A first trial at Mol Transport Solutions

As announced, in april we will start welding together the pieces of the proposed strong framework.
Today I was able to see a bending test at Mol Transport Solutions in Sleihage, a local builder of heavy transport vehicles. I was already long before interested in this firm, but one needs the right contacts to be introduced to be able to present the tankproject. Thanks once more to Robert Vandaele who knew somebody who knew upon his turn somebody we did get the right connections. Paul Messely in the end took us to Mols and besides the making of the trackplates they finally also will provide the pieces for the framework. It happens by coincidence that our local welder Herman Persyn,who did the yellow framework some years ago works in subcontract for Mols, so the way to proceed and work again also with Herman this time was a logical result.
The photo shows a testpiece of the C-profile where the rollers will be bolted on  at the underside, but shown here upside-down. For comparison I laid Philippe Gorczynski's original trackplate of Deborah up it.

This is nothing more than bended plate of 10mm thick in the same order of bendingresistance as the profiles of the undercarriage of an excavator. The order for all of it was given green light today and we hope at april 1st we can start the welding together !

In reality it will be upside down, the rollers being bolted at the short ends and those rollers rolling upons the chains of an excavotor where track plates will be bolted on, upon their turn being bolted on them rubber pads. The image below shows a partially framework, so you can see the different profiles.

Engineering and drawings finished ...

Finally, I can say now that the engineering and the resulting drawings are finished. It was difficult to come to a common accepted solution, everyone has his ideas and wishes. But time goes on, money is there and the project manager, after listening to everyone involved, finally took the steering levers and headed in the direction he thought is the right one. Right now contacts with firms, able to help us, are laid and this should result in the start of the making of the strong framework in the next months. Before summer this should be finished so that Robert Vandaele and Vandaele Machinery of Oostrozebeke can make a moving framework from it, using the already available motor and hydraulic system from the former setup. This should hopefully result in a moving framework in the beginning of September. We are aiming for a trench-crossing capable machine that is reliable and can also ride on the normal roads (so with permanent rubber pads on the track-plates). For this track-plates with the right curved corners Robert already proved to be able to make a decent solution. An initial trial was welding half tubes to a plate and then manually cutting and deforming the tops. This version was shown in Cambrai for the 95th anniversary of Cambrai day last autumn. A subsequent trial starts from plates alreayd in their length bended into the right profile.
Further manually working this results gets already nearer to what is should be. But this is certainly not yet the last step, although approaching. The best solution would be using a dye to stamp the form, but this woulc cut to much in our budget.

The image below is from the hand of Dirk Vinck, already involved in the very first yellow framework,doing the drawings. This is how the strong framework will look like. The rolls, sprocket and idler are also already placed. I hope to be able to show you the same in a couple of months on photo's and if you are around in real life. Once again, thanks for all who have made this possible so far.

Some motion becomes visible of the third phase

In the beginning of december the testsetup of the tracks, motor and hydraulic pump has been moved to Vandaele Machinery, Robert and Carl Vandaeles firm, in Oostrozebeke in order to prepare the third phase of building a mobile framework. Dirk and Robert having been further engineering seperately to find out the best solutions. Stijn P. has been getting involved advising on the engineering, having finished his engineering studies and also Stijn B. has shown interest of getting involved in the building where needed and possible. As I have been myself, not able to go to school teaching for almost half a year, due to a annoying physical problem called fistula, there was time to try to get all the noses into the same and hopefully right direction to effectively start this third phase, money being available since last summer. Today, december 22, 2012, the technical team came together and decided all together on some matters how to proceed. We were happy Carl, Roberts son, leading the Vandaele company with his sister, got also involved. Our yellow framework will not be used anymore, will be too difficult and costly to further use it, but we won't get rid of it neither. Might suit other aims in the future. The excavator profiles won't be used also anymore, will take more time and money using them, than producing new ones, because we need much more length. Working hours are much more costly than material. Inspired how to and how not to, this summer, visiting the Warhorse replica in Bovington, we can now proceed and find a local metalconstructor producing the new much stronger framework, that should be able to cross a trench, while Vandaele Machinery will then make this new framework mobile using the hydraulic pump, the 6 cylinder Gardner and the tracks, rollers, idlers and sprockets. Robert would have loved to do it himself, but we have to face reality too and get the most done with our tight budget. Leaving the yellow framework was also difficult, but we have to optimize our efforts and budget in order to be able to realize our final aim. Our aim is having a steerable riding framework on the chains by the beginning of september. After that we stil need to decorate the tank and make the trackplates and fix them to the chains and solve lot's of other "minor" problems, but once we can ride around with this strong framework the most difficult part will be done. This month exactly we can look back on 8 years of struggling, and most of all waiting, but now I'm really looking out to a last a riding "thing". When one of you is around, don't hesitate to contact us and from the autumn on, we might invite you for a ride ;-) Belowa general engineering plan produced by Dirk with advice from Stijn P. and Robert. It contains all the metal parts we will assemble, but also already the decoration plates with the rivet holes to be made which will be placed afterwards. If you pass by, I can show you more details on my laptop, but this will both satisfy and also arouse already a bit your curiousity.

