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Sunday, September 8, 2013

Steam Tank #4

Today I present the Steam Tank (#4) from Ironclad Miniatures.  It's the third tank model I'm considering for my Martian Colonists. 

I painted this one with a red and brown camouflage -- just to be different.



 



 

Like the WWI British Mark IV and the WWII Churchill, I selected it because it looks clunky and primitive -- something my Colonists would build in a desperate attempt to counter the Ancients' walkers.

I like the overall design.  The turret recalls the USS Monitor from the civil war.  Likewise, the odd-sized tracks look like some old Victorian bicycle.  The cannon looks formidable enough to take on an Ancient walker credibly.

On the negative side, there isn't much detail on the model.  The road wheels and tracks are pretty simple. 

I'm also not taken by the whole "steam tank" idea.  I'm no engineer, but steam-powered tanks seem like a rather dubious development.  Wouldn't it be more plausible to assume any potential steam-tank designers would just ahead and invent the gasoline-powered internal-propulsion engine? 

Also, what's the big slit in the front is supposed to represent? I painted it as having a glass shield - but most real-life tank vision ports are much smaller and less vulnerable.

Anyway, of the three tanks, this one looks the most fantastical, and the least historical.  Depending on your taste, that might be a positive or a negative.  Me, I think it's endearingly funky.

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Nice model.
This is a Victorian SciFi steam tank so it is purely fantasy. With that said, tanks would likely have been purely experimental (and in fact not called tanks at all as that was a Great War deception). So vision slits would not have been as small until enough drivers were shot through it. Also steam power is actually efficient and requires water and something that burns, wood, coal, etc. Gasoline engines are more complex and require gasoline, something that would have been more scarce in the victorian era. You should be more concerned with what kind of fuel is readily available on Mars.
Just my 2 cents.