FV 217 Badger

[Peterpools]

Holy Cow, could and did fool me. Looking mighty good.

[DocRob]

12 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Guys , just to clarify this vehicle is entirely WHAT IF.  Never existed, no blueprints, nothing. 

I knew Martin, it hadn´t been there , but the camo existed.

Cheers Rob

[PanzerWomble]

On 2/13/2024 at 9:50 AM, DocRob said:

Well, I was in Berlin, which is my excuse, I´ve missed your Berlin Badger build, Carl . Love your approach with the `Urban Camo`. Luckily these beasts were not part of the Brigade, the Western Allies had mostly slightly out dated material, maybe because they knew, it would only be captured or destroyed by the Russians, if the worst case happened.
I´ve seen some of the Chieftains with this weird camo, when I was a kid, but lived in the American Sector, so Mutt´s and Patton´s along with Hueys were more often present.

Uschi van der Rosten has some graffiti decals. I have some of these together with my Berlin Wall resin kit.

SHOP Graffiti / Marble Decals - Uschi van der Rosten Carpet Decals (uschivdr.com) 

Cheers Rob

Ex Brit tanker I spoke to reckoned they always sent the latest versions to Berlin , and swapped the crews around from standing armoured regiments in BOAR .This guy was RSDG , serving 85-88 ish . We got talking after I modelled his Chieftain 00 EB 57 and he saw it on line ....he received a freebie from me . 

They knew two dozen Chieftains wouldn't make much of a big dent in the 5th Tank Shock Army , it was as much about a show of force/ frighten the Russians with the technology / morale booster for the Germans . Which, if you think the Chieftain was the 'open country snipe them from a long range with the 120mm' tank that was stationed behind the 105mm Leopards in the gap of the Gemran plain etc it makes sense that you don't send more than a few to fight in FIBUA . Course back in the day when the UK sported 600 MBTs not 100....ahhhhh . 

Part of the paint scheme (they were told) was to make counting them difficult for the Reds as they all had the same scheme . I know the US forces were larger and a used lot of Pattons  - probably a handier FIBUA tank , so maybe a different approach ? 

Either way the Badger would make sense in Berlin if the above doctrine was correct. 

 

 

[DocRob]

9 minutes ago, PanzerWomble said:

Ex Brit tanker I spoke to reckoned they always sent the latest versions to Berlin , and swapped the crews around from standing armoured regiments in BOAR .This guy was RSDG , serving 85-88 ish . We got talking after I modelled his Chieftain 00 EB 57 and he saw it on line ....he received a freebie from me . 

They knew two dozen Chieftains wouldn't make much of a big dent in the 5th Tank Shock Army , it was as much about a show of force/ frighten the Russians with the technology / morale booster for the Germans . Which, if you think the Chieftain was the 'open country snipe them from a long range with the 120mm' tank that was stationed behind the 105mm Leopards in the gap of the Gemran plain etc it makes sense that you don't send more than a few to fight in FIBUA . Course back in the day when the UK sported 600 MBTs not 100....ahhhhh . 

Part of the paint scheme (they were told) was to make counting them difficult for the Reds as they all had the same scheme . I know the US forces were larger and a used lot of Pattons  - probably a handier FIBUA tank , so maybe a different approach ? 

Either way the Badger would make sense in Berlin if the above doctrine was correct. 

Interesting info PW, thanks for that. I was more speaking about the Americans, the British sector was far away to the north in the big city of my youth. I saw British tanks only on parade, but the American´s were part of my daily routine, as they were everywhere, near the barracks, on the boulevards and mostly in the woods, where we spent a lot of time off road cycling and adventure hunting.

Cheers Rob 

[PanzerWomble]

24 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Interesting info PW, thanks for that. I was more speaking about the Americans, the British sector was far away to the north in the big city of my youth. I saw British tanks only on parade, but the American´s were part of my daily routine, as they were everywhere, near the barracks, on the boulevards and mostly in the woods, where we spent a lot of time off road cycling and adventure hunting.

Cheers Rob 

I fondly remember clambering all over a Chieftain ( probably a Mk5/6) on Salisbury Plain in the middle of the night in 1982..ish ...kinda been a geek about them ever since. 🙁

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

I didn't have any Chieftains to climb on as a kid since Canada didn't use them. Just an Easy 8 Sherman and a Lancaster to play under. 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

A bit more progress on the Badger. 

The exhausts are multi part and a bit fiddly, probably the most so of any assembly yet on the kit. 

I ended up losing one of the brackets that the exhaust pipe sits on. Sadly I didn't have my usual carpet monster lap cat to catch it for me. There's 3 per side and they are covered so no one will notice. 

With a quick coat of paint. 

Followed by their covers. 

The smoke launchers were next. 

Okay, these were more fiddly than the exhausts. Guess I spoke too soon. 

[Martinnfb]

Looking good Carl, can't wait for apocalyptic weathering phase

[Peterpools]

Carl

Right with Rob ... looking mighty good.