EVER wanted to have your own dump truck, but thought the traditional ‘mining site yellow’ colour scheme was somewhat uninspiring?
Some of the staff at Belarusian heavy vehicle manufacturer Belaz thought so, and turned to their favourite game for inspiration – resulting in a Belaz Model 75585 mining dump truck painted in a World of Tanks colour scheme.
Even better, the truck is available to buy for a mere USD$1.2 million – which is about AUD$1.75 million, just in case you were reaching for the chequebook.
The Belaz 75585 weighs 74 tonnes empty – the same as two and a half of the iconic T-34/85 WWII Russian tanks (a player favourite in World of Tanks). It also measures 5.3m high and 6.4m wide, has a top speed of 60km/h, and can carry a payload of 90 tonnes – the equivalent of three AC-1 Sentinel tanks built by Australia during WWII (and also present in the game World of Tanks).
The truck was painted by members of the TakTak art project along with employees from the Belaz factory, with the Belaz staff initiating the project after looking for something different and creative to try and drawing inspiration from a popular game (Wargaming’s multiplayer online World of Tanks, in case you hadn’t gathered) among the plant workers.
According to Belaz, painting the vehicle involved 160 bottles of paint, 11 rolls of paint tape, about 100sq m of protective film and 30 linear meters of paper, with the whole project taking about 80 hours of work in total. The artists chose bright contrasting colors so that the dump truck would remain noticeable throughout its career, wherever it worked.
World of Tanks regional publishing director Yury Kuriavy said the games company liked ambitious and creative projects, which is why were happy to be involved.
“The Wargaming designers have developed a unique styling model, and the professional artists of TakTak crew helped to embody this idea; Belaz employees who are also World of Tanks gamers took part in painting of the dump truck,” he said.
Belaz deputy general director Stanislav Yakubovich said there had been a lot of interest in mining truck when it was introduced, hence the decision to put it on the market via Russian online auction site Youla.
“Such a vehicle is worthy of a real auction… We hope to find a buyer who will appreciate the technical parameters and exclusive airbrushing, a true connoisseur of such equipment,” he said.
If you’re already practicing how to say “Адзін камуфляжны самазвал, калі ласка” (that’s “One camouflage dump truck, please” in Belarusian) and looking into where you could park it at home, keep in mind that AUD$1.75m price is reportedly for the vehicle itself, with logistics understood to be the buyer’s responsibility – and given there are 14,676km as the Antonov AN-124 cargo plane flies between the Belaz factory in Zhodzina and Darwin, the delivery costs are likely to be significant – not to mention the GST and import duties as well.
On the other hand, you would have a one-of-a-kind piece of earthmoving equipment – even if getting it into a carpark at the shops might prove a bit of a challenge.
