A man has spent $50,000 (approx £38,000) building his very own 16ft WW1 tank in his back garden.
Kameron Swinney, 34, has worked on classic cars since he was 15 and never went to college so is fully self-taught.
The dad-of-one has always had a passion for history and welding.
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And with a project to build an FT-17 – considered the world’s first modern tank – he has managed to combine the two.
FT-17s, with a 360 turret, crew compartment in the front, and engine in the back, are still used today.
“It’s also America’s first production tank licensed to be built from Renault,” Kameron, a bathroom re-modeller, from California, US, told What’s The Jam.
“The engine is a Jeep f134 engine that turns a hydraulic pump with flow controlled by spool valves going to the hydraulic motors located at each final drive that turns the track sprocket.
“Each hydraulic motorcycle has 16 gallons per minute of hydraulic oil at 3600psi.
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“The tank has taken me about a year to build but I continue to work on it and perfect it.
“It needed an engine rebuild so I just finished that.
“Tracks and final drives are from 1930s tractors and it takes two tractors to get all the tracks.”
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Kameron started by buying a few sheets of plywood, a half-inch steel plate, a CNC plasma table, bolts, steel plates, and nails.
All together, the 12,000lbs unit cost Kameron £38,000.
But to abide by the law, there is no working gun or weapons.
He said: “Since it has steel tracks, it has to stay off the streets and be used only on private property.
“It’s essentially a tractor.”
And it’s fair to say his local community loves it.
Kameron said: “I’ve even taken it to a car show and won best in show.
“Everyone that has seen it loves it and people have said it’s a cute little tank since it’s really the size of a four-door Sedan.
“Neighbours have been nice and also like it, they also happen to love history and know it’s a replica of a tank that’s over 100 years old.”
In the future, he is planning on making even more tanks.
He said: “I may make another FT17 tank.
“If not I’ll move onto something perhaps bigger.”
Kameron also shares images and videos of the tank on his Instagram, where one video has gathered over 1,400 views.
In the clip, he can be seen driving the tank.
He swings it around to show the machine from multiple angles.
It can be heard making a heavy rattling sound as he reverses back.
The post was captioned: “Just messing around,” and has gathered plenty of likes and comments.
Douwe said: “The sound.”
Joe added: “The detail!”
Mark commented: “Incredible work!”
Someone else joked: “I want to go on the first late-night alaburto’s run.”
Riekus said: “Love EVERYTHING about this.”
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