A War in The East

[Ultravanillasmurf]

The Red Star T-72 comes with a full set of roadwheels and tracks, instead of cut down ones like their T-80 and T-90. Finally. I've been wanting to cut the front mudguards off of one of these things like in most of Cuprum's pictures! :

The Imprint/Empress T90 and T72 both have a full set of wheels.
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/t90.html
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/empress-t72m-work-in-progress.html

[Wyrmalla]

Aye its the Imprint ones I'm using. What I mean is the T-80/ 90 they do have the tops of the roadwheels cut off to an extent and are missing the tracks about the front. Their T-70 though has more of its track assembly intact (though has too much of a block above the tracks so that you can't leave off the fenders without rebuilding that area).

Edit: Though saying that, Imprint's T-72 and T-90 are almost the same tank. The only real different is the front plate and parts of the turret. ...Which seems pretty lazy to me. I guess the T-90 is built on the 72, but I had thought there were more differences even with the early models. I guess not.

The plan with the T-72's to turn it into a T-72B1 (or one of that family). Mostly that's just adding ERA, changing the smoke dischargers and messing with the barrel a bit as far as I can tell.


Empress' BTR-80 looks like too much of a job to turn into a BTR-3. I could manage it, but don't have the heart to obliterate all that detail. For the 3 I'd pretty much need to strip the upper detail down to nothing and start again (it has a raised roof).

Instead, seeing as the BTR-80's not really for a specific use anyway, I can either use it as itself, or turn it into something different. I'm thinking a BMM-80 Ambulance?



There's tonnes of weird derivatives out there, though most end with "no production contacts have been outlined", and I'd rather avoid too much fiction at the moment. No Terminators yet I'm afraid.  

[Ultravanillasmurf]

That is interesting, my 2013 Imprint T90 has full road wheels but half return rollers (there is a photograph of the bits on the T90 link above, I seemed to have forgotten to take a "before" photograph of the T72). I can see why you cannot remove the side skirts.

I will be interested in seeing your ERA additions.

[Wyrmalla]

Damn, some Spetsnaz turned up from Kings Hobbies and Games today. Whilst they're supposed to represent Russians, and work as them, I think they actually look a bit more like what the other side are using.

Which is a pity. Um, in my over sensitive gamer mindset, as I was going to use some of the Mike Bravo Miniatures IDF with Tavors for those guys. See the heads on these Spetsnaz are so nice (with their goggles and fancy helmets) I'm not sure I have the heart now to go ahead and cut them off. I was intending to replace them with the GRU Assault helmets with the ballistic faceplates (from Spectre Miniatures).

Oh well.

[ChargeDog]

If you don't want to do head surgery, Empress have some heads in siege helmets in their range which could be used as an alternative.

[Wyrmalla]

Yeah, its those that I have. Having rifled through what I have I'll probably go for a mix of the helmets. Two squads of eight - 1 breacher, 1 LMG, 1 explosives guy, 1 VSS, and 4 AKs. Split up into three Zil Punishers (carrying 6 each). That's roughly half as many men as what I'm going for with my other units, but covers their better training - at least under the Spectre rules.

I guess I'll order some of those Tavor armed guys after the holidays. With a headswap and some gear changes they could work. I believe RPC Fort have production rights to the Negev LMG, so I probably don't even need to switch that off of the Mike Bravo IDF (though a Soviet produced LMG is maybe more realistic given the Fort Tavors are re-chambered for Soviet rounds).

[Wyrmalla]

Christmas is over and here's the start on the third force for my modern games, an FSB assault squad.





They're a mix of Spectre Miniatures and Kings Hobbies and games Spetsnaz, with Empress heads for those who didn't have ballistic face plates. The sniper's a spare Russian MG gunner who's had his arms replaced with some Chechen fighter's and from one of those I replaced with the new helmets.

4 AKs, an LMG (I've no idea what its supposed to be), VSS rifle, GM-94 Grenade Launcher and a guy with a shield. The plan's to go for two squads like this bunched up in three Zil Punishers (with a capacity for around six men each). Oh, and a sniper in one of the spare seats.

