Thursday 24 September 2020

What's on my Workbench, September 2020

So I haven't gotten around to taking nice pictures of completed figures, partly because Ninja Babushka really outshines everyone so best wait lest everyone appear inadequate in comparison.

A concept, a prototype and a production vehicle walk into a bar....

The E-75, a paper tiger in the literal sense.

The E series tanks were an attempt by Nazi Germany to rationalise and simplify their tank production and types. Basically they came to the realisation that having many overly complicated and unreliable designs with many different variants of each, may have been contributing to them losing the war. Of these the largest was the E-100, a 100+ tonne monster, for which a hull was built (which the British got their hands on, assessed and then promptly scrapped).

The E-75 was to be the standard heavy tank, a replacement for and derived partially from the Tiger 2 tank. It would weigh somewhere between 75 and 100 tonnes (which is still quite ridiculous even today). None were built as the Nazis were too busy losing the war (and the RAF was bombing the industrial tank building capacity into the dust.)

An interesting looking design nonetheless, with a ridiculously long gun (I am not sure if this is meant to be an 88 L71 or a larger calibre?). This tank will probably get roped into the forces of Orotinia as a post war production based on German plans.


Iosif Stalin-7, now with excessive machine guns!

The seventh instalment into the line of tanks named after Soviet leader Iosif Stalin (these were named to please Stalin and there's a bunch of nonsense around this tank series as a result) this machine actually made it to prototype stage and can be seen at the Kubinka Tank Museum outside of Moscow (which I long to one day visit).

The tank is all around impressive in terms of firepower and protection. However, it was also highly complex and expensive and to an extent needlessly excessive (those rear facing machine guns on the turret are next to useless). It was not accepted into production but some of it's features were incorporated into the IS-8/9/10/T-10 (there's some nonsense going on there).

But hey it looks cool and if nothing else it would certainly intimidate any foe who didn't expect to see it. I will probably put this one towards the service of the Pan Andean People's Republic and/or Ororussia (Oronegro's odd colony).

M1117 Guardian, boring but also the only useful one here.

The M117 Guardian is the odd one out in this line up. Not only is it not a tank, it is also the only vehicle here that was actually mass produced and put into service. A replacement for some of the ageing armoured cars in US service, this vehicle is used by the US Military Police as well as a few other nations.

It is armed with a machine gun and an automatic grenade launcher. It provides relatively good protection from mines and small arms fire but that's about all. It will probably be put towards the service of Gran Bolivia or someone else. it is quite generic.

Regarding the model itself I was somewhat disappointed to find that once you put the feed for the grenade launcher in place the gun barrels can no longer elevate which totally defeats the purpose of having them moulded as a separate piece.


Anyway that's all for today. I hope to get a bit more work on these done next week maybe ready to show off the following weekend. We shall have to see. I hope you have enjoyed this post and I will catch you all next time. Take care everyone. :-D

5 comments:

  1. I gather that one of the possible weapons on the E75 was an 8.8cm L100 - which must have envisgaed a formidable muzzle velocity. Alternatively, a high velocity 10.5cm gun was under consideration.

    Orotina has a very considerable inventory of AFVs, but nothing experimental. On the other hand, the Pan-Andean People's Republic has acquired a not only a number of IS2, but the parts possibly to assemble some late (post war) versions thereof. Added to them is a consignment of KV85s that somehow got smuggled out of the Soviet Union before they were decommissioned. The odd IS7 might come in handy. I have a feeling, you know, that, for all the expense (and the likelihood that its machinegun complement would have been stripped down in the field anyway), some of the developments would have made the project a very educational one for the Soviet armaments industry.

    All the same, even the combined arms of the PAPR and Gran Bolivaria, I doubt would be a match for the armoured might of Orotina.
    Cheers,
    Ion

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    1. I like your thinking. I was considering for Orotinia that the E-75 could be a post Latin Wars stopgap measure, an attempt at home production to counter the arrival of T-54/55s to the PAPR. This production run may have been extremely limited, utilising plans acquired post war (found by some soldiers during the last weeks of the war, sold for a pretty penny but with little understanding of the significance.

      However, once Orotinia got access to Leopard 1 tanks during the 70s (perhaps also with home production of those). These vehicles were removed from frontline use as a result.

      I think the PAPR could have received batches of tanks from the Soviet Union for testing purposes. If for no other reason, because the climatic conditions available within the PAPR were not available back in the USSR. There were no jungles for a start. As such testing in the PAPR could highlight issues not discovered in the USSR itself.

      There's also the chance it was the acquisition of an overzealous procurement officer (perhaps they had the same issue as Elbonia?). After all it looks cool. Procurement officers aren't necessarily above the temptation of shiny things.

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  2. Exciting new models. I look forward to what you can do with them.
    The M1117 has even tempted me, but don't have any uses for it at the moment.

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    Replies
    1. Cheers, sorry for the late reply been very busy with work. Which also means I haven't had a chance to work on these. But hopefully in a couple weeks I can get more time to work on them.

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  3. Thanks for your hard work and commitment in creating this blog

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