I've found out that most A7V models on the market have got the dimensions of the A7V wrong. Kora, Emhar and the german 1/16 scale resin model have the sides (where the doors and exhausts are) wider at the bottom than the top. I've been in contact with Rainer Strasheim about it and he is sure that at least Mephisto has straight sides. Please let me know if it might have differed between the other A7V's
Tauro is incorrect as well. The side armour plates are too high - i.e. they go down too deep over the bogies and reach up to high, making the ascent towards the turret base too steep. - Difficult to correct because of all the rivets and the positioning of the apertures, simply cutting out a strip won't do.
Thank's a lot for the info. Does a correct model excist? For my last teapots I used the Tauro model pieces and scanned them, and converted the scale to approximately 1/25. Using drawings is hard for me because the sides taper.
Sparta Modellbau (A7V, 1st lot, Röchling, buck mount) seems to have the correct side armour plates. - However, I've not yet touched one (they seem to be quite rare, apart from expensive), and thus only can judge from photographs.
Straight sides or wider at the bottom not - I deliberated on that question for a lot of time. I mistrust the theorie that there were two versions of side armor - but never say never!
In most pictures it is a matter of the perspective and the only proof for me is that picture of 563.
If you look closer at the open front door, you can clearly see at the lower corner that the side armor is further forward than at the upper corner.
Concerning 506 it is as I mentioned bevore: one picture makes you believe that there is a straight side others pictures the direct opposite. But why should the staff of The Queensland Museum reproduce the bottom wider than the top in the official drawings, if they were straight?
Just my two cents!
Peter T.
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"Siplicity is the ultimate sophistication" -Leonardo Da Vinci-
Funny how things you have always taken for granted are often worth another look. The A7V is a nightmare in terms of perspective, but this view of Mephisto seems to bear out the theory. I think I'm right in saying that if the left and right edges of the side armour are parallel, then the angle at A should be 90 degrees, which it appears to be. If my dimly remembered geometry is faulty, I stand corrected.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
Very interesting indeed. I can see where even if you're drawing from the vehicle, looking at it, the angle could be interpreted incorrectly due to perspective and the idea that 'this is the way it should be', without questioning an optical illusion. hmmmm.
What one could do with a laser 'plumb bob' (surveying equipment). It may be that only the arsenal drawing is correct, but then again things do change during manufacturing due to one need or another.
The measurements of 506's side armour plate taken by the Australians do not support the idea that the plate was wider at the bottom. I don't have them with me at the moment, so I can't quote, but top and bottom are of the same length, confirming the original drawings of the armoured hull from 1917.
Just one additional thought: I have taken the measurements out of the Strasheim book and intermixed them with some geometry. What if the measurements had been taken along the line A to E and not to the virtual point P? Ufff! It is difficult to explain my thoughts in English - hope the sketch helps ...
For me, it remains unexplainable, why in most of the rare pictures that show an open front door, there is a (very) slight angle to be recognized
Cheers, Peter
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"Siplicity is the ultimate sophistication" -Leonardo Da Vinci-
The rear slope has 2259 mm, the central piece 1556 mm, the front slope is 2225 mm. The equivalent pieces at the bottom of the armour plate are: rear 2313 mm, central 1556 mm, front 2283 mm, adding up to 6152 mm total length. The height is front/rear 1835 mm and central 2145 mm (meassured in the vertical, not on the sloping plate, front length of the sloping plate is 1877 mm).
People who have the Brisbane Museum Mephisto book will notice that these measurements differ slightly to those given in the accompanying drawings.
Before you have a look at the 4 sides of th A7V please bear in mind that the first planings were: build males and females!
Now lets have a look at the 4 sides: at first view they seem to be totaly similar. And this does make sense, because: 1. Front and rear, especially beause you want to build females. So you only have to produce the same piece of steel twice. And if you want to produce males: only change a few things, but only produce the same plate. 2. Also left and right side. What I first noticed was, that the doors were not only at front or rear, but always on the left side.
That indicates that - in theory - you should only have two different pieces with exactly the same measurements: frot/rear and left/right.
Well ... just my 5 cents .. and .. you never know.
-- Edited by elbavaro on Sunday 30th of August 2009 10:47:48 PM