Hopefully something I can get done quickly enough, though one squad of these guys could probably outdo most regular soldiers.  I doubt I'll be adding to the Spetsnaz force like I am the others due to how specialised they are. But hey, as I mentioned earlier having an opposing Spetsnaz unit armed with IMI Tavors and some European jeep (Kings Hobbies and Games ...Christ that's a long name to type all the time ... do some Italian ones which are in country IIRC) could be good.


Another vehicle off the list. Some close range anti-infantry firepower.




...At least that's what I've been lead to believe. How many wargamers bring helicopters to their games?

From HLBS, just with some armour slapped on. I started out with the mesh like on the turret, but it started to look dumb, so went for some regular slat armour on the hull (the real vehicle this is based on had it all over).


With the BTR-80 I've gone ahead and just made it the regular variant.




After painting the Shilka I'm a little fed up with slat armour messing with the profile of vehicles. Instead some spares tracks seemed to work (ah, and passengers if we're back in Soviet times) as extra armour. Oh, plus some of the passenger's heads got swapped so they weren't quite so stuck in the 1990s with their gear (American ones which are pretty easy to pick up on the internet).

Those passengers are fun. Their arms and heads are easy enough to swap out so I may pick up some more. A load of guys sitting on the roofs of transports would be cool for a convoy.


One more shed. Shed time, all the time.





Maybe one of the shops next I think. ...Or a shed. Woo sheds!

[von Lucky]

Looking good - your speed and quality of work is admirable.

As is the back stories you create. Like old Oleksiy who enjoys reconstructing soviet era vans in his shed, even if they will never fit through the door and drive in the open roads around his village. So melancholy

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-41813389

[von Lucky]

(Or I could just be a cad and that door is wide enough. Either way - lovely work all 'round.)

[Wyrmalla]

Excuse me a minute while I check to see if that door is actually wide enough...

*lift music plays*

All right, its 1.9 inches wide, and the van's 1.6. I've seen worse attempts at squeezing a car into a garage.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nice work on them. Inspiring.

[clanmac]

Love the shed - its all the crap in it and that wonderfully dusty van that does it for me. And the lived in vehicles are top notch as usual.

[Wyrmalla]

Discovering that I had no more vehicles on my painting table (well don't talk about the boxes beside it), I thought it was time to start on something else. I said I'd make one earlier, so here's a BTR-4.






Two days work and I'm calling this one done, barring the usual tidying up. This is the main variant with the 30mm cannon, co-axial 12.7mm MG, 2x ATGms and a Grenade Launcher. There appears to be a couple of variants in the layout of this design with the hatch covers, etc (including for some reason the orientation of the damn firing ports from left to right...), but this is the one I could find the best pictures of. The BTR-4E's interesting as well, as its export variant built to take multiple turrets from older designs:



At which point I notice that I forgot to add the bloody spotlight at the front. ¬¬

I've put an order in with Siberia Miniatures for one of those Chinese BTR-80s. Its not as good as the Empress one, and I'm holding out on its size. The idea though is to turn it into a BTR-3, as the lack of detail (and being made of plastic instead of resin) makes me less apprehensive about rebuilding it into that modernized variant as I'd originally intended to do with the Imprint BTR.

The idea's to pair those two with the IDF which I'd ordered for a second Spetsnaz force. Probably with a third vehicle, just as the carrying capacity between those two is about 14 men; compared to the 18 I have in planning for my existing Spetsnaz. Though saying that, I'd better not. Two 30mm cannons is already overkill.

Meanwhile, damn, so cool.



A BRDM-NIK. One of a series of models aimed at modernising the BRDM. Its mostly an armour kit, along with removing the (pointless) interior wheels for a set of doors for the crew (or passengers). It still has that horrible turret with the crap depression which the BTR-3 had tried to fix though. If I can get a hold of a spare BRDM I'd make this. Which is to say "respond to my bazaar thread PMs people!".

And yeah, there's a whole load of cool looking models from a show last year of these prototypes. Pity they're in 1/24.

Anyhow, happy New Year and all. Ah, we'll see where I am a year from now (probably making Space Ninjas or something).

[commissarmoody]

busy over the holiday I see. 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

That is a nice model. Well done.