It’s Sunday, time for another tank model, but this time it’s Lego 🙂 This one was created by killswitch95.
The Type 5 Heavy… Because everyone and their brother builds the Maus…
I absolutely love how Lego studs perfectly resemble the rivets. I was going to use 1×1 round tiles, but realized the studs look so much better…
Below are some size comparison shots against my SU-122-44 which I built in the same scale.
The tracks of the Type 5 are custom made, 5 stud wide pad, 1 stud wide center guide, and 1 stud deep center guide… This is due to Lego 5 wide tracks having a 2 stud wide center guide and after I built the suspension and realized that I was not about to start over…
The suspension is easily accessed by popping off the sideskirt panel, which is a good thing because while it would function, the strength of it is unknown…
A bit of “History”… Which is a stretch considering I’m 75% sure this is more or less a fake tank…
– The Type 5, also known as the Type 2605, was one of the variants of the O-I superheavy tank, developed during WWII. The vehicle was planned to be used for breaking through fortified enemy lines and for coastal defense.
– The Type 4 super-heavy tank, likely referred as the Type 4 O-Ro, was a second Japanese super-heavy tank design. One prototype was built and is said to be sent to Manchuria and serviced there, but no details are known.
It is apparent that there was a proposed upgrade to the vehicle. This design is often referred as either “Type 5” or “Type 2605”. However, given the vehicle was a proposed upgrade to the O-Ro, it was very likely that the full designation of the vehicle would have been “Type 5 O-Ro Kai”. The improved design was most likely meant to be lighter design that could fix some possible design faults of the O-Ro.
Biggest difference was that the Type 5 O-Ro Kai in general was lighter design than the Type 4 O-Ro while keeping the same engine, cooling system, turret and armament. The O-Ro Kai had 35 percent smaller engine copartment compared to the Type 4 O-Ro, but retains the same type of engine, resulting in a very cramped cooler design. This design has however an advantage for saving some weight, resulting into a lighter design with same engine, increasing the mobility of the vehicle. Four radiator blocks are shifted towards the rear, and, along with the separate oil cooler, are cooled with one many-bladed fan, connected to the main reductor by a crankshaft, passing between engines. Air is gathered through vertical grilles in the engine compartment, passes through vertical radiators, and is released behind the tank. If the fan breaks, the air will be partially circulated with exhaust fumes, achieved by a nozzle collector on each engine.
Not much else is known about the O-Ro Kai. It seems to have the same turret and gun with its predecessor. The vehicle was never built and remained only on papers, most likely due to the surrender of Japan.
– Its real name would have probably been “Type 5 O-Ro Kai”, which stands for “Improved 2nd Super-Heavy Tank”
Model Feature:
– Functioning suspension, 5 Bogies per side, 4 wheels per bogie
– Custom brick made track links
– Opening hull roof hatches for crew
– Elevating/Depressing gun
– Rotating turret
– Easily removable sideskirts to access suspension
– 4 Extra track links, 2 per side… Couldn’t connect the track ends together in LDD
Model Information (Via the Stud.io software):
Piece Count: 2,093
Price: $931.83
Weight: 4.21 Ibs.
Dimensions (Studs):
Length: 54.9
Width: 20.6
Height: 21.0
Dimensions (Inches):
Length: 17.3
Width: 6.5
Height: 6.6
Check out other of killswitch95’s models.
