Armorteks next model

[Stephen White]

Interesting ideas here but I guess the question about any suggestion is "will it sell" (and how much of an appetite for commercial risk is Armortek prepared to consider). To date, I'd suggest that Kian and the team have shown a considerable degree of commercial courage in some of their choices, long may that continue.

This thread started with a suggestion from John Clarke:

Gets my vote (in fact several of my votes.....).

Stephen

[Graham Hough]

FT 17 or a bren gun carrier for those of us who do not have deep pockets. The would make wonderful models in the Kompact Kits.

[Pete Nash]

At Tankfest last year I had a brief chat with Kian about an FT-17, and other 'smaller' vehicles.
he explained the 'problem' at 1/6th scale is space, where to put two large motors for a two tracked vehicle, plus batteries and electronics. Its a tight fit in the Morris Q8.
I suspect Chris Hall's wife's wish for a Mk.1 Landrover would have a canvas back covering the load bed full of electronics and batteries

One solution could be to 'upscale' to 1/4 or 1/5th to get the space, but that would take things away from Armortek's universal 1/6 scale, and there are little/none in accessories in those scales.

As I mentioned, Warslug do not make their tanks 'maintainer friendly'. If something goes wrong with batteries or electronics you are stuffed and end up with an expensive static model.

I think Armortek's next model for late 2019 should be/likely to be an updated Sherman. It looks like its running gear is the same or similar to the Grant and Lee, and would take them away from the preponderance of WW 2 German equipment (good and interesting as it is).

Other possibilities could lean towards Russian WW 2, T-34 or Even the 'Stalin'

Just had another, stupid?, idea.
£5 or £10 a ticket, nominate the tank you'd like.
Most nominations or best one judged by Kian Mark and Chris wins.
The names of those suggesting that model goes into a Hat. Monique or one of the girls pulls a name out.
That name gets a free model.

[Adrian Harris]

Its a tight fit in the Morris Q8.

To be fair, that's because they elected to keep the interior clear.

On an FT17 or Whippet, the whole interior of the tank is available, as per the RR.

The Universal Carrier on the other hand probably doesn't even have room for the speaker

Adrian.

[Michael Cecil]

Smaller interior = smaller vehicle = less drive energy required = smaller motors?? Is that possible?

Don't know if such things are made, as I'm not into RC. My interest would be as a static model.

Mike

[bryanrmassie]

Surely I can show 3 armortek models at once !!!, it has to be the FAMO trailer, even for a static tank on there, how cool would this be !!

[bryanrmassie]

And ...

[John Clarke]

During a visit to the Blackpool model boat show this year, I met up with a chap who builds scratch 1/6 scale tracked models. His passion, talent and skill is plain to see, together with his latest bulldozer/earth mover, Ian Gallacher had brought with him his T 55.

I didn't see him run the tank until the end of the show, where he drove it to the transport vehicle home. I wished I had taken some pictures.

The tank was very impressive, with big open wheel suspension movement, animating the model's presence. I thought at the time it would make a very good commercial 1/6 model, extending the Armortek Cold War catalogue. I'm not sure if Ian would agree, as he likes and takes pleasure building unique models.

But it is a tank of huge significance, many variations, and might lead to Armortek building the greatest MTB tank ever built ..........Chieftain.........

[Stephen White]

You mean one like this John?

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The very fine artwork is from Mick Graham Art, here:

https://www.mickgrahamart.com

A proper tank, it just looks right and it would sell .........

Stephen

[michael haerle]

Hello forum,

A King Tiger is good, a Jagdtiger is better.

I dream, for a "Jagdtiger" in 2019.

I think that Armortek will bring a Hunting Tiger next year. It could fit and then re-issue the Kingstiger.

The chassis parts are identical. The model was included in the survey list, an original is in Bovington ...

Could it fit, right?

many Greetings
Michael

[Brian Ostlind]

Michael, your wish will be granted in the future. It would be amazing if they could release a King Tiger and Jagdtiger in the same year! Friends could build so many different options and it would be amazing to see them rolling in a convoy covered with scale branches and trees. I will admit that the Jagdtiger is one of the most amazing tanks ever to see combat, and the footage I have seen from them driving around is some of the most exciting footage from WW2.

This is one of my all time favorite clips. I love the camouflage and all the soldiers.
[youtube][/youtube]

[Brian Ostlind]

Time to start dreaming about what scheme to paint on the King Tiger...

[John Clarke]

You mean one like this John?

Yes Stephen, just like that one.

Had the British had ignored NATO like the Germans and the French did with their cannon fodder (Leopard 1 and AMX-30) and put a proper RR V12 in it, the European tank factories would have been out of business.

Suckered again!

As for the Jagdtiger, Otto Carius loved it...............Not........ With The Maus, One of the best Allied tanks built by the German during the war.

[Stephen White]

The Jagdtiger perfectly illustrates the dilemma in model selection. It undoubtedly has appeal. Brian says it all: I will admit that the Jagdtiger is one of the most amazing tanks ever to see combat, and the footage I have seen from them driving around is some of the most exciting footage from WW2. . It's a point of view to be respected as it suggests a Jagdtiger might be a seller. I suppose it's appeal comes from its sheer size and presence. It would no doubt make an impressive model.

On the other hand (and this is just a Tankie's view, which has nothing to do with Armortek's next model selection)....

1. The Jadgtiger wasn't a tank. It was a self-propelled assault gun, a logical but stupid over-extension of the Jagdpanzer line of development.

2. It was an operational flop with so many shortcomings that the crews hated it. Where to start? It not only lacked mobility at the Operational Level (ie getting it to the theatre of operations) but more significantly, it was hopelessly short of mobility at the tactical level. It was impossible to conceal, immobile, unreliable and even if it could achieve a good fire position, was not likely to hit its target. If you read Carius, he points to the impossibility of maintaining the gun-sight relationship, which is crucial to long range accuracy, which was the whole point of the concept, to over-match Allied tanks from defensive positions. The AFV couldn't be moved without crutching the gun, which meant a crew member had to get out to un-crutch to fire. If the AFV was moved with an uncrutched gun, the gun mountings tended to fail. Try to do that in an unfavourable air situation and you begin to see why Jagdtiger crews would rather have been anywhere else but inside one in late 1944-early 1945.

3. The Jagdtiger was automotively incompetent. It was underpowered and therefore unreliable, which goes back to the crippling lack of operational and tactical mobility. It only had 10 deg of traverse, so the vehicle was unable to respond quickly to a flanking attack. To quote the song, it was a "deaf, dumb and blind kid".

4. Only 70-88 were produced and of those, something like 80% were destroyed by their own crews after breakdowns and boggings. If anything positive can be said about the Jadgtiger, it would have made an excellent advertising billboard.

And yet, I'm sure some would sell, if Armortek could enlarge the factory to build them and sell fork lifts to move them.

S

[Gerhard Michel]

Oh, I think there is another aspect in favour of the Jagdtiger as an 1/6 scale model: 'everybody' owns a Königstiger, but nobody has a Jagdtiger (besides me ). This means imho:

-- the Tiger I and the King Tiger are -seen above all- perhaps the most often produced 1/6 scale models in the world (not only made by Armortek); Jagdtigers however are very rare models.

-- the Jagdtiger was the biggest tracked vehicle used in the ww II (big is beautiful?)

Therefore my Jagdtiger (though not as detailed as an Armortek model) has its own place at every tank event, amidst the lots of Tigers / King Tigers or Panthers.

I don't know if Armortek has to enlarge the factory to produce a Jagdtiger, but I'm sure that no other moving helps are needed as the motors of the model itself!