Messages

1

Wish Lists / Civilian Stowage

« on: May 24, 2017, 04:43:12 pm »

I was thinking that added Civilian Stowage and loot would be useful, stuff like Bicycles, crates of bottles, mattresses, chairs, boxes, radio sets, paintings (or frames so you can add your own painting) etc ...

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Wish Lists / Re: early StuG

« on: April 06, 2017, 05:33:35 pm »

IIRC there were four batteries of six STUG each present in France, A models mostly.

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Wish Lists / Re: Italian M13/40

« on: February 08, 2017, 07:22:33 pm »

Because I asked somebody from Warlord about upcoming releases ?

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Wish Lists / Re: Italian M13/40

« on: February 08, 2017, 01:55:03 am »

Warlord/Italeri do have at least an Italian tank kit and a Chi Ha in the works.  I guess the next update will probably be at Salute with everything planned for the second half of 2017.

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Wish Lists / Re: Italian M13/40

« on: February 07, 2017, 07:17:15 pm »

If people actually used their eyes rather than their desires they would notice that the Matilda and 88mm are part of the 1/72nd Arras set.

I'd venture that the whole row of Stug, Semovente, M13 and 88mm are in fact 1/72nd scale models, judging by the size and pose of the infantry figures.

There was a rumour from Warlord that an Italian vehicle was in the making.  Given that most of the Warlord/Italeri models announced for 2017 have already been released or about to be released we should expect to see something in the remaining 9-10 months of 2017 ...

6

General Discussions / Re: Interesting Sherman facts/myths (WiP)

« on: April 11, 2016, 05:34:44 am »

Part of the problem was the state of UK industry . Many factories were pre WW 1 and needed to modernize , Hard to do if your trying to manufacter war material  at the same time . The US built a complete Tank Factory in 6 months outside Detroit  , but they had the space , man power and they weren't getting bombed by Jerry  . Another thing , there was a shortage of metal lathes capable of working steel longer than the 6pdr gun . Since they couldn't make a longer barrel ( like the Germans on the Pz IV's 75mm from L43 to L48 ) which would have been a good gun as the 6t had better armor penetration than the Sherman 75 . They re bored the 6pdr to a 75mm . Better than nothing I guess . And most Churchill units had a mix of both gun types till new lathes were purchased from the USA .

The UK faced many logistics problems such as the fact that the country is dotted with low railroad tunnels and rail companies lacked appropriate flatbed carriages to move tanks from the factories.  The US sent large numbers of carriages to remedy this problem allowing the British to make large scale transport much easier.

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General Discussions / Re: Interesting Sherman facts/myths (WiP)

« on: April 11, 2016, 05:27:47 am »

I don't have the figures at hand, but tank production budgets pale in comparison with the money the UK spent on aircraft, ships or even tobacco products.  Oddly enough the situation was very similar to that of Germany which put aircraft production and submarine production before tank production as a result tanks were only a small % of the total budget.

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General Discussions / Re: Interesting Sherman facts/myths (WiP)

« on: April 11, 2016, 01:53:59 am »

Arguably the Americans were the fastest learners, while the British were the slowest.

I am not sure how fair that is, the Americans had access to the British experiences and still managed to repeat a number of their mistakes.

Tank design is slightly odd as Britain needed as many tanks as it could get after Dunkirk, so new designs were left on the back burner in preference to existing designs - that can be the only reason for the production of 1.7k Covenanter tanks (only one of which was lost to enemy action - by a bomb near Canterbury).

Tank production was never a priority for the British, they concentrated on aircraft and ships.  As a result tank development in the UK lacked the resources and people to handle it properly.  Of course this became a moot point when the Americans began to mass produce the M4.  The British then concentrated on developing better weapons like the 6 and 17lbs guns.

Zaloga gives an excellent overview of what went wrong (and sometimes right) with US tank use and doctrine in WWII in Armoured Thunderbolt.

9

General Discussions / Re: Interesting Sherman facts/myths (WiP)

« on: April 10, 2016, 10:07:30 pm »

The five Shermans to a Panzer seems to have no real source, it seems to be based on the first accounts of Tanks after WWII, relying almost exclusively on British sources.  The British preferred to let the equipment do the job and used up a lot of tanks, especially in the fighting around Caen and Operation Goodwood, where losses where indeed in the 5/1 ratio ballpark, but US troops found themselves in a very different situation.

The one example that damns that preconceived notion and tends to completely blow the mind of panzer fanboys is Arracourt, an attempt by the Germans to break Patton's Third Army by launching a massive tank offensive involving mostly Panthers.  75mm Shermans and M10's stopped them cold with relatively few losses.  The Panthers who should have effortlessly rolled over those US tanks had their clocks thoroughly cleaned.  This was mostly due to unfavourable conditions : attacking in misty conditions, raw untrained crews and the fact that Panther had two significant weaknesses, thin side armour which was vulnerable to both 75mm and 3-inch guns and the lack of a wide-field periscope for the gunner, who had to rely on his high magnification, narrow-view gun-sight, as a result a Panther gunner often needed 4-5 times as much time as a Sherman gunner to locate a target.

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General Discussions / Re: M10/M36 help needed.

« on: April 09, 2016, 06:51:38 pm »

I noticed that the M36 turret simply fits on top of the M10 turret ring, it's not secured, but I doubt it will be a problem.

11

General Discussions / Re: Your favourite movie tank

« on: April 07, 2016, 06:40:09 pm »

"Mais ou est donc passé la 7eme compagnie ?" Is a French comedy set in 1940.  A transmissions unit is cut off during the rapid advance of the German army and a trio of solders escape by sheer blind luck.  As they try to get back to their own lines they meet a dashing young pilot fully prepared to fight to the last.  They manage to steal a German recovery vehicle and use it to cause confusion behind enemy lines (again more through luck than actual design.)

The German recovery vehicle is based on an American M3 Half Track, modified to look German.  In the clip below the Frenchmen have tried to get some food from a local grocer who chases them away, but is more than happy to collaborate with the Germans.  They return, disguised as Germans and teach him a lesson about collaborating with the "enemy".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tLYlf3Y50E

And here is my little kitbash, based on a Rubicon HT.

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Wish Lists / Re: New wish list for 2016

« on: February 10, 2016, 10:44:49 pm »

I was doing some early spring cleaning today and came across a box of old 1/72nd scale models.  One of these models used to be one of my favourites, the SIG 33 Grille.

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General Discussions / Re: 2015 - A Year in Review -&- Happy New Year 2016!

« on: January 27, 2016, 01:11:10 am »

Not all companies have a full release schedule, some projects are held back to be announced later in the year.  Also because Italeri is tied to Warlord who have a much shorter release schedule the new models are not announced until Warlord is ready to do the same.  So I would not be surprised if more kits are released this year.

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General Discussions / Re: 2015 - A Year in Review -&- Happy New Year 2016!

« on: January 25, 2016, 07:58:21 pm »

The 2016 Italeri preview is out with a 1/56th Churchill announced.

http://www.italeri.com/imgup/Preview%20Italeri%202016%281%29.pdf

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Work In Progress / Re: Willys MB - The Jeep

« on: January 24, 2016, 06:50:21 pm »

What about the US recon versions that had .30 cal MG's on the passenger side ?