To all, thank you.
Klunk, I don't think it ever had a IC engine, the fixed turret sitting over the motor mounting plate was a devil to remove, no evidence of a fuel tank or exhaust outlet. The gearbox was by my estimation was badly designed, the final drive gear was tiny. Even my limited knowledge of gearboxes knows big gears driven by little gears generate more torque, not the other way round. Probably why it was mostly missing along with the single motor. A small hole in the rear may have been the remote lead inlet.
I originally thought the model to be a presentation piece, With all the ordering that was going on in the middle east at the time. Why all the gold embellishments?
But then read the "The Tank factory" by William Suttie who worked at Chertsey, the book shows a model of a T94 made by it's model makers. I don't know if the Chieftain was built there, but Mr Suttie said the Original Chieftain was scaled down for indoor use. Makes sense, the detail, thankfully much more than required. Nice to know our taxes back then were well spent.
Tica, these models are the most wife safe models you can buy.
The investment is high I grant you, but like good jewelry you'll only get them out now and then. mostly just stare at them, improve and maybe tinker. Bit selfish, but still holding a majority of their value.
Now look at the wife's investments, nice clothes, excellent expensive beauty products, nights out with the girls, fine wine and food, not to mention the hair dresses and who can forget shoes......... all those shoes. Take this over five years. Well, what is her investment worth, " Her Happiness" (and not much else) but I'm sure still worth every penny.
Now look at a large model tank owners investment. Happiness and continued value, maybe a little more or a little less. The real winner is the wife.
She can sell the models if your not around.
Don't show her this though, German ebay de
Mark your right, the difficult bit is when the tank enters the car, it pivots forward and the tracks try to shed and push the ramps backwards. I built these hook devices to prevent this action. Still tricky on your own though.