Howdy for a third time, sport fans!
I hope everyone out there had a very happy Fourth of July. It's the time of year when we remember how our great nation won its independence from the sinister British by throwing quarter sticks of dynamite into dumpsters. I'm continuing to make great progress on "My Tank is Fight" with the help of Mike and Josh. We're about at the halfway mark on the book and every single invention makes me more and more excited about how the book is going to turn out. I just finished my write-up for the Type XI-B "U-Cruiser" and Mike should be handing me his rough drafts on the mechanical illustrations any minute. Next up I am going to tackle a really wild invention called the Heliofly, or as I like to call it: "The most dangerous backpack mankind has ever known."
For this update I would like to explain how all the components of a single chapter come together, in this case the P. 1500 Monster I mentioned in last month's update.
The first step is always just picking which of the inventions I would like to cover next. I've got a master list of about thirty inventions that I think are worth putting in the book. They won't all make it in, so I get to pick and choose. I base my decision on how interesting I think the invention is, how cool the illustrations might be, and how funny I can make it. In the case of the Monster I knew I had one of the most visually appealing and interesting inventions and I could be funny, but I also knew I had my work cut out for me. The Monster was devised as a huge tracked artillery platform weighing more than 2,000 tons and mounting the 800mm "Dora" railway gun.
Very little information exists about the Monster and its development history so I couldn't just cross-reference sources and compile a new article. I dug into component research, something I do whenever there is not a lot of information about the overall invention. In the case of the Monster I had the 800mm gun itself to use as the centerpiece of this research, as well as the designer and manufacturer (Krupp), the engines, and additional armament. All of these things combined can help flesh out a chapter and serve as glue for all of the scraps of evidence and information about the invention. With the Monster I was able to extrapolate and theorize on things like recoil compensation and reloading logistics for the Monster by thoroughly researching the 800mm railway gun.
Once I had my article written I handed it over to Mike Doscher. Mike created two illustrations for the vehicle (one that has NEVER been illustrated!) depicting the Monster with its gun "stowed" for travel and the Monster fully deployed and ready to fire. I think they are some of Mike's best work and they really show off the detail he puts into the illustrations for the book. Keep in mind these are rough drafts. The final illustrations are all cleaned up and inked.
