Thursday 4 June 2020

Rapid Fire! Eastern Front in 20mm - The South Ozereika landings (part 2)


 
Now its time for the transport of the first wave of Naval infantry. The first 300 men intended to arrive at Ozereika beach were carried by six of these MO4 Submarine Chasers. Things went bad from the beginning as the MO4 transporting the officer in charge (051) of the first wave assault troops and another ship were destroyed before reaching the shore and 1/3 of the initial assault force was lost. 


The MO4s were made as usual slightly smaller than reality, Less windows were thus glued to the side of the boat and the 12,7mm AA guns were discarded.



 This is a photo of an original MO4 slightly longer some 6-7 cm than the models showned here. You can find all angle drawings of the MO4 in the excellent site Engines of the Red Army.  


Many details were discarded in order to have space for the Naval Infantry stands. The depth charges are leftovers of the Matchbox Corvette and were placed on a new structure. 


Each of the six 47mm guns were made from tubes of the Esci Flak Vierling 20mm gun. An extra barrel on top, deck support and wheels made the final result which became reasonably similar to the original.


One of the aims was to have enough room for 20 stands of figures and many details were made shallow for not to disturb the balance of the transported figures. 


Only one figure was placed manning the 47mm guns as a space saving measure. 


The Revell sailors had new arms to fit the new function. 


Once again Blue Board and card was used in the bigger structures and bits of chain, EverGreen plastic card and metal tubbing were used for details. 


The windows were made with a paper punch. 


The hardest part of these kind of models is to get the right shape of the bow. After some practice and some rigid calculation you manage to use X-Acto on the Blue Board in the correct way followed by some careful sanding. If you fail, don`t worry, there is always some more Blue Board in the construction yard near you. 

Next: An interruption in Ozereika and a return to Arnhem oddities.


10 comments:

  1. Those are brilliant- really impressive work.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  2. Thanks Pete. I´m now around the airborne part of the operation.

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  3. Excellent, João.

    Regards, Chris.

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  4. Glorious work.. love them. I don't play RF these days, but that doesn't matter.. inspirational!!
    Robin

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  5. Superb work, as usual João Pedro Peixoto.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Stephen. I'm now around the paratroopers for the sane operation.

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  6. Absolutely brilliant Joao, just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Well done.

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  7. Thanks SRD im glad you enjoyed it.

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