Achilles

[Harry Moon]

A remarkable piece of work built from only the slimmest pieces of a range target. This was supposed to be the big debut, the day didn't work out that way and these video's weren't supposed to see the light of day to preserve some pride. But they have been on you tube for a year now so might as well share it with everybody here.
this is the first of several on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFQJ1u4p_Vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lz93Ali4bg

Disaster!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAx28XLJYu4

You can look at the rest posted by the same guy including getting some early look at the "Highway Thru Hell" guys.
N.O.S. brake shoes disintegrated!

[Bob Carriere]

MIssed a shift or the track steering/brake system fail completely.......

Imagine the towing bill......two tow trucks.... to bad they did not film it for Highway through Hell.......

T(h)anks for posting.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Harry Moon

N.O.S. brake shoes disintegrated!

I think this may be your answer Bob.

Note the O in NOS means the parts are old. One must take that into account when trying to use things that have shelf life, or in some cases, where shelf life isn't normally a consideration.

[jdmcm]

Harry I do not think you are representing this replica honestly. It was not "restored" from a range target...it was a complete fabrication starting with a tub from a forestry yarder...not even a tank hull. Yes it is a incredible piece of fabrication but a restoration it is not. I have seen the articles in the local paper where the owner and chief fabricator claims the hull and turret were located in a scrap yard in Calgary...I think such outright misrepresentations shed a poor light on the entire MV community. It has always amazed me that instead of being proud of the skill required to fabricate this machine from scratch, the owner is intent on deceiving us all into thinking it is a genuine M10 much less an Achilles. Perhaps the owner would like to provide the serial # from the hull of this "range wreck"?

[David Herbert]

I agree with John but there may be more going on here than outright misreprisentation. Some years ago a friend converted an OT810 halftrack to look like a WW2 German one. He later sold it (described accurately) and a couple of years later was talking about it to the new owner who was now adamant that it was real. He had evidently convinced himself that the illusion had turned to fact. My friend decided that it was better to walk away.

Has the "Achillies" got the proper 5 speed gearbox and if so why does he only use 1st gear? The classic reasion for having no brakes in a Sherman is that someone puts EP90 into the transmission which very effectively stops the brake bands gripping ! This one did seem to steer ok though in the earlier videos so probably not that cause. I think it was probably just driver error developing into panic. Luckily the guy riding on the rear decks (a very bad idea as demonstrated here) had the sense to not try to jump and laid down behind the turret till they stopped. Had he jumped he could easily have fallen back against the moving tank as happened to someone I know with life changing results.

David

[Ed Storey]

Canadian Military museums are full of vehicles on display that have been painted or altered to be something that they are not. So, in order to 'stir-the-pot', what is wrong with this fellow's restoration? Just asking.

I agree, the fakes and reproductions need to be recorded as such, and that fabricating these examples only muddies the waters for those who actually care about and study these machines.

[David Herbert]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

So, in order to 'stir-the-pot', what is wrong with this fellow's restoration? Just asking.

I think that the issue is that it's not a restoration or even a replica ! It is home made with genuine running gear. It has no meaningfull history. As John said it is a great achievement to build something on this scale but it is not an accurate reproduction and from the video evidence does not work very well - though that could be more the driver. I can certainly see the point of building replicas of interesting vehicles but unless they are identical to the original they are just look-alikes and of no historic value. Other views are available !

David

[Harry Moon]

Well this is a dark side of our community! You can "restore" an airplane from the serial number out but pull pieces off of a range and only use what was salvageable, very little in this case and you got shot down. People don't come here for that crap, we have a pretty good crowd, obviously there are exceptions.

[Harry Moon]

Originally Posted by jdmcm

Harry I do not think you are representing this replica honestly. It was not "restored" from a range target...it was a complete fabrication starting with a tub from a forestry yarder...not even a tank hull. Yes it is a incredible piece of fabrication but a restoration it is not. I have seen the articles in the local paper where the owner and chief fabricator claims the hull and turret were located in a scrap yard in Calgary...I think such outright misrepresentations shed a poor light on the entire MV community. It has always amazed me that instead of being proud of the skill required to fabricate this machine from scratch, the owner is intent on deceiving us all into thinking it is a genuine M10 much less an Achilles. Perhaps the owner would like to provide the serial # from the hull of this "range wreck"?

I never said restored but if that's your thing maybe we can debate that someday.

[Frank v R]

Bruce, don't break an antenna, go wave the flag

[jdmcm]

No Harry the dark side of this hobby is having the military police "invite" you to an interview at 39Brigade ASU to see if you have any knowledge about parts stolen from a DND monument Sherman tank entrusted to the same people who can't seem to tell the difference between a replica and a real M10. How did the Investigating officer phrase it...oh yeah...THEFT OF A WEAPONS SYSTEM...that's what they call it evidently when you steal the cannon from a tank. You want to talk dark side? These guys keep up their crap and we will all get legislated right out of this hobby....replicas will be all we will have left.

I am not opposed to replicas in any way shape or form...they are great and do give people a great way into what has become an increasingly expensive hobby...I fabricate stuff for my vehicles all the time...be proud of what you can do...what I am opposed to is intentional deception...and thieves...

[rob love]

Originally Posted by jdmcm

No Harry the dark side of this hobby is having the military police "invite" you to an interview at 39Brigade ASU to see if you have any knowledge about parts stolen from a DND monument Sherman tank entrusted to the same people who can't seem to tell the difference between a replica and a real M10. How did the Investigating officer phrase it...oh yeah...THEFT OF A WEAPONS SYSTEM...that's what they call it evidently when you steal the cannon from a tank. You want to talk dark side? These guys keep up their crap and we will all get legislated right out of this hobby....replicas will be all we will have left.

I am not opposed to replicas in any way shape or form...they are great and do give people a great way into what has become an increasingly expensive hobby...I fabricate stuff for my vehicles all the time...be proud of what you can do...what I am opposed to is intentional deception...and thieves...

I'll assume this is related to the incredible shrinking tank thread that used to be on the G503 forum. I always wondered what the conclusion to that was.