[MOC] The Collomp 1- man Tank

[greg3]

I came across this strange armoured vehicle on the Tanks Encyclopedia website and thought "That'd make a cool little build!!". 

The original was designed by Joseph Francois Raymon Collomp of Marseilles in early 1940 and was intended to be a 1 man "tank" - although its main role was actually to clear/lay mines. According to Collomp's patent, it would have been powered by electric motors mounted in the rear and the driver would lie prone inside it with a machine gun in front of him. A front mounted roller was supposed to detonate mines and a hatch in the bottom allowed the operator to lay/diffuse mines. The whole thing was just over 2m long and only 50cm high!! (if anything my version is too tall!) 

Unsurprisingly, it never went into into production!!

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

Side view (the tiled section represents the driver's hatch - one on either side)

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

Front view showing the mine roller (don't think I'd want to be inside if it set off a mine!) and machine gun

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

The roller can be raised/lowered

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

Rear view

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

He doesn't look keen does he? (luckily he can't actually fit in!!) 

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

I love learning about weird inventions like this... however impractical they'd be. 

Anyway, thanks for looking... comments are welcome!!

[Flashback333]

There were many bizarre tanks like this out there in the first and even in the second World War. For example, the mine exploder T-10 in WWII (also a remote-controlled tank-prototype) was a tricycle on an M4 Sherman chassis 

Great job!