[MOC] Bateman Assault Bridge Carrier

[Tarix819]

 

Hello,

Finally my latest model is complete and filmed, this time it is of the Bateman Assault Bridge Carrier, an experimental bridge-laying machine of the inter-war period.

HISTORY

This is an extremely obscure historical military vehicle, and there is very little information about it anywhere, this is just my understanding from traces of information found in different places online:

The Bateman Assault Bridge Carrier was an early attempt by the British Royal Engineers at a bridge-laying military vehicle, and the first dedicated bridge-layer, as previous attempts at such a vehicle had been First World War - type landships fitted with an assault bridge on the front. Additionally, the BABC was the first bridge-layer to carry its assault bridge on top of the vehicle. It was based upon the Medium Dragon Mk. I Artillery Tractor, which itself was produced from 1922, and the BABC was trialled at the Premier Dominion Power & Speed demonstration at Camberley, England in 1926, meaning the prototype(s?) must have appeared between 1922 and 1926, being scrapped afterward.

The universal scissor-bridge system seen on modern bridge-layers did not appear until the mid-1930s, so the BABC uses a more primitive, rigid bridge design, which is carried on runners and deployed using a hand-cranked winch on the rear of the vehicle. In some instances, a smaller rigid structure is deployed by hand before the main bridge, which is used to better align bridge deployment and increase distance over wider obstacles, however there some photographs show that this was not a vital part of the machine and therefore I have not included it in my model. When retreiving the bridge it must be hauled back by hand once the bridge reaches a certain point on the runners. It is also worth noting that the bridge could only be picked up from one side, and I have kept this historically accurate in my model.

THE MODEL

I had been building this vehicle since mid-June, and certainly it took far longer than I had expected, mostly due to the problems I encountered regarding the drive and the winching system, but also because I have been busy with work. In the end I was not entirely satisfied with the vehicle, as the machine cannot cross its own bridge due to its immense weight. I spent a great deal of time trying to achieve this goal, include the installation of two additional PF-XL motors to couple at the rear drive wheels, and I managed to get it crossing the bridge up to about 6.5kg. However once I had built the superstructure the weight of the model increased to over 7.7kg, and now the weak point in the drive was the rear axles, which twisted quite badly when put under too much stress. In theory by heavily gearing down all of the drive wheels, I could probably have the vehicle cross the bridge under its own power, however the speed would be so reduced I thought it not worth the bother. I decided I would be happier having the vehicle drive on flat ground at a decent pace, than being able to cross the bridge at snail-pace. A transmission on such a heavy vehicle was out of the question entirely of course.

The question may be asked then; Why build it so big and heavy? 

The answer is that I wanted to keep it in scale with my other Tanks: 1/8 scale, however I mistakenly underestimated how big it would be after planning and draughting it, and honestly being able to cross the bridge at 6.5kg it did look promising for a while that it would still be able to cross when it was finished. Sadly this was not the case, but I had come too far to restart given my limited time. I am still mostly pleased with the result, as the fact that the vehicle being so heavy can still drive at such a speed is already quite impressive, but more so that the model is very detailed, accurate and functional. It is great fun driving around and seeing the bridge-deployment in action.

FEATURES

-1:8 Scale. The bridge measures 1.1m in length.

-Highly detailed, featuring the driver's compartment, mud-chutes, hand-cranks, grill, exhaust pipe, and bridge latticework. It is great to look at with high historical accuracy. I also quite like the strings used to keep the bridge in place when moving.

-Unladen Weight: 7.7kg           -Laden Weight: 9.4kg            -Bridge Weight: 1.7kg

-Fully tracked drive: each track powered by three PF-XL Motors, two for each rear drive wheel, one for each front drive wheel. The vehicle is reasonably fast given its size.

-One AA battery box per track - each fitted with three Li-Ion 14500 batteries and three dummy batteries.

-Powered by two SBricks; one per track.

-Functional vertical coil-spring bogie suspension, historically accurate to the real vehicle.

-Functional track tensioners.

-Functional headlamp.

-Functional Armstrong-Siddeley Air-Cooled V8 Engine.

-Functional bridge-deployment system using a winch, which is powered by one PF-L Motor.

IMAGES

More images can be found on my Imgur post: 

https://imgur.com/gallery/pWfYT98

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Tarix819

[Milan]

Wow. Just wow.
Your every creation is stunning, but this is indeed next level.

Make sure to resize your images (they are 4 times the allowed size), so we can do some frontpaging!

[nerdsforprez]

Well done. Smooth operation. Love the color,  makes it look so genuine. Thxs for sharing!

[Tarix819]

4 minutes ago, Milan said:

Make sure to resize your images (they are 4 times the allowed size), so we can do some frontpaging!

Thank you! I've deleted the images for now, there is an imgur link at the bottom of the post of the whole gallery for those interested. 

[Milan]

21 minutes ago, Tarix819 said:

Thank you! I've deleted the images for now

I have reuploaded one of your images, so the frontpage post can show something

[Tarix819]

3 minutes ago, Milan said:

I have reuploaded one of your images, so the frontpage post can show something

I mistakenly deleted it thinking I had just missed one but its reuploaded now, thank you! 

