Com-Central.net

- JeffStringer

Oh ... and by the way, it was the largest halftrack made in WWII. This thing even pulled disabled tanks too!


Jeff

It looks like it could well do it...the floor of the passenger compartment is at eye level when standing on the ground. It's seriously big.

Wandering off in the support role for a moment, this is the vehicle which I believe the trailer behind the halftrack (but not connected to it, actually) really belongs to (the trailer contained a generator)...also, the wood on the trailer rather closely matches the wood sides on this vehicle. At first I thought this was some kind of paddy-wagon, but it's a mechanic support vehicle complete with tool cabinets and a nice drill-press in the back (I peeked through the cracks)...a wheeled version of our mechanic's M548 in Vietnam, sort of. That tank under the doors looks more like part of an oxy-acetylene rig than a fuel tank to me, but I didn't examine it closely.

- JeffStringer

Oh ... and by the way, it was the largest halftrack made in WWII. This thing even pulled disabled tanks too!


Jeff

Yup, to pull anything heavier than a Pz IV though they had to hook up 2 in tandem, many times 3.

3 FAMO's pulling a Tiger 1 (the rear of the lead vehicle is just barely visible):




An interesting link, in German only though:

www.zobten.de/Famo/Famo.htm


Best,
Rik

- Doug_Kibbey

Do you know what's up with that red color that the two vehicles were painted in? Some kind of parade livery or what? It was obviously faded from exposure, but it's hideous.
This picture shows how awful.it.truely.is:

Lol, definitely not a normal color. It must either be a form of primer or they got a deal on paint which was too good to pass up...

I would sure like to see that FAMO in person

Artillery time. I'll save the 380 and 420 Skoda rail gun arrays for a separate post, as it takes about 6 shots to get it all.

Here's a thing with tracks that goes "zoom":



Then, a (*gasp*) 107mm Recoiless AT gun from about 1953:



Pretty sure this bigun' is a Skoda:



Several semi-protected mounts...at least two of which were AA guns, to my surprize:







This is also an AA mount...one barrel, the two outriggers are the recoil system:



More about the 88 in a minute...or a separate post altogether...

And now, the big stuff.

On a length of rail, they have two guns mounted on 5 (or possibly 6) cars. Both Skodas. The first one shown (at back of "display") is the 420mm, the 380 is the last one shown. Each consists of a main barrel assemby, a mount, and there is one car in the middle that is basically a crane/assembly device car (I surmized). There may be a separate breech assembly for one of the guns making up a sixth car (I don't recall for sure...do you remember, Jim?). The proximity of the big trees make it difficult to capture the whole thing in it's entirety.

(the thing after the 420mm plaque may be a breech or a loading device. I was running out of time here and didn't have time to study stuff closely. I took all the pics in this thread in about 45 minutes...I hate to rush, but we was "working")

Should make a nice scratch build project for Geoff Steer.

Thank you very much for the photos!!
The T55, TR580 etc photos were very welcome, and wish there were thousands more!!!
All the other pictures are very interesting too, and i have saved the lot!!
keep safe

- timroberts

Thank you very much for the photos!!
The T55, TR580 etc photos were very welcome, and wish there were thousands more!!!
All the other pictures are very interesting too, and i have saved the lot!!
keep safe

You're welcome, Tim....I had you in mind when I took those. I only wish they had a more "unobstructed" view and weren't so crowded, but they've got more cool stuff than space there.


BTR 50, I think. What's the skinny on these? (I know it was PT-76 based, but was it any good? Me likey) I found this vehicle esthetically appealing.

Thanks for the pics Doug! Those rail guns are quite impressive!


Jeff

- Doug_Kibbey

BTR 50, I think. What's the skinny on these? (I know it was PT-76 based, but was it any good? Me likey) I found this vehicle esthetically appealing.

Correct Doug but just to be pedantic its a BTR-50PU2.. quite which version (there are 8 of them at the last count) its not possible to establish without a look at the back decks.

Quite popular as a command vehicle withn the russians because of the spacious interior but a real pain to get into due to the climb... The OT-64Rversion was more popular because of its side doors.

- JimWeb

- Doug_Kibbey

BTR 50, I think. What's the skinny on these? (I know it was PT-76 based, but was it any good? Me likey) I found this vehicle esthetically appealing.

Correct Doug but just to be pedantic its a BTR-50PU2.. quite which version (there are 8 of them at the last count) its not possible to establish without a look at the back decks.

So....does this help?

- Doug_Kibbey

So....does this help?

For a moment there... Its the version referred to as the BTR-50PU-2A

- Doug_Kibbey

There may be a separate breech assembly for one of the guns making up a sixth car (I don't recall for sure...do you remember, Jim?).

The breech's are all on the ends of the barrels - the confusing thing is that the breech rings are all round. Looking in my artillery books the only things that seem to be missing are the ammunition wagons...

- JimWeb

- Doug_Kibbey

So....does this help?

For a moment there... Its the version referred to as the BTR-50PU-2A

Hey, I said I liked it! Just wasn't sure I had such a clear full view from the rear...had to look first.

I took ~100 pics while there (less than 1 hour)...I sure wish I'd had more time, though. May get another chance in Jan-Feb., if it ain't all covered in snow.....

Also, when I checked again, I found I had this (I really liked this vehicle!):

- JimWeb

- Doug_Kibbey

There may be a separate breech assembly for one of the guns making up a sixth car (I don't recall for sure...do you remember, Jim?).

The breech's are all on the ends of the barrels - the confusing thing is that the breech rings are all round. Looking in my artillery books the only things that seem to be missing are the ammunition wagons...

Then this is a loading thingy?