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The DIY Tank

Posted by samzenpus on from the but-how-much-is-the-insurance dept.

Will Foster, a Kettering University student, has built his own half sized Panzer tank. It took Will 2 years and around $10,000 to build his mini-tank and he says the process has been "a lot of trial and error...I'd buy a $200 part that didn't work, then go to a $300 part that didn't work before finding a $50 part that did." The tank is about as big as a small car, and can reach speeds of around 20 mph with its three-cylinder diesel engine. It runs on treads, has a cannon powered by compressed air from a scuba tank and parks wherever the hell it wants.

7 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Sane police by schwit1 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "(Police) came and they just told us to head back home, but they were also laughing at it because they had never seen anything like that before."


    It's refreshing to read about police who aren't trying to taser everything that fails to conform.

    1. Re:Sane police by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Spend more time in the real world rather than living with your bias and blinders on - and it won't be refreshing, it will be boring as hell. Because that's how most cops are.

    2. Re:Sane police by s20451 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      With a 3-cylinder engine, you could pretty much stop it with your outstretched arm.

      --
      Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
    3. Re:Sane police by Deadstick · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Just like when people mistake firecrackers for gunshots.

      ...and vice versa. When the reporter asks witnesses why they didn't call the cops right away, they're very likely to say "It didn't sound like a gun." What they really mean is "It didn't sound like a movie gun."

      I remember quite a few people who thought the gunfire in Saving Private Ryan sounded fakey -- precisely because it didn't.

      rj

    4. Re:Sane police by Thirdsin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, the article did say the body was made out of plywood, not steel. So a couple slugs from his shotgun (if he has one) would also do the trick...

      --
      No words of wisedom here.
  2. Gentlemen by AndGodSed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hats off.

    There goes a truly great future engineer...

    --

    Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity

  3. In English, Panzer doesn't mean tank by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The word "panzer" in English is a class noun that denotes a general type of tank, specifically German, usually of the WWII era.

    Words in different languages mean different things, even if the sounds are the same, and even if the word is borrowed into another language. You're not insightful for your observation - you're ignorant of language and linguistics.