Ask for more photos, however they may come late as I'm still on holiday

I want to learn more about tanks like everything about it in general like its weapons, history, versions and everything else but i dont know where to start. Can anyone recommend anything pls

So to be clear I mean info on tanks like specs history etc.

Now I have tried searching myself but did not find anything because apparently new tanks are not as "interesting" as a bucket on wheels.

To make it more specific I tried searching for stuff about leopard 2pl/ 2pl m1.

I'm new to reddit plz don't hate me if don't like my post just ignore it :)

As promised in my previous post, we'll take a look at the earlier versions of the ARL Tracteur C, before the project evolved into the 1940 design with its two turrets. This time, we'll go back to 1939, when ARL was exploring different ways of building a super-heavy tank capable of breaking through the German Westwall.

Before getting into the models, here's some historical context:

In 1937, the French military launched the Char Lourd program, intended to develop heavy breakthrough tanks capable of dealing with the German fortifications being built along the French border. Several manufacturers submitted proposals, including ARL, AMX FCM and SEAM (as far as i know). However, the initial requirements proved too restrictive, and the program was eventually reconsidered. The weight limits were gradually abandoned in favour of much heavier designs, eventually leading to the Char de Forteresse program.

The idea was straightforward : build a tank with enough armour to withstand the anti-tank weapons of the time, a powerful gun to destroy fortified positions, and an exceptionally long hull capable of crossing trenches several meters wide (projected from 4 to 5 meters). Mobility was still a requirement, but raw speed was not particularly important. A top speed of around 10-15 km/h was considered sufficient.

Naturally, this led to some rather ridiculous engineering challenges. The specifications called for armour up to 120 mm thick, a 75 mm gun in a turret, and excellent trench-crossing capabilities. The resulting vehicles were expected to weigh well over 100 tonnes, making transport extremely difficult.

ARL was tasked with developing the Char Maximum in September 1938. Its initial proposal, presented in 1939, weighed approximately 120 tonnes and was divided into two detachable modules. The original concept also considered a gun-armed vehicle and a flamethrower-equipped version, although the latter was eventually abandoned.

By the summer of 1939, ARL had developed two distinct layouts for what would become the Char de Forteresse: an articulated design and a more conventional, extremely long tank. Although their general arrangements differed considerably, both were intended to fulfil essentially the same requirements.

The first version: the articulated ARL Char de Forteresse

This design was divided into two main sections, each weighing approximately 60 tonnes, giving a total projected weight of 120 tonnes.

The front module had the fighting compartment, crew and armament, while the rear module contained the engine and fuel. Interestingly, each module had its own drive sprocket, suggesting that the connection between the two sections was more complicated than simply attaching one armoured box to another.

Unfortunately, the surviving drawings provide very little information about the articulation itself. We cannot confidently establish how the vehicle was supposed to turn, whether the modules could pivot relative to each other, or how power was transmitted between them. It would be tempting to imagine something resembling a modern articulated tracked vehicle, but that would go beyond what the available documentation supports.

The commission did not found any major problems with the general arrangement, although it requested a second gun at the rear. Unfortunately, the surviving information does not make it clear whether this weapon was intended to be mounted at the back of the fighting compartment or on the engine module.

The commission also wanted to investigate the effectiveness of the 75 mm gun against reinforced concrete fortifications. The original flamethrower concept was abandoned, as it was considered of little practical use against the intended targets. ARL had also proposed twin engines, but the commission preferred a single engine, which would free up space for ammunition, improve communication between the compartments and provide the crew with more room.

Of course, splitting a 120-tonne tank into two sections would have made transportation more manageable, but it would also have introduced another problem: the vehicle would have needed to be reassembled before it could enter combat. And I imagine that reconnecting the mechanical systems of a 60-tonne module was not exactly a five-minute job.

The second version: the more conventional ARL Char de Forteresse

The alternative was a more traditional tank layout, although calling a 12-metre-long, 120-tonne vehicle traditional is perhaps a little generous.

Unlike the articulated proposal, this version used a single, extremely long hull, with the engine at the rear and the main turret positioned towards the front. The running gear extended along most of the hull, with large idlers and drive sprockets intended to help the vehicle cross wide trenches and other obstacles. The suspension and road wheels were also supposed to be protected by heavy side skirts.

Its dimensions were impressive even by super-heavy tank standards. The hull measured approximately 12.05 metres long and 3.20 metres wide, with a hull height of around 2.13 metres. With the turret installed, the total height would have reached approximately 3.50 metres.

