WIP - G-93 'Kontot Kombatot' Light Tank Platoon

Now that I had the prototype and did not need to think much on the specifications, it was easy to assemble two more G-93 tankettes for the Jazygian armed forces. This time, instead of corrugated cardboard, I used 2mm balsa wood and two types of cardstock (a thicker one for the undercarriage and thinner ones for the horizontal upper surfaces and rear, much alike real tanks). Due to their simple shape, they are rather easy to put together, and needed filling only in a few places.

The platoon of three vehicles is going to be the standard combat element of the Jazygian light tank arm. This can be any variant of the G-93, with the restriction that at least one vehicle must have anti-tank capability. There are enough spare parts to retrofit all vehicles with at least a hull-mounted 3pdr gun. 

You can see that two vehicles of this platoon are going to have some field modifications, either storage boxes, extra track links or sandbags to boast their fighting capability. The platoon can have two hardtop versions or two turreted vehicles. The latter models will also look a bit more rough - war with Roxolania looming, they are put together hurriedly.

There is a fourth vehicle in the making at the back of the picture, of which I will tell you more in a following post.

 

Jazygian Armed Forces M3 Lee

There is no reason, other than personal preference, to include an M3 Lee in the Jazygian army. It might have been a Lend-Lease Russian vehicle passed over, or one salvaged from a Northern African battlefield. 

It's roughly 1/35 scale, and is made from cardboard, pink foam and balsa wood. There are some improvements over my scratchbuilding since the last piece, but the main goal is still not to overcomplicate these models - that would look silly next to plastic army men.

 

Roxolanian P-555 Sanktos Prokopios medium tank

To counter the Jazygian armored threat, the Roxolanian Armed Forces have come up with their own design. It is much more advanced and looks somewhat German-ish.

Kontot Kombatot G-93 - Some More Versions

I've finished the model and added some quirks and features. This is the standard G-93, with a driver/commander and a HMG in the second seat.

WIP - Jazygian 'Kontot Kombatot' G-93 tankette

 

The problem with vehicles that come with toy soldier sets is twofold: they are usually way too tiny compared to the army men, and they completely lack functionality.

To solve both of these problems, the Jazygian Armed Forces developed this rather handsome vehicle, basically a cardboard box on tracks, which can house two or three crew members and can lead the Jazygian spearhead into enemy territory.

The R&D process was relatively trouble free. I took a piece of cardboard, drew the shape of the hull, cut it out, scored and glued it together. The front mantle received a piece of strengthening stainless steel, and one of the windows were cut out to house a HMG or a 3pdr anti-tank gun (sold separately, also known as a piece of 2mm copper rod with a counterweight). There are going to be experiments with bolting a mortar to the underside as well. I covered the edges with strips of paper to make painting easier and protect them somewhat. The tracks were placed under the hull, otherwise it would have been too wide, and a pair of 2mm balsa skirts were added.

Once the glue dries, I'll paint it in the traditional Jazygian war colours - green, brown, grey and pink. 

Jazygian T-53 "Otkroton Pejpub" Main Battle Tank

My recent endeavors bring me back to the famed "Jazygia 1996" Pseudo-Balkans theatre. I bought a bunch of toy soldiers in various colours to represent the various factions, but the fighting vehicles supplied with these are rarely adequate. Therefore I built one out of balsa wood and cardstock. It looks a lot like some Russian designs, and I will most probably build more using real-life vehicles. 

The goal in designing the T-53 "Otkroton Pejpub" was to have the enemy confused whether it is a serious threat or something constructed out of cardboard. It is designed for both urban combat and rough terrain. It has a 120mm main gun and a coaxial machine gun. An LMG can also be installed on top of the commander's cupola.

Inter Arma applied to toy soldiers

Now that the weather almost feels like summer there was a chance of some garden gaming. Our centre yard is not too well maintained, two cars are crossing it and during rain it turns to a smallish Caspian Sea if you know what I mean.

Nevertheless I dug out some plastic toy soldiers to try how the modern implementation of Inter Arma works. To change the scale of the conflict I simply transformed every measurement to inches (e.g. where the book says 20cm it became 20" and so on) which sort of simplifies most of the things. 

The German commando could capture the Allied gun but took heavy losses. With some 1/35 scale tanks it would be more fun... A tank's firing range is, in most of the cases, up to 32".