The Medium-A Whippet tank ** Finished **

[JohnRatzenberger]

My kit, the Accurate Armour 1/35 resin kit of the Medium-A Whippet tank



I'll fill in more over the next couple days ....

[Chris]

One of the more interesting tanks of the period. One of them got behind German lines and terrorized an entire sector for hours.

[JohnRatzenberger]

I think that is actually 7 Whippets from X Company who tore up 2 German battalions at Cachy in April 1918 - 4 Whippets were lost, to either A7Vs or artillery, in that action.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Here are the parts - not very many which is one reason the kit got picked for this GB. Here they are drying after being washed and inspected …. No missing or damaged parts ….











I like Accurate Armour kits - they are well molded, with little clean-up necessary. On the larger part-count kits, the parts are clearly numbered on the pour blocks.


And, it's 1/35 scale -- after a number of 1/72 aircraft and armor kits and a 1/700 ship, I'm ready for a change ....

[JohnRatzenberger]

The Whippet

Hot on the heels of the heavy Mark 1, came the need for a lighter tank designed for speed and mobility rather than slogging over and through the trenches. The rhomboid shape was unnecessary and a much lower-profile track could be adopted.

The Whippet had two engines, two gear boxes, two clutches, two handbrake levers, one steering wheel linked to the two throttles - and one driver who was busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. Gears could be changed on the move but required double-clutching and sequential movement through each gear. Max speed was 8mph and range about 80 miles.

The crew - driver, gunner, commander - was all in the box cab and all of that was open to the engine compartment meaning it was hot inside and reeked of fumes. There were 4 Hotchkiss MG, one in each wall of the cab and sometimes a second gunner would be carried, making things even more crowded.

Conceived as a "cavalry tank", it was soon found that armor and horse-cav couldn't operate together, given two completely different uses of terrain and doctrine. 400 were ordered, 200 built, but delivery wasn't quick so it wasn't until very late war that most were delivered. Nonetheless, from Dec 1917, they were fed into the heavy tank battalions, replacing some of the heavies.

Just a very brief glimpse of the dawn of the armored age ….

[JohnRatzenberger]

The track frames come with a long pour block along the top - it can be sawed off relatively easily but the clean-up is lengthy because it leaves a large raised section that keeps the track from lying down neatly. That was most of my afternoon.



But, I did get it mostly done. The body cleaned up in minutes, the floor tacked on, and the trackframes firmly mounted.



Next couple days will be adding details then off to the paint shop.

I am going to start the track in parallel - one of my goals for this project is to achieve a good worn bare metal finish on the tracks.

[TobyC]

John, on Dazzled's thread I posted some pictures of the Whippet at Bovington that may be of help for you.

[Dazzled]

I think you may have the upper hand in a race John . I'm definitely the tortoise, particularly given the way the Emhar kit is going together.

That resin kit looks to be a real peach though

[Chris]

That kit seems to be flying together.

[JohnRatzenberger]

John, on Dazzled's thread I posted some pictures of the Whippet at Bovington that may be of help for you.

Yes, thank you - that I believe is the tank I may be modeling, A259 Caesar II, in which Lt Cecil Sewell was awarded a posthumous VC in Nov 1917. However, I believe the green color is incorrect, more on that later ....

[TobyC]

John, on Dazzled's thread I posted some pictures of the Whippet at Bovington that may be of help for you.

Yes, thank you - that I believe is the tank I may be modeling, A259 Caesar II, in which Lt Cecil Sewell was awarded a posthumous VC in Nov 1917. However, I believe the green color is incorrect, more on that later ....

Here you are.






I thought I had some more after posting on Dazzled's thread.

[JohnRatzenberger]

No pix.

Today was really nice. After helping a neighbor fix his weather station, I took my model out on the porch, cranked up some Bluegrass, and cleaned up many of the resin parts.

Back to gluing tomorrow ....

[JohnRatzenberger]

Added the fuel tank and some hull details.



Tomorrow, maybe Saturday, should finish up the hull detailing ….

[Dazzled]

Looking good John. I'll have to get my mojo in gear and take some pictures of mine

[VickersVandal]

That's chugging along very nicely, so to speak....

Funky little beast it is.