Student made a half sized tank (hey Nick!)

>>>
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH5eYCdheLw
>>>
>>> FLINT, Michigan -- Will Foster never has too much trouble getting a
>>> parking spot for his second vehicle.
>>>
>>> After all, who's going to argue with a guy driving a half-scale Panzer
>>> tank complete with a working air cannon?
>>>
>>>
>>> Tanks a lot
>>>
>>> For the basics on Kettering University student Will Foster's tank,
>>> check out the artillery rounds, er, bullet points below.
>>>
>>> Size: half-scale Panzer replica powered by three-cylinder diesel
>>> engine
>>> Cost: current parts total around $2,000 but Foster estimates more
>>> than $10,000 was spent on trial-and-error engineering.
>>> Top speed: 20 mph
>>> Additional features: camouflaged wooden shell, working tread system,
>>> air cannon on a 360-degree turret that shoots varied munitions
>>> including golf balls and empty Red Bull cans.
>>> "I took it home, driving it around in this white picket fence
>>> neighborhood and one of the neighbors called the cops on us," said
>>> Foster, a Kettering University student who began building the tank
>>> from scratch nearly two years ago.
>>>
>>> "(Police) came and they just told us to head back home, but they were
>>> also laughing at it because they had never seen anything like that
>>> before."
>>>
>>> That's an understatement.
>>>
>>> Roughly the size of a small car, Foster's tank can reach speeds of
>>> around 20 mph with its three-cylinder diesel engine. Just like the
>>> real thing, the tank runs on treads and has a 360-degree cannon
>>> powered by compressed air from a scuba tank.
>>>
>>> Its camouflaged plywood exterior has become a curious fixture at
>>> Foster's Theta Xi fraternity house, where it is often parked next to a
>>> shed with a sign that reads "Panzer parking. Violators will be
>>> totaled."
>>>
>>> A builder and tinkerer since he made his first tree house at age 9,
>>> the Annapolis, Md., native came up with his first designs for the tank
>>> when he was 14.
>>>
>>> But, he didn't have the money or manpower to pull it off.
>>>
>>> Seeing golf carts dressed up as tanks in paintball competitions
>>> rekindled the idea and it gained momentum when he arrived at Kettering
>>> in the summer of 2006.
>>>
>>> "I said to the guys at the house, 'Can I build a tank in the parking
>>> lot here?' because lots of guys have their projects that they're
>>> working on," he said.
>>>
>>> The whole house has had a hand in building the tank.
>>>
>>> "It's been a lot of trial and error. As it is now I've probably got
>>> $2,000 worth of parts on it, but about $10,000 total has gone into it
>>> because I'd buy a $200 part that didn't work, then go to a $300 part
>>> that didn't work before finding a $50 part that did," he said.
>>>
>>> An early version based off the drive system of a lawn mower failed
>>> quickly, sending Foster and his cohorts to studying the hydraulic
>>> systems of Bobcat-style construction equipment.
>>>
>>> It was a step in the right direction, but still there were
>>> problems. Two more drive systems failed, and it took four major
>>> alterations to the tread to keep the tracks from slipping off the
>>> drive wheel.
>>>
>>> Through it all Foster stayed intensely focused on solving problems as
>>> they crept up, impressing his fellow engineers to be.
>>>
>>> "He's a genius when to comes to visualization of a problem, seeing
>>> what needs to be done and figuring out every step along the way that
>>> needs to happen," said Steve Sankey, 27, a fraternity brother who
>>> pitched in on the tank's construction.
>>>
>>> "We'd all work on it and there were lots of those lightbulb moments
>>> when we were trying to figure out a problem with it. The tank has kind
>>> of become a part of Theta Xi."
>>>
>>> Aside from being a fun problem and curiosity -- "Kids run after us
>>> like we're the ice cream man when we take it out," Foster remarks --
>>> the tank has given Foster valuable job experience.
>>>
>>> After listing it on his resume Foster was recruited by armored vehicle
>>> maker Force Protection Inc. for a summer co-op job that he starts this
>>> month.
>>>
>>> "They asked me a lot about it and that's the kind of engineering job
>>> I've always wanted, so it's great," he said. "I've always been a
>>> builder but not someone with all the book smarts, so I love stuff like
>>> this rather than being one of the people at school with great grades
>>> who can't turn a wrench."
>>>
>>> Foster's predilection for tinkering -- his 1986 Chevy Silverado was
>>> rescued from a junkyard and now has a 10-inch lift and 37-inch wheels
>>> who has also helped problem solve and build the tank.
>>>
>>> "When there's a problem with it that's all he'll think about and he
>>> stays really, really focused on it until he can figure it out," she
>>> said. "It's funny because he gets all these stares from people because
>>> they don't know what this thing is or who would have something like
>>> that."
>>>
>>> He's getting used to the stares -- even the frequent interest of
>>> police, especially when towing the tank on a trailer between Michigan
>>> and Maryland.
>>>
>>> Usually, Foster said police just ask for his license and registration
>>> before sending him back on his way.
>>>
>>> "I tried to not mention that it had a working cannon on top."
>>>