Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Tank?

I have been wondering the same for some time now. First time I saw the movie I didn't really pay attention, I hadn't started modelling armor yet. But when I recently saw it again, I was actually looking at it with armor modeler's eyes
It looks like a WWI tank indeed. I have to agree about the turret, it shouldn't be there. On the other hand, it could be an evolved version of the Mk. VI Male? Anyone know anything about British "interbellum" armor (since the Last Crusade is set in about 1933 or so)???

Hello Falcon... A reply to your reply...

I know for a fact, (I should have said that) that the turrett does not belong. As I said, I have seen the real thing used in the movie, there are infact two, one a real tank, and one a mock up towed by a car for the scene when Henry Jones (Sean Connery) falls on the tracks and Indy saves him by wrapping the whip around his foot...remember...but the other tank is an actual WWI tank..I was even inside it and saw whwre they removed the old engine and added 2 VW bug engines to run it. The Turrett is Welded on.

What are you working on model wise for it? I am intending to build the scene where the Kubelwagen is caught on the barrell of the cannon and they fire it off. Or at least till I change my mind again. Want the pics I have?

Steve

Definitely a Mk VI, and it had some turret rather weirdly stuck atop it, if I remember correctly a british infantry tank's turret, but I don't remember which one, as it's been years since the one and only time I saw the movie (didn't float my boat).

Not that it matters. I mean, just look at that Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe aircraft they had in the first movie -- who didn't love that contraption! And unlike many model kits these days, that plane came with a tail swastika.

Take a look at VP's signature WW1 tank, it's got the basic idea of the Indy tanks but i think the side guns are a bit different.

Would one of the Emhar releases work if a modeller wants to build the tank from the movie?

lol.. Now remember guys, this is a movie, who said it had to be accurate???
They probably took the WWI tank and welded the turret just so the Nazi dude had somewhere to hang on to when he went over the cliff..lol

I still want to know why the Germans where driving around in a Rolls Royce? And what where the planes that chased them fro the Zepplan? I think they might be a Pilatus PC-2 or something like that, seen one painted in German markings and looked like the ones in the Last Crusade. Also whats with the Africa corps insignia on thetailgate of the truck? Wasn't 1938?

It was 1938, i think the fighters were messchersmitts of some sort, i dont see anything wrong with the Afrika Korps insignia....

Ok guys,

The aviation infiltrator has to speak up on this one ;)
The "fighters" in Last Crusade were, in fact German Arado Ar-96s. Trainers, to be sure, but definitely well portrayed in the movie. The 96 was basically the German equivalent of the T-6 on our side of things.... the last step before getting to the fighters! Hell, you wouldn't need more than a pair of pilots eager to prove themselves in the 96 to down two civilians in a biplane! ;)

QUOTE: Originally posted by kaleu Would one of the Emhar releases work if a modeller wants to build the tank from the movie?

Yes, that's a good place to start -- their Mk IV. (Sorry guys, I mistakenly typed Mk VI in my earlier reply.) Rent the movie, see what kind of turret they popped on the top, and convert that sucker!

Emhar makes both a 1/72 and a 1/35 kit of the Mk IV, which was the main heavy tank produced in WWI.

Does anyone remember if the Emhar kits are Male, Female, or options for both? I don't recall whether the movie tank was Male or Female.

Found this on the web (6/6/03) at www.indianjone.de/indy3/texte/making_of_03.php

'lumbering mass of steel' was a fully functional replica of a German 1917 International Mark 7 army tank used in World War I, designed and built by George Gibbs. According to Gibbs building this tank was the most difficult task of the film. These tanks were thirty-six feet long and weighed twenty-eight tons and only seven or eight of them were built for the First World War.

Happy modeling!

Thanks for the info, Larry_Dunn. I have seen the Male and Female versions of Emhar kits at the hobby stores in Indy. Now I have another "good" reason to go to the hobby store and buy more kits.

QUOTE: What are you working on model wise for it?

I must admit I had not yet made any plans, although I have had the idea floating in the back of my head. Guess I will have to go through now...
Perhaps I will go with one of the Emhar tanks and modify them somewhat. The turret looks kinda familiar. I would have to see the movie again, but the turret looks a bit like a Hotchkiss/Somua turret?

QUOTE: Want the pics I have?

That would be great!!!!

The tank used in the movie is not a Mark IV (4). Too short for that. Nor the 'Tadpole' variant of the Mk IV. It looks like a Mk V (5) or a Mk VI (6), but has obviously been converted with removal of the front 'box' that housed the driver and a machine gunner ( I think!), installation of a new 'glacis' and obviously, the addition of a turret, which the original never had. Conversion from a Mk IV from Emhar (the male, with the gun sponsons) should be possible, but it will mean the addition of several side panels to make the vehicle much longer and also the need for extra lenghts of tracks.

I forgot to look up the German MkVI "International" last night (from 1917) to see how accurate the movie's replica is. However, if I remember correctly, the German tank looked more like a British / American Mk VIII (also called an International), so I think a Mk IV wouldn't be the best place to start.
If I were modeling this, I'd make some scale (or even close to scale) drawings, use templates and make it out of styrene. Since the movie prop used cat. tracks, those would be easy to replicate in resin or styrene for that matter.
Sounds like one of you could make one, photo the process and present a NICE article for FSM!

