Humber TommyKnocker (Disel Pulp) (Patreon)

I'd been planning this kitbash for years, but only got it done because housemate John has undertaken a ton of modeling for me recently. Someday, maybe I'll have time to do more than primer it

The following is its fictional history I wrote a couple of years ago, for my hobby-only Diesel Pulp/'49 setting.

The Humber Armoured Walker, also known as the TommyKnocker, was a light walker (also sometimes classified as a gun carrier) in service by the UK. The original design combined the compression gear chassis of the Karrier company's KW 4 artillery walker and the turret of the Guy Gun Carrier. The Mk I entered service in 1941, with approximately 500 produced.

Though there were numerous flaws with the initial TommyKnocker design, including flaws in the armor and poor internal ergonomics, it proved an effective throughout African and European conflicts as a  unit of reconnaissance regiments, patrol escorts, screening forces, and infantry fire support.

The TommyKnocker was never designed to engage enemy armor, but to serve as light mobile firepower to aid in breakouts and screening maneuvers. It's 2 pdr canon was fine against early light walkers and similar mechanized units, but my mid-war could only hope to damage medium and heavy units with a shot against lightly armored rears and sides. It was sometimes called "Big Infantry," and small, fast units were sometimes formed of automatons, gun carriers, powered infantry, and 2-3 TommyKnockers.

There are two unrelated stories on how the TommyKnocker got its common nickname. One is that, upon seeing the initial designs, a senior official declared "The damn thing looks like a goblin!" to a Welch engineer, who began referring to it as a "Tommi Knacker" in official documentation. The other story is that in its role as infantry fire support it was extremely popular with Canadian and Australian units, who would call for it to "knock" on enemy infantry positions by calling for "some of the Tommy knockers."

This is a Mark IV Tommyknocker, with additional armor bolted over the vulnerable hip and ankle joints, and a Littlejohn adaptor attached to it's 2 pdr canon, converting it to squeeze bore operation in an effort to increase its effectiveness against more heavily armored late-war units. Production of this model began in 1944, and more than 3,000 were made. It served throughout the war, and units were in use in foreign militaries well into the 1960s.