I read the Blue book so many times that recently I had to place tape on many pages. Recently Masters Colin and Richard released the Blue book in digital format, so the tape problem is solved for newcomers! One of the many atractions of the book is the battle of Lipovec, 22nd July 1941 (never heard about it before the book) were I noticed the beautiful camouflage of the Slovak tanks and the blue stripe on the helmets. Probably if these two characteristics were absent I would turn the page to look for a different scenario. Another interesting fact is the Slovak organization of this Rapid Brigade with a well balanced force of infantry, tanks and artillery (maybe a little scarce on infantry), including a small airforce and even bykes.
Finding the vehicles was not a hard task as many of the trucks and cars are not easy to find, and many years ago only Raventhorpe, Fujimi and Esci had some of them. Then one day Esci was gone and the funniest tank of them all, the LT-35, became too hard to get and this brigade was forgotten. Recently the excellent First to Fight came into play and this project came to life again and this brand will be my main source of Slovak vehicles. The artillery is more problematic and I will scratchbuild most of them. If you look for 3D prints you can find also many of these.
The sole infantry battalion of the brigade is made mainly of Esci Italian Alpini figures, with the carved out feather, of course.
The Slovak helmet is distinctive with a straight rim. The Italian helmet has a slight ondulation and this was disguised with several coats of blue color. The SMG was converted to the captured Soviet PPSH as the Slokaks had no SMG at this time.
The same happened to the Italian Breda 30 were the side charger was moved to the top for it to look like the ZB vz.26.
The MMGs were mostly the old Schwarzlose vz.24 together with the more modern vz.37. The Revell WWI 08s are good enough to look as vz.24s. The crew is also Revell with a few Hat. The heads of the crew are Revell US marines.
The mortar is Matchbox with Hat crew and Revell Marines heads.
The command stand is a mix of StreletsR Italian officer, a Japanese Airfix marching figure and an Esci Alpini with radio and a carved out helmet in order to look with a soft cap.
The Tatra OA vz.30 is First to fight and its a little beauty. I placed an FJ Airfix torso as a commander as the helmet looks a lot with the one from the Slovak tankers.
This Avia 534 is KP, a very old and a bit rustic model with a difficult build. But, as usual, in the end gives a good model for your Slovak Rapid Brigade.
Next: Slovak artillery or some vehicles, depending on GLS.
Very nice Joao! The smaller states of WW2 are always interesting.
ReplyDeleteNeil
Thanks Neil. The smaller states of WW2 brought some nice kit to the war as it was mostly designed in the 30s as money was shorter there.
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