Author Topic: Mk.IV 'Female' Airship Docking Tank (Read 4963 times)

Chris Johnson · « **on:** November 13, 2015, 10:55:32 AM »

As some of you will already know, I build AFVs as well as aircraft models and seeing how Des has recently included this board on his forum, I thought I'd jump right in to show my support. My initial project will be the Airship Docking Tank that was a one-off conversion project involving a British Mk.IV Female tank. The tank was employed as an airship tug on the Royal Naval Air Station at Pulham, in Norfolk. No matter how you look at it, this was one butt ugly looking machine, but it is aviation related!

The conversion should be a fairly simple one, employing Takom's 1/35 Mk.IV Female kit with the tower constructed from Evergreen plastic. At least that's the plan going in.

In the following image the airship tug is pictured with Rigid Airship 23r which was one of four of these training aircraft built during WWI.

The 23 Class Airships were generally considered to be overweight and they were never used for anything but training. In the images below, a Sopwith Camel is seen slung below 23r.

Now before anyone suggests building the airship too, bear in mind that it was 163 metres long and 16 metres in diameter. According to my calculations, in 1/35 scale that would be 4.66 metres in length by 0.46 metres in diameter. That ain't going to happen folks!

Thanks for dropping by to have a look.

Cheers,

Chris

Dave W · « **Reply #1 on:** November 13, 2015, 11:48:34 AM »

Excellent idea Chris but I would seriously suggest having a fragment of the airship attached to the docking tank- maybe the gondola or similar with a sort of cutaway to suggest the size of the beast it was designed to dock.

I'm going to follow your build with much interest!

cheers

Dave W

tankbear · « **Reply #2 on:** November 13, 2015, 12:45:23 PM »

Quote from: Dave W on November 13, 2015, 11:48:34 AM

Excellent idea Chris but I would seriously suggest having a fragment of the airship attached to the docking tank- maybe the gondola or similar with a sort of cutaway to suggest the size of the beast it was designed to dock.

I'm going to follow your build with much interest!

cheers

Dave W

Chris,

I was thinking the same thing. The only issue I see is the weight of the section. Am thinking you would want to build a support frame that went through the tank and into the base. This would also mean replacing the ditching rails with brass and making the tower out of brass. ....or you could do what I would do, and just mount the section on a bit of clear rod.

However, you go about it this should be an interesting build and one that will attract a lot of second looks!

Bob

Pgtaylorart · « **Reply #3 on:** November 13, 2015, 01:02:52 PM »

This looks like a great project, Chris. I think these Mk IV and Mk V tanks are pretty cool. A parallelogram on tracks! I don't think they're ugly, but I guess it's subjective.

I'll be watching with interest!

Georgeds

Des · « **Reply #4 on:** November 13, 2015, 01:21:28 PM »

Thanks Chris for starting this topic, it is a very interesting subject and I will be following along closely.

Des.

bobs_buckles · « **Reply #5 on:** November 13, 2015, 08:02:59 PM »

Chris,
I'm looking forward to this, BIG Style!
Enjoy!

vB

lcarroll · « **Reply #6 on:** November 13, 2015, 11:55:13 PM »

Great idea Chris! The imminent WNW 1:32 Camel attached to a section of the Airship and above the Tank would be very close to "scale" and a real show stopper of a Diorama, c'mon, you could do it!

This will be an interesting project to follow!
Cheers,
Lance

gedmundson · « **Reply #7 on:** November 14, 2015, 12:40:37 AM »

Hi Chris,
Very interesting project. Marcos Serra built this subject and put it up on the Track Link web site back in January. Not sure if you saw it but it's great to compare for reference.
Cheers,
Gary

Nigel Jackson · « **Reply #8 on:** November 15, 2015, 07:37:56 AM »

Good luck with this super idea, Chris.

Best wishes
Nigel

RAGIII · « **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2015, 02:18:35 AM »

Chris, I am sure that you can pull this off in GRAND style!
RAGIII

Tony Haycock · « **Reply #10 on:** December 01, 2015, 11:25:06 AM »

This might be a very stupid question...

Assuming the Camel was intended to be launched from the airship, how on earth did they start the motor???

Des · « **Reply #11 on:** December 01, 2015, 11:47:27 AM »

Maybe once the Camel was dropped the engine would windmill with the propeller, a flick of the ignition magneto and away it would go.

Des.

Michael Scarborough · « **Reply #12 on:** December 01, 2015, 12:06:25 PM »

I don't think it's a stupid question, Tony. I'll bet Des has the right answer. In the case of the U.S. Navy airships that carried the F9C sparrowhawks, I believe the pilot climbed into the cockpit and started the engine before The plane was lowered for launching. Of course, that was a much more sophisticated system and what we're seeing in these photographs.

Chris, I am really looking forward to watching you bring this together. You're the man for the job!

Chris Johnson · « **Reply #13 on:** December 01, 2015, 09:21:39 PM »

I have to say that I'm a bit taken aback by all of the interest shown in this project on an aviation forum. Thanks for all of your comments fellows.

Quote from: gedmundson on November 14, 2015, 12:40:37 AM

Hi Chris,
Very interesting project. Marcos Serra built this subject and put it up on the Track Link web site back in January. Not sure if you saw it but it's great to compare for reference.
Cheers,
Gary

I saw his build when I was researching the project Gary and it will be very helpful. If I remember correctly though, I think he had the whole tower mounted to the unditching beam rails when I believe the main structure was mounted on the roof of the hull. In all fairness to him though, I'll have to check that again to be sure.

Cheers,

Chris

RAGIII · « **Reply #14 on:** December 02, 2015, 02:06:51 AM »

Quote from: Chris Johnson on December 01, 2015, 09:21:39 PM

I have to say that I'm a bit taken aback by all of the interest shown in this project on an aviation forum. Thanks for all of your comments fellows.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris,
You shouldn't be that surprised, there are a lot of us who are either former or closet Tread Heads

RAGIII