Challenger 2, another stealth tank

Just when you thought it was safe to go out on the road, another tank is rolling down the tarmac bring with it a car crushing weight and an accurate, deadly gun. it is highly advised that you remain indoors and get all vehicles off the road, unless your car insurance policy covers damage caused by tanks!
if you have forgotten the last stealth Challenger 2 here is a link to the post anyway these 2 tanks are very similar, the only difference is the amount of armour on the tank.

All the following pics are taken inside the new bookcase... as you can see we need to put the books in it.

If you find yourself looking up at these tanks like this.... this is probably the last thing you will see.

one has extra armour one has a flag.... I still think the armour is a better add on to the tank.

the tanks driving away!

this is a rather faded Oronegrean flag.

in formation

not much dirt but this is mostly for urban warfare

a propaganda photo... who can stand up to the national forces when they have these?

Well, well, well there we are my friends this tank may have arrived to late for tank week but she is here now and I hope you enjoy her company. I have been busy recently, being stuck at home with illness is not fun but painting models stops me stressing about what I am missing at school. So due to that I have got a few figs done. I have got some divers done, who all sport an interesting , unique but above all experimental camouflage. I have literally just finished another fig, but I may still alter him, and a mounted man with a sub machine gun is also ready to show so plenty to present. I just have to figure out how to post it all.

have a great day guys! Now all I need to focus on is that T-90A soon the baddies will have a powerful tank to use (and as this is Oronegro, and the tank probably was made in Oronegro... it may be a match for these brutes).

both sides of the law!

well after the fun of tank week I seem to have got the joys of illness week :-( started out with a stomach bug and has ended up a a flu like virus that is ruining my week... still I have to stay positive and models help with that!
Fist up the mob!!!
How much cooler can you get than the old style mob... actually there are many ways but for the sake of not getting killed in a drive by lets say there are none!  below are pics... first of the hit men and then of a mob girl and an unfortunate bystander.
the Mob played a strange roll in the Rebellion... their power was undermined by the Soviets, who took control of nearly the whole illegal arms trade crippling the mob. the Mob was still no friend of the government but more often than not the lawless rebels found themselves at the wrong end of the mobs guns.

the hit men, Tony, Tony, Tony and Tony..... I stated painting these guys ages ago but never finished them until last week!

NOW LISTEN UP!!!!!! ABI my sister started the painting on the girl. she chose the colours I finished the figure... the man I painted a while back... I think he is a motorcyclist.... he is a figure from Esci's NATO ground crew.

I like this guy... on the front of his T-shirt it says Al Fin and on the back it has this cool pattern! unfortunately it looks like he's got himself into a bit of trouble.

 NOW for the cops!
I have seen these figures painted before by Emmett (Winttrix ) over on his blog and I decided I would copy his technique of writing Pol instead of police on the shields... its simpler and it means these guys can be police in any number of countries. actually not seen or heard anything of him in a while... any one managed to stay in contact?
Anyway here is Oronegro's Riot Police. armed with pistols these men are not really up to facing rebel insurgents but if they come up against an angry mob they should be up to the task of controlling it.

they may not be very important in the big scheme of things but these men are still ready to fight, but perhaps not die, for the nation of Oronegro

codes on their back EA and PA are little more than personal identifications A stands for their unit and the first letter who they are from that unit.

they move in on a building... ready to brake in and take out some crime lord!

Well there we are guys! another post. BUT ANOTHER TANK IS DONE AND READY TO BE SHOWN.... it will be in the next post!

have a nice day/night guys

final tank of tank week - Challenger 1

Okay guys here we go the final tank of tank week! the Challenger 1, the most modern of tank received and also in 1/76 scale! So what is smaller than a Challenge? a competition... so let me introduce the Competitor1

bringing up the rear is the Competitor 1 if the other tanks failed to remove the rebels this will!

the Competitor 1 is one of the few Light Main Battle Tanks that can still be found in large numbers within the Oronegrean armed forces! its strong composite armour and high speed make it useful even against normal sized MTB's. The tank has been a total success since its introduction in 1985 and replaced many of the chieftain tanks in the boarder units. the Competitor 1 has had no replacement as a smaller version of the challenger 2 proved unsatisfactory and efforts to make the hydrogen fuel cell tank engine (as seen in some Oronegrean tanks) consumed much of the budget for research and design in the Oronegrean Ministry of Defence.

a comparison... between the Challenger 2 and the Competitor 1

close up on some tools!

THERE WE GO THE FINAL TANK :-D hope you guys have a great weekend! I have more to show you either this weekend or next week! this will be my newly completed Mafia hit men (4 same pose - but the classic one) and a mounted man firing.  perhaps some more even if I have the time to finish an photograph them. busy, busy, busy all these moderns that were close to being done have been quick to complete.

have a good day/night everyone.

