jp wargaming place

This a wargaming place were you can see a growing collection of miniatures and terrain of many historical periods in 20mm (but also a few 10mm,15mm and 28mm) started when I was 10 yo. At the moment it has several tens of thousands of miniatures from foot figures to Destroyers. Occasionally there are some war movie critics and some travel to military sites. My family considers it the best wargaming site in the World even if it is the only one they know. More on @joaopeixoto5249 YouTube Channel.

Sunday, 1 October 2023

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 13) - Ukrainian Leopard 1A5 and AS-90 SPG

These three are the latest addition to the Ukrainian forces. The AS-90 is a 4D model with new wheels as explained later. According to the famous leaked papers by a Portuguese descendent (it had to be...) it can be found at least in three of the mechanized brigades in the nowadays counteroffensive, the 21st, 116th and 117th MBs. The old Leopards 1A5 (Esci models) arrived in sufficient numbers to equip three Ukrainian mechanized brigades but it will be hell for them to keep up with the amount of technology and hardware in the actual battlefield a bit as the old Russian T-62. For me the arrival of old material (and lack of ammunition) at the front is the proof that both sides - Russia and NATO- were not expecting this war to go as far and no one really was expecting to escalate as it did. And this applies to the provokers of this conflict that exist on both sides.

These are the wheels that came along the majority of the 4D first series of tanks (both 1/87th or 1/72nd). Obviously they had to be replaced.

With a decent hull and turret and the addition of some T-72 wheels from ModelCollect leftovers the 4D AS-90 becomes pretty decent.

The usual journalist's view of the Ukrainian SPGs.

The Esci Leopard 1A5 were in the stash for an entry into the Turkish army of the 90s and for an eventual conflict with the Iraqis, but obviously ended up in Ukraine. In the Ukrainian service some pictures emerged with them covered in camouflage netting (here made of gauze dipped in white glue and modelled directly on the tank). The only addition in relation to the Esci model is the turret range finder, tank commander and antenna. Fortunately the gauze also covers other missing parts in the Esci model that the real tank has like hull side boxes and other small details.

The end result is ok. I still have the Altaya Leopard 1A2 in the stash and I´m thinking of converting it to the A5 version thanks to Saint Gauze as it will hide most of the differences.