[ParmBrick]

Oh my! It's spectacular, seeing it at work is even more so, with these proportions you really managed to perfectly represent the original model. Only note, it would have been even more beautiful if the hull had kept the punctuation of the bolts and rivets (for what i see on the images on the net, but maybe the final real model actually has smooth surfaces, so my criticism would be sterile xD) instead of completely flat surfaces, but this takes second place compared to everything else

[Tarix819]

27 minutes ago, ParmBrick said:

Oh my! It's spectacular, seeing it at work is even more so, with these proportions you really managed to perfectly represent the original model. Only note, it would have been even more beautiful if the hull had kept the punctuation of the bolts and rivets (for what i see on the images on the net, but maybe the final real model actually has smooth surfaces, so my criticism would be sterile xD) instead of completely flat surfaces, but this takes second place compared to everything else

Thank you so much! I had considered the rivets, especially along the sides but sadly I didn't have the right pieces in the right colour to give the rivet effect in all areas. I did some riveting on the front and engine area, but have to agree it would look better with riveting along the sides!

Edited September 4, 2021 by Tarix819

[GerritvdG]

Wow, this is really impressive, well done . It really looks like a brand new real life vehicle. I also enjoyed the discription and the video giving some context.

[Tarix819]

4 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

Well done. Smooth operation. Love the color,  makes it look so genuine. Thxs for sharing!

Thank you!

15 minutes ago, GerritvdG said:

Wow, this is really impressive, well done . It really looks like a brand new real life vehicle. I also enjoyed the discription and the video giving some context.

Thanks! It is such an obscure vehicle, it certainly needed it!

[jorgeopesi]

At first sight I thought that the first pic was the real tank not much more to say  .

[syclone]

Most impressive replica, will have to second the reply above - needed a double take to realize that it was, in fact, a Lego model 
Judging from the video it also quite a quick model for 7'7kg, those 6XL motors are sure put to a good use 

[Gray Gear]

I fist thought you misspelled "Batman" 

Very cool creation with enormous size. 1:8 scale Tanks are crazy, my 1:8 Scale cars already surpass half a meter, so this...

Too bad it can't cross the bridge, but I can understand you'd want like to keep all MOCs the same scale. Does that mean you keep all you tanks MOCs built instead of disassembling them? 

[Tarix819]

1 hour ago, jorgeopesi said:

At first sight I thought that the first pic was the real tank not much more to say  .

Thank you!

1 hour ago, syclone said:

Most impressive replica, will have to second the reply above - needed a double take to realize that it was, in fact, a Lego model 
Judging from the video it also quite a quick model for 7'7kg, those 6XL motors are sure put to a good use 

Thanks! Gear ratio is roughly 3:1 but it keeps decent speed due to the large drive wheel diameter (10 studs).

3 minutes ago, Gray Gear said:

I fist thought you misspelled "Batman" 

Too bad it can't cross the bridge, but I can understand you'd want like to keep all MOCs the same scale. Does that mean you keep all you tanks MOCs built instead of disassembling them? 

Ha! You're not the only one...

As I wrote above I was somewhat dissappointed with this, but I prefer to keep the models in consistent scale with each other, I guess i'm a bit of a perfectionist in that sense (although when I come on to build even larger vehicles, I will have to abandon this principle).

And no, I dissassemble all my models once they are built and filmed!  I always make the instructions for each of them however, as it means I can build them again in the future if I want to.

[Tim_AZ]

Beautifully done.

[emielroumen]

Really amazing, what a creation. Well done!

[Johnny1360]

Yes as others have said, very well done. Funny thing is when I first read the title I thought it was a typo and assumed it was supposed to be Batman bridge assault carrier, lol.

[bertdaniel8]

Amazing. How long did it take to design and build?

[Stuartn]

Brilliant work, the functionality is great, your builds are always impressive but that is by far the most spectacular, great work

[JopieK]

Very nice built! Not only the functional parts but also the color scheming etc.

[Tarix819]

14 hours ago, Tim_AZ said:

Beautifully done.

 

14 hours ago, emielroumen said:

Really amazing, what a creation. Well done!

 

14 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

Yes as others have said, very well done.

 

8 hours ago, Stuartn said:

Brilliant work, the functionality is great, your builds are always impressive but that is by far the most spectacular, great work

 

2 hours ago, JopieK said:

Very nice built! Not only the functional parts but also the color scheming etc.

Thank you guys!

13 hours ago, bertdaniel8 said:

How long did it take to design and build?

I finished draughting the blueprints and measurements around early June, which I had been working on for some of my last days at University, and I began work around mid-June when I got home. I finished it around two months later in mid-august, and then it took me a few weeks to find the time to film it. Two months isn't really that long all things considered, but I feel I would have had it done quicker if I had more time and ran into fewer teething troubles along the way. 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Oh my gosh ...another amazing MOC.

Totally cool creation ...a weapon of civil engineering! 

[Tarix819]

15 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Oh my gosh ...another amazing MOC.

Totally cool creation ...a weapon of civil engineering! 

Thank you!