1930's Vickers Medium APC

[buzzbomb]

Old Wombat built a Vickers Medium for his RAM theme.
It was a great build you can see here

There was also mention about the possibility of an APC elsewhere.

Having the Hobbyboss MkII* the stash, lets explore that APC Idea.
During the early 30's the British were doing a bit of work on combined arms tactics. So what if, when the Mediums were retired and getting stored prior to being used as hard targets on a range, there was a line up against a fence and one Officer walked past and thought...
Wait.. how many troops could we fit in that and what if.......
So three are pulled of and a bit of work done to make them a platform to further test out the armoured APC concept, following up on earlier work on the Mk IX type tank at the end of WW1.
It would be squeezy, very squeezy and very crouchy I think, but troop comfort is quite often not often top of the considerations at an early experimental stage. Probably 6 soldiers tops the way I look at it.

I took the Vickers Medium Mk II kit to the last weekends "Modellers Retreat" build weekend and started the build
First up, the Hobbyboss kit is quite nice, a simple build and not a zillion parts, goes together swiftly


First up lets block out the bits that we need, like the engine compartment and move the fuel tank to allow better egress for the onboard troops


That then covers one of the MG ports, so decided to move them to the existing doors. To my mind the thinking would be that these MG would still have a use with the mindset of the 30's


Enlarged the rear hatch to have two doors. I think that the idea of a ramp would be too advanced for these early experiments.


I have to revisit the drive train a bit as it is not even really clear on the IMA (Vale IMA) interior kit pics what the drive train is or where it goes. But lets say this drawing is enough to work with


Hit the bench again today and ended up on this build rather than the one intended to do.
Getting the transmission train underway and this will be fitted onto the floor so that all that and the infantry seats can be just plugged in with the floor. Well that is the thought bubble plan.


Then, sometime during the session was an implied Pte Baldrick type "Permission to get carried away Sir ?" thought... That was granted so time to hack away some stuff from the roof.


Slight raise of the roof height and add in some hatches. I figured that with the height of the drivers position, why not.
This is also an 30's AFV which means rivets. Lots of drilling to ready for the tichy train rivets.

[NARSES2]

I like where this is going 

It isn't to far fetched to imaging a couple of these being used to test some experimental tactics somewhere on Salisbury Plain, perhaps under command of a certain Percy Hobart ?

[Old Wombat]

[Rheged]

I like where this is going 

It isn't to far fetched to imaging a couple of these being used to test some experimental tactics somewhere on Salisbury Plain, perhaps under command of a certain Percy Hobart ?

Perhaps  Hobart's use of proto-APCs  was noted by a certain Colonel De Gaulle in the early 1930's.............thus permitting whiffery of obsolescent French tanks.

[Gondor]

I like where this is going 

[Weaver]

This is a great idea!   

You know, I've often looked at the Warrior IFV hull (without it's skirts on) and thought that if you told someone that was the linear descendent of the Vickers Medium, people would believe you.

[Steel Penguin]

watching with interest here 
and it does look like it came from the experimental ground force that Liddal Hart and others were working on / proposing,
the grandfather of the Warrior MICV is a thought provoking thing as  it steps back to the late WW 1 converted tanks to APC idea that didnt go further due to lack of cash / development.

[Mossie]

Nice! Early armour is underrepresented, I feel its the most interesting period, lots of quirky ideas going on until things kind of rationalised around WWII.

So three are pulled of and a bit of work done to make them a platform to further test out the armoured APC concept, following up on earlier work on the Mk IX type tank at the end of WW1.
It would be squeezy, very squeezy and very crouchy I think, but troop comfort is quite often not often top of the considerations at an early experimental stage. Probably 6 soldiers tops the way I look at it.

Pokey in there, you wouldn't want to be in with the guy who had a curry the night before. At least they might be able to walk and see straight, an improvement on the Mk.IX.

[kerick]

A nice big door on the back so at least the troops can get out in a hurry.
My one ride in an M113 and I couldn't get out fast enough. My hat's off to the infantry guys who rode around in those all the time.

[buzzbomb]

Pillocking rain today, which we really need so to the Bench !

Infantry seats


The drivers position, which given how high the vision slits are on the drivers position must be raised in some way. Yes totally impractical seat, but it looks cool


Can hardly see it anyway


Progress shot with the MG's fitted. There are not a lot of chances to use a Lewis gun, so for this a flexible Commanders mount.
Lewis guns would probably be better for the side mounts as well. This is under consideration, but he kit Vickers are pretty nice jobs.


Onto tracks now. Like Old Wombat said.. annoying parts breakdown of the horns having to be fitted to the shoes, I can see why to get the undercut,

[Mossie]

Progress shot with the MG's fitted. There are not a lot of chances to use a Lewis gun, so for this a flexible Commanders mount.
Lewis guns would probably be better for the side mounts as well. This is under consideration, but he kit Vickers are pretty nice jobs.

That's a good setup. Lewis guns caused issues when mounted internally on the Mk.IV and they were replaced by Hotchkiss guns. The cooling jacket caused a strange airflow over the gun, which sucked dust and muck through the vision ports, right into the gunners eyes.

[Jakko]

The whole idea behind the Lewis Gun's barrel jacket was to act as a chimney: muzzle blast going forward causes low pressure at the muzzle, which sucks in air at the rear of the tube and draws it along the fins surrounding the barrel, cooling the latter. Of course, if you put one of these inside an enclosed vehicle it would suck air out of the vehicle with every shot, causing underpressure inside which then causes air to be pushed in from outside through any opening in the armour.

[zenrat]

Coming along nicely.  Got room for a Boys somewhere?

[Rick Lowe]

Coming along nicely.  Got room for a Boys somewhere?

Yup - according to the earlier comments, about 6 of them, plus crew... 

[Rheged]

Coming along nicely.  Got room for a Boys somewhere?

Yup - according to the earlier comments, about 6 of them, plus crew... 

I'm sure that in addition to half a dozen of the boys,  there is possibly room for a Boyes A/T rifle too.