Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 12) - Armored vehicles for both sides

 

In this FOW style picture, were tanks point at point blank range to each other as if coming from holes on the ground, you have the two missing Sheridans, 2/3 of the necessary M113 ACAVs (both types of models for the 11th ACR), a M42 Duster, just because it was on the stash, and the first few T-34 and T-54 for the NVA. 

The ACAVs are Eskice, printed in Germany by Tom Hobby. I continue to be amazed by these resin 3d printed models as this, for instance, has two pieces, one being the 12,7mm HMG turret, with gun and figure, and the other, well, all the rest, including figures...

I already had some Eskice in the form of six German WW2 side-cars and enjoyed painting them a lot even if they have big heads which doesn´t make them good neighbors for most other brands, exceptuating the sort of the old Britannia metal figures. 

With three more, the full ACAV numbers will be achieved for the 11th ACR. 

Only a few jerrycans, antennas and some stowage was added. 

I made a small raid into the box were I have the 1st group of 4D models. They are around 30 (some 1/72ish, others 1/87th scale) and, if I can remember well I could only use some 4-5 of them (heavily converted, though) as they are toys and not real models, with the bottom part, including wheels, being all the same throughout the collection. The M42 Duster is no exception. But by looking at a comparison on the web between the Altaya and the 4D M42 Duster, I realised the top part of the 4D model is quite reasonable. 

What the 4D model mostly needs is some new wheels that came from derelict Hasegawa M24 Chaffees, glued against a piece of thin cardboard as they needed to be a bit far from the bottom part, which is the same on all 1st series 4D models. Then some crew, stowage, antennas and a HMG were added. 

The Atlantic crew figures lost their heads  as they were too small and were replaced by Hasegawa pilot´s. 

The Sheridan to the left is Airfix and the other is Altaya. They got the same treatment as the first I made a few weeks ago. Now there is one per squadron for the 11th ACR, which is the intended number. 

For painting all these vehicles I followed my first Altaya Vietnam models procedure: the Altaya Vietnam models (Gun Truck, M41 Bulldog and M48A3) came painted in olive brown with the usual sheen of Altaya vehicles; in order to break that sheen I slightly sprayed Krylon's Panama Khaki, which is something I continue to do with all models from other brands for this theater (the olive brown used is Vallejo). In period pictures, Vietnam models are many times covered in mud due to the rainy seasons. This in fact saves two moments of painting, the black wash (which needs a few hours here - days, in England, he,he) and the main color + white drybrushing. 

Finally a few NVA tanks. The T-54 are 4D models and are a big improvement from the first batch they made, to which the M42 Duster belongs. I already made a few of these T-54 for the Angolans and knew how good and easy to build these models are. The T-34 is Polistil, and together with the Airfix Sheridan belong to a small batch of models found in the last month´s flea market at Tomar. Next week I plan to be there again for some extra old findings.

Next: wether Vietnam or WW2 aircraft. Guadalcanal is also close. 

Yuzhnaya Ozereika landings 1943 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules

This Landings at Ozereika project started 5 years ago and is now completed. Most of the models are scratchbuilt, like the case of all boats, but the infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft are from the usual plastic brands. This is a very heroic action of the Soviet naval infantry which cost them dearly without results, exceptuating fixing many Axis reserves which allowed the "Little Land" diversion to become a sucess that is still celebrated in Russia as one of the biggest Soviet exploits of WW2.

If you want to see the eight part construction of this project go to https://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/ and write "ozereika" on the search bar. I also advise everyone to visit the amazing site https://www.o5m6.de/redarmy/index.php were you can have great information on many aspects of WW2 including most of the material that was used at Ozereika.

Rapid Fire! Eastern Front in 20mm - The South Ozereika landings (part 7); the last bits for the Soviet Shock Force

 

This post concludes the missing equipment for the Soviet Naval Infantry shock force that attacked by sea the Germans and Romanians at Ozereika beach in February 1943. There are three DB pr.165 that carried the artillery (45mm AT and 76,2mm IG) and the towing Jeeps (US made Willys jeeps). 

As usual I used the Pegasus figures to make crews for all these weapons and machines. Included here is a AA Maxim gun mounted on a tripod (left). 

