Hello everyone,
It’s time to talk to the Insider again and ask him what’s going on in Wargaming. This time, we’ll talk about the Maus restoration, which is, according to the Insider, still ongoing, but not exactly without hiccups. In the words of the Insider (redacted a bit):
Kubinka is relentlessly denying any attempt to restore the Maus in “the Soviet way” (if it moves, it works mindset), they want it as historically accurate as possible, which is good, and not so good for the sponsors, because the cost of the Maus restoration is currently estimated already over 8.627.725 rubles (SS: that’s actually extremely cheap, it’s like 145k Euro, I expected to add at least one zero to that – perhaps it’s just the first step).
Kubinka has already denied sponsorships from a couple of rich people in the past, because it seems they wanted to use Soviet engines and components (not as in replicas, but tank engines/parts adapted into it, which kinda beats the purpose of “restoration”). After a certain article about “restoring a fascist tank” in the newspapers, the museum gained a major notoriety benefit – contrary of political schemes trying to make “patriotism” and all that, it’s staying out of political rife for the time being.
There are already candidates for some parts on the interior, most of these are to be custom built
At some point, someone tried to talk with the Bundesarchiv to become part of the project and even ask for some extra data, but the German officials refused this request quickly: “we dont want to be part of anything about nazis and war”. This makes makes little sense considering most of the blueprints and designs are actually in Russian Hands. Overall, the project is still in the design phase, however as it goes, Wargaming will have the exclusive data (and a few copyrights), what will they do with it is unknown.
They will of course profit from that ;) .
So, modern German engine (like MT883) is out of the question, too…
I’m only wondering how are they going to custom-build a 1200hp engine with petro-electric transmision ?
Couldn’t they just take an existing train engine ? They’re of simillar design-idea and have comparative power.
Train engine won’t fit. There are some others that would, though. Like the one i mentioned.
Rebuilding a historical engine isn’t that hard, it’s only insanely expensive ;) . If only you have engine block and crankshaft you can make all other parts custom to fit.
You also need right man for that job…
Actually if you have the money it is easy. If you want to restore a “Nazi” or better “Naso” relict (second acronym is actually the correct one, Nazi is the shortening for Ignaz, an old german Name). You simply do not go to the authorities. Instead you go to the former Production sites. For former MAN and Daimler engines go to Mercedes historical engines and just say you want the engine rebuild. They still got the plans and most of the old molds to build them. Either way building a 1200 hp engine is easy for Daimler since they build the 12 Zylinder engine block of the Leopard.
For Porsche designs you can either go directly to Porsche (needs alot of money) or to VW. They can build such an engine aswell (still maintaining railroad maintenance on the side=). For a functioning gun it gets complicated since I doubt you get KMW to help out there. The rest of the stuff in the tank should be easy to replace in contrast. BTW the gear you also get from either Mercedes (Daimler Benz AG) or VW. But still you can do research at the Bundesarchiv but never ask German authorities to help you restore anything with the word “Nazi” on it.
It’s just ridiculous. It’s a bit of metal and engineering. It’s a part of history because it’s the heaviest tank ever created.
Just restore it as it should be. It’s not “celebrating Nazi facism” just to make a tank move again as it was once intended, ffs. They’re (Those causing all the issues, media mostly) trying to throw drama where there doesn’t need to be any. Tanks a tank, if you ask me. We -celebrate- Tiger 131 being able to move properly over here in the UK, because it’s all history. All of it. Restoring as much of it as possible to remember history is important.
Ulimately it is will be a monument to the Hubris and delusion of the Nazis. It was never the tank their army needed in any case.
Do not forget that Russians live in “own” reality.
It would be very bad for museum to be portrayed as “resurrecting nazi”, spending millions rubles on “nazi” vehicle when lots of Soviet/Russian vehicles are waiting in line.
In Russia you need to be in favor of leader or suffer. And nowadays they are very sensitive about “nazi” thing [like, they see "nazi" in Ukraine, but do not see own "nazi" in Russia].
Fuck, I will travel to Kubinka next spring, so hope that Maus will be still there!
Well the building it stays in was build around Maus because it was too big to fit in to any other building.
You are wrong. In Kubinka, there is more same halls made from simple corrugated iron, like the No 5, where Maus stays. And btw in the hall with Maus is one bigger vehicle – Karl Gerät mortar.
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/18/52/65/tank-museum.jpg
I know about the mortar but I thought they just parked them on the spot and then build the hall arund them
145k Euro ? Is this some joke or a huge miscalculation ? For me it’s a pure fantasy to custom-build a single 1200hp engine from scratch and recreate whole interior with turret basket, turret rotation mechanism, entire transmission and refurbish the suspension since it wasn’t used since like 60 years.
