BIGMIG

This is what I have been working on for the last month or so.Had a bunch of Balsa and lite Ply on hand so started building what was going to be kind of a landing craft.........was going to have the drop down bow but decided it was more work than i wanted to do so made it like it is now.Had no plans.......just started building and went from there.It will hold a 1/24 scale tank with lots of room to spare.The crane will also handle that size tank but in the pictures i only have lite thread on the winches and just used a static model ( 1/35 scale ) for in the pictures.Nothing built to any scale of any sorts......just build as i go....Think it looks kind of neat lifting a tank....

BIGMIG



Sorry about the picture size-just now seen my camera setting had been moved....

swathdiver

Not off topic at all, there's a tank in the picture!

Nice looking ship!

Flyn Chris

Nice

pattoncommander

Not off topic..say it's a historic representation of what's happening to a lot of our older tanks....making reefs.

diabolic-mind

very nice construction, its gonna look great when its finished. any thoughts on a color scheme yet?

BIGMIG

I thank you for the comments.It is kind of fun to let one's imagination lead the way and see what developes.I like to build kits,but this is more of a challenge because nothing is pre-made.A bunch of balsa and a basic idea. What color it will end up i don't know at this time.I know we have a lot of members here who in the past were into airplanes before " getting bitten by the tank bug" and one of the toughest models i ever took on was building the top flite gold eddition Corsair........took me months to build.

BIGMIG

ArmChairGeneral

Nice work...will you make it operable in the water ? I still have a soft spot for ships since I used to build RC combat warships in 1/144 scale. I still have a bunch of fiberglass hulls for the yamato, warspite, surcouf, and a few others.

BIGMIG

Well at this point I just don't know how far I'm going to go with it.As I work on it I now wish I had made it twice as long and half agin as wide.The whole back super structure lifts off and it would be very easy to add power.......massive room to put in one to four motors.I built this from the start having in mind it was going to be a tank hauling vessel.Even a real boat built with this semi-flat bottom and same design would have been able to accomplish a beach landing in a lot of coastal areas.The hull is built more like a barge and will operate in very shallow water.I only have three 1/35 size models that fit nicely in this boat with room for the fourth.
Even though the crane is built out of balsa sheeting and balsa sticks it will lift and handle a 1/24 RC tank with no problem.

As i work on this,had i built the whole boat bigger I would have used a turret ring gear under the crane and two HL gear box assemblys for winches and it would have been able to lift a full size 1/16 tank with the ability to rotate with the tank suspended in the air................Would look killer.....

Well who knows............got a lot of winter ahead. I'll finish this and see what comes next.........Could be a bigger version that is all rc controled.


BIGMIG

A couple pictures with the hold containing 3 tanks.

pattoncommander

Looks great....nice to have a big work shop. Technical thing on tank transport...the tanks would have the guns in travel lock over the back deck...saves space and prevents costly damage to the gun mechanisms. It is going to be Navy grey?

diabolic-mind

navy grey would look great! keep the pics coming with the progress, i love watching builds like this come together

Capt.Canuck

Nice work! Can you post a photo or link of the original it is based on?

BIGMIG

Well there is no original to post,it was just built on a general idea i had.Made the ribs for the hull and was going to build it with a fron't drop loading ramp and decided it was more trouble to do that than what i wanted to take on so made it like it is now.Everything after that was just build as i go.No type of scale,just tried to make it look sumwhat in proportion as i went along.
I buy some balsa on occassion from bulsa USA....sheets,lite ply,strips,ect and decided to build a boat.the intention was for it to be able to be used for hauling tanks as a static display,but could be easy to continue on and make it into a running RC controled boat.
Don't know if i'll do that at this point.

BIGMIG

204sailor

Bigmig,Well done scratch model ,very much resembling an LCM (Landing Craft,mechanized).Your option to do away with the bow ramp was a good choice, as once underway absolute watertight integrity requires great clamping force against good seals.One of the the ships I served on was an LST,
the upside was you could have a swimming party right off the bow ramp,but the downside was the cargo hold always had large pools of water in it and
between the brackish seawater and rust it just stunk terribly if the bow doors were shut for a week or so.This same ship had been at the Normandy landings, and eventually she was decommissioned,whereupon we took her from Norfolk,VA. down to Green Cove springs,Fla.via the ST.Johns river.
Keep up the good work,using your own imagination to build a ship brings a satisfaction that you can`t get from something in a box.

Charlie