"Band of Brothers" Panzer Nostalgia

The online edition of Armchair General  has a nostalgic behind the scenes retrospective on the HBO "Band of Brothers" TV mini-series.  The article is short on details regarding the vehicles used by the film production, but it does include a number of previously unpublished pictures of the replica Tiger, Jadgpanther, StuGs and Marders used in the filming.  No pictures of Allied armor is included in the retrospective. Most of the photos involving prop vehicles are from the filming of Part 6 "Bastogne" and Part 7 "The Breaking Point".  Several American M4 Shermans (actually Canadian Grizzles) were used in Part 2 "Day of Days",  Part 3 "Carentan" and Part 5 "Crossroads." Two restored British Cromwell tanks were also employed in "Crossroads." 

List of "Band of Brothers" German AFV props 

 (1) - T-54/55 Jagdpanther conversion  

(1 or 2) - T-34/85 rebuilt as Tigers I,  several "Tiger" conversions were carried out by Plus Film Services for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers

(2 )- British F432 APC based StuG III replicas  built for "Band of Brothers" by Plus Film Services.  

(1) - Land Rover based Sdkfz 222

(2 or more) - Czech OT810 rebuilt as Sdkfz 251s, one vehicle made up as a Sdkfz 251/22

(1) - Swedish Sav m/43 converted to a Marder III Ausf H used in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers"

(1) - Czech LT38 chassis fitted out as a Marder III Ausf M used in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers"

The Market for Retro Lozenge

The online military vehicle market Milweb.net currently has two replica World War I tanks for sale.  The vehicles have the same lozenge shape as British Mark I-IV tanks, but creative liberties are taken with regards to armament, vehicle dimensions and other details. 

The first vehicle was built for the film 2003 Hollywood film, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." A picture along with the following details about the vehicle can be found on the Carl Brown, C&C Military Services Ltd. webvert.  

"WW 1 Replica Tank.

Built for the film 'League Of Extra Ordinary Gentlemen' during 2002/2003. Based on a Centurion ARV tank chassis. New gearbox, engine and clutch fitted. All controls as original centurion. Cost in excess of $100,000 to build. £25,000.00"

The other tank was built for a unknown film project, but a picture and few interesting details are provided by the seller,  Michael Bradley,  in the Milweb.net classifieds.

"WW1 mark4 tank

Well a life size model actually. This model was built for use on a WW1 movie currently still being filmed. The tank was built from a steel shell with marine ply panels and I have to say it looks like the real thing. The attention to detail on the tracks and side etc are quite remarkable.It is about 4 ft shorter than the orginal becuase it had to go on a movie set. The tank was electric having a power pack and motors which have been removed. A diesel engine or an electric motor could easily be refitted as the sprockets and drive chains are all there.A great opportunity to own a rare ww1 tank. Please email for more pictures and details. The tank weighs about 3 tons Price £9,000."

To compare these two replicas to the original British Mark I, II, III, and IV tanks see the following articles on the Landships website:

British Mark I-III Tank

British Mk IV

Old News - New Start - Ersatz Panzers Refight Battle of Moscow

After a long hiatus, which included two extended tours of the rice fields of Northeastern Thailand, its time to get back to work.  

This is very old news, but the pictures from the 2004 Reenactment of the Battle of Moscow are too good to pass up.  Pictures of a Russian T-34/85 and T-44 tanks visually modified to look like German Panzer IVs showed up in a thread on the Axis History Reenactment Forum.  

The vehicles were modified for Soviet era film studios and were used in a number of movies about "The Great Patriotic War." It's interesting to note that the two ersatz "Tigers" (a common Russia label for all German tanks during the WW2) where joined in the reenactment by a real Panzer IV from the Kubinka Tank Museum.   To fend off the "Tigers" the Russians fielded a modern T-80 tank and at least one vintage T-34/85. 

The reenactment was carried using only Russia army recruits.  The Russia government excluded experienced civilian living history groups from taking part.  However, what the raw recruits lacked in historical weapons, uniforms and tactics, they made up for in spirit.  From the pictures of the event it looks like the battle ended in snow ball fights and close quarters hand to hand combat.

Refitting Filmpanzer

Filmpanzer was created in September 2005 as an experiment in blogging. Its time to rethink the experiment...

Weta's Mark IV Male

In addition to turning out thousands of props for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the Weta Workshop also turned out a full scale functional replica of a World War I British Mark IV Male Tank.  The vehicle was seen at the Classic Fighters Marlborough airshow and at several other events in New Zealand over the last few years.  Additional pictures of the replica tank can be seen on the Brian's Place website.

Godzilla Crunch

No new Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor, but Images of a crushed futuristic scale model tank used as prop in the movie, "Godzilla" can be found on the website of the  Prop Model Store of London.  

It's unknown if a full scale version of the prop was used in the movie.  

Tank Girl Heart Burn

Individuals deeply concerned  about the preservation of vintage military vehicles may not want to visit this website documenting the conversion of a surplus World War II  M5 Stuart light tank for the 1995  movie "Tank Girl".

Improvised "Yankee" Armor in the Former Eastern Bloc

Soviet state film studios  made  extensive use of visually modified T-34s and T-44 tanks to portray German Tiger and Panther tanks in films about the Great Patriotic War.   Film footage of these vehicles is so common that many World War II documentaries  include images of Russian "Tigers." After the Iron Curtain came down most of these prop vehicles were scraped along with tens of thousands of other Warsaw Pact AFVs.  The German website Militärtechnik documents the fate of two of these film prop T-34s in East Germany.  What makes these vehicles unique is that they are not "Tigers."  These vehicles were visually modified to play the role of Cold War American tanks.  I have yet to determine when these vehicles were converted or in what films they were used. 

