Tank from Western Front makes a wooden comeback

Geoff Armstrong, a 58-year-old hobbyist, has fashioned it entirely out of wood.

As such, it weighs somewhat less than the 29-ton original.

Mr Armstrong, of Brampton, Cumbria, enjoys building models of cars, planes and tanks, and scaled this one up from a 1:35 size kit bought from a shop. A plastic tube for a gun, and plaster of Paris rivets complete the effect.

The creation, which took 500 hours to complete, will be a highlight of an event at Carlisle Castle next month to mark the centenary of the armistice.

He said: “I expanded everything by 35. It’s just me in a workshop with a few saws and a tape measure. There’s nothing hard about it.

“It’s just getting your head around how you’re going to build it. Making sure it’s strong enough to hold it together and light enough to lift it.”

The model is comprised of 14 parts which can be dismantled and put in the back of a van.

Mr Armstrong, who hopes it will eventually be housed in a museum, said: “I could take the grandkids. They’re three and seven. They would go, ‘Grandad built that’. I think they’ll be quite impressed with it.”