Author Topic: Armored Fighting Vehicles version M4 - are we going with that? Sure, man.  (Read 199131 times)

ANS Kamas P81

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And in a more thinky concept, I understand all the problems of casemated gun carriers (ISU-152 for example) but I'm wondering about more modern types of things.  The Centurion AVRE 165 Mk 5 got added into War Thunder, and seeing that monster bloop gun and its 40 pound load of C-4 admittedly makes me giggle, but is it really that much more useful than simply using a Centurion tank, especially with the 105mm gun it had?

My thoughts are towards a sort of Soviet-style combat engineer/assault pioneer battalion, and the vehicles they'd use.  Obviously you'd have armored recovery vehicles, but what about something for a direct assault?  Is a regular tank just that much more generally useful, or is the specialized ride worth the effort?  Taking on fixed fortifications, breaching defenses, that sort of thing.

I've got some loose fluffy ideas for the unit, "By Hammer And Hellfire" for a motto; converted tanks into APCs Kangaroo style, that sort of thing.  Besides the question of 'proper tanks or specialist gun carriers' there's also a general request, any good books or websites that you guys know about for that sort of thing?  I've found a few that talk about the Soviet engineer units in WWII, but they're pretty sparse on info.
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Charlie 6

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Assault Breacher Vehicle:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_Breacher_Vehicle

Sorry, on my Kindle making dinner so I can't do pics readily.

Matti

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Sorry, on my Kindle making dinner so I can't do pics readily.
Kindle does WWW now? How is it compared to mobile smart phone with Kindle app?
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Charlie 6

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Kindle does WWW now? How is it compared to mobile smart phone with Kindle app?
It has a web browser called Silk.  It is a bit wonky at times so downloading and uploading pics is a bit tricky.

Dave Talley

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yep.
they have 7/8/10 inch screens, its a customized variation of droid, and you can cross load some normal droid apps easily
I have been using my 8" fire for about a month , works decently, seems to be a decent tab without graduating to the $200+++ Samsung's
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hoosierhick

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And for a pic of something slightly different, but AFV related...tanks made from interlocking plastic building blocks.



I really need to dust the back part of that second shelf...

Luciora

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Just bought this from a local toy show.  All Lego parts and not a mego or knockoff kit.  Custom lego set and was very impressed with the engineering.

Charlie 6

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If you really want your soul (or wallet) crushed, check out Brickmania on the web.

ColBosch

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Just bought this from a local toy show.  All Lego parts and not a mego or knockoff kit.  Custom lego set and was very impressed with the engineering.

Sorry, but that doesn't hold a candle to Mega's military stuff from the past few years, as the Call of Duty license. Unfortunately their website is being redone right now, but if you run a Google search for "Mega Call of Duty" I think you'll be surprised.
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hoosierhick

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Sorry, but that doesn't hold a candle to Mega's military stuff from the past few years, as the Call of Duty license. Unfortunately their website is being redone right now, but if you run a Google search for "Mega Call of Duty" I think you'll be surprised.

I really wish you woudn't have mentioned those.  The company that makes the ones that I posted (Cobi) doesn't do very many modern subjects, and I've been wanting to add some modern stuff to the collection.  They do have a ton of WW2 stuff, and it looks like they've just released a couple of WW1 tanks.

Luciora

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Didn't mean to start a comparison contest.  Just wanted to show off a unique build I found at a toyfair using official Lego parts that I really enjoyed enough to buy.

Sorry, but that doesn't hold a candle to Mega's military stuff from the past few years, as the Call of Duty license. Unfortunately their website is being redone right now, but if you run a Google search for "Mega Call of Duty" I think you'll be surprised.

ColBosch

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I really wish you woudn't have mentioned those.  The company that makes the ones that I posted (Cobi) doesn't do very many modern subjects, and I've been wanting to add some modern stuff to the collection.  They do have a ton of WW2 stuff, and it looks like they've just released a couple of WW1 tanks.

Cobi is Chinese garbage. But if you want to waste your money, feel free. Just remember, when your sets are missing parts and don't fit together correctly, I warned you.
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Liam's Ghost

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Cobi is Chinese garbage. But if you want to waste your money, feel free. Just remember, when your sets are missing parts and don't fit together correctly, I warned you.

Cobi is actually a Polish company.
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Deadborder

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Cobi is actually a Polish company.

But IIRC they source from Chinese factories
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DoctorMonkey

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Having just bought my first Cobi tank (a Churchill Mk 1) the packaging definitely says "Made in the EU" and while Australia may be in Eurovision, I don't think China is in the EU
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kato

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Cobi produces at their own plastic mould factory in Mielec, South Poland.

Sabelkatten

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But IIRC they source from Chinese factories
So do LEGO as far as I know. The important part isn't where the factory is but the quality control and the worker's motivation. Honestly, I trust a Danish-controlled factory in China more than a Polish-controlled factory in Poland...

hoosierhick

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I was wary of how well they would fit together before i started buying them. I bought the Kettenkrad first and was honestly impressed at how well it went together.
That being said,  Cobi's quality control isn't quite up to the standard of LEGO.  The Matilda is missing a road wheel, the Pershing had a wrong wheel in the package, the Sherman was also missing a piece, and the T-34 had a wrong piece that I had to modify to work.   I can fix the Pershing easily enough, and I need to contact them about the Matilda.  Even with that,  I've been happy with what I've got.