Tanks Rumble in "Richard III" Remake

The William Shakespeare's play "Richard III" was remade into a 1995 film featuring Ian McKellen as a fascist dictator of  an alternative  1930's England. The film is worth seeing just for the performance of Ian McKellen, but there are also some short but classic scenes involving armor.  The film begins with a T-55 tank smashing through the wall of the headquarters of the a doomed King Henry and movie ends with a climatic battle involving battles between T-34s and T-55s.

 My first impression was that the T-55 seen in the opening scene of the film was the "GoldenEye tank", the vehicle modified by Plus Film Services for the James Bond film "GoldenEye." This observation was based on the type of track seen on the "Richard III" T-55.  However, this first observation could be wrong because "GoldenEye" was released the same year as "Richard III."

The Beast from the "Last Crusade"

Lucasfilm built a 25 ton twin V8 powered tank for the 1989 film "Indiana Jones The Last Crusade." The design of the vehicle was loosely based on a World War I Mark VIII tank.  Additional details, side and front view photos and a illustration of the prop tank could at one time be found on the Indiana Jones fan site, Indy Gear. However, all details, photos and a illustration of the vehicle have since disappeared from the site.

Still photos of special effects work involving this vehicle can be seen at "Special Effects by George Giles."

Update: 7 August 2008 - Photos and illustration of the Last Crusade tank can no longer be found on the Indy Gear site. Text updated, links fixed, and new links added.

Detling - Military Odyssey 2005

One of the UK's largest multi-period living history event has come to end in Kent, England.  The following links are to sites featuring great photos  from Military Odyssey 2005.  The star of the show was  a newly restored Jagdpanther, however, there were many other notable tanks, halftracks and softskin vehicles present.

Stuart Gould Photography -  Stuart has galleries documenting not only reenactments from Deltring 2005, but also 2005, 2004  and 2003 War Peace Shows.

www.Tiger1.co.uk - A site dedciated to 1/6th scale Armortek vehicles has a great section with photos of Detling reenactors and vehicles.  The pictures were taken by John Sander.

 Sdkfz.com - The website of the group that completely restored the Jagpanther found serving as a range target.  Photos of the recovery and restoration can be seen in the site's gallery.

Prague Spring

This spring the Czech Republic celebrated the 60th Anniversary of their liberation from Nazi occupation with parades and displays involving numerous  modern and vintage military trucks and armored vehicles.  Images from the Prague festivities can be found on the Polish web site, Militarni.pl.

Page 1 Photos from militarni.pl

Page 2 Photos from militarni.pl

Additional Photos from militarni.pl 

Note: The T-34 "Tiger" was one of the vehicles built for the 1967  Movie "Night of the Generals"

Vintage Military Vehicles & Hollywood

Doug Greville's Heavy Metal site has been around for some time, and its good source of information on military vehicles.   Doug's article on the hazards of AFV owners doing business with the film industry is on its 6th Revision.

Some "D-Day to Berlin" Eye Candy

Historical Film Services has a series of interesting pictures of armor used in the BBC documentary "D-Day to Berlin"  (See the "Photographs of Recent Projects" page of the Historical Film Services Site).

The "D-Day to Berlin" production included among many vehicles:
-   A T-34/85 "Tiger" and both FV432 StuGs built for "Band of Brothers" 
-   Restored  Cromwell tank and Gizzly-M4 used in "Band of Brothers"
-   Several Bren Carriers
-   A T-34/85 dressed-up as a Panzer IV

Ersatz Jagdpanzer Spotted at Polish Market Garden

A "Jagdpanzer" based on a surplus Russian SU-100 was seen at reenactment of the battle of Armhem in Poznan, Poland.  A picture of this vehicle was posted on the Missing Lynx Axis Discussion Group.

Among many modifications for it's new role, the SU-100's driver hatch has been removed and good deal of sheet steel added to approximate the appearance of a Jagdpanzer IV. As a historical note, captured Soviet SU-85s were used in combat against Russian troops, but no evidence has surfaced to show that SU-100s were used by the Germans.

Additional pictures of "Warta 2005" and vehicle in question can be found on Polish web sites, the HORNER Portfolio and NaszeMiasto.pl.

Update

A recent book on Waffen SS Armor on the Eastern Front, "SS Armor on the Eastern Front 1943-45" by Velimir Vuksic, has a picture of a Captured SU-100 being used as fixed defensive strong point.

3rd Armored Div. Reenactors at Work on a German "StuG"

Once again a surplus British FV432 APC is being converted into a World War II German assault gun, this time by a US 3rd Armored Division reenacting group in the Southeastern, United States.   Shop photos of the replica StuG can been seen under the "Vehicles" section of the group's website.

Unlike the two Plus Film Services StuG IIIs  built for "Band of Brothers," the hull of this new vehicle has not been extended and sixth roadwheel added.

Ozzie Shop Builds Japanese Tanks

The first behind the scenes images of the replica Japanese tanks used in the 2005 film "The Great Raid" showed up in Dave Gile's now defunct website  "The FV432 Armored Personal Carrier Home Page."  In the photo gallery section of the website were several pictures of the fabrication of the Japanese tanks. An Australian company company called FX Illusions in Queensland converted two surplus FV434s to recreate Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks. This same Australian shop rebuilt a M3 Grant chassis into a M4 Sherman.  The Sherman never made it to the screen, as the scene it was in was cut from the film, but it has been sold and did appear in the Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman TV mini series "The Pacific."

Update: 9 August 2008 - Dead links address and text revised.  Thanks again Andy for the additional information.

More work to follow on these "Great Raid" tanks.

Update: 20 July 2008 - FX Illusions built all the tank props for "The Great Raid", not Collectors Armoury & Mlilitaria - sorry for the misinformation. I have revised the origional post to give proper credit where credit is due.