sexta-feira, 24 de fevereiro de 2012

Locomotives & War (Vietnam) - by Carlos Briz


(Class GP 20 locomotive - U.S. Army Transportation Corps)

Good morning Vietnam!

CB brings us another outstanding king-size dio, this time related to the Vietnam War.

That fine Douglas AC-47 gunship over there (aka Spooky, to his friends) brought something new to the modern battlefield, when air superiority was possible. 

This slow moving World War II vintage aircraft provided the possibility of delivering accurate fire with heavy weapons in direct support of ground troops, blunting many Vietcong offensives.

One of measures of the sucess of this particular weapon was the Presidential Unit Citation given in 1968 to the 14th Air Comando Wing, where two squadrons of  AC-47's served.



BT

quarta-feira, 22 de fevereiro de 2012

Italian Camel Troops - Meharisti in WW2 (Pendraken Painting Competition)


The Italian (like other colonial countries) in their respective North African territioire (Cyrenaica and Tripolitania) locally recruited camel corps.

The Italian Camel Corps was considered very effective. It was officially called Meharists, after the Mehara camel it used. Camel-mounted troops were mainly employed by the Saharan Command for desert patrol purposes, however attached to his armored group General Bergonzoli, XXXIII Army Corps (September 1940), had a Saharia Libyan troop comand. The units were composed of libyans and included a Saharian batallion, a Camel battery of 65/17 guns.


Since there are not specific models for creating a meharisti ww2 troops, I´ve used and adapted the colonial Pendraken range, some ww2 Italian officers and some Pithead models for my artillery.


I´ve used some of the models below (from pendraken (10mm) to participate in the Pendraken Painting Competition 2012.






Camel troops with italian officer (riding in the middle)



Meharisti with their transport (camels)


 Camel battery of 65/17 guns (Pithead and Pendraken)
Best Regards JMM

segunda-feira, 20 de fevereiro de 2012

76 mm AA - Model 1931/38 (Pendraken Painting Competition)

The Soviets used the 76 mm model 1931 and model 1938 mainly for air defense purposes. Model 1931 has been credited as design of G. P. Tagunov, the improved version called model 1938 was created by the Soviet artillery designer M N Loginov. The main difference between the two models was the introduction of a new driving device and some smaller improvements.
During World War 2 both of these guns saw a lot of use with Soviet military.
The Germans also captured these guns in large numbers and armed large number of their anti-aircraft gun units in air-defence of home front with them. German names for these guns were 7.62 cm Flak M 31 (r) and 7.62 cm Flak M 38 (r), after running out of captured ammunition Germans modified the guns to 88-mm calibre. In that new calibre these guns were known as 7.62/8.8 cm Flak M 31 (r) and 7.62/8.8 cm Flak M 31 (r).
In some cases the Russians used them as AT weapons, the gun had a hitting penetration of 78mm at 500 meters and 68 mm at 1000 meters.
The Finish (who captured about forty guns and also bought some more from the Germans) developed an AT round that increased the hitting penetration. Until the introduction of the 7.5 cm Pak 40, in May of 1943, these anti-aircraft guns were the most powerful antitank-weapons in Finnish inventory.  (http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/AA_GUNS3.htm)The model below is from pendraken (10mm). It belongs to my soviet army and I used it to participate in the Pendraken Painting Competition 2012.







Best Regards
JMM

quinta-feira, 16 de fevereiro de 2012

T -28 SOVIET TANK (Pendraken Painting Competition) - by JMM




The T-28 was a Soviet medium tank. It was an infantry-support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The prototype was completed in 1931 and production began in late 1932. The tank was deployed during the Invasion of Poland and the Winter War against Finland. 

When the germans invaded URSS, in June 1941, the Soviets had 411 T-28 tanks, however, during the first two months of the invasion,  most T-28s were lost, many of them abandoned after mechanical breakdown. After, late 1941, they were rare in Red Army service, only a few were operated by enemy forces (like Finland).

The model below is from pendraken (10mm). It belongs to my soviet army and I used it to participate in the Pendraken Painting Competition 2012.








I decided not to include any markings or symbols so that  I may double use it also with my Finns.

Best Regards
JMM

quarta-feira, 15 de fevereiro de 2012

Scratchbuilt wargames terrain - by Mário Laranja (Part 1)



And now ML is making a few more contributions to the world wide addiction of wargamers: 

Wargames terrain!
(1/144 scale)

The first pic reveals the quality of the material used by ML.