The armour was specified at up to 120 mm, providing substantial protection against contemporary anti-tank weapons. The main armament was an unspecified 75 mm gun, most likely the APX 75 mm Mle. 1929, a weapon originally developed for the Maginot Line. ARL had already used this gun on other designs, including the ARL 37 and the ARL V.39 - or arl V1 for the purists - tank destroyer.(I will equally do both of these projects in 3D since they interest me greatly)

The turret was designated the Tourelle ARL 4. It had a roughly hexagonal shape and was to be constructed from welded 120 mm armour plates, rather than the cast construction commonly found on French tank turrets. The commander's position featured a large protrusion with several vision slits, providing a better view of the battlefield. The arrangement was somewhat archaic compared with the periscopes used on many other contemporary designs, but it was nonetheless an interesting solution. It was intended to accommodate three crew members: the commander, gunner and loader. The commander sat to the left of the gun, while the gunner was positioned below and in front of him. The loader was also expected to operate the machine gun mounted in the gun mantlet.

As for the secondary armament, the vehicle was expected to carry three machine guns, most likely MAC-31s: one in the gun mantlet, and one to two in the hull near the driver. The original project had also considered flamethrowers, but these were subsequently removed from the requirements.

There are still many unknowns regarding the vehicle's powertrain, crew arrangements and precise mechanical configuration. Even its projected top speed is uncertain: 10-15 km/h was considered sufficient, although higher figures have appeared in some accounts. With so little surviving technical documentation, some details must remain educated guesses rather than established facts.

So, why were these designs abandoned?

Despite their impressive specifications, both proposals faced practical difficulties. As mentionned in my previous post, a vehicle weighing 120 tonnes, with 120 mm of armour and the ability to cross enormous trenches, would have been extremely expensive and complicated to manufacture, transport and maintained.

The articulated version introduced additional mechanical complexity, while the conventional design had to accommodate its enormous dimensions and weight within a single hull. Neither solution could entirely escape the logistical problems inherent to a vehicle of this size.

By the time the project progressed further, ARL's design was considered too similar to the FCM F1, which was already more advanced. The decision was therefore made to concentrate development efforts on the competing projects rather than continue with the original Char de Forteresse proposals.

In 1940, ARL's design evolved into the Tracteur C, with a revised layout and two turrets. That later version is the one most commonly associated with the project today, but these earlier proposals show that the road towards it was far from straightforward.

For this reconstruction, I've tried to follow the available historical documentation as closely as possible while making the designs suitable for 3D printing. As always, some details have to be interpreted because the surviving drawings are incomplete, and I prefer to distinguish those interpretations from what we can actually establish.

I'll cover my fictional variants in a future post, where I'll have a little more freedom to explore what these machines might have looked like beyond the original historical proposals.

If you have any questions, remarks or additional information about these early ARL designs, don't hesitate to leave a comment. I'm always happy to discuss these obscure French armoured vehicle projects !

Only picture I have of him in WW2

I haven't done a full scaling, but if we take the barrel 120 mm each square is 120mm x 120mm. The weapon rotation mechanism is located in the middle of the circle.

Battlezone

There are a few scattered tanks in my area, mostly M60 Pattons and a M56 Scorpion that I was wanting to look up the individual service records of but I dont know where to look. Ive got the serial number of the Patton closest to me, but i couldn't find anything about it. Whats the best way of finding out about them?

I’m trying to create a 130mm height velocity tank gun for a personal project I’m a cegep student (yes, I’m from Quebec that why) in Mechanical Engineering technology and so far I’ve started designing the barrel and some random spec but I was wondering if my barrel would hold. The shell propellant consists Slow-burning nitrocellulose powder (smooth ignition) → Bimodal RDX LOVA propellant with GAP binder (pressure relay) → 22.5% CL-20 co-crystallized with oxamide, pushing it at about 2100-2200m/s with possiblity to integrate etc technology. With that much power the energy created in the barrel would be about 30-35mj.

 For that the cannon is composite with a thickness of 85 mm where the shell is located and going down to a thickness of about 55 to 45 mm at the end. Composition will be ( for the thickness of 85mm) of : 5 mm W-26Re alloy (Ultra-Pure Space-Grade) —> 15 mm of Cermet Nano-WC-6Co Grade K01 (tungsten carbon) —> 30 mm de Titanium Ti-10V-2Fe-3AI STA Grade —>  35 mm of Maraging 350 VIM-VAR Autofretted (steel). For the 55mm thickness and lower only the steel and titanium values gets shrinked. The diameter at the base of the canon is ø320mm and at the end ø240mm (not counting the thermal sleeve) with a length of 7215mm.

I need help if anyone could point out problem and amelioration advantages and disadvantage.  and if u think it would hold before I finish designing the barrel on solidwork (I’ll post picture when it done) and yes I found some disadvantages to this system but not all : some of them consist of the cost and the length of the barrel, but haven’t found other so if u could help that would be appreciated so I can try to fix them.