Also, the article on the web stated that Bovington has a representation of the 'pattern' vehicle. They're on the web and a great source of information. Maybe try contacting them.

just adding my two pence worth to this debate I have got a copy of the star wars archives book by mark cotta vaz and shinji hata. this includes indiana jones archives too. the plane was a pilatus pc2 a later derivative of the arado deign i belive.the biplane reg no D-EAQV was a modified stampe sv4. Now for the tank, The book states that it was "A motorized replica of a mark 7 german tank from world war 1. only eight such tanks had actualy been built for the war , and with the only surviving tank a none functioning museum piece, mechanical director George Gibbs and his crew had to construct thair full scale replica from scratch" The book is a good reference for modeling the film props and i hope they dont mind me quoting from it. hope this helps.....Gregers

I had forgoten about this part of the 'Star wars Archives' book, and Gregers is right. However, there no such a thing as a German Mk VII (as far as I know). The British MkVIII (8) 'International' is indeed the closest thing to the tank featuring in the movie! But it's not a MkVIII. The movie's tank was built from scratch, and although it looks like a MkVIII with a turret, it's not a MkVIII. The profile shows that the prop has narrower front and back ends (the angles are more acute) than on the real MkVIII. Other details differ too. The book has side and front view production illustrations that would be helpful to anyone intending to model this vehicle, and also has a nice shot of the real prop, also a side view, that shows a few differences from the illustrations. Here's a picture of a 1/76 MkVIII:

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.van.oerle/landshp/cr-mk81.jpg

Being a resin kit, I'm not certain it would not be simply easier to scratch the whole thing, mostly as the tracks of the prop are very different anyway. The turret seems to be a fairly simple affair.

QUOTE: The book states that it was "A motorized replica of a mark 7 german tank from world war 1. only eight such tanks had actualy been built for the war , and with the only surviving tank a none functioning museum piece

This description sounds like the German A7V, I believe there is / was one located in a museum in Australia. But there is no way on earth that the tank in the movie even comes close to an A7V. Sounds like Hollywood's describing the wrong beast.

Here's a pic of an A7V. The sources state 20 made and only one survivor, Mephisto, which resides in a Queensland Australia Museum.

Queensland Australia???!!!!
Are you sure thats not something Ned Kelly rigged up?

If you're modeling the tank from Indiana Jones, whats it matter if it has a historical counterpart? Its a model of the tank in Indiana Jones. Its Hollywood!!!

IJ gets to fight with two German soldiers in a truck doing 50 mph and a staff car loaded with mp toting nazis (why they just didn't pull over and beat him stupid or shoot him is beyond me....)

The moving going public wanted to see a Harrison Ford beat up nazis and destroy a tank. They got that and were none the wiser.

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by crazy_995 i dont see anything wrong with the Afrika Korps insignia....

The Germans weren't heavily involved in Africa until summer of 1941, and the "AK" wasn't created until then. All of the IJ movies are set pre-war (1938?).

Speilburg being the director and all, you would think he would know better then to have the Africa Corps in 1938. This is the man who made "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" after all. My dad thinks he just likes makeing films about killing lots of Nazis, since he is Jewish. LOL.
Not only that but George Lucas is a perfectionist with his films you would also think he would have done his research better. But when it is all said and done it is only a fictional film anyway and a great one at that. Don't forget the guy playing Hitler looked nothing like him.
But the tank wasn't supposed to be German anyway, was of some made up Arab country, which might have bought some old WWI British tanks and modified them, them selves to suit their needs.

good point monsieur flicfrancais... hey thats got a good ring to it. i dunno maybe its just they found an original opel blitz and bunged it into the movie

sweet obadiah, that pic of the A7V takes me way back to that good old turnbased WW1 strategy game with the hexagons and things... what was it called again?

Originally posted by panzeriv Speilburg being the director and all, you would think he would know better then to have the Africa Corps in 1938. This is the man who made "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" after all. end of quote You would think, huh. But when you look at it, there are some historical inacuracies in SPR too. For example, the Germans didn't deploy one or two Tiger tanks here and there, they were massed together in battalions (or in Panzer Divisions) to have the greatest firepower possible. And to add to that, there were no Tiger battalions in the American sectors in Normandy (at least for the first couple weeks after D-Day). And one thing that drove me nuts when I saw SPR was why do the Tiger tanks never fire their machine guns? They only ever fire the main gun. I think what makes BoB so good is the fact that Hanks got the WW2 bug from SPR, and that Stephen Ambrose (may he rest in peace) and the actual vetrans had involvement (Winters, etc.). Reply Edit Build22 Member since May 2003 From: Upstate NY Posted by Build22 on Monday, June 9, 2003 6:21 AM Here's a chance to make one. This is the closest thing I have seen to it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3134509046&category=2588 Sorry, I can't get it to link Jim [IMG] Reply Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 9, 2003 7:45 AM Finally had a chance to look over my books and such for the 'pattern' vehicle for the Jones' tank. Not German... no MK 7 from Germany. I still say, use the British / US Mk VIII as a pattern, has that 'late rhomboid' look to it and is as close as you'll get to the movie prop. By the way, Aberdeen once had an A7V, but scrapped it during WWII... it's time to sob here guys and gals. Reply Edit Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 9, 2003 9:38 AM Whoops, looks like it's been too long since I saw the movie! Reply Edit Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 5:42 AM I read in a magazine recestly about a tank the Germans were building near the end of WWI which was a copy of the British Mk. VII called the A7V/U and it wasn't the A7V we all know. It was only a short paragraph but it caught my eye after reading all these messages in here. Not sure if has anythign to do with Indiana Jones but thought it was interesting anyway. Might be something worth exploring more on. It said that it wasn't finished by the time the war ended. Reply Edit 12 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY! Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account. Login Register SEARCH FORUMS FREE NEWSLETTER SIGN UP By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy. FORUMS PRODUCT REVIEWS READER GALLERY HOW TO VIDEOS SHOP ABOUT US FREE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER SIGN UP By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy. More great sites from Kalmbach Media Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy