Andrew's Tankfest 2021

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So following on from Dale's collection, time for my contribution to the forum's Tankfest submissions.

Unlike Dale we could only spend one day but had a great day all the same - arrived at 10 and left at 6. There were a couple of minor disappointments - no Matilda in the arena as it had been overheating in the morning and the Spitfire flypast had to be cancelled due to the weather (we had a few light showers in the afternoon).

One of the highpoints was seeing the only working Valentine DD swimming tank going around the arena and one of only two running Ha-Go tanks. There was even some fire specially for John as they'd apparently investigated a lot in the pyrotechnics for the mock battles.

One of the more impressive sights occurred during the modern British Armour display. The arena is given a liberal watering to keep the dust down and then it rained a bit, so if not very muddy it was definitely on the wet side of damp. One of the turns on the figure-of-eight loop was quite close to us and it was quite a tight turn for big vehicles.......and I'm sure that every time the Challenger 2 went around it, I watched the driver 'drift' it a bit around the corner each time.....not bad for a 70 ton vehicle!! :smiling5:

As always please feel free to help yourselves to any pictures you want. You will find the album HERE......... only 496 pictures......

ATB

Andrew

PS apologies but we had some people in front of us and it proved impossible to always get them out of the shot.....or get the best angle on the shot....

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As someone famous once said, an army marches on its stomach....so Junior and I had to make sure we suitably nourished at the start of the day.




As you can see from the guide there was a lot on......there was a morning and afternoon slot for the arena displays.....









The Ha-Go








The DD Valentine...





No introductions needed.....there are some interior pictures in the album...









Challenger 2 - like you didn't know!!





Never seen an AMX 13 running before....





Specially for JR...




One of my all time favourite tanks....





The oddest Centurion I have ever seen - although I had heard about its existence before.....







The sectioned Centurion......remarkable!!





Finishing on a very significant vehicle for me........at first sight, nothing special but the purchase of a box of Armourfast's quick build version of these for a six and a half year old junior are what got me back into the hobby.....

[Mini Me]

Most excellent display of armour Andrew!! :thumb2: Thank you so much for posting the link......saw a lot of vehicles underway that I didn't know could move. Rick H.

[David Lovell]

A great contribution Andrew many thanks . Dave

[Steven000]

Thanks for posting your images Andrew, the album seems to be a bit large for my phone but looks like you guys had an exellent time!
Cheers, Steven

[rtfoe]

Wow...thanks Andrew for the load of tank pictures.

Cheers,
Richard

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent images Andrew. Looks like you really enjoyed it.

[Tim Marlow]

Just had a second look through Andrew. There are some great weathering shots in there. The only real way to know how these beasts weathered and appreciate the mud patterns is to see them in real world conditions. Look at the mud spray on the Kublewagon for example, or the vertical streaking on the warhorse WW1 tank and off the mud shutters on the Matilda. Neither is something you really see in models.
I saw the WW1 tank at Bovington after a particularly wet tank fest a few years ago, and the streaking was extreme. To the extent that it really looked like someone had poured buckets of liquid mud over the top of the tracks and let it run down the sides. I have never seen that modelled, yet those tanks must all have looked like that when they operated across no mans land on the western front. I still regret not taking a picture of it………

[BattleshipBob]

Many thanks Andrew, like the breakfast, yummy!!

[Andy the Sheep]

Andrew, a very nice photo set. :thumb2:
I'm pretty sure that the effort you made wouldn't have been possible without that energetic breakfast. :hungry:
Maybe MiniArt will release a breakfast kit soon...:smiling6:.

[Mark1]

Looks like a good day out,some great pictures there. :thumb2:

[adt70hk]

Most excellent display of armour Andrew!! :thumb2: Thank you so much for posting the link......saw a lot of vehicles underway that I didn't know could move. Rick H.

Rick, absolutely no problem at all. Glad you enjoyed them!!

A great contribution Andrew many thanks . Dave

David, thank you very much. I can't provide much in the way of modelling advice as I'm still learning, so things like this are one way I can contribute. Also, see you live in Poole. Very jealous and not just because you're on Bovington's doorstep! Spent meant a holiday in that part of the world and thoroughly loved it!!

Thanks for posting your images Andrew, the album seems to be a bit large for my phone but looks like you guys had an exellent time!
Cheers, Steven

Sorry about that 497 photos is a bit excessive......:sad-face:

Wow...thanks Andrew for the load of tank pictures.

Cheers,
Richard

You're more than welcome!

Excellent images Andrew. Looks like you really enjoyed it.

Just had a second look through Andrew. There are some great weathering shots in there. The only real way to know how these beasts weathered and appreciate the mud patterns is to see them in real world conditions. Look at the mud spray on the Kublewagon for example, or the vertical streaking on the warhorse WW1 tank and off the mud shutters on the Matilda. Neither is something you really see in models.
I saw the WW1 tank at Bovington after a particularly wet tank fest a few years ago, and the streaking was extreme. To the extent that it really looked like someone had poured buckets of liquid mud over the top of the tracks and let it run down the sides. I have never seen that modelled, yet those tanks must all have looked like that when they operated across no mans land on the western front. I still regret not taking a picture of it………

Thanks Tim, it's my way of giving something back. As you say interesting to see how the vehicles weathered differently and something I had thought of as they were running around.

We had a really great time. I was worried Junior might run out of steam but he only sat down in the final half hour. We even had a really great run on the roads. No traffic to speak of on the way down and straight into the car park on the Sunday morning and no queueing at the gate either!! The return journey was even better......according my car, and I wasn't being stupid, just no traffic on the road, 141miles in 2:52hrs, average of 52 mph...at 68mpg...

Andrew, a very nice photo set. :thumb2:
I'm pretty sure that the effort you made wouldn't have been possible without that energetic breakfast. :hungry:
Maybe MiniArt will release a breakfast kit soon...:smiling6:.

Andy

Thanks very much. Glad you enjoyed them!! Of course the breakfast helped....want I didn't take a photo of was the cereal before the cooked breakfast and pastries afterwards. MiniArt seem to be releasing a set of everything else, so a breakfast one is probably on the list.

Looks like a good day out,some great pictures there. :thumb2:

Mark, thank you and no problem at all, please feel free you use any you wish to.

Many thanks Andrew, like the breakfast, yummy!!

Bob

No problem. There are some StuG picture in there but there of the same vehicle Dale took some of and he took a lot more than me. And yes the breakfast was yummy!! it definitely filled a whole or two!!



Thanks again all for stopping by.
ATB

Andrew

[Nicko]

Thanks for these Andrew. I think I need to start planning a trip Westward....

Nick

[adt70hk]

Thanks for these Andrew. I think I need to start planning a trip Westward....

Nick

You're welcome Nick. Glad you like them

I think you should!!! If you put yourself in the right place, you can be within an easy(ish) of Bovington, the Army Flying Museum at Middle Wallop and the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton all in one go!!

ATB

Andrew