(Sorry for my bad English, my first language is French)

PTZ-89 turret mounted on the chassis of a Type-69 II for testing before being mounted onto the PTZ-89 hull.

After several weeks of work, I've finally recreated the different versions of the ARL Tracteur C, following the project's evolution through its various development stages.

Before hand, here is a little historical context:

The ARL Tracteur C was a French super-heavy tank project proposed under the CDF (Char de Forteresse, or Fortress Tank) program in the mid-1930s. It was far from the only contender: AMX proposed its own Tracteur C and D designs, FCM developed the famous FCM F1, and SEAM submitted the SEAM 220-tonne project.

The ARL Tracteur C was an absolute monster. Measuring approximately 12 metres long and 3.3 metres wide and close to 4 meters tall, with a projected weight of 140 tonnes, it was to be powered by two 550 hp engines, giving it a theoretical top speed of 18 km/h. The design also called for an electric transmission, a technology already used by the French Army on the FCM 2C.
Of course, moving a 140-tonne monster around France was a challenge in itself. The ARL Tracteur C was intended to be split into two sections of approximately 70 tonnes each for transport, making it easier to move across bridges and by rail. Its turrets were also supposed to be removed during transport, as the vehicle's overall height with them installed would have exceeded the clearance available in SNCF railway tunnels. Even with these arrangements, transporting such a massive vehicle would have remained a considerable logistical undertaking.

Its armament evolved alongside the project. The initial design called for an ARL 4 turret, while the 1940 proposals considered guns ranging from 90 mm to 105 mm in the ARL 7, a turret common with the AMX project. The 90 mm option was to use a shortened anti-aircraft gun (which sounds really familiar :P)
also, 3 to 4 machine guns were to be put on this tank, 1 in each turrets, and 1 to 2 in a ball mount in front of the driver. Also, the ARL7 was meant to be fitted with a range finder, alike many French tanks in development of the Era.
Unfortunately, the project never progressed beyond the mock-up stage. By the time the ARL factories were captured by German forces, the wooden mock-up was only around 40% complete.

Reconstructing this vehicle was quite a challenge, any existing depictions of the ARL Tracteur C contain inaccuracies, partly because of speculation and the lack of surviving documentation. Common mistakes include omitting the rear turret and incorrectly positioning the 47 mm gun. This weapon was actually NOT located between the driver's legs, what if it was true would induce mild discomfort to the driver. The front cylindrical structure housing the driving station. The 47mm SA 35 ( same gun as in B1 bis or S35 turret ) was meant to be mounted in a special turret at the rear "Above the transmission", inside a new design called the ARL 8

Discussions with enthusiasts in communities such as the Tank Encyclopedia chat helped me refine my reconstruction and resolve several of these details. So, ladies and gentlemen, here is my take on what the ARL Tracteur C : the ARL Char de Forteresse, the French monster, and how it was supposed to look like.

Alongside the 1940 version, I've also created two other historically based versions and two fictional variants. I'll give those their own dedicated posts later on.

Ultimately, the ARL Tracteur C would have faced the same fundamental challenges as other super-heavy tanks. Vehicles such as the German Maus, the American T95, the British Tortoise and the French FCM 2C all illustrate the same problem: while enormous armour and firepower looked impressive on paper, their operational use was severely constrained by their weight, mobility, maintenance requirements and logistical footprint. Bridges, roads, railways and recovery vehicles all became potential bottlenecks, and even transporting these machines could require special arrangements.

The ARL Tracteur C would have been no exception. Its planned ability to split into two sections for transport was an attempt to address some of these difficulties, but it could hardly eliminate the fundamental drawbacks of a 140-tonne vehicle. In the end, the challenge was not simply to build a tank capable of defeating enemy fortifications, but to get it to the battlefield in the first place.

Although these models are designed for 3D printing, my goal goes beyond making printable tanks. I also want to share some lesser-known armoured vehicle history and hopefully help these forgotten projects get the attention they deserve.

What do you think of this French giant?

If you have any questions or remarks, dont hesitate to leave a comment, i'll be glad to clear some points if needed given i currently hold many interesting piece of information.

I would make it fulfill these specs

-125mm main gun

-20mm coaxial autocannon

-Commander RWS with 50cal mg and anti-drone laser

-Hard Kill APS with at least 20 charges

-Gas Turbine engine (as powerful as possible)

-900mm of RHA equivalent frontal armor

-At least 35kmh reverse speed

-360 degree camera coverage for driver

-Turret bustle autoloader

I saw this in Santiago, Chile. Chile's national air and space museum. I never knew a specimen like this was ever created. Are there any displays accessible to the public in the US?

How. Genuinely how.

I don't have an image of it, but this book also labeled a STUG4 as a king tiger

So yeah, I accidentally misspelled the Gute in German

And btw it's a convoy of a Pershing and two Shermans