The bridge is so well built that it can even take on a Panther!



The Panther was not made to stand in a dug out and wait for enemy armour to arrive.

There must be only one explanation for this: hundreds of roaming T-34's!



And now you can see how a Panther deals with a threat of hundreds of roaming Shermans.

It places itself on the top of a hill in order to have a better field of fire...



After a great post placed by JMM, related to his Tachanka, ML bring us yet another great example of his artwork with this outstanding wargames material.

My guess is that in the tournament we have sheduled for September in Espinho we will only have time to check out all the goodies lying around in the wargames tables.

BT

segunda-feira, 13 de fevereiro de 2012

The Tachanka (Pendraken Painting Competition)

The tachanka was a horse-drawn machine gun platform, usually a cart or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun installed in the back. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four horses and required a crew of two or three (one driver and a machingun crew). The tachanka went on to see service with the Red Army well into the Second World War and was also adapted by the Wehrmacht as an anti-aircraft platform.


The model below is from Pendraken (10mm) and belongs to my URSS Army. With this model I´m also entering the Pendraken 2012 Painting Competition.







My soviet forces are building up for the 2012 Ambush Blitz Campaign - (Kursks 1943), to be held in September, in Espinho. Yes, in 1943, the tachanka was still in the OOB of some soviet cavalry units. 


Regards
JMM

quinta-feira, 9 de fevereiro de 2012

Locomotives & War (North American Indian Wars, 1870) - by Carlos Briz


(Class 4-4-0 steam locomotive - US Railways)

In the period before, during and after the American Civil War (1861-1865), the north american continent saw  many armed conflicts involving native americans.

In the Dakota War (1862) the Sioux nation was once again defeated and forced to leave all their reservations.

The Colorado War (1863-1865) mainly involved the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and was another example of conflict born out of the pressure on the native population by the white settlers in search for land and natural resources.

The Sand Creek Massacre was just one of the many unfortunate consequences of this particular war.


I wonder if this "iron horse" will be able to resist the determined assault made by the Sioux warriors...

BT

segunda-feira, 6 de fevereiro de 2012

Kursk Campaign 2012 - by Mário Laranja (6)


ML has been holding out on us!

We can see here a JS I (a prototype, maybe...) casually passing by the farm built by ML on his way to the Kursk battlefield.

However, ML has yet to send us some specific pics related to this new paper model.

That is not fair ML! 

I already warn you that JF is going to start an international petition to force you to send us all the pics you have related to that model.


There are never ending columns of (paper) vehicles on their way to the battlefield.


Look, the Soviets even managed to get their hands on a lend-lease AEC Matador!



Here you can see the dwellers of this farm are true Soviets.

Even their underwear is red.

By the way, ML also has a great blog where you can find more paper models and a great tutorial, where he describes in detail how to do them.

Check it out!


BT

quinta-feira, 2 de fevereiro de 2012

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 39 - by Carlos Briz


(Class SU 1-3-1 locomotive - USSR State Railways)

From Chechnya to the far north, CB brings us to that beautiful and cold country: Finland!

Besides breathtaking landscapes, Finnish girls are undoubtlebly rated among the nicest features that country has to offer (so they say...)


The hardy Finns defied all the odds and managed to resist the human and mechanised power of the Soviet juggernaut during the Winter War and later during the Continuation War.

Theirs was a moral, strategic and political victory, since Finland managed to retain its sovereinty, inspite of the harsh terms of the Moscow and Paris peace treaties.

(Class C50 locomotive - Japan National Railways)

From the cold to the monsoon!

Check out the two outstanding boats CB placed in this dio, besides all else.

The Japanese had great torpedoes (Type 93 torpedo, know as the Long Lance) but they never really managed to keep up with the master handling of torpedo boats acheived by the Americans. 

The American PT torpedo boats zoomed like wasps around the Japanese fleet and scored many sucessfull hits during the Pacific War.

By the way ML, CB is gaining on you...

BT

quarta-feira, 1 de fevereiro de 2012

Locomotives & War (Chechnya, 2000) - by Carlos Briz


(Class VL-80 locomotive - Russian Federation Railways)

And now CB takes us east, with another outstanding dio related to the war in Chechnya.
(Second Chechen War)

The siege and assault of the city of Grozny (between November 1999 and February 2000) remains as one of the most terrible examples of urban warfare after WWII.

BT