Just got an issue of another model magazine (Sorry FSM but I do read other modeling magazines…hope you won’t ban me for this) And it had a review for the HobbyBoss Merkava IV. Now that is one mean looking tank! I am a fan of science fiction and have enjoyed David Drake’s “Hammer’s Slammers” series and The turret on the merkava looks just about what I would expect on one of Hammer’s hover tanks, pretty SF looking.
That kit looks like a good conversion subject to a Hammer’s Slammers hover tank.
Read my first Slammers in 1979. Would love to see a really good “blower”. The 1/72nd stuff I’ve seen looked really lame.
I agree! Have thought the Merkava has a real SI FI kinda look
I have to wonder what a Merkava would (WILL???) look like when the R&D boys get the bugs out of electric armor. (I bet it will be patrolling Gaza in 2025.)
mh… a good idea to recycle my old 1/72 merkava from esci
Electric armour??? How does that work?
Okay, let’s try this again [I had my post set to go when the FSM forum crapped-out; this is my second try].
Short version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7rxBifd0cY
Long version: Electric armor is the latest attempt at defeating rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), kinetic kill devices, and other nasties. Start with basic armor (Chobham composite by preference). Layer insulated plates (angled 40-60 degrees if your geometry permits). Charge the [whatsacominago] out of them so that when the impactor strikes, it gets substantially vaporized. Simple. Neat. Anti-lethal.
Oddly, I have some real-world experience with the hillbilly version: Before there were dot-matrix printers, long before there were laser printers, there were chain printers, specifically IBM 1403’s. It may be hard for the current generation to believe, but 1403’s were slightly louder than your average chainsaw. (Look, just Google it.) The impact mechanism was driven using a capacitor the size of a coffee can, 12 coulombs fully charged as I recall. How much energy is that? Enough to kill a horse. High tension (HT) gloves were required except in cases where sudden suicide was the object.
The problem (other than the fact that the thing was [dinkywongo] deadly) was that HT capacitors of the period would grow dendrites, which would reduce the efficiency over time. About once a year or so, a Computer Engineer would have to drive a (no [tootsie-frootsie] crap) ten-penny nail THROUGH the capacitor. The dendrites would burn-out, and the now 11-and-some coulomb unit would be set to go.
Hello!
I still don’t get it, and I have a slight notion how the electric current works. So for this armor you do what? Charge the armor plate? Or build the armor as a great capacitor? How does it interact with the incoming projectile? OK, in case of the cumulation warhead, it could be detonated prematurely, how about the kinetic penetrator? Please clarify, thanks in advance
Paweł
<How does it interact with the incoming projectile?>
Violently.
(Couldn’t pass that up.)
Seriously, yes, electric armor is a layered capacitor. Anything that causes a short (which, unfortunately, includes friendlies) gets a terminal case of the frizzes. Check out a guy named Uzzah (2Sam.6:7).
The Laws of Physics WILL be enforced!
Now, as an exercise for the students: WHY DON’T WE HAVE EA IN PLACE NOW?
Prize: the person with the best answer gets a free dip in the River Styx as soon as someone develops a GPS that can provide directions to the appropriate fjord. ;{Q
OK, now the idea has become clearer. But I’m not convinced it would work. Of course can’t decide either way without an experiment, but I have my doubts. For example shaped charge - suppose shaped charge hits the outer plate, goes through the insulation (how thick would it have to be?) and touches the second plate. First question - is the hot gas stream of the shaped charge a conductor? I’d go for yes - it’s basically plasma - the electrons have been torn off the atoms. OK, so you have a short in the capacitor and then massive current starts to flow through the plasma jet. If anything it will only make it hotter than it already is. OK, so then, at the beginning there’s some force exercised by the electric field on the particles passing through. Depending on which plate is charged positive, which negative, some particles of the hot gas jet caused by the shaped charge are decelerated in the elctric field, but those of opposite charge are accelerated right? So how strong is the net effect on minimizing the penetration potential of a shaped charge?
As for the question why don’t we have something like that today - the answer might be: Keeping such a large capacitor charged would need a lot of energy, question is do we have enough on board of a tank. Second problem - keeping the people inside and inside safe from high voltage.
Anyhow, the consideration itself is interesting, so thanks for sharing, have a nice day
Paweł
That’s why I started off with: when the R&D boys get the bugs out of electric armor.
My bit about why we don’t have EA (as a fully functional concept) and the River Styx was deliberately elliptical. EA should work well in a dry environment, but how do you waterproof it? I suspect that something will developed based on fast shunting and extreme redundancy, and guess what? IINM it’ll look very much like something that crawled out of “Hammer’s Slammers”, sort of like a Merkava!
12 Coulombs…OUCH !
Thanks for the description on both the Merkava and printer…
Gotta check my “chromes” of the old Chicago Science & Industry IBM exhibit to see if I can locate a printer mixed in with the vintage 1950’s / 1960’s hardware on exhibit.