Shipbucket

The introduction of the Tiger I heralded a new era for the heavy tank. The lumbering beasts of yesteryear gave way to truly fearsome machines. At the same time, however, the role of the heavy tank began to diminish. The main battle tank eventually appeared at the forefront of armoured warfare and the heavy tanks of the 1950s - Conqueror, M103, T-10, AMX 50 - soon came to represent a last gasp of the concept. This swansong of the heavy tank will be our focus. You are asked to draw a fictional heavy tank which entered service in or after 1942. It may serve in the armed forces of a real-life nation, or one of your own creation. Welcome to the 'endgame' heavy tank challenge! Please read the challenge rules relating to submissions and drawings.

Design Requirements

1. Your submission must depict a heavy tank which first entered service during or after the year 1942.

Challenge Rules

1. Each participant may submit up to three images.
2. Every image must be an FD template modified to include the participant’s art. Templates which include a data sheet are allowed.
3. No more than three views are allowed in each image.
4. All views within a single image must depict the same individual tank at the same point in time.
5. A textual description accompanying each submission is allowed, but not necessary.
6. Off-topic posts will be reported to the relevant authorities.
7. All drawings should be in FD scale.

This challenge will run until the 24th of October, ending at 23:59 UTC-12 (International Date Line West).
A countdown timer can be found at this link.

A poll will be held after this date. Members of the Shipbucket community will have an opportunity to score, on a scale of 1 to 10, each submission in the following categories:

• Drawing Quality - The overall quality of the drawing. One might consider detailing, shading, and accuracy.
• Design Realism - How realistic is the design presented? Any accompanying text may be considered.
• Originality - Does the submission present a new and unique design, or is it a copy of an existing one?

FV44(H) Alpha Wolf:






Scrapped my original entry and started over

a

I was originally on the fence about entering this challenge, but considering I haven't done anything for my schöne Welt AU in quite a while, I decided this challenge be the perfect opportunity to hopefully get back into doing stuff for it, so about any further ado I present the Pride of the German Panzer divisions

Panzerkampfwagen IX Löwe

Cold War-related tensions and increased threat from Red Ruthenian Union prompted in late 1940s Faroffistan to invest in replacement of various categories of combat equipment of World War 2 vintage. Among these needing replacement were WB-12 heavy tanks, that although introduced in 1942, were based basically on outdated pre-war technologies and were no match to the newest Ruthenian JZ-3 heavy tanks armed with 122 mm guns. After a somewhat prolonged development period, WB-16 (Wóz Bojowy - Combat Vehicle or Combat Car) was finally introduced in 1957. Like most other contemporary heavy tanks, they suffered from heavily taxed engine, small range and limited amount of ammunition carried, but were considered an adequate response to Ruthenian tanks, including the newest JZ-6. In service, WD-16 equipped 4 armoured divisions (1st, 5th, 11th and 16th - each with single Heavy Tank Battalion of 31 tanks in 3 companies) and 2 'breakthrough tank' regiments (4th and 6th - essentialy oversized battalions with 5 tank companies and 1 assault gun company, plus support units - 51 tanks per regiment), with some more being used by Armoured Forces School and few dozen being purchased as reserve. In early 1960s tanks were upgraded to WB-16M standard with - besides few minor equipment changes - better engine of slightly greater power and fuel efficiency and a large searchlight above the gun barrel. In late 1960s concept of heavy tank was clearly outdated and existing designs weren't really offering any significant advantage over new main battle tanks, so first both separate regiments were disbanded, while in divisions WB-16M's lingered until early-to-mid 1970s when they were placed in reserve, earmarked for 'mob.' division (created only during wartime), where they remained until early 1990s. It must be noted, that WB-16 achieved quite substantial export success, with nearly 70 being sold to Herzoslovakia and 120 'brand new' to Ramat, followed by 70 more 'second hand' (both purchases accompanied by number of derivative specialized variants).




