…
However, Da Vinci’s tank, had steam engines been available would certainly have changed forever the way wars were fought…
My Tortoise is a mix of Da Vinci’s ideas and my own: I relocated the weapon stations higher on the hull, added a large door for the crew , gave it smaller but wider wheels, but kept the (I think) sound hull design and the ‘turret’…
What do you think???
Here the holes for the weapons have not been drilled out yet
very cool!!! Do you have a pic of the underside yet? Very cool idea.
I’ve always wanted to do the steam engine tank from wild wild west. Maybe someday I’ll get to it.
He came up with some neat ideas, that were crazy at the time. Time has proven crazy now is common later. On of my favorite quotes is “Who wants to hear actors talk?” from one of the Warner Bros.
Welcome back, Domi. Good to finally see your great works again.
Wow, very imaginative work.
Just out of curiosity, what is that beast in progress that is the last pic, the one in your sig I guess?
My first thought was it looks like a UFO. LOL Yes, good seeing you back.
Wow thats really cool.
Put some black crosses on it give it a Sdkfz number say it was captured in Russia and you can make a fortune!
All kidding aside thats a great job you did there. I have seen it in pictures but your model really brings to life how far ahead he was.
Thanks Guys! Yeah, it’s a cool project to do, even if I had to dust off my maths and geometry on the web for a while…! The idea of putting blck crosses is neat too! Maybe a vehicle part of the Teutonic army!
I’ll get a pic of the underside in here soon. I did not do any inside details, so it’s pretty much another truncated, updside down, cone that serves as a base for the upper part of the hull.