East Africa 28mm - Italian tanks galore!

[James Morris]

In the final part of my 'getting the East Africa models finished off', here's my recent work on some Italian tanks.  I needed some medium tanks for my games, and was going to buy some M13/40s, until I discovered that these never made it to Italian East Africa!  Instead, 24 M11/39s were shipped out, all being captured, destroyed or left broken down by mid-1941.  3 of these tanks were actually driven up the mountain roads at Keren to counter-attack British forces at the sloping ground at the rear of Fort Dologorodoc, so that's a game I must do sometime...

I ordered a couple of M11/39s from Company B (c/o the very helpful chaps at Great Escape Games), received them in June, and finally got them finished off last week.  I'm no AFV modeller and probably could have done more work filling holes etc on these, but they assembled OK (with a bit of filing on the metal tracks) and have painted up nicely.  The design is wonderfully old-school, with the 'big' gun in the hull and MGs in the turret.  My research suggested that the actual tanks used in East Africa would have been grey-green, but I did these in sandy tones to match the L3 tankettes that I collected a few years back.  Commanders are by Perry, and they really set the tanks off a treat.





Here's a comparative shot showing the tiny L3 next to the M11/39 - even the foreshortening doesn't make things look good for the L3 crew.



Here's the Perry L3 tankette, with 20mm Solothurn AT rifle.  I wasn't going to buy one of these (already having 7 L3s in my collection) but caved in when I realised it was only £9 and could have the AT rifle for variety!



When it came out there were a few comments about it being undersize, but it looks pretty accurate to me.  Out of interest, here are some side-by-side comparison shots with the Empress Minis model (on the left).  The Empress model is basically very similar in overall dimensions, with slightly chunkier details to match the more heroic sculpts on their models.  I'll be quite happy using them side-by-side on the gaming table.







Here's the L3s and M11/39s en masse...charge!

[James Morris]

And the final few pics...



A couple of left over Italian tankers from Perry - I thought the surrendering model was a bit stereotyped when I bought them, so he has sat at the bottom of the box for a while, but better painted than not...



Fortunately I have a good collection of other tank crew (these are converted from the West Wind German tank crew pack), so they won't feel too lonely outside their L3.



Last but not least, a few Empress models that I've rebased for our Keren 1941 game at Crisis.  An Askari officer, an Italian paymaster with a big bag of lire, and a nice Eritrean Askari soldier.



Cheers

James

[Grimjack]

Very nice, Mr. Morris - and to think, once the idea of guns and tanks repulsed you....

[archiduque]

Excellent stuff mate!!

[moiterei_1984]

Very nice stuff allround 

[Juan]

Fantastic models, great painting work in them!

[James Morris]

Very nice, Mr. Morris - and to think, once the idea of guns and tanks repulsed you....

That's all water under the bridge, but I am going to take a sabbatical with swords and spears now.   

[Arthur]

Top job as usual, James. And many thanks for the very useful Empress/Perry L3 tankette comparison : it answers a question I'd been pondering for some time. Both models are equally nice but the price factor decidedly favours of the Perry models. 

I'm considering going with the brand new Blitzkrieg M11/39 myself, as the Blitzkrieg boys do some seriously good-looking stuff at very reasonable prices considering the quality. And they're also offering free worldwide shipping now. 

I wouldn't worry about saying once that AFVs repulsed you : I know I used to swear solemnly and repeatedly that I'd never ever do anything remotely close to WW2 

[James Morris]

Top job as usual, James. And many thanks for the very useful Empress/Perry L3 tankette comparison : it answers a question I'd been pondering for some time. Both models are equally nice but the price factor decidedly favours of the Perry models. 

I'm considering going with the brand new Blitzkrieg M11/39 myself, as the Blitzkrieg boys do some seriously good-looking stuff at very reasonable prices considering the quality. And they're also offering free worldwide shipping now. 

I wouldn't worry about saying once that AFVs repulsed you : I know I used to swear solemnly and repeatedly that I'd never ever do anything remotely close to WW2 

Thank you, Arthur.  I'm really glad that the L3 comparison was of interest to someone other than myself!  The Perry model is extremely well-priced, the Empress one more dear (a gap of £7 GBP) so I can see that the Perrys will be selling a few of theirs!  I personally prefer the Empress crew but they are both nice models.

I had no idea that Blitzkrieg were planning a M11/39 otherwise I might have waited, but I'm very happy with the Company B ones!

[scrivs]

Great stuff James. Hopefully I'll get to play against some of these this evening.

[Driscoles]

This is again very inspiring and beautifully executed.
Thank you.
Björn

[warburton]

Very nice work!