Tank week... tank 4 Centurion

the Centurion is the oldest of the tanks that arrived in the box. This centurion is also 1/76 scale so is also quite small. the design for the Centurion was started in 1943 and it entered service in 1945, sadly to late to see combat in WW2... But never the less the tank proved successful, its final notable action was in 1991 in the gulf war! a great British tank, with a long history, the Centurion looks its age when compared to other tanks.

this Gladiator named "long John Silver" follows the Swedish Strv 103's down the road.

Being 1/76 scale the model is not of a Centurion but a Gladiator, not a very original name but back in 1950 when Oronegro began its own production of the Centurion the name for this small tank didn't seem that important. the Gladiator like most small versions of large tanks in those days was not primarily designed for urban warfare, but jungle combat and bunker assault. Oronegro firmly believing at the time that tanks must be able to fit into the tunnel systems of underground bunkers... though this meant that the Gladiator was armed with a rather silly and infective short barrelled gun the Tank was built in large enough numbers that only in 1980 was the Gladiator finally retired from service (after 15 years being in reserve, and 20 years after the Centurion itself was retired.

the Gladiator an old relic the old Oronegrean military.

 the Gladiator turned up quite a bit during the civil war. though the government claimed that the rebels had got them from tank graveyards in cities like El Granproyecto, it seemed evident that due to the tanks good condition  that some at least came from over the boarder in the Pan Andean People's Republic, which had acquired some in the 1980's as part of a treaty. Also the fact the Government had some lent credit to the idea that the Government never really gave up tanks it saw as useful in the first place.

the rebel hides, the Gladiator may be old but the rebel is still no match for it.

There you go guys one more tank to go! the 1/76 scale Challenger 1 tank. Have a nice day guys I hope that you have enjoyed tank week so far.

Tank week... tank 3 the Strv103 S Tank

Never heard of this tank before? well no worries it's pretty obscure, yet I got 2 in the parcel from Matt and although the tank is not that common I guess Oronegro must have made some. I am not thinking up a story. hmm...

The Chieftain has cleared the way! Now the Strv 103's can play!

Usually when an order for a foreign tanks construction arrives at the desk of the national arms manufacturing minister he will see a name like "The United States of America", "The United Kingdom" or "The Federal Republic of Germany" in the box containing the name of the country which placed the order... But when the name "The Kingdom of Sweden" filled the box back in 1970 (a year before Sweden ended its own production of the tank) he thought there must have been a mistake.

called wedges by Oronegrean soldiers these tanks are not to be confused with anti-tank guns, they can do so much more than that.

Yet there was no mistake, with the country, only the number requested was wrong... two extra 0's on the end took the total to be build from 50 to 5000! the error was to say the very least huge, fortunately the mistake was seen by by then 309 were already being built and another 141 had been built! Sweden took the 50 it originally wanted but that left Oronegro with 500 tanks it needed to sell off. Sweden took 100 as spares another 100 were sold off to anonymous customers (usually western nations like the US who wanted to see its capabilities) and Oronegro was left with 300. These were then upgraded to have new composite armour, inferior to that of the Abrams or Challengers but still good, their guns were changed and eventually they all found their place in the Oronegrean army as tank destroyers, defensive tanks and "bunker busters". in Oronegrean service they were called the Wedges because of their shape. their official designation remained the Strv 103

there is the 2 "wedges" one has a cover at the back of the gun... mostly for decorative reasons but also to hide the area as if that area is damaged it can ruin the guns aim.

There you go guys another tank class down... happily these guys are 1/72 so no scale problems this time! the next 2 tanks are 1/76 so have their own class. And as always have a nice day/night.

tank week... tank 2 the chieftain

the chieftain was one of the best tanks of its day! of course this meant that Oronegro built lots! Most of these were normal size but the "Mk1 Omega" as it was known or more affectionately as the "chieftain's son" was another of the LMTB's  (light main battle tanks) that Oronegro produced. Mainly for Urban combat (thanks to David for that idea) and for jungle warfare, where smaller tanks that could fit on narrow roads were preferable.

while the gun focuses on the Leopards the chieftain moves in for the Kill!!!!

This one was slightly more difficult to fix up... first I had to find the right gun, which I am not sure I have managed to do. whoops. Then came adding the fabric cover that hides the joint between the gun and the turret. Thank goodness that this is a feature in real tanks as the hole left in the join was not small. I did have to do other thinks but thankfully apart from the fun there was only cosmetic surgery required.

a view from the front showing off the quick fix fabric gun and turret joint cover (thing). I have no clue what it is really called

side view... nice shot of some damage caused by either years of service or recent fighting.

