Long waits over

Well one more from my bucket list realised getting to Bovington was now out of reach but Queensland is almost my back door well 3500 kilometres away !

Finally I can say I have laid hands on and seen up close and personal a PzKpfw VI Ausf. E Tiger 1 and what a dream come true for myself.
It is a static display but the museum is hard at work and moving towards over the next years to make it a runner so 131 will not be alone I hope I get to see her running.
She stands with her other cats a running Panther (One of only 6 in the world) alongside a static Jagdpanther.

All up there is the very start of Germany's WWII tanks right through to their bigger tanks and TD's with over 440 exhibits o/all there it takes a couple of visits just to take it all in.
The Arms & Armour Museum in Qld is well worth it, a privately owned museum yes 1 person ! it's the 4th largest of its type in the world.
I have so many pic's it is going to take a fair while to sort through them.
To give you some clarity as to costs they purchased the Panther a while ago from the English persons who did it up over a period of 4 years to a running factory finish and the cost you may ask?
A mere $14 million British Pounds or $28 million/Aud + shipping & insurance thats big $'s for 1 tank, but what a tank..........

Of a side note the owner is sending a Grant from his property to be refurbed at the museum so they can do a swap for another AFV from another museum.
So hows that just take a Grant I have lying around on my property to do up so I can swap it for something else we need.

The Panther was restored just down the road from here.


Panther, the Big Cat is Heading Down Under | War History Online

Cinders, years ago while visiting the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California I was surprised to see an M3 Lee undergoing restoration in their aircraft hangar. I asked the docent present why a historical aircraft museum was restoring a Lee tank and was quickly corrected and told the tank was a Grant that they had recovered from the Australian desert. I don't remember any of the facts regarding the tank but it appears at least one of Australia's 777 Grants has found its way back to the U.S.

Good to see you there Cinders...

The pics I have of the Aussie Grants (They have 3 on display) 2 have our patented wire grenade guards fitted one has I think the extra front glacis plate, the Lee has the 3rd turret with the 30 cal MG in it.
They do have one of the very rare welded hull Grants not many of them left along with a Tortoise flail tank the only one left in the world one exhibit where there are only 4 left worldwide and other AFV's for me it was like there is so much here ?

The twins who restored the Panther come to the Qld Arms & Armour fest every August as guests but sadly I cannot really justify the $2,500/Aud they charge to have a ride in the Panther on that day.

I'll post a few pics of what I think you guys will like to see here as there was so much gear.

Here is from last to first SU 152 mm assault gun, T34/85, T34/76.

Then at the rear on the left you can just make out the SU 100 mm this quartet made up the Russian AFV's but there was other stuff there.

Amazing how those vehicles made it to Australia. A lot of hard work from some very dedicated people. Congrats!