You can click on it to get a bigger image and the final design might still change, but gives an idea how we are gonna proceed. Thanks Robert, Dirk and Stijn P. for all your time on this. No obstruction to pass the word around, mentioning this website off course.

Fake and real, new and old

Recently original WWI tankpieces were found in St.-Julien by Stijn Butaye of the Pondfarm ( www.depondfarm.be ) At two consecutive occasions he immediately contacted us to verify if from a tank and possbily from which. But that's another story tahn tankbuilding. But Dirk had the splendid idea to bring this original pieces together with our tankframe. This was a small test to find out if our tankframe was correct, but I did not doubt about this, but always interesting to do. But also to show the Butaye family what they really have been finding. They were amazed to see the pieces on the huge framework and seeing what and where these pieces are exactly on such tank.

But for us of YpresSalientTanks it was most of all thrilling to decorate the nowadays framework with original pieces found in our neighbourhood. It makes us realize more what we are trying to do and gives us the power and motivation to go on.

Not to speak of reading the accounts out of the archives of the tankcommander of which this pieces might be part of, while seeing this pieces live with our own eyes. Someone said : if they could only speak. We are sometimes confronted with people not liking we are trying to reconstruct such a tank, by lack of a real one. Well, you see, we keep on looking for one, but making one is easier, or let's say more chance upon success. We also are active about tanks in the whole Salient and not a very local organisation about a very local tank, as someone once told. When Stijn asked about his first found tanktracks, I immediately suspected of which tank this might have been ..., we are working on different other cases too ! It was David Fletcher himself once stating about the Gorczynskis of the Salient. But when putting this pieces together : fake and real, new and old, the real, old pieces their meaning was very much more enhanced for everyone attending. It convinces me that making such a replica is nevertheless another meaningfull way of commemoration. Someone told me recently seeing our plane-replica and our tank in construction : you are bringing the past to life. He might be very right. But I do know you can not satisfy everyone and there will be always negative comments. One advice : do something yourself and let it be more than following forums, twitter, facebook and think twice before you criticize. Perhaps I should have done it myself also now, but I don't bother anymore. I like what we are doing, incredible friendships are emerging out of it and in the end the purpose was to put our village Poelkapelle back again on the battlefield touristical map, mostly ignored up to now. We see subtle changes, but the original purpose is evoluted to much more than that. Do convince yourself and come over and visit Stijns museum or Poelkapelle. Do however make an appointment before so we can treat you with a special visit. Not convinced :ask others who have been here. But not everyone now at the same time. Still have a tank to make and take care you do not get involved ;-)

High visit !

This summer David Fletcher and Geoffrey Vesey-Holt did visit the tankreplica and it's powerpack. Both are admiring the powerpack setup driving the chains of the excavator. Dirk en Johan are on the commands. Luc, George and Jerome are watching too with big eyes. David was saying the sound did resemble almost perfectly the one of a real Mark and he should know it, having driven one.
Why did someone tell us the RTR would not be interested in this tankreplica ? Geoffrey, the RTR historian is more than interested ...and so is the RTR. To be continued.



Right now, Dirk and Johan are engineering how this powerpack can be built together with the existing framework, this latter one needing to be heavily reinforced in order to be able to support the 17m tracks on each side. New sponsoring is also being hunted for ...

first step of second phase : something is already running

31st May we were invited by Robert Vandaele in the workshops of Vandaele Machinery at Oostrozebeke, because he has finished the work he promised : the excavator tracks we bought last summer were able to be driven by the Gardner motor via the hydraulic pump. All this material is bought second hand and was put together into running condition by Robert in the workshops of Vandaele Machinery. Unnecesarry to say Robert is now eternally linked to this tankproject and we ow him a lot. Without him this second phase of making the framework mobile would not have been possible, while a lot of thanks must go also to Georges, who's making this financially possible.
Georges is standing besides me in the beginning of the film, I'm the youngest chap, while Robert in his grey-red coloured overall is operating the motor. At the end I'm operating the hydraulic pump levers, testing both directions. Unnecessary to say I was and still am marvelled ...

To have a first idea about what we are talking about, have a look at the youtube film :

Moving the excavator parts to Oostrozebeke

Monday 14 february, Robert Vandaele of Vandaele Machineries out of Oostrozebeke who is now already about 2 years advising and helping us getting our frame mobile on tracks, came to load the excavator pieces who arrived last summer.

He's also picking up a Gardner 100hp 6 cylinder oldtimer in Kortemark we bought to build everything together and to test all the pieces.

As Robert and now his children are dealers of JCB, we also bought the undercarriage of a JCB 200LC. Besides that it's an UK excavator for what was a UK tank.

first working, afterwards the beer ...

big Vandaele machinery ...

indeed, yellow passion on the move !

Robert, as we know him, very dedicated and invaluable for this phase of the project.

Thanks Robert !

Georges and his brother Sylvain, second World War orphins ..., because their father helped a Polish pilot escaping

piling

Robert busy inspecting everything

everything ready to move on