Well there we have it guys, another tank down! two more tomorrow with all luck. ALSO I DID BUY THAT T-90 :-) 2-5 weeks until it should get here but at around $17 NZ it was not a bad price at all.

Well have a nice day guys and if you are living where I used to in England please take the Warning Tank Crossing signs seriously. hmm maybe that's why I like tanks? they remind me of home... what an odd concept.

My tank week! lets start the fun with...

... the Leopard 1. Well sort of first let us see what the week has in store for us all! Now let me first say a HUGE THANKS to Matt in Australia for sending my all the tanks (there is the hull of another and a turret of one more which don't go together and shall become battle field wrecks). All I needed to do was fix up all the guns, put on a few road wheels, fix up some paint, cover unwanted decals and generally take these guys from a state of sorry green models and turn them into fighting machines once more!

so without wasting any more of your precious time let me introduce the Oronegrean tank force as it stands today! also if the week goes well I might order a T-90A to add to the ranks (I still have the other challenger to do).

what a lot of tanks! (why is the Self propelled gun aimed strait up should have noticed that when I took the picture bugger....) can you spot the one that is not new, it should not be that hard as only one is black with white plates.

 Well as you can see there is 7 new tanks... I don't think it will take me all 7 days to get through them all as 2 are the same and today I am getting through 2 tanks! though they are both leopard 1 tanks, one is of an early type and is also 1/76 not 1/72 so is in Oronegro a special design... more on that later!

The Rebels are worried that is a nasty looking tank coming straight at them!

the leopard 1 A3 is a scary tank! this one built in Oronegro has some features that set it apart from the others.

first of all black diagonal plates either side of the gun! these were painted on at the start of the civil war to cover any symbols of the nation it was intended for (this case a kangaroo, yes I painted these over Matt's decals)

painting on the tools was not as fun, its quite a tedious task. the fabric/carpet? covering the gun was added by Matt

A lucky hit from the rebel gun destroys the tank but whats that coming up behind?

 Some of the tanks Matt sent me have turned out to be 1/76 scale instead of 1/72 but as I have already made up a nation that builds thousands upon thousands of tanks a year I may as well make up a few tanks as well! So here was my solution. Light Main Battle Tanks! Now I am not saying these are main battle tanks, the name is rather misleading, rather these are light versions OF main battle tanks, smaller, leaner and meaner versions. The Following is a small Leopard 1 tank its slightly smaller than a normal one, its gun is designed to take on lightly armoured vehicles and cars, its high speed and high rate of fire make is a useful is vulnerable tank!

moving in quick the Leopard 0.1 (had to think of a name quick) fires upon the rebel emplacement.

a comparison of the Leopard 0.1 on the left and the Leopard 1 A3 on the right.

hmm not the best shot but the Leopard 0.1 is clearly shorter... so much so that because of the different turret and size difference, I thought they were both 1/76 versions of different tanks.

Well there you go guys, 5 more tanks (4 types) to go! Looking at the range of heavy tanks I think that if I get the T-90A I better save up for some APC's or anti-aircraft vehicles because I certainly have enough (western) tanks.

have a good day guys!

modern and 18th century, Oronegro my plans

well I love these t era's as you all know, but in recent days I have once again been pulled towards the tanks and planes and less towards the brigs and muskets. Blame Arma 2 for that... anyway I thought that I should use this to my advantage, I want to build and 18th century project but my ideas are far ahead of what is going on on the model front.

the cause of the whole problem, fun but its drawn me back to the future.

on the other hand my moderns are ready and waiting to be used. However the buildings and tanks are covered in MDF saw dust... horrible stuff. but once clean I can play a few games and carry on with that story. of coarse I will not stop painting and preparing my 18th century stuff, there is still lots to do on that project, but its nice that I have had to opportunity to start it.

now the problem is that now I have to find where I left off, and to generally re-organise to prepare for modern warfare once more. Yet now is a great time for this as we are having a large garage clean out. now that my father has almost done making the new bookcases (the reason for the mdf saw dust) its a good opportunity to finally organise the space, and this means preparing an area for my models. I'll have a place for my city boards and my boats and hopefully somewhere for my boxes of completed models. Also its about time that I put back together the tanks that Matt sent me (one of the ships will be named after him), the tanks are all a bit of a mess but I should be able to make something of them. Of course I still have all those modern figures to paint also so lots of work to do even if I am gearing up for my 18th century stuff later on.

well there we go a brief look at what should be happening, running the moderns a bit longer should mean that I can post more stuff here (18th century soldiers take so much longer to paint) and that perhaps a half decent game can come from it... hope your all happy to hear this news now I am off to paint some figures... moderns and 18th century.

and of coarse Greetings to Mojo from Weapons In Mass Production my 60th follower, welcome to the blog

P.S
for the sake of consistency all my moderns shall still have black bases in most cases.