1st Hussars and Holy Roller & Perry Kitson

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Holy Roller leaves Victoria Park (June 2021):

https://youtu.be/qS2OX0n-VK8

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Holy Roller leaves Victoria Park (June 2021):

https://youtu.be/qS2OX0n-VK8

$70,000 to move and $250,000 to sandblast and paint?? And that's with volunteer help???? ?? Maybe I'm missing something but for that kind of money you could probably give Holly Roller a full restoration and maybe even get it running. I'm a little put off it's going back outside on its concrete pad, but that's just me.

[David Dunlop]

You’re not alone, Bruce.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

You’re not alone, Bruce.

I bet for 10 grand you could cast a decent fiberglass copy to keep the park dwellers happy (that's assuming they don't 'cancel it' because of its violent oppressor past anyway. I note that fiberglass Spitfires are replacing rare and expensive real ones on plinths) and spend all that moola to do the works on the original. Damned if it doesn't deserve it.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

$70,000 to move and $250,000 to sandblast and paint?? And that's with volunteer help????

Heh, and to think another Sherman is being restored back to presentable condition on a budget of €75,000, or about CAN$110,000 at the moment. I guess some of the difference may be explained by that one being done mostly by museum volunteers, with help to move it from the Army, but still … CAN$320,000 sounds like this one is being done entirely by commercial companies.

[James P]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

$70,000 to move and $250,000 to sandblast and paint?? And that's with volunteer help???? ?? Maybe I'm missing something but for that kind of money you could probably give Holly Roller a full restoration and maybe even get it running. I'm a little put off it's going back outside on its concrete pad, but that's just me.

No Bruce. It is not just you who feels that way about the fate of the tank. Thats a crazy amount of money spent for what end...........that veteran tank deserves better.

[Michael R.]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

$70,000 to move and $250,000 to sandblast and paint?? And that's with volunteer help???? ?? Maybe I'm missing something but for that kind of money you could probably give Holly Roller a full restoration and maybe even get it running. I'm a little put off it's going back outside on its concrete pad, but that's just me.

Bruce: if we accept your interpretation of cost estimates presented in the video:
CAD $70,000.00 to move it... is that one way to the shop?
CAD $250,000.00 for refurbishment by volunteer staff and students at Fanshawe College. . .

the video may have done more fund raiser damage than good.

How alarming it is to see the disparity of commercial interests between different countries. I wager in a country that was liberated during WWII, an opportunity to participate in such an event may not be financially motivated.

Perhaps someone at the project could explain the cost estimates in terms such as time and materials? Perry? Gordon?

If the current information is accurate, I am less motivated to financially support such disbursements.


.

[Bob Carriere]

Not that we could do much about it....

But one item....sandblasting...would be huge. A commercial firm would have to contain all the sand and paint particles and dispose of it in a special contaminated soil dump site bagged and in sealed 45 gallon drums....... we are lucky to be able to sand blast in rural areas with almost total disregards to safety, municipal, provincial regulations and laws. Shhhhttttttt!

Now imagine doing the inside after stripping all the components.

.....and then some idiot will paint on it in blood red as it is an instrument of mass destruction. In my mind, so is a helpful serving of pork and beans.

Nothing to cheer about.

[Michael R.]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Not that we could do much about it....

But one item....sandblasting...would be huge. A commercial firm would have to contain all the sand and paint particles and dispose of it in a special contaminated soil dump site bagged and in sealed 45 gallon drums...

Now imagine doing the inside after stripping all the components.
...
Nothing to cheer about.

Yeah, Bobbie, however: if it is simply being returned to sit outside and go through the deterioration process again, why bother with the inside? For that matter, why bother at all? What a colossal waste.

I wonder what the invoice would look like if the vehicle had been transported to Franklins in Woodstock. Given that a similar hull of an SPG was done there for less than $2,000.00 it makes me wonder if we got the facts straight on how the $250k is to be spent.

[rob love]

The museum here in Shilo had a Russian tank sandblasted in situ and camo'd with Enduro primer and paint. Now this was about 4 years ago but the whole job cost $4500. For the price of $250,000 I suspect you will be getting a lot more than a sandblast and a paint job. But there is no point going too far in restoration for a static monument. Any glass you put into it like headlamps or vision blocks will just become target practice for the local youth.

[Ed Storey]

It is the same old story, we love this tank so much that we want to spend a small fortune to restore it only to once again stick it outside in a park to let the kids climb on it and the birds nest in it. I like Bruce's idea to have a fibreglass copy made to place in the park so that the original can be properly restored, but sadly that kind of progressive thinking usually does not come to mind by the people who organize these types of high-profile vanity projects.