New info on the closing of the Armor Museum at Aberdeen

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Hello all,

As some of you might know, the US Army Ordance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland is closing its doors and moving to Virginia. Here’s the most recent article about the move. Of interest is that the Leopold is moving to the new facility. How they are going to move that thing is beyond me.

http://wbal.com/apps/news/templates/story.aspx?articleid=33964&zoneid=3

-Jesse

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Thanks for the info usmc,I was there in April and it was a shame the condition of some of the vehicals,Annie is gonna be a crazy move.Looking forward to the new museum.

John

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Though I’m thrilled to hear of the decision to protect the vehicles from the elements, and that at least SOMETHING is being done to help preserve these treasure, I can’t help but be really sad that one ofthe forseeable drawbacks of the new museum will be the very nature of being a museum—where the tanks will undoubtedly be “posed” in some sort of scenarios or “dioramas”, if you will, and that access to them will be severely limited.

In Aberdeen, you could walk freely around them, take a stepladder with you and get photographs of every aspect of the vehicle; interiors, underneath, etc. That’s one of the best things about the Proving Grounds. JUdging what I’ve seen of some of the museums where the vehicles are “posed”–as the article is alluding to–I’m not optimistic about how “modeler friendly” the new museumwill be?

Also, what will they be taking or leaving behind? It’s sad that that magnificent collection will be broken up. Nirvana is being dismantled…[BH]

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I went there once in 1980 and had a great time. I’ll have to find my b/w photos. It was an allday roundtrip from Baltimore and I had to walk/hitch from Aberdeen into the Museum.

At the end of the steam locomotive era in this conuntry, virtually everything was unceremoniously sent to the scrapper- in the name of good old fashion never look back American progress. At least there’ll be some preservation.

5

At least Leopold has wheels.How are they gonna move that big coastal gun?

I also hope the new museum is well lit.I hate when museums are lit like dungeons that make photography almost impossible.Trying to get any good shots of the U-505 is a real PITA!