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cool image from the invasion of Sicily
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Fat Guy

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The PST-54, an attempt to make the T-54 amphibious:








At this point, I think it'd be a lot easier to just put the damn thing on a barge!   ::)
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chanman

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Whole bunch of Cold War tanks from countries other than the big tank exporters of the era (US, UK, France, Germany, USSR)

If you squint, the PRC's Type 63 almost looks like an amphibious T-54/55 (20 tonne range)


The predecessor light tank which clearly shows its lineage from the T-54/55/Type-59 (21 tonne range)



Another T-55 derivative, the Type 69 is most infamous for its role as 'target' in Desert Storm (37 tonne range)


Size difference with the Abrams:


Type 80/88 - the last Chinese tanks with the old dome turrets before the change to boxy welded turrets - which actually show up in the later variants of the Type 80 family (40 tonne range)


Q: What do you get if you yank the turret of an M18 Hellcat and slap it on the hull of an M42 Duster?
A: The RoC's Type 64 hybrid


Swiss Pz 58 medium tank (35 tonne range, evolved into the Pz61):


Swiss Pz 61 medium tank (39 tonne range):


Swiss Pz 68 medium tank (40 tonne range):



Japanese Type 61 'MBT' (35 tonne range - medium tank/MBT is a nebulous differentiation, isn't it?):



Japanese Type 74 MBT (38 tonne range)



The Austrian SK-105 light tank saw a degree of export success to Latin America and North Africa. The turret shows its relation to the AMX-13 (18 tonne range)


Another hybrid tank, Argentina ordered new hulls from Austria and mated them with surplus AMX-13 turrets. 39 planned, but only 4 conversions were made


Back to Sweden, the Ikv 91 is classified as a tank destroyer, but I don't see how it's anything but a light tank (16 tonne range)


Another super-weird Swedish tank, the Strv 74 mated a new turret and wider tracks with the hull and powertrain of the WW2-vintage Stridsvagn m/42(26 tonne range)


Speaking of the Stridsvagn m/42, it may be a 1943 design, but it looks closer to pre-war tanks like the LT vz. 38/Panzer 38(t) than anything designed during the war. (23 tonne range)


A bit of an interesting case, Romania went with a modernized T-55 derivative instead of the T-62 or T-72 (photo is of a modernized vehicle, couldn't find one of the tank in its Cold War service guise)
« Last Edit: 09 July 2018, 20:35:08 by chanman »

glitterboy2098

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So do LEGO as far as I know. The important part isn't where the factory is but the quality control and the worker's motivation. Honestly, I trust a Danish-controlled factory in China more than a Polish-controlled factory in Poland...
actually most of the Bricks are made in Mexico and Hungary. the chinese factory is fairly new.

tax:
Egyptian M4 Sherman with their own local upgrade.. the turret of an AMX-13.

wonder why they went with that combo?
« Last Edit: 09 July 2018, 14:45:43 by glitterboy2098 »

kato

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A bit of an interesting case, Romania went with a modernized T-55 derivative instead of the T-62 or T-72
Part of a story that basically involved a decades-long desire to somehow mate a T-55 with a Leopard 1 engine that started with unlicensed production of reverse-engineered modified T-55 clones in the early 70s and somehow succeeded 25 years later.

I am Belch II

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Some great photos
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Info on Egyptian Shermans is hard to find, other than the conversion took place. From what I understand, they simply bought turrets for that very purpose (rather than stripping them from existing AMX-13s), in an effort to increase the firepower of the existing Sherman fleet. Started sometime in the '50s & may have been available for the '56 Suez Crisis. Israel took a similar approach but mated the 75mm cannon from the AMX-13 to the existing Sherman turret. This required an extension to the front of the turret as well as a large cast counterweight in the rear. Design work & conversions done with the help of the French. Around 25 of these were available for the '56 Suez Crisis. I suspect the Egyptians went that route to take advantagge of the autoloader as well as being a much more straightforward conversion (just a new turret ring probably). Egyptian Shermans were M4A4s & had their engines replaced with Guberson diesels similar to the M4A2.

Dragon has a 1/35 model of one, which I am working on off-&-on. Worth the price if you get it at discount, definitely not for full price (Sherman parts are pretty good, but the FL-10 turret is very chunky & not nearly as well refined!). If you get it at discount & can get your hands on the Takom AMX-13 or purchase the turret sprues from Tamiya you'd have a much better model IMHO...

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ANS Kamas P81

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And then there was the later Israeli Sherman with the shortened 105mm, and the Yugoslavs cramming a 122mm into that turret...   :o
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PsihoKekec

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I don't think Yugoslav project even made it to prototype stage when decision to buy Gvozdikas was made.
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The problems with single piece ammunition. 

's bloody HUGE.



Apparenltly this is the single piece 120mm HESH round for the MBT-70 being tested, but its only a wooden dummy round.  But still..dang that things massive.  I can see why they went with shell and propellant rather that all in ones.
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Kidd

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TIL in addition to the M48 Pereh missile carrier, the IDF also had the M113 Hafiz, armed with the secretive Spike NLOS missile





« Last Edit: 17 July 2018, 07:56:59 by Kidd »

ANS Kamas P81

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Sometimes it makes you wonder whether it's a testament to the sheer brick-simplicity and ruggedness of the M113's design and its usefulness...or the absolutely insane innovative adaptability the IDF beats into things.  Probably both, in all honesty.
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