WW I Mk V Male Tank by Meng 1/35

[Bigfoot57]

My next completed model after the Dora railgun is a Mk V World War I male tank from Meng
The actual build was reasonably straightforward and includes a fully detailed interior which to my mind of thinking is a complete waste of time because once the thing is assembled, you can’t see anything and I’ve left the hatches open on mine so you can just about glimpse something inside, but the actual box cover art is a total con because you haven’t got that sort of cutaway available also the tracks were hideous and kept falling apart so much so in the end I glued them together anyway here are completed build photo’s
The trench crossing device which which rode on top of the tank as I’ve got my hatches open it looks ridiculous up there so I’ve just put it on its own next to the tank I think the idea was it was slid down those two angled metal pieces at the front of the tank into the ditch and then the tank could drive over the top

Regards

Colin

[Guest]

That looks pretty nice, good job

The trench crossing device which which rode on top of the tank as I’ve got my hatches open it looks ridiculous up there so I’ve just put it on its own next to the tank I think the idea was it was slid down those two angled metal pieces at the front of the tank into the ditch and then the tank could drive over the top

The device is called a fascine, which is technically a large bundle of wood, but these were manufactured items for the same purpose that were usually called “crib fascines”. It would have been carried on the rails on top of the tank:


(Wikipedia)

That’s not what they were intended for, though. Rather, the rails are for the unditching beam that you also have on your model: when the tank got stuck, somebody would have to open a hatch in the roof of the tank and chain that beam to the tracks; it would then get pulled along on the rails, over the nose, and under the tank where it would (hopefully) give enough traction for the tank to come loose again. Once the tank was moving, the beam would be pulled back up over the back, to the roof, and it would be unshackled again so the tank could continue on its way.

Incidentally, those rails are also a good way to tell a Mk. V tank from a Mk. IV if you can’t see the louvres in the hull sides, towards the rear. On the Mk. IV, the L-profile they’re made from, faces inward, while on the Mk. V it’s outward.

[Bigfoot57]

well, I never knew that I thought they would’ve just rolled the hexagonal contraption, whatever it was called into the trench and just drove over the top of it as it looked as though it was totally reinforced to take that sort of punishment thanks for the info

[A_J_Rimmer]

Cracking little build that.

[A_J_Rimmer]

That looks pretty nice, good job :smiling3:


The device is called a fascine, which is technically a large bundle of wood, but these were manufactured items for the same purpose that were usually called “crib fascines”. It would have been carried on the rails on top of the tank:


(Wikipedia)

That’s not what they were intended for, though. Rather, the rails are for the unditching beam that you also have on your model: when the tank got stuck, somebody would have to open a hatch in the roof of the tank and chain that beam to the tracks; it would then get pulled along on the rails, over the nose, and under the tank where it would (hopefully) give enough traction for the tank to come loose again. Once the tank was moving, the beam would be pulled back up over the back, to the roof, and it would be unshackled again so the tank could continue on its way.

Incidentally, those rails are also a good way to tell a Mk. V tank from a Mk. IV if you can’t see the louvres in the hull sides, towards the rear. On the Mk. IV, the L-profile they’re made from, faces inward, while on the Mk. V it’s outward.

You learn something new everyday on this forum.

[Bigfoot57]

just illustrate point about what I considered to be a total con job here is the meng box art now looking at it I don’t know about you but I would say that yeah that is the cutaway I would be expecting to achieve. I’ve added all this detail that’s shown on that cut away. It’s all in there but you can’t see any of it because everything is closed up. The only way you glimpse some of it is by peering through the hatches and then you have to look through, tiny small opening you can just about see the interior

[Guest]

well, I never knew that I thought they would’ve just rolled the hexagonal contraption, whatever it was called into the trench and just drove over the top of it as it looked as though it was totally reinforced to take that sort of punishment

Yes, that’s what the contraption was for: to throw into a trench and drive a tank over it. When I was talking about the undicthing beam, I meant this thing:

[ATTACH]514782[/ATTACH]

The rails were a convenient place to stow the crib fascines, too, but that was not their original purpose.