The guns were all scratchbuilt. The 45mm AT guns were made from old Pak 36s that used to be on the top of some Sdkfz 251 until I found many years ago that they were not there in the 1939/40 campaigns. As the Soviet and German are very similar the Pak 36 makes a very reasonable 45mm gun. My only doubt is if the Soviet marines didn´t use the long barreled  M42 model at Ozereika which makes these ones a bit out of date. 

The wheels are 3D printed and the 76,2mm IG came from an assortment of plastics which includes the usual plastic broom bristles. 

The guns and crews in action. 

These kind of models are heavily influenced by the range of Really Useful Guns by Irregular Miniatures which used EverGreen plastics as matrix for many parts.

 The Pegasus figures have several parts and are small kits on its own. As they have detached arms they suit artillery crews very well since you only need to make news arms from Milliput and place some shells in some of them. 

The Maxim AA gun must have been somthing like this as apparently only had one tube. 

The base of the tripod is from FtF as well as the gun. You only need to make a longer support for the gun and some ammunition and box. This tripod is the Finnish M/21 design which I think some may have got through to the Red Army. 

The Willys jeeps are 4D models from China, sturdy and very accurate models. I didn´t use the trailer in the kits as I think they were not used in this action (were they even sent in the Lend and Lease program?). 

The small landing craft were possible to make thanks to the excellent

https://www.o5m6.de/redarmy/db.php 

article in the Engines of the Red Army site which has very good drawings and period photos of this small boat. I made it a bit shorter as I did with the rest of the fleet. 

This boat could be used for a variety of usages but at ozereika it was used with wooden ramps in order to land jeeps and light artillery. 

The DB pr.165 boats were made from carved to shape blue board, pieces of wood, EverGreen and card. 

The drivers are cut down Pegasus figures.

All these boats,including the Bolinder, a Destroyer, the MO-4s, in a total of 10 different boats, are out of the scope of the article in the blue book. Our Masters start the Ozereika scenario with the naval brigade and support already landed, and with discounted casualties in the process. I will change a bit this and start the action with the full Soviet order of battle including all ships. This will force me to built a 3rd Naval infantry battalion in the future, which will be an obvious pleasure. Besides if the Soviets don´t have a third Naval Infantry battalion they will stand little chances against the defenders heavily armed with artillery, as it happened historically. 

Next: the German Gebirsjäger at Ozereika 1943. 

Rapid Fire!/Able Archer rules - The battle of Cuito Cuanavale 1987-88 in 20mm - Part 1: What I´ve amassed up to now

 

The battle of Cuito Cuanavale is part of my youth through TV and magazines together with Iran-Iraq war and Lebanon 82 and it sparks plenty of vivid memories from those dangerous and deadly conflicts of the Cold War. I also had relatives in South Africa and even one that fought at this precise campaign a fact which fueled even more my interest to the Angolan conflict with FAPLA and Cubans facing UNITA and the SADF. For some reason I still could not find the 14 years long Portuguese colonial war (Angola, Moçambique and Guiné Bissau) interesting enough for me to model it. Maybe because it still brings lots of pain to many that are still around, from both sides, and close to me. 

Most of the planes, exceptuating the Mig-23 were made years ago together with most of the infantry. The vehicles, on the contrary are brand new and came mostly from 4D models (yes, I know their Sdkfz 251 is around 1/56 and the first batch of small boxes with tanks were toys but after these the brand made very nice and cheap models and continues to do so at a very fast rate). 

For now I have an almost finished Angolan Brigade with the reconnaissance vehicles and most of the artillery still missing. 

The simple green painting of the vehicles without any crew will allow for its use in other armies of the Cold War period and even after. 

I built 4x T-55 from 4D, enough for the full complement of an Angolan brigade tank battalion (16 tanks instead of the Soviet 30 tanks). The model is a very easy build labeled T-59, the Chinese version of the T-54/55 but, as its an early copy it becomes virtually the T-55. Later the T-59 got many extras which could be seen abundantly in the Iraqi army, for instance. 

 One of the three battalions of infantry in each Angolan brigade was equipped with BMP-1. These three are Eaglemoss die-cast simply repainted and with added rear unditching log and antenna. 

I finished all my BTR-60 - the ones that should be here - and had to use these BTR-80 instead. In fact Angola has 11 of these BTR-80 but they arrived much time later  Cuito Cuanavale. Even so the logic of a simple paint scheme continues for its usage elsewhere. 

