Well another week another set of tanks. We went from one, to two, to four (so presumably next week I must have eight to show off?) These fine machines are the Iosif Stalin Trotsky tank. More precisely the Trotsky modification to the classic Soviet machine the IS-2. The IS-2T or simply IS-T (there being no Trotsky modification type for the other vehicles in the series) is a heavy tank produced and operated by the Pan Andean People's Republic. Some of you may have heard of that nation before. For good reason. Those of you who follow Archduke Piccolo's blog may well know that this nation was part of the Latin Wars project and campaign from a few years back. The Pan Andean People's Republic and the other participants in those Latin Wars are neighbours to Oronegro. These tanks are the first to extent those warm, explosive neighbourly greetings to their Oronegrean friends.
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| The IS-T tanks advance across the barren plain, lush jungles turned to ash through the horrors of war. |
So let's talk a little about these tanks. First up these are from two sets of the Italeri IS-2 Fast Assembly Kits. However, they have been substantially modified, with the upper hull and turret sides being reshaped with Milliput putty. I have a bunch of the yellow-grey putty which smells mad so I wanted to use it all up quick, still have half left, so please throw me ideas for large conversions so I can use this stuff up quick. Lore wise these modifications are designed to provide the tanks with additional armour in the form of new composite protection. The armour increase to the upper hull and turret sides is substantial. The hull front receiving the most additional composite as well as spaced armour. Along with the necessary upgrades in terms of suspension and the power-plant these tanks haven't compromised too much of manoeuvrability and speed. Although fuel consumption is now a serious issue and the range has been greatly reduced.
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| Crossing dangerous valley floors this tanks are particularly vulnerable. Nervous commanders scan the ridge-lines |
So with all these upgrades in mind how do these machines stack up? Well truth be told rather poorly in the 21st century. When these tanks first appeared in 1968 they were greatly feared as their armour matched that, and in some cases exceeded that of the contemporary main battle tanks likely to be fielded against it. However, even at that date the armament of the IS-T was becoming rather dated with regards to contemporary tank vs tank combat. Further modifications have been done over the years and some newer shells have been introduced to prevent the IS-T becoming completely obsolete, with the tanks lifespan expected to continue so long as they can be maintained. The PAPR considers them useful in the infantry support role, where their gun is more suitably and their deficiencies in range and AT capabilities are mitigated.
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| IS-T N° 235 affectionately known as 235 UKU |
The tanks here follow the usual numbering format of brigade - platoon - tank. In this case these tanks belong to the 3rd platoon of the 2nd tank brigade. Now you may notice that there is no tank 231 here. This is because I have not got a suitable model yet. I could convert another IS-2 but I am currently leaning towards either modifying an IS-3 (if I there's a cheap model that's suitable) or buying either an IS-4 or IS-7 kit. The latter would be quite ridiculous, just as the IS-7 prototypes were but they look very cool. The IS-4 is much more realistic and reasonable as it was produced (if not in great numbers) although visually it wouldn't be too distinct from the IS-Ts which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective. Should the command tank be visually striking or not so much?
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| From the side it is clear that only the upper half of the tank has received extra protection. No side skirts have been added |
Well this is the first post related to the Pan Andean People's Republic the Archduke and I have been talking a bit about how the imagi-nations of the Latin Wars could relate to and fit in within the Oronegrean story. I must state my huge gratitude and I feel a deep honour in being able to take up these nations and their stories and keep them alive and thriving. With the story of Oronegro itself set for substantial revision there's more than ample room to find a place for these nations and certain miniatures, such as the Spetsnaz, painted before can now find a new calling in the service of those nations.
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| The detail is very rough on these, not that it matters much to me as these are for wargaming. Little annoyed at that seam visible there, I put putty in there to sort that out. Ah well put it down to Soviet build quality, rough but ready. |
The photos themselves are somewhat deceptive. Unlike last week I put a bit more effort into modifying the images. To an extent some suffer quite a bit in having their colours boosted too far. Sadly the initial images were, once again, not taken with the best lighting conditions. One of the unfortunate compromises of trying to get this post out after work.
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| This one in particular is bad, far too vivid. Didn't notice at the time due to my colourblindness. Very temperamental vision. |
Which brings me to my little bit of news. Today, Tuesday 8th of October, was my first day at my new job. I have begun work at at a planning consultancy, part time at first moving to full time once my studies are up. It is however a big step for me moving into the profession I have been studying many years to be trained for.
