The beast waiting to get trackplates and cladding.

The beast waiting to get trackplates and cladding.
foto Marco Magielse

donderdag 7 augustus 2014

A phenomenal donation by JCB due to the RTR

It seems there is some confusion as if our tankproject is finished now with the yellow/brown tankdummy being placed at the outskirts of Poelkapelle. Nothing is farther from true and this message will show it. At the beginning of our project, already in 2004, we set our minds on a static light tankreplica and built a yellow light framework that was subsequently abondoned later when we headed for a moving tankreplica. Last summer we did make a new much stronger framework and the older one was getting dust at Georges workshop. It's this framework we got out of the dust and plated it to put it outside waiting for the real one to come in the next years.
Well, imagine a lorry stopping at your house in the morning asking where to put for free this motor below. Very warm contacts with the Royal Tank Regiment, and especially Stephen May and Gareth Davies lead to them asking around for a better, more reliable motor we already were using in the stronger framework of last summer. As most of the rolling material did come form an old JCB-excavator they managed to have JCB donate the motor shown on the picture already in Poelkapelle by now. I can only thank all involved and honour their help and generosity by trying to finish in time our "bus" with that new motor. Besides building in that motor the heavy plating and the trackplates are still on my to-do list and off course all the outer detailling including about 350kg rivets and their holes ...
But first I have to settle a bit my mind due to the amazement it went through last week by seeing this motor being donated.

A brand new JCB 6 cylinder gasoil motor, of 165kw (221hp) at 2000rpm and producing 1000Nm of torque at 1500rpm. With this motor we will be able to show what a MarkIV was capable of doing and this is from now on also our aim.
Once more a big Thank You to all who made this possible. Our tank will now effectively wear the slogan : powered by JCB  !

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