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Monday 4 February 2013

Concept Tank


This piece of artwork (not signed but more than likely Eric Eden) appeared in TV21 issue 65 dated April 16, 2066. I’m not sure if we've seen it on the blog before but if not this is the prototype of the SWORD Hover Tank.



Called the' Swamp Buggy', the side air intakes and guns that poke out of the front valance are very similar to the ‘Battle Chariot’ hover tank. which credits the Swamp Buggy in it's development. The Battle Chariot appeared a month or so later in the 1966 TV21 Summer Extra.



The final version, the SWORD Hover Tank has a slightly different  body design and a valance with lights rather than guns but it’s a definite evolution and nice to see that famous TV21 continuity at work.


As an update this is the full Dateline 2066 article.



And contributor, Andy B points out that Mike Noble drew some hover tanks in a Fireball XL5 story from August 2066. They're not part of the SWORD hover tank evolution but I include this scan of  them for comparison.



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7 comments:

  1. WOODSY2/04/2013 9:15 pm

    Amazing Scoop! Brilliant research! You can clearly see Eric E's development of the tank. It's a treasure having so many TV21's to hand - must be great fun browsing through them. Do you think this April 1966 tank is now the earliest on the timeline? And was it really entitled Hover Tank Trials?

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  2. WOTAN2/04/2013 9:19 pm

    It crops up as the World Army Hovertank in the 69 Tv21 annual too in the Battle Breakdown series of articles. Lovely thing, but ' swamp buggy'?

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  3. SCOOP2/04/2013 10:14 pm

    The Swamp Buggy pic is part of a DATELINE 2066 article, and yes, it's a bit of a naff name!

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  4. Hugh Walter2/05/2013 1:21 am

    Nobel'esque hover-tanks were a regular feature of the battlefield in the Trigan Empire, mostly Ron Embleton's work...anyone got scans to compare?

    Hugh

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  5. SCOOP2/05/2013 7:00 am

    I've got a set of Ranger comics - I'll check out the Trigan Empire in there.

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  6. Ed and Bettina Berg2/05/2013 2:09 pm

    Cool stuff! Perhaps one day toy makers will figure out a way to make hover tanks really hover in a controlled fashion and use these designs as a basis for their products.

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  7. WOTAN2/06/2013 3:35 pm

    You can see that Mike Noble has borrowed the base shape for his lovely Hovertank from the swamp buggy

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