Patton crosses the Rhine
12-01-2014, 04:06 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Patton crosses the Rhine
A news report by Walter Cronkite in Stars and Stripes magazine.
23 March, 1945.
General Patton wanted to be the first one to cross the Rhine to beat General Montgomery, who was building a Bailey bridge a few miles up river. The U.S. Combat Engineers were starting to build a pontoon bridge, but only one pontoon had arrived so far, and it hadn't been painted yet. General Patton immediately seized it and ordered that his Jeep be loaded on it and floated across the Rhine. He then raced upstream and greeted Montgomery with a cup of freshly brewed tea when the Bailey bridge was finished.
I just thought that story deserved a model. Or my model deserved that story.
rex
23 March, 1945.
General Patton wanted to be the first one to cross the Rhine to beat General Montgomery, who was building a Bailey bridge a few miles up river. The U.S. Combat Engineers were starting to build a pontoon bridge, but only one pontoon had arrived so far, and it hadn't been painted yet. General Patton immediately seized it and ordered that his Jeep be loaded on it and floated across the Rhine. He then raced upstream and greeted Montgomery with a cup of freshly brewed tea when the Bailey bridge was finished.
I just thought that story deserved a model. Or my model deserved that story.
rex
12-01-2014, 04:53 PM
#3
Great story and great model.
Does it float?
Does it float?
12-01-2014, 11:15 PM
#6
ok this is cool, great job as usual ...now one thing you do everything in 1/16 so that means this jeep is 1/16 ............you are the God of scratch builds Rex ...WOW Amazing
12-02-2014, 09:43 AM
#7
Thread Starter
Yeah ---- It floats! That kinda surprised me because I thought it would sink like a brick. It weighs 53 ounces, without a load. I made it out of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe with 1 1/4 inch PVC elbows, as you can see. Without a bottom plate it sinks 1 1/4 inches, with a bottom plate it only sinks 3/4 of an inch. Now I know a way to build this thing lighter, but I don't know if that will happen anytime soon. To span 10 feet of water, I would have to build 10 or 11 more. 
12-02-2014, 09:56 AM
#8
Thread Starter
Be careful with those God comparisons, I would hate for either one of us to get struck by lightning because of scratch building comments.
rex
Last edited by Rex Ross; 12-02-2014 at 10:08 AM.
12-04-2014, 06:43 AM
#9
Thread Starter
[QUOTE=thecommander;11929057]Did Patton piss in the tea like he did the Rhine?[/QUOTE
~~~~~~~~~~
I don't think he "enhanced" the tea, but I have heard the story about raising the level of the Rhine..
My project won't be complete until I get this figure. I couldn't find a statue of him raising the level of the river.
rex
~~~~~~~~~~
I don't think he "enhanced" the tea, but I have heard the story about raising the level of the Rhine..
My project won't be complete until I get this figure. I couldn't find a statue of him raising the level of the river.
rex
12-05-2014, 11:02 AM
#10
Thread Starter
The paint on this pontoon project is dry and I guess it looks ok, but it doesn't float very well. It weighs 53 ounces and sinks about halfway down without a load on it. I experimented with a solid block of Styrofoam 2Hx 6W x 28L that only weighs 3 oz. and it will float with a Mato Sherman on it only sinking 1 inch. On a series of two or more styrofoam floats interconnected by a tread way it should work great. I'm gonna make a couple of roughly shaped pontoons with a simple tread way to see how well this will really work out.
rex
rex
01-12-2015, 12:03 PM
#11
Thread Starter
I couldn't decide whether to just post this series of builds in the Rhine pontoon thread or go back to the original post about all of the different Studebaker truck beds. It's funny how sometimes one project just leads to another project, and another, and another. Anyhow, if ya wanna see where this thread got started ---Here ya go ...
.
Styudebaker US6 Katyusha...........
Started by Rex Ross, 02-13-2014 04:40 PM.
For this Rhine project I thought it would be fun to find out if a 1/16 scale pontoon could be built to float, so I built one. I should have left it alone at that point. But then I remembered seeing photos of inflated pontoons being carried to water obstacles to be used as expedient temporary bridges.
OK --- a pontoon is built to carry a vehicle across water. A pontoon needs a vehicle to carry it to the water. A crane is needed to load and unload the pontoon from the vehicle that is going to carry it to the water. A LeRoi compressor is needed to inflate the pontoons' rubber bladders in the first place, and as needed after that.
This sounds like a job for ...... STUDEBAKER ------- IT CAN DO IT !!!
rex
.
Styudebaker US6 Katyusha...........
Started by Rex Ross, 02-13-2014 04:40 PM.
For this Rhine project I thought it would be fun to find out if a 1/16 scale pontoon could be built to float, so I built one. I should have left it alone at that point. But then I remembered seeing photos of inflated pontoons being carried to water obstacles to be used as expedient temporary bridges.
OK --- a pontoon is built to carry a vehicle across water. A pontoon needs a vehicle to carry it to the water. A crane is needed to load and unload the pontoon from the vehicle that is going to carry it to the water. A LeRoi compressor is needed to inflate the pontoons' rubber bladders in the first place, and as needed after that.
This sounds like a job for ...... STUDEBAKER ------- IT CAN DO IT !!!
rex
01-12-2015, 12:44 PM
#12
Nice work. I figured the jeep was a franklin mint diecast model. I didnt know they made 120 mm vehicle kits.
i have been pondering making it RC some day maybe. Not going to be an easy project.
did you build that many Studabakers or only one truck and several beds?
i have been pondering making it RC some day maybe. Not going to be an easy project.
did you build that many Studabakers or only one truck and several beds?
01-12-2015, 01:09 PM
#13
I couldn't decide whether to just post this series of builds in the Rhine pontoon thread or go back to the original post about all of the different Studebaker truck beds. It's funny how sometimes one project just leads to another project, and another, and another. Anyhow, if ya wanna see where this thread got started ---Here ya go ...
.
Styudebaker US6 Katyusha...........
Started by Rex Ross, 02-13-2014 04:40 PM.
For this Rhine project I thought it would be fun to find out if a 1/16 scale pontoon could be built to float, so I built one. I should have left it alone at that point. But then I remembered seeing photos of inflated pontoons being carried to water obstacles to be used as expedient temporary bridges.
OK --- a pontoon is built to carry a vehicle across water. A pontoon needs a vehicle to carry it to the water. A crane is needed to load and unload the pontoon from the vehicle that is going to carry it to the water. A LeRoi compressor is needed to inflate the pontoons' rubber bladders in the first place, and as needed after that.
This sounds like a job for ...... STUDEBAKER ------- IT CAN DO IT !!!
rex
.
Styudebaker US6 Katyusha...........
Started by Rex Ross, 02-13-2014 04:40 PM.
For this Rhine project I thought it would be fun to find out if a 1/16 scale pontoon could be built to float, so I built one. I should have left it alone at that point. But then I remembered seeing photos of inflated pontoons being carried to water obstacles to be used as expedient temporary bridges.
OK --- a pontoon is built to carry a vehicle across water. A pontoon needs a vehicle to carry it to the water. A crane is needed to load and unload the pontoon from the vehicle that is going to carry it to the water. A LeRoi compressor is needed to inflate the pontoons' rubber bladders in the first place, and as needed after that.
This sounds like a job for ...... STUDEBAKER ------- IT CAN DO IT !!!
rex
Always Amazing Work
01-13-2015, 11:50 AM
#16
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Spring, Texas
Posts: 368
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