The Ural 260 is another non-existent machine in the Angolan army but its not much different from other Soviet models, simply larger and very useful for other scenarios. 

There is a battery of six  BM-21 in each Angolan Brigade. This 4D model is very recent and one of their best. 

The three FAPLA battalions are made from bodies of Esci´s Spetnaz and Vietcongs with all types of field caps I could find (USAAF and even some DAK Esci with the cap´s peak cut). 

Some of the command stands got the brown beret. The 120mm mortar is Valiant Miniatures. 

The typical FAPLA battalion organized for Able Archer with three companies of six figures each and support. 

The Angolan Airforce (FAPA on those days, now FANA) has a number of French and Soviet helicopters like this MIL-MI 24 (Esci?). 

The MIL-MI 8 (SMER) is the most numerous Angolan helicopters. 

The Gazelle (Heller) got anti-tank missiles made of EverGreen plastics. 

I painted blue all canopies of the Angolan fighters and fighter-bombers. This MIG-21 is Fujimi. 

This one couldn´t fit the first family picture and its shown now, a MIG-21 from Matchbox, a much older and not as good model as the Fujimi one. 

This elegant SU-7 is a SMER model. 

The SU-22 (Plastyk)  was the most potent Angolan bomber at Cuito Cuanavale. 

Many MIG-23 (Academy) were piloted by Cubans and they scored several victories over the SAAF Mirages without losses something that  was only recognized years later by South Africa. 

Next: one more stand of Ottoman Sipahis for Mohacs 1526. 

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 15) - The Russian Tor M-1/2 AA systems

 

Recently the Chinese brand 4D released the HQ-17 missile systems. Initially I had no idea what the HQ-17 was but it looked somewhat familiar. By reading a bit on the issue I found that the HQ-17 is a direct copy of the Tor Russian system (NATO name SA-15 Gauntlet). So three of them were ordered from Aliexpress.  A quick arrival was followed by  quick but also complete build. Like this, together with three Pantsir, I have six AA short/medium systems for the my six BTG´s of the beggining of the war. 

The differences between the Russian and Chinese variants are minimal. The Chinese version has bigger mudguards and these were cut down until the size of the Russian original version. Of note its important to say that the first batches of Tor had a chassis with 6 wheels while the later ones (M-1/2), including the Chinese,  had 7.  The latest versions of the Tor is still used in the Russian army while the Ukrainian army had to reactivate their own early versions (6 wheels). That is why all the three models went to the Russian side. 

Another difference between the Tor and the HQ-17 is the rear part of the chassis, with a different stowage box arrangement. That was solved with camouflage nets covering that part. 

Next: The Horsa gliders 

RFR/Able Archer - The Portuguese Brigada Mecanizada 2008-24 in 20mm size

This Brigade is one of the three of the Portuguese army. It's made around a powerful group of Leopard 2A6 and infantry on M-113 under the fire protection of M-109 A5. The models came from a number of different brands like Die-cast Altaya, Riich, 3d BPM and many conversions. The infantry are plastic US, NATO and German figures with cuts in the weapons for them to look like the G3.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 14) - The Russian BREM-K recovery vehicles

The BREM-K is the standard Russian recovery vehicle for towing the wheeled series of the BTR-80 and similar or lighter vehicles. It's a relatively numerous vehicle in the nowadays war in Ukraine and you can find plenty of  images in the web and full articles about it. 

I had a number of BTR-80 leftovers after building a number of regular BTR-80 and converting others to the BTR-82A variant. This BREM-K didn't look too difficult to convert besides being a normal company of the basic version. 

Due to a number of added details and absence of its heavier guns this version of the BTR-80 becomes quite different from the basic one. 

The figure is another Orion soft plastic figure. 

The basic materials for these conversions were:

- 3d printed replacement wheels

- plastic card tubing and plate

- metal parts from HO trains

- WW2 Tiger front wheels from Hasegawa.

Many parts are over simplified but after painting the result is OK. 

The winch became a bit too thick but at least is unbreakable :). 

 

The front needs a coulter-stop for fixing the machine on the ground when working. 

For extra strength some of the supports of the winch in the turret are metal parts.  

Next: a video on the nowadays Ukrainian army.