See part 1 on the previous page.
Other Project Options?Elsewhere I've been doing some research into the T-70 as a platform for conversion. Earlier some variants were discussed, and I've since found some more which may have potential.
My current intent is to have a go at making some vehicles which used the T-70 (or similar vehicles like the T-80 as a base, typically through extending the chassis). Currently I have two T-70s, one by Warlord games previously painted as a German vehicle, and another by Blitzkrieg. The German one an serve as a donor with a repaint.
As far as these variants, here's a few more which seem like they have potential.
VT-42 t-70An attempt to increase the longevity of the T-70 chassis – a concept seen on a few vehicles. Done by replacing its main armament with a 45mm long barrel gun with excellent armour penetration (purported to be able to take on German heavy tanks).
This would be a simple conversion – just replacing the barrel on the existing tank. Obviously this project ignores the realities of the real vehicles (
which sites such as the Tank Archives go into in more detail, as to why these projects failed), and in the fashion of World of Tanks or War Thunder which I'm somewhat aping, I don't tend to modify these prototypes to be a bit more suitable. So yes, the tank with the one man turret would get a larger gun and not address its other shortcomings.
T-80This one is perhaps less outlandish a model, being a vehicle which did see serial production. The T-70 had numerous flaws, which the T-80 attempted to address. Particularly in increasing the turret to two men so the Tank Commander didn't have to deal with three separate jobs including operating the gun. It saw limited service, as the time for light tanks was over.
A bit more involved than the 45mm gun tank, but not that extensive a conversion. I don't believe that anyone makes a 1/56th scale, but I could be wrong and Die Waffenkammer may have it in their archives somewhere. This could also feature the VT-42 gun, though that may muddy the concept a tad. Regardless, the background of the T-80 and its obscure nature would make it suitable for this project – even if it actually being real docks it some points.
ZUT-37One concept to use the chassis for an AA gun. Perhaps more competent than the dual DShK armed prototype, though maybe not as able a platform as those vehicles using extended chassis. It was armed with a 37mm gun and intended for usage against both air and ground targets – though didn't see production due to its cramped interior.
Another potentially simple conversion of the T-70. This would involve creating a new turret from scratch and be open topped – something I'm not too fond of as that means making an interior and crew. I'm more inclined towards the 45mm armed vehicle, however if I had the time the turrets could be interchangeable between these models.
IS-10 SPGWhen a request was made for a new SPG based on the T-70 chassis, two plants were tasked with the project. A third plant volunteered its own design, being the Grozny concern which had developed the Zis-3 gun. Their design was fairly simple – a casement on the T-70, with hardly any modification to the rest of the vehicle. Concerns were raised on the limited access to the engine due to the casement extending a bit further than the turret's plate at the back, which among other concerns caused the project to be shelved (I'd note however that this is an issue on the original T-70, where you have to remove the turret and its mounting plate for the same task).
Among all the SPG on the chassis, of which there were a few (even more than the hand full I mentioned in my earlier post ...really, there must be a dozen), this one seems like the most expedient to make. Which is saying something for the nature of Soviet tanks. I like this vehicle as it would suit the Blitzkrieg T-70, which is now lacking a turret, and be something similar to that Panzer II Luchs SPG I made in concept. Just a casement built over the chassis.
There are those other SPGs on the table for conversions as well, though those will come once I can settle on how to do the tracks. I'm still inclined towards the vehicles with the more Hetzer style casements than the variants on the look of the SU-76 (and there were a few of those as well... honestly the amount of attempts at using this chassis for SPGs is silly, though given that we were still seeing conversions Post-War its not unexpected).
For one however, I am always in need of lighter vehicles for actual games. I find my collection filled with heavy vehicles which whilst nice to look at ...don't always offer the most balanced force for playing games with. I'm not want for concepts at least, its just finding the time and inclination to actually build them – and for the moment at least my To Do pile for the Soviets seems to be filled with heavier vehicles as usual...
(Other) Other Project Options (not T-70s) Otherwise I have came across some other ideas for vehicles not on the T-70 chassis which may be worked on down the line.
IS-2UMy continued effort to find something to do with this IS-2 may have finally ended. ...Its like the Soviets just jumped from the KV-1 to the IS-3 in terms of weird prototypes. I managed to find this prototype which seems to fit the bill – an IS-2 with progressed towards the pike nose of the IS-3.
The vehicle seems to be largely an IS-2 just with a modified armour layout similar to the later vehicle. Presumably being a prototype which was rolled into a bunch of other improvements to create the IS-3. Luckily a good chunk of the IS-2 seems to remain intact (engine deck/ turret/ running gear) unlike on the IS-3, so seems like a viable conversion compared to just buying an IS-3 kit.
Sd.Kfz 222 in Soviet Service(Uh, this, but with big stars on it I guess)
I'm also kind of inclined into making one of these. Yes, it would mean more German stuff – but that's just a short term problem. As I finish more of the half built stuff I'll have plenty of actual Soviet vehicles and the captured German kit will be a minority.
Anyway, I like the look of the 222 and Rubicon now have their plastic kit. I was thinking of one armed with a PTRD Anti-Tank rifle done up with the usual green paint job and Soviet insignia. It could be interesting (and again I'm picturing some propaganda film – where lacking actual enemy equipment older vehicles are used done up in their colours instead).
BMP Prototype ...ThingsThere's a 1/56th BMP-1 somewhere in my collection which isn't being used. Whilst this is more wistful thinking than something which will likely be turned into anything – it is a thought.
Similar running gear to the BMP-1 appears on many earlier Soviet vehicles. If I could use the tracks from the kit which I already have (Sloppy Jalopy I think) then that could work for some of those vehicles and prototypes to complement the T-44s period wise – giving the Soviets some more post-war equipment in opposition to the lighter E-Series I suppose. Just a musing.
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Closing (yup, seriously I had to add bloody headings as this was getting too long)[/size]
Here's another of my usual "I've not touched a project in a while, deal with this content dump" posts. Um, I could ask if more shorter consistent posts are preferred, but I know I can't keep to a schedule, so well, deal with it.
For the moment I'll try and wrangle some of the guys at my club to run another tank game at some point. The main thing putting that off is that I want more vehicles for the Soviets so that its less of the "German Civil War" battles we've been playing with all my Axis vehicles, so I'd like at least a few more painted before that happens. Another zombie game ideally will be on the table too, which may be less involved depending on how things are balanced (i.e. Not a repeat of the last game where we just unloaded AKs into the horde and it turned into a shooting match).
In either case more terrain is in order, namely those ruins, more soldier corpses and tank traps (the latter two being stuff I'd lost in a box and only painted a portion of). As we've been playing mostly tank games the sparse boards are all right, and I have enough terrain from the rest of my collection to fill in the gaps on your average board, but my preference has always been to fill my boards with about twice as many pieces as every other board in the club that night put together, so there's always more work to be done...
Anyway, more crap to paint.