Mahlkuch Armored Cover - German Patent Tankette
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What happens when an engineer who runs a flour milling firm decides to, without prompt, design an armored vehicle for the German Reich.
it's this. this is what happens.
This 'vehicle' is known as the Mahlkuch Armored Cover. It was designed in 1938 by Ernst Mahlkuch, a German engineer hailing from Pomerania who ran a milling firm and was very good at building industrial machined. What possessed him to build an armored vehicle for the Wehrmacht is uncertain, but by the time of the vehicle's design, Germany had already annexed Czechoslovakia and was preparing to do the same to Poland, so the looming idea of war was probably a factor. The Armored Cover was submitted as a patent on 9th April 1938 and approved 11th January 1940, by which time war had already broken out. No examples were built.
The vehicle itself, though impractical, seems to have had a lot of thought put into the design. It was simple to build, as the hull was only two pieces and it required only rudimentary controls and propulsion, easy to transport as it could simply be loaded onto a trailer and towed, and good enough for supporting infantry with its low profile, minimal armor (good enough to stop a rifle, that's about it), and single machine gun. It was to be powered by a rear-mounted engine (presumably petrol, maybe diesel, and apparently silenced) and controlled by the single operator's feet with pedals. The operator would be lying prone, using the single machine gun (probably an MG 34) with his hands and viewing through the gunsight. Propulsion was provided by eight paddlewheels which would essentially slide the vehicle along the ground.
This all seems efficient, but there are many problems; the single operator would be very much overworked, the 600mm height of the vehicle means the operator would not be able to see... anything? It was designed to be able to be concealed in tall grass, but this comes with the disadvantage of only being able to see the grass. It would very easily be bellied out on rough terrain. Simply put, it would not have been very combat effective. There is a reason it was not adopted by the Wehrmacht.
File works in FDM. The paddlewheels slide into the notches on the side of the hull. Be very careful removing the paddlewheels from their supports; they would probably print better in resin, but I don't have a resin printer so I don't know. The hull is an easy print.
it's this. this is what happens.
This 'vehicle' is known as the Mahlkuch Armored Cover. It was designed in 1938 by Ernst Mahlkuch, a German engineer hailing from Pomerania who ran a milling firm and was very good at building industrial machined. What possessed him to build an armored vehicle for the Wehrmacht is uncertain, but by the time of the vehicle's design, Germany had already annexed Czechoslovakia and was preparing to do the same to Poland, so the looming idea of war was probably a factor. The Armored Cover was submitted as a patent on 9th April 1938 and approved 11th January 1940, by which time war had already broken out. No examples were built.
The vehicle itself, though impractical, seems to have had a lot of thought put into the design. It was simple to build, as the hull was only two pieces and it required only rudimentary controls and propulsion, easy to transport as it could simply be loaded onto a trailer and towed, and good enough for supporting infantry with its low profile, minimal armor (good enough to stop a rifle, that's about it), and single machine gun. It was to be powered by a rear-mounted engine (presumably petrol, maybe diesel, and apparently silenced) and controlled by the single operator's feet with pedals. The operator would be lying prone, using the single machine gun (probably an MG 34) with his hands and viewing through the gunsight. Propulsion was provided by eight paddlewheels which would essentially slide the vehicle along the ground.
This all seems efficient, but there are many problems; the single operator would be very much overworked, the 600mm height of the vehicle means the operator would not be able to see... anything? It was designed to be able to be concealed in tall grass, but this comes with the disadvantage of only being able to see the grass. It would very easily be bellied out on rough terrain. Simply put, it would not have been very combat effective. There is a reason it was not adopted by the Wehrmacht.
File works in FDM. The paddlewheels slide into the notches on the side of the hull. Be very careful removing the paddlewheels from their supports; they would probably print better in resin, but I don't have a resin printer so I don't know. The hull is an easy print.
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| Filename | Size | Last updated |
|---|---|---|
| Mahlkuch Armored Cover.zip | 63.5 KiB | 2025-12-27 |
