Alternative History Armoured Fighting Vehicles Part 2
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A little something I thought you guys might be interested in
The Chrysler TV-8 nuclear powered medium tank, designed for land and amphibious warfare.
Gotta love the 50's, eh?
It Came for Detroit, Michigan!
Driftless
Donor
A little something I thought you guys might be interested in
The Chrysler TV-8 nuclear powered medium tank, designed for land and amphibious warfare.
Gotta love the 50's, eh?
That comes under the heading of: Just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's a good idea.....
Yeah, that is a prime example of that saying.That comes under the heading of: Just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's a good idea.....
That comes under the heading of: Just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's a good idea.....
That thing is weirder than even some of my ASB tank designs.
Hey Claymore I'd like your opinion on this alt-tank design, it's for a TL where a man from the present (College student) day is ISOTed into the body of a German WWI veteran in 1924.
He invents the ball point pen and makes a small fortune for himself and then goes on to invent more stuff and builds himself up as a businessman with the golden touch.
He has no love for war but wants to make sure Germany can defend itself come the 1940s, he's removed Hitler from the scene and Germany stays a democratic nation. He has a book with some useful information about science, technology and history but the book doesn't have a "How to build the perfect tank" manual.
He knows his history fairly well though and is a bit of a military fanboy ( much like myself), he's helping technology in Germany move along a little quicker than OTL but not too much.
So taking all this into account I've designed a tank that I think might be doable in this alternate Germany circa 1935-38. The tank would most likely start off with a less powerful engine at first and the first main gun mounted would be either the Pak-40 or Kw.K. 36 L/56 or maybe even the K.w.K 42 L/70.
So I'd like to know if you think the design is plausible for the timeline described and if not what changes you would make.
There is no hurry on this, the timeline is currently in the year 1929 and Germany hasn't shaken off the restrictions of the T.o.V yet but they are on better terms with the British but not so good with the French.
He invents the ball point pen and makes a small fortune for himself and then goes on to invent more stuff and builds himself up as a businessman with the golden touch.
He has no love for war but wants to make sure Germany can defend itself come the 1940s, he's removed Hitler from the scene and Germany stays a democratic nation. He has a book with some useful information about science, technology and history but the book doesn't have a "How to build the perfect tank" manual.
He knows his history fairly well though and is a bit of a military fanboy ( much like myself), he's helping technology in Germany move along a little quicker than OTL but not too much.
So taking all this into account I've designed a tank that I think might be doable in this alternate Germany circa 1935-38. The tank would most likely start off with a less powerful engine at first and the first main gun mounted would be either the Pak-40 or Kw.K. 36 L/56 or maybe even the K.w.K 42 L/70.
So I'd like to know if you think the design is plausible for the timeline described and if not what changes you would make.
There is no hurry on this, the timeline is currently in the year 1929 and Germany hasn't shaken off the restrictions of the T.o.V yet but they are on better terms with the British but not so good with the French.
The weight was one of the things I was concerned about. I should have said 25-30 tons, 30 tons being the maximum that I think it should be.
I used the armour of the M41. What would you suggest? Keeping in mind that 30 tons is the max weight we want for this tank,
I would say Sherman armor would be better if you are going for a medium. 38mm of RHA isn't going to stop much of nothing. Being angled helps but still do fucking thin IMO for a medium tank. You may have to bump it to 31 or 32 tons but you got a tank that has a good gun and isn't going to fucked by the first AT Gun that has a good gun captain.
Interesting, I'll keep that in mind but I'm not going to make any changes till Claymore chimes in but I do like hearing what others have to say.
I'm also wondering if the dimensions are correct, Claymore has told me in the past that rear drive tanks need to have the turret further forward than tanks with frontal drive.
Claymore
Kicked
The biggest problem with this design is the matter of scale between the various sub-components. The lower hull/chassis is clearly based on that of a M41 (hull length 5.819m, width 3.2m and a rough weight of 25.5 tons) and given those dimensions we are taking about a light tank or, at best, a WW2 medium tank. The 8.8cm KwK 43 L/71 is a heavy tank's weapon - or at least something bigger than the M41. Furthermore, even the Standard 7.5cm KwK 42 L/70 Schmalturm turret is too bug for the chassis and the larger 8.8cm Schmalturm even worse.
Even if you could merge all of these oversized parts onto the given hull, I suspect the end result would be much heavier than 25.5 or even 30 tons even before adding any extra armour..
I have drawn up some scale images to illustrate what I am on about (sorry)...
This is the type of detailed analysis I was hoping for, thanks.
How about a VK3002m hull with an M47 suspension and the Scmalturm turret with Kw.K 42 L/70?
Interesting proposal Cortz, are you only designing the one AFV or will there be more?
Claymore
Kicked
OK but there will still be an issue. The VK3002m hull (Panther) is designed and shaped to be a rear-engine, front-transmission, mid-turret tank. The M47 suspension is made for a rear-engine, rear-transmission, forward-turret tank. Thus although I have patched together what you asked for the suspension does not support the hull lay out. The Panther hull is also taller than a rear transmission tank owing to the need for the drive shaft to fit under the turret.
Bottom line is that a Panther hull needs a front transmission otherwise the hull shape would be different.
I'm not sure yet, I'm having enough trouble with the first one!
Hmm...OK I'm going to need to give this some more thought.
I basically want a panther-ish medium tank but with the US torsion bar suspension used on the M47 tank because I think its superior to what the Germans used on the Pz.IV or Panther, plus I want a series of tanks to follow it the way the M48 and then the M60 followed up the M47.
I really want this one to be a really plausible and realistically good design that can take on anything the Sviets will be able to throw at it from 1940 to 1943 and then have a follow up design for that period.
Back to the drawing board and I'll probably be asking for some help with scaling up of some tanks later on Claymore. Thanks for all the help so far.
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