While browsing through Google Books the other day, I came across the publication Power Wagon Reference Book, (PWR) which included a number of blueprints of American trucks circa 1920. As most trucks of the day were equipped with a cutsom body added to a standard chassis, only the latter and a few cabs are shown. Desired blueprints were easily saved and converted into black and white drawings thanks to Photoshop Elements.As good as the drawings were, there was no information as to scale.So I started a search to determine the wheelbase of each as a starting point.This turned out to be more of a task than originally envisioned;many were found in PWR; others in one or more of the Automotive Year Book, also found on Google Books. (I have yet to determine all of the wheelbases.)
Continuing my searching through other Google Books for out-of-copyright material, I came across several military publications such as the 1919 Handbook of Ordnance Data and the Annual Report of the Quartermaster General to the House of Representatives in 1920.The former included a wealth of photos and general information plus a few additional chassis; the latter gave a wealth of data concerning types and use of vehicles.
When merged together, the above publications allowed me to be develop a matrix with general information of American-made vehicles used by the United States and allied countries during World War I.When sufficiently edited, I hope to upload it to the Landship II files. (But this will have to wait until my taxes are done!)By no means is the matrix complete and a number of errors have likely crept in.However, I image that many of you will have additional informationandcorrections to add . . . and I hope you will!
My question is as to similar downloadable material for vehicles from other nations.Can any of you recommend sites for free, out-of-copyright plans of other vehicles? I say out-of-copyright as I have no desire to trespass on the work of others. I suggest that an effort to construct such a catalog on the Landship II site would be a fitting remembrance to mark the anniversary of World War I.
Sounds like a great addition to Landships II. Use the address in the "Contact" section to get stuff loaded on Landships II. I'd make the point that providing
links to downloadable materials isn't a good long term strategy - websites come and go with a fairly short half life so it's better to host copies of diagrams, etc
if you want to keep them accessible. If you want an example of how bad linking is as a long term strategy try some of the links in Wikipedia - I'd guess about
