Russia

Lebedenko "Tsar" Tank

The Russian Lebedenko or ”Tsar Tank”, is without doubt the most strange Armoured Fighting vehicle ever designed. It should, however, not be dismissed purely as another hare-brained scheme, but must be seen against the backdrop of the early tank development that was taking place at this time, and that in all countries was very experimental, and leading to many curious designs. The history of the Lebedenko starts in 1914 with the engineer N. Lebedenko, who came up with the idea of a motordriven battle machine, weighing some 40 tons, running on one small double-wheel, and two very large spoked wheels, in a tri-cycle arrangement. The designers hoped that this original configuration would make it possible for the vehicle to cross practically all obstacles. They initially called the vehicle Nepotir, but came to be known as the Lebedenko, after the designer. (Sometimes it was nicknamed "The Tsar ", after the financier.) It was thought that the Lebedenko should be able to reach a top speed of some 17 km/h – which was pretty impressive compared to other WW1 AFV:s. The hull of the vehicle would haveral several MG positions and one top-mounted placed turret, equipped with MG:s and/or light cannons, giving the Lebedenko a total height of some 12 meters.  The construction progressed pretty quick and in August the test began in front of a high commission. It started well, but when the vehicle moved onto some soft ground the small double wheel got stuck in a ditch. It was obvious that the engines were to small, as they were unable to free the rear double wheel. After this, the military decided against the project. So the tank stood there, until scrapped in 1923. (For more info on the Lebedenko, click here!) My model is made from Koras excellent resin kit, and has been built straight out of the box. Click on the thumbnails below to see more pics of this model.

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