Mk IVs discoverd in full working order

[Stephen White]

Well, you didn't expect them to be original, surely? Peter Jacksons's buses "Auld and Crusty" and "Spring Chicken". Don't you love the homely names the crews bestowed on their wagons? Pretty good replicas but someone with more knowledge would need to comment on the paint schemes (who might I have in mind?)

Photos courtesy of Taranaki New Zealand Military Vehicle Collectors' Club FB page via Malcolm Te Moananui.

Regards

Stephen

[Chris Hall]

Sounds like a challenge ...

Seeing any replica WW1 tank moving around is a Good Thing, and it's even better if it's a full-sized one. An illustration of Real History, and a demonstration of how the tank has evolved over its 100-year history.

These look pretty good. The only obvious 'flaws' I can see are the lack of rear armour over the fuel tank (much debated on this forum !), which leads to the design of the unditching rails at the rear being all wrong (if they should be there at all).

Auld Crusty looks to be using the original Solomon camouflage scheme only seen on the Mark 1's, although the light blue makes it a bit too 'Caunter'. Spring Chicken is in mid-1918 format with the stripes, but should probably be in chocolate brown (whatever exactly that was !) rather than green.

As for names ... Auld Crusty is not unreasonable for 1916, Arras in 1917, and possibly for the Gaza Detachment. I think the Tank Corps in WW1 stopped at L Battalion, so no Spring Chicken (which strikes me as an unlikely name anyway - Battalion Commanders weren't that relaxed !).

And finally, Stephen, they were never described as 'wagons'. Original accounts refer to them as 'cars' or 'buses', without any differentiation between Males or Females (a WW1 historian once tried to tell me they were called 'Dogs' and 'Bitches', but I've never seen that anywhere so I don't agree).

Enough to be going on with ?

All the best, and thanks for putting them up,

Chris
Resident WW1 Tank Expert
('Ex' being a has-been, and 'spurt' being a drip under pressure)

[Steve Stuart]

If they were Australian one of them could have been painted up to be a fair dinkum beut panzer.....
Steve

[Dave Chalmers]

If only there had been Australian Mark IVs on the Western Front!!!

[Michael Cecil]

Hi Dave,

There were newspaper reports in 1916-17 purportedly from an Australian tank crewman, but it seems these were what might be called 'fake news' these days. A fanciful account that made good 'copy' but didn't stand up to scrutiny.

At least you can get 'up close and personal' with the best preserved example in the world almost at will, seeing it is stored just down the road from you!

I wonder what Mr Jackson has powered his replicas with?

Best regards

Mike

[Chris Hall]

At least you can get 'up close and personal' with the best preserved example in the world almost at will, seeing it is stored just down the road from you!

Mike -

I wouldn't be too downhearted. You Aussies have got a very nice Mark IV Female in Grit, and the worlds only surviving original A7V (Mephisto). That's a lot to be proud of .....

An envious,

Chris

[Stephen White]

Mike, I gather the Jackson replicas are based on Caterpillar D6 dozers. I don't know which versions were used but the range of engines in the series span 125-160 bhp. All the best. Stephen