Really bad weapons...

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

So Solly Tony!

The gunner/tank commander are on the left side on the Soviet tanks all the way through the T-62 series. The T-64/T-72 are the first ones with the two seated on either side of the gun.

There was a running joke about the Russians cornering the market on short (5'5"), left-handed loaders!

Lee,

Well, it didn't seem like that was the layout to me, but some written material does seem to conform to what you say so I could be wrong! Tell you what, next time I'm out in the 'Wack (CFB Chiliwack) and the museum is open I'll have a look inside the turret if I can. Then we'll see who's sorry then! Eh? Eh!

(Probably, I'll still be sorry.)

Tony

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by helbent4

Lee,

Well, it didn't seem like that was the layout to me, but some written material does seem to conform to what you say so I could be wrong! Tell you what, next time I'm out in the 'Wack (CFB Chiliwack) and the museum is open I'll have a look inside the turret if I can. Then we'll see who's sorry then! Eh? Eh!

(Probably, I'll still be sorry.)

Tony

LOL What you most likely have at Chiliwack is a driving instruction conversion, turret removed, modest superstructure to replace, the seat on the right (the new TC) has duplicate driver controls. Several dozen of them have been sold to the West in recent years. Nothing like packing a few paying tourists into a tank and running around them around the track!

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

LOL What you most likely have at Chiliwack is a driving instruction conversion, turret removed, modest superstructure to replace, the seat on the right (the new TC) has duplicate driver controls. Several dozen of them have been sold to the West in recent years. Nothing like packing a few paying tourists into a tank and running around them around the track!

Lee,

The turret is removed and some superstructure added for the training version? This tank had a turret and I rode in it, although I can't say if superstructure was added.



-The tank, although not me in the turret.

http://www.cmedcentre.ca/#

The owner said he had a choice between a T-54 and an M48A3 Patton and decided on the former due to cost concerns and parts availability. Also, the steel tracks were replaced by rubber-shod Centurion. He was specific (and proud) of his baby and spent time talking about engine rebuilds and the boxes on the turret sides and pretty much everything, it's difficult to see it was originally a training tank not coming up.

A little off-topic, here are some pictures of Cuban variants on the BTR-60, including the middle one with a modified T-54 turret. Bottom left has a BTR-1 turret. All could make an appearance in the Twilight war!





http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...-Fortress-Cuba

Tony

[dragoon500ly]

The owner said he had a choice between a T-54 and an M48A3 Patton and decided on the former due to cost concerns and parts availability. Also, the steel tracks were replaced by rubber-shod Centurion. He was specific (and proud) of his baby and spent time talking about engine rebuilds and the boxes on the turret sides and pretty much everything, it's difficult to see it was originally a training tank not coming up.

Well, what you have here is your basic T-54A, with some modified storage boxes. May even be a Czech copy, although you need to look at the rear deck for sure. Not sure about the Centurion tracks, at the very least it would require major replacement of the sprokets which could lead to trannie issues.

The position on the right side of the turret is the loaders.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

Well, what you have here is your basic T-54A, with some modified storage boxes. May even be a Czech copy, although you need to look at the rear deck for sure. Not sure about the Centurion tracks, at the very least it would require major replacement of the sprokets which could lead to trannie issues.

The position on the right side of the turret is the loaders.

Lee,

Well, there you go. The tank was licence-built by the Czechs, and the tracks were from a Centurion. I don't know if he had problems with them or not!

Tony

[dragoon500ly]

There is a story that floats around about the difference in quaility control between made-in-the-USSR and those copies made in Poland/Czech Republic.

When the first T-54s were sold to the Warsaw Pact, the engines were blowing at fairly short intervals.

The story goes that a Polish engineer, ordered to fix the problem, took apart several of the Soviet-made engines, and discovered, about 15kgs or so of metal grit, burrs, and other debris in the engines. It was reported in some engines, that it looked like the Soviet factory workers drilled holes into the metal, and instead of sweeping the debris away, simply pushed it into the interior of the engine, some of the oil lines were so blocked with debris, that oil could not flow.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

There is a story that floats around about the difference in quaility control between made-in-the-USSR and those copies made in Poland/Czech Republic.

When the first T-54s were sold to the Warsaw Pact, the engines were blowing at fairly short intervals.

The story goes that a Polish engineer, ordered to fix the problem, took apart several of the Soviet-made engines, and discovered, about 15kgs or so of metal grit, burrs, and other debris in the engines. It was reported in some engines, that it looked like the Soviet factory workers drilled holes into the metal, and instead of sweeping the debris away, simply pushed it into the interior of the engine, some of the oil lines were so blocked with debris, that oil could not flow.

Lee,

Ha, the guy told me the same story, literally! Not surprising, I guess.

Tony

[dragoon500ly]

There have been several posts about favorite German weapons...here are a couple that didn't make the fav list...

The MG35/36. This was a Swedish design that was sold to the German firm of Knorr-Bremse. KB was a automotive supply company that specialized in car brakes. Looking to score a nice defense contract, KB offered the MG35/36 to the expanding Wehrmacht. Das Heer was not impressed by the design and turned the weapon down. KB however, sold a few thousand to the Waffen SS, who used it as a training weapon until enough MG34/MG42 were available to replace it, and then issued the MG35/36 to the various SS Foreign Legions which were, by then, fighting in Russia.

The Knorr-Bremse MG35/36 has two major problems; first was the safety catch. If it was carelessly applied it would hold the bolt 3/4 open (cocked without the sear being engaged). If the user then snapped a magazine into place and released the safety catch, the weapon would release the bolt, chamber a round and discharge....The second problem had to do with how the stock was attached to the receiver. The attachment point was too weak to withstand the vibration of firing and the butt had a tendency to come loose and fall off the gun, a bit upsetting to the user, to say the least.

The second machinegun is an oddity in the weapons race, it has been produced in virtually the same form for over 50 years and has served in every war from the Russo-Japanese to Vietnam, and yet has never been officially adopted in quantity by any major power. It is a Danish design and is named after the Danish Minister of War who was particulary enthusiatic about the weapon. The Madsen machine gun was the Norwegian Army's light machine gun in 1940 and saw service against the Germans during the invasion. It was also used by the militarys of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, and many of them found there way into German service.

The Madsen action is based on the recoil of the barrel, which moves a pivoting breechblock. Since the block is working on a vertical arc, a separate rammer is needed to load the next round and a separate extractor is needed to remove the spent casing. It's a complex mechanism, prone to frequent jams. The major innovation that the Madsen is known for is the top-mounted curved magazine, widely copied after its introduction on this weapon.

Since the Germans were using captured Madsens, some bright engineer realized that the Heer used metal link belts, and to ease ammunition supply, designed an ingenious conversion kit that allowed the use of the standard box magazine as well as the standard German Army machine gun belt. Please remember that with the complxity of the Madsen's mechanism...this is the technical equivalent of operating two elevators in the same shaft.