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| The image quality may not be ideal but that blanket is. It was a free score from the last Northern Base festival. The things people leave behind. All those who encounter it (especially cats) agree it is very good. |
Well this brings me towards the end of this post. I am quite tired and will be off to bed immediately after posting this (and the corresponding post on Facebook, forums can wait for another day.) I hope you have enjoyed this post and are eagerly anticipating more to come. In the final photo I have a sneak peak for what I hope to get done before the end of next week. No guarantees though as I am now working three jobs and doing full time study. A lot on but this is the final few weeks before the end of university so once I am done there will be much more time for the little ones.
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| Now the poor lighting works even better for concealing the identity of the mystery figure. Points for guessing correctly. |
Well that is all from me. I hope you have enjoyed these rather unusual tanks. The choice of name is deliberate and yes I know that it shouldn't work and that it is bound to upset some people. (For those totally unaware of why, let us merely say Stalin and Trotsky did not get on, assassination isn't the usual gift between pals.) It's all a rather poor joke, based off some random thing I encountered one day on the strange place that is the internet.... Which I have not gone ahead and immortalised in plastic.
So I hope that you can forgive my rather niche and obscure sense of humour. I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions (particularly around what tank to get next for the command vehicle.) However, until next time I wish you all the very best day/night. Have fun with your hobbies and with your work and may the weather be favourable whatever you are doing and wherever you are. ;-D
These came out looking fine, Gowan. I particularly like the numbering font. The yellowish-green looks fine to me also. I've seen some quite nice images of model IS2s with similar pale type of green.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that Trotsky's exile was a Cunning Plan hatched by Stalin to insert an influential revolutionary into the Latin Americas, to export Bolshevism by subterfuge if it were not possible by any other method. Trotsky was more than happy to go along with this, as more at home in the struggle to achieve power than in the exercise of it. Stalin hardly needed to offer as an alternative the gulag, or the ceramic tiled room with the drainage hole and the pistol.
Most of my IS2s are also Italieri qwik-builds, but I did get one box with the quick and the slow. The slow build became the command tank. Incidentally, having some notion that the Soviets' number on tanks tended to be random (? so as not to make the CO's identity obvious) I've tended to use some sort of series.
My 'Latin Wars' was originally intended to be WW2 in a different part of the world. According to CIA analysts (in later years), the IS-T was probably a local modification upon the war surplus IS2s imported from the Soviet Union under flags of convenience.
Orotina used its oil reserves to pick up a huge job lot of German WW2 equipment, the imports arriving even before VE-day. Of course, with the war's end, the supplies of replacements became hard to come by, so any war Orotina engaged in had to be quick, and not too costly. Gran Bolivaria could far more easily reinforce its inventory of Shermans, and although the Pan-Andean Peoples' Republic found replacements rather harder to obtain, it was by no means impossible.
The wars I had in mind began in late 1944, and continued for several years until... What happened after, say 1954, is anyone's story! Incidentally, the Pan-Andean Peoples' Republic are likely to have been using T34/85s well into the 1980s...
The problem with the images is that the colour is actually a much darker green than these images make it out to be. I went for the darker green seen on some of the later Soviet/Russian tanks. Could also relate to the climate/region with these tanks being coloured to be more suitable for the darker jungles of the Oronegrean-PAPR border.
DeleteMy choice in date was quite significant. It was after the T-64 had been produced which was the first mass produced tank to have a form of composite armour. So the IS-Ts can be modified (Soviet Surplus and perhaps some locally produced) IS-2s with the additional armour being based on the composite technology of the T-64.
On the note of T34/85s I do have an airfix kit. Although the 1/76 nature of the model bothers me. I had a plan around working it in. Perhaps either as a locally produced T34/85 (with someone messing up unit conversions or something) or as a light tank project based on the T34 design.
I will probably discuss more with you about the vehicles for Orotinia and Gran Bolivia as to how to work them in well. Got a few ideas. Also the idea around using another Italeri kit is intriguing although I don't think my local shop has one. In which case if buying online I might just go for a different tank. It could represent the fact that the PAPR has a very limited supply of more advanced heavy tanks (even perhaps rejected prototypes the Soviets sold off for cash) which they spread out amongst the relevant forces as command vehicles. Will probably message you about this later.