Last updated:10/04/2008
Student builds fully operational halfsize Panzer tank

A US university student is going to have no problem getting a parking space for his new vehicle, because he has built himself a half-size Panzer tank.

University of Kettering mechanical engineering student Will Foster built the miniature tank which is about the size of a small car. It has treads, travels at 25mph on a diesel engine, and even has a turret that shoots Red Bull cans.

Foster who began building the tank two years ago said, “I took it home, driving it around in this white picket fence neighbourhood and one of the neighbours called the cops on us.”

“(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.”

His tank is fully operational running on treads just like the real thing 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.”

Foster first came up with the idea for the tank when he was 14 but he didn’t have the money or manpower to put his plans into action.

But 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 [fraternity] 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,” said Foster.

An early version based on the drive system of a lawn mower failed quickly, sending Foster to studying the hydraulic systems of Bobcatstyle construction equipment.

Steve Sankey, 27, a fraternity brother who pitched in on the tank’s construction said, “He’s a genius when it comes to visualisation of a problem, seeing what needs to be done and figuring out every step along the way that needs to happen.”

“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.”

The tank has been a hit in the local community as Foster says, “Kids run after us like we’re the ice cream man when we take it out.”

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 has gotten used to the strange looks he gets when he is out with his tank and is no longer bothered by the attention he often gets from the police. Usually, he 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.”