I honestly think they’re going to use forced-labour at some point if they want to fit all this in to such low budget
I expect “Restore the Maus” and “Maus on the run” gift shop packages to help with funding the project.
Content will be the usual crap like every week, but the exclusivity!
And how can we be even sure that money goes there if Kubinka finnaly decides – NO MAUS RESTORATION. Yes we got that bundle but the main reason we bought it was to see eventually restored Maus.
Mother Russia has vast resources, factories and machines. These manufacturing processes would cost 2-5 times more in any other country. Factories that produce modern military equipment, tanks ect have the knowledge and tools to produce the required parts. Even trought trial-and-error. Thats the beauty of russian manufacturing and engineering.
Really and the Safety restrictions are none and industrial disasters are common like in any 3rd world country, that’s the beauty of Mother Russia
Chernobyl was only one example.
“German officials refused this request quickly: “we dont want to be part of anything about nazis and war”
Well, this is a shame. Never seen an italian crying about the past, that they ask sorry because of the acts of the Roman Empire. Or a hungarian feeling sorry about Attila the hun. Or an englishman feeling ashamed because the aggressive colonisation all over the world. But a german… oh yes, they can’t talk about the past, they can’t be proud of being germans, the dozen years of brainwashing made them to a crippled nation… i imagine as their history books are half blank, or the thirties and fourties are completely missing in the XXth century….
Don’t mention the war !!!
You do realize that Nazism, racism and Jew killing and other industrial-scale atrocities are quite “fresh” when compared to those historical facts you mentioned. There are people still living who remember these horrors first-hand and I understand Bundesarchiv’s stance on the matter.
Exonut: Ask the Eastern-Europeans and the Baltic States, how do they feel about Communism…
But it’s handled differently. So this is which really piss me off. The balance of the scale…
But anyway. There are other nations who have participated in the war. And only germans are kicked in the ass from time to time, making them responsible for their grandfather’s actions. The others rejected the foreign manipulation, and not letting themselves to be brainswashed.
PS: Racism belongs to human culture as it already was. It’s not Germany’s fault. Its a necessary theory (with lots of truth included) to survive. (yepp, I am against multi-culturism)
Perhaps, however Italy is in much the same boat and we don’t have the same taboos. History is history. Denying it because it’s bad only allows one to ignore the mistakes of the past.
The issue is more like Germany figures if we put our head in the sand people will forget what we did in the 1930′s to 1945. This attitude is what created the problem in the first place. This kind of racism exists all over the world. Some of it is perpetrated by various religious groups against other religious groups. Teaching exactly what happened and why it is wrong will prevent it happening again. Hiding from what happened won’t. This is for Russia’s patriotic war as well. The cult of stalin being a good guy is crazy too. The USSR thought germany was great as long as they were on our side.
Looking forward to this project, and hope u can put those blue print out if it is possible.
p.s. trying to make a 1:18 Maus model XD
“This makes makes little sense considering most of the blueprints and designs are actually in Russian Hands.”
I can imagine what would go on here if an official institution would provide help in this matter … a LOT of people would complain about getting nazi tech, that might have been used to kill people, working again.
Of course, “working condition” does not mean re-weaponizing it … and it might not even be proven that Maus actually killed soldiers (you historians would have more information on this than me).
But I can assure you that people who lost ancestores to nazis will be really pissed and be very vocal about it in the media. And even foreign media would report that german authorities did not learn from the past and started celebrating nazi technology again.
From that point of view: If I was head of Bundesarchiv, I would have denied those request as well. The aftermath of a decision like that could easily result in people losing their jobs. Way to risky.
LOL, STRONK Russian estimates…LOL
The restoration of the drive train alone would be close to 750.000-Euro, and NO I do not think that Russians have a clue how to restore this tank….in fact I KNOW for a FACT they do not.
I hope hope hope hope hope that Kublinka keep these dick heads well away form this unique and valuable artifact.
http://www.theresearchsquad.com/ ..see here for a lesson in restoring tanks CORRECTLY
OH GOTT NOT ZE NAZIS! NONONO, we don’t want to have any involvement with anything made with the hand of a nazi! Even if we were to install an engine made with a European hand, it would still be collaboration and he will be shot at dawn!
In all seriousness, I bet they are scared that Hitler’s ghost will come to haunt them if they actually cooperate. JAJAJAJAJAJA