My thought has always been, if they’re interesting (modification-wise) or historically significant in some way, they should be added. So, i.e., stuff like Tiger 131 (having her in the German TT would be nice as well, though I’d imagine the legal hurdles would be something else entirely with all the patents Bovington has regarding it), the British Up-Armored Jagdpanther, the Panther Cuckoo, Italian Semovente B1 etc.
Not just the West, the idea’s been spreading for quite a while. There’s even a group in Japan that is restoring a Chi-Ha to running order, and the JGSDF runs a Type 89 I-Go every so often. It’s a cool concept, and I fully support it. Still nothing takes the cake from Kevin Wheatcroft, I mean, the man is restoring four Tiger Is, two Tiger IIs, a Jagdtiger, an Elefant, four Panthers, four Hetzer/G.13s, 13 different M4 Shermans of several varieties; among other things.
Turret swaps are a time-honored tradition and something legit every country in the world has done. It’s given us some truly “Galaxy Brain” level stuff that would be quite nice to see in-game.
Aye, just figured it deserves a mention that there are allegations they did exist, according to late-war docs.
Highly disagree with historical significance apart from the up armoured jagdpanther since it was a modification the vehicle with historical significance can just come as limited time skins maybe a blog about the vehicle and it’s capture no need to add new vehicles into tech trees that don’t need them
The Italian Semovente B1 Bis is actually somewhat unique. It was one of a handful of B1 Bis produced and pressed into service by France without a turret. When the Italians got their hands on it for evaluation, they added a heavy armored plate over the turret opening,
The French produced ones had no such cover, so they were open-topped. In the case of one of them, No.505, it received an additional rear fuel tank, necessitating the rear be extended.
Both the Italian Semovente B1 Bis and French B1 Bis No.505 are sufficiently distinct from each other and the in-game B1 Bis to warrant adding, possibly as squadron or premium vehicles around BR 2.0.
These also wouldn’t be as painful to play as one would imagine. The Naeder system should allow all B1 variants to have hull aiming, but this is currently unrepresented.
In fact, yes, and they did. Bovington has several ownership patents. So, legally speaking, with Tiger 131, its design, its image, and the name “Tiger 131”, among other things, are legally owned by Bovington. Any other institution is usually required to pay them royalties for using the name Tiger 131. It’s quite a fascinating thing they’ve managed to do, and it makes me wonder if they’ll do the same for Tiger II V2 as that’s their new big restoration project.
Its modified by Italy with extra armor so I’m fine with it popping up. It’s also something the Italian community has been heavily requesting.
Granted, Russia has also been doing it more often. I think their latest one was the Object 279 and the IS-7, which were restored last year, I believe.
Maus and the Panther II (G) aren’t even scratching the surface, there, my friend. Those aren’t even the cool and or cursed examples, there’s a ton of wild turret swaps, including but not limited to the:
Yes, I can definitely see how subjective it is. To address your point about the Maus. With turret swaps, the Maus wouldn’t be counted. If anything, it’s a relatively standard operation that was done to it, sort of like taking the turret from one M1A1 and installing it on another M1A1. It’s adjacent to standard tank maintenance. The Panther II G, on the flip side, is taking a turret not originally intended for the II and slapping it on the hull. That’s where we get into the territory of it being a modification, similar to my examples.
+1 from me would love to see more captured vehicles as long as they come with very distinct skins to distinguish them from there actual nation counterparts for sim purposes
I’ll be honest, I do not want german vehicles in american TT nor do I want american vehicles in german TT, unless they are modified or given or bought (in some amount) and not captured.
Hull 9 and 10 were cut with different ring diameter and roof armor to be used with turm II, hulls 1 and 2 could both use original turret and mockup. Mockup one existed because first turret was late.