More expanded version of this entry is available here: viewtopic.php?p=196672#p196672

Thought about going into more detail but for my first challenge I chose keep it simple with one drawing.

eswube wrote: ↑October 1st, 2020, 10:25 pm Cold War-related tensions and increased threat from Red Ruthenian Union prompted in late 1940s Faroffistan to invest in replacement of various categories of combat equipment of World War 2 vintage. Among these needing replacement were WB-12 heavy tanks, that although introduced in 1942, were based basically on outdated pre-war technologies and were no match to the newest Ruthenian JZ-3 heavy tanks armed with 122 mm guns. After a somewhat prolonged development period, WB-16 (Wóz Bojowy - Combat Vehicle or Combat Car) was finally introduced in 1957. Like most other contemporary heavy tanks, they suffered from heavily taxed engine, small range and limited amount of ammunition carried, but were considered an adequate response to Ruthenian tanks, including the newest JZ-6. In service, WD-16 equipped 4 armoured divisions (1st, 5th, 11th and 16th - each with single Heavy Tank Battalion of 31 tanks in 3 companies) and 2 'breakthrough tank' regiments (4th and 6th - essentialy oversized battalions with 5 tank companies and 1 assault gun company, plus support units - 51 tanks per regiment), with some more being used by Armoured Forces School and few dozen being purchased as reserve. In early 1960s tanks were upgraded to WB-16M standard with - besides few minor equipment changes - better engine of slightly greater power and fuel efficiency and a large searchlight above the gun barrel. In late 1960s concept of heavy tank was clearly outdated and existing designs weren't really offering any significant advantage over new main battle tanks, so first both separate regiments were disbanded, while in divisions WB-16M's lingered until early-to-mid 1970s when they were placed in reserve, earmarked for 'mob.' division (created only during wartime), where they remained until early 1990s. It must be noted, that WB-16 achieved quite substantial export success, with nearly 70 being sold to Herzoslovakia and 120 'brand new' to Ramat, followed by 70 more 'second hand' (both purchases accompanied by number of derivative specialized variants).




More expanded version of this entry is available here: viewtopic.php?p=196672#p196672

Nicely done. Great details. Really like your sense of humor. "Faroffistan". Reminds me
of the NATO battlefield I created - "UnterOberDorf", which is close to "Dorf". I assume
Faroffistan is just West of Mongolia?

Panzer 57



Switzerland following the Second World War wanted to preserve its neutrality. Having seen the Soviet tank armies roll over Nazi Germany in 1945 and the impressive IS-series of heavy tanks, and the Western counters such as the FV214 Conqueror and the M-103, it was clear that a heavy tank would be needed with sufficient firepower and armour to destroy similar tanks. Design work began in 1948 but it wasn't until 1950 that the innovative oscillating turret was included. This allowed good elevation and more importantly good gun depression allowing the tank to make full use of hull-down firing positions. The gun was developed from British 120mm designs and was fitted with a bespoke Swiss-developed 8-round autoloader which could be refilled from secondary stowage within the hull - therefore a loader was still required. The highly shaped turret offered superb armour protection and at its inception this was thought to be one of the most advanced tanks in the world. A modified Y-3 aircraft engine was also fitted. A prototype chassis was first run in 1952 but it wasn't until 1955 that six prototypes were completed and following extensive trials the first of just 90 tanks were introduced into service in 1958. Never exported, the Pz.57 was upgraded with passive IR and a laser rangefinder in the late 1970s and remained in service until 1994.

Specifications
Weight: 48 tonnes
Length: 7.42m (hull), 11.99m (inc. gun)
Width: 3.66m (inc. skirts)
Height: 3.03m (commander's cupola)
Crew: 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Armour: hull front 120 mm at 60° angle; lower glacis 100 mm at 30° angle; hull side: 90–130 mm at 9-25°; turret front 120 mm (at 60° angle), turret side 135 mm at 5° angle (bustle only 50mm).
Main Armament: 1x 120mm rifled gun with 8 rounds in an autoloader carousel and 30 rounds stored in the hull
Secondary Armament: 1x 7.5mm coaxial machine gun (2,000 rounds), 1x 7.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun (1,8200 rounds)
Powerplant: 800hp Saurer YS-3 12-cylinder V-12 liquid cooled petrol engine
Transmission: 7-gear manual gearbox
Suspension: torsion bar spring mounted support roller drive with hydraulic dampers
Ground clearance: 45cm (normal)
Operational Range: 240km
Speed: 40km/h (road), 27km/h (cross-country)

Entry withdrawn