Alternative History Armoured Fighting Vehicles Part 3

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While I was reading through the article on the Object 911 on Tank Encyclopedia, the whole part about the possibility of nuclear warfare in the early cold war being the inspiration for said vehicle got me thinking about how would the concept of an IFV develop or even come to fruition in an environment where WWII never happened, or at least didn't come on time in 1939. So I ask how what would an IFV look like in a no-WWII TL?
 
This is purely comic relief, but I posted it here as kinda related to alternative military vehicles.Please check out the comments under each vehicle !
mods feel free to delete if inappropriate and my apologies in advance
 
This is purely comic relief, but I posted it here as kinda related to alternative military vehicles.Please check out the comments under each vehicle !
mods feel free to delete if inappropriate and my apologies in advance

Ah, the combat lawnmower… nice! 🤣😂🤣
 
I have to wonder. I often play with an Neutral and united Germany by 1947/1948 (depending of the July plot matters) duo to Zhukov and other politicians at that time.
Now what I question myself is how a German MBT would look like.
Let' say that the Germans get their independence in 1948 and want to build a MBT. The British and Soviet needed 3 to 2 years for their first drawings to turn into the first produced vehicles. So let's give the Germans like 4 years. How would a German MBT developed from 1948 till 1952 look like? Do I need to imagine something like a thinner Löwe mixed with Indien Panzer and a primitive Leo 1 prototype?

Did someone actually thought of this already?

This was my take on a very similar thought to your scenario - in my case it was a Germany that survives WW2 and I was looking for a bridge between the Panther I/II and the Leopard I… (my very first attempt at modelling an AH AFV)… See the link below to my completed models for more detail…

73DEFABD-9932-4804-9088-3D2AE40E8D66.jpeg
 
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This was my take on a very similar thought to your scenario - in My case it was a Germany that survives WW2 and I was looking for a bridge between the Panther I/II and the Leopard I… (my very first attempt at modelling an AH AFV)… See the link below to my completed models for more detail…

View attachment 741668
I always liked this one and I think it makes more sense in this scenario than it did in your original scenario because of the M60's suspension (how the Nazis get that?). Still a very cool model.

I'd say Indien Panzer and E50.
I made one of those too.

Alt Post War Panzer.png

Not one of my faves.
 
I always liked this one and I think it makes more sense in this scenario than it did in your original scenario because of the M60's suspension (how the Nazis get that?). Still a very cool model.

Step away my good man. Any resemblance to a M60’s suspension is entirely coincidental. There’s nothing to see here… move a long! 😋
 
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I always liked this one and I think it makes more sense in this scenario than it did in your original scenario because of the M60's suspension (how the Nazis get that?). Still a very cool model.


I made one of those too.

View attachment 741674
Not one of my faves.
Tried to combine the two too my liking.
1652568272131.png

Now I only need to learn how to recreate it in Sprocket. :p
 
I always liked this one and I think it makes more sense in this scenario than it did in your original scenario because of the M60's suspension (how the Nazis get that?). Still a very cool model.
Well, a torsion bar is a torsion bar is a torsion bar, and not so well suited to interleaved wheels when you can do doubles.
It's either that or the equally reasonable 'that looks like it'd work nicely, let's steal make our own version.'
 
Well, a torsion bar is a torsion bar is a torsion bar, and not so well suited to interleaved wheels when you can do doubles.
It's either that or the equally reasonable 'that looks like it'd work nicely, let's steal make our own version.'
Well the Germans weren't above stealing a good idea when they saw one but they usually altered it a little so it would look different and often improved upon the designs of others like the Bazooka which they copied into the panzerschreck which was a much better weapon than the original design.
 
Well the Germans weren't above stealing a good idea when they saw one but they usually altered it a little so it would look different and often improved upon the designs of others like the Bazooka which they copied into the panzerschreck which was a much better weapon than the original design.
Oh sure, and the Germans had been using torsion bars since the Panzer 3, so it's not like they had to do much thinking to make it work on a Panther/Leopard.
 
You do realise that rolling armour into a curved shape weakens the armour? Which is why it has largely been abandoned in building tanks...
The gun mantlet can be cast, just like the rest of the turret and just like the curved mantlet on the Panther. When somebody says "rolled homogeneous armor", they aren't talking about armor rolled into curved shapes. Hot rolling is a metallurgical process (a type of forging) that modifies the steel's crystalline characteristics.
 
The gun mantlet can be cast, just like the rest of the turret and just like the curved mantlet on the Panther. When somebody says "rolled homogeneous armor", they aren't talking about armor rolled into curved shapes. Hot rolling is a metallurgical process (a type of forging) that modifies the steel's crystalline characteristics.
I am well aware of what "rolled homogeneous armour" means. However, few mantlets were of this type. Most were armourplate that had been literally formed flat and then rolled into a curved shape, thereby weakening it.
 
Castings usually aren't as strong as rolled plates, but (once you have the technical knowhow to make them big enough[1]) remove pr massively reduce the need for forming, cutting and welding all of which can reduce overall strength, create local weakpoints and take time [2].
[1] see Somua S35 for a good example of a decent cast tank that suffered from a one man turret. While political preference for the smallest possible crews played an important part, French casting technology though world class was about at its limit. Even if a two man turret was wanted, it may have been a step too far in the 1930s, and 1940 was too late. There was at least one French medium with a 2man turret but I'll have to check if it was cast.
[2] Big castings need carefully controlled cooling to avoid distortion, cracking and metallurgical problems like excessive brittleness or low hardness. It can take days to do properly, but the actual labour hours overall can be less than welding forming etc even if the total number of hours elapsed is the same.
 
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