Probably my favourite Indiana Jones film is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The combination of archaeology, mythology, nazi soldiers and lots of wonderful pulp action. Though we know the tank wasn’t real, and there was no actual historical version of it; I am sure most of us who have thought about recreating the Indiana Jones films on the table have wanted to use that tank. It appears at first glance to be a Mark VIII with a turret, the reality was that it was built specially for the film and was built up from an excavator.
I wrote back in 2012 about finding a 28mm model of the tank. I did think about buying it back then, but put off my purchase. It was originally made by the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company (HLBSCo). I did some web searching and found that the tank is available today from Empress Miniatures. Well I made the leap and ordered the tank from Empress Miniatures.
It arrived in a small brown box, but it is quite a big model. The model consists of two large complete track units.
The main hull.
I was impressed with the quality of the sculpting and the castings.
There are separate sponsons as well as the turret and the turret hatch.
You also get as part of this kit, a range of stowage and baggage. When this was sold by Copplestone Castings, the baggage was an add-on extra to the model.
You can break this down into bundles of tarpaulins or other materials (maybe tents) as well as what are probably roles of barbed wire, or telephone cables.
Then there are wooden beams, jerry cans and what look like metal storage containers.
I did start to then look at the original film and stills to see how I could add the stowage to the tank.
A slightly wider shot of the other side of the tank.
The stowage supplied is similar, but doesn’t quite match what we see on the prototype, but this model isn’t supposed to be an exact copy, it’s more like “inspired by” the film tank.
The next step will be to start constructing the tank.
See the full workbench feature on the Mark IX Beast tank.