Mariya Oktyabrskaya & the Fighting Girlfriend
Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:36 am
So, I have confession. I bought two second-hand tanks at the same time and I must thank sassgrunt for very kindly sending some more the parts for this build. I am very excitedly awaiting their arrival!
I wanted to focus a bit more on the people around the tanks than the tanks itself for this build, I found the story of Mariya Oktyabrskaya interesting and tragic. Also, her tank the fighting girlfriend seems to be well documented. Although I am struggling to find original references, Mark Felton states that there where 4 tanks that had the name fighting girlfriend, but I can find where he got this information, I would like to find out what happened to the original tank and the fate of the other three crew members she fought with.
So on to the build. Sadly its not going to be hype accurate as I got a 76mm turret but have since found the fighting girlfriend was a slightly different design, however my main aim with this build it to have Mariya’s view from within the tank, so I plan to install a camera with a gimbal inside the tank, so as the tank moves the camera will get thrown around just as the crew would rather than simply have the camera bolted down like its part of the tank. I want to convey a feeling of being shut in the tank and the limited viewpoint of the world form with it. So hopefully what will arrive soon is the trumpeter interior that I can model the inside of the tank.
This is leaving a number of challenges as the build is basically going to have to be built around the gimbal that will need space to move. It will have to be under the turret ring for space and the viewpoint. I think I am going to have to put the battery in the turret, I don’t have a clue about the speaker. It would help a lot to have it and with T34 noises but right now I know a lot of people have strong feeling about tank noises so I’ll gloss over that one! I’ve also got to remove the power switch as you can see from the demo video it keeps getting in the shot and install interior lights so that the camera can see what is going on. I still want to keep it as a fully functioning RC tank.
I got a control system that I believe is Heng long 5.3? I have compact lipo batteries that I use to run my Panzer III. I’ve attached an image and if someone could identify it that would be nice as I can then check the compatibility. Also what is the physically smallest battery on the market? And smallest speaker sadly the gimbal camera does not have a 3.5mm port otherwise I could have plugged it directly in.
I’m not starting this project until after Christmas but any advice, inspiration but particularly any reference material on Mariya Oktyabrskaya would be gratefully received.
I wanted to focus a bit more on the people around the tanks than the tanks itself for this build, I found the story of Mariya Oktyabrskaya interesting and tragic. Also, her tank the fighting girlfriend seems to be well documented. Although I am struggling to find original references, Mark Felton states that there where 4 tanks that had the name fighting girlfriend, but I can find where he got this information, I would like to find out what happened to the original tank and the fate of the other three crew members she fought with.
So on to the build. Sadly its not going to be hype accurate as I got a 76mm turret but have since found the fighting girlfriend was a slightly different design, however my main aim with this build it to have Mariya’s view from within the tank, so I plan to install a camera with a gimbal inside the tank, so as the tank moves the camera will get thrown around just as the crew would rather than simply have the camera bolted down like its part of the tank. I want to convey a feeling of being shut in the tank and the limited viewpoint of the world form with it. So hopefully what will arrive soon is the trumpeter interior that I can model the inside of the tank.
This is leaving a number of challenges as the build is basically going to have to be built around the gimbal that will need space to move. It will have to be under the turret ring for space and the viewpoint. I think I am going to have to put the battery in the turret, I don’t have a clue about the speaker. It would help a lot to have it and with T34 noises but right now I know a lot of people have strong feeling about tank noises so I’ll gloss over that one! I’ve also got to remove the power switch as you can see from the demo video it keeps getting in the shot and install interior lights so that the camera can see what is going on. I still want to keep it as a fully functioning RC tank.
I got a control system that I believe is Heng long 5.3? I have compact lipo batteries that I use to run my Panzer III. I’ve attached an image and if someone could identify it that would be nice as I can then check the compatibility. Also what is the physically smallest battery on the market? And smallest speaker sadly the gimbal camera does not have a 3.5mm port otherwise I could have plugged it directly in.
I’m not starting this project until after Christmas but any advice, inspiration but particularly any reference material on Mariya Oktyabrskaya would be gratefully received.