Some moderns painted!

I've finally got around to doing something constructive over the last two weeks in terms of converting lead (and plastic) into fieldable forces. The catafracts still lying on my sidebench still looked too daunting a task for just a few evenings, so I went to my moderns trays to see what could be fruitfully pushed forward.

First up is another MSH battalion's worth of DANA vz.77 152 mm gun-howitzers to add to the one I already have. These are the Heroics & Ros 1:300 th scale model that was released in late 2012. For this second battalion, I've put the gun into travelling position (the barrels can also be positioned elevated). The previous battalion is intended tp represent a battalion from the 4th Army's 332nd Artillery Brigade; they received their DANA's only in 1985. This second battalion represents one of the divisional artillery battalions from either the 1st Tank Division or the 20th Motor Rifle Division; these being the best equipped of the Czechoslovakian divisions; they received their DANAs in 1980.

Next comes a PM-55 bridgelayer. This is a model by Karl Heinz Ranitzsch, aka Dragoman, done, like all my Shapeways purchases, in the cheapest plastic available - nylon-12 