Bovington tank museum

Or as it insists on calling itself the tank museum. The good news is that this museum contains a lot of notable items (it has one of the best tank collections on earth). The bad news is that its been pretty mined out. A lot of wikipedians have visited the museum over the years including as part of a wikimedia UK project in 2014.

Most things available to be photographed have been photographed and most things to be written about have been written about. The photo environment also isn’t the best. Tanks are large vehicles which means the usual issues of photographing indoors (not being able to get far enough away, uneven lighting) are compounded. The museum does run a couple of event days where tanks are driven outside which can provide a much better photographic environment. Indeed given the right weather its possible to take some of the best tank photos Wikipedia is going to get. Another wikipedian has already written rather more lyrically than I can about the experience there.

There are items in the museum’s collection that Wikipedia could still use photos of (or better photos of in some cases). The Morris-Martel, the T14 Heavy Tank and Excelsior. Problem is none of them are currently on display. There are also a few tanks that lack articles such at the L1E3 amphibious tank.

So overall a great museum if you like tanks but for Wikipedians you are probably going to need to plan in advance if you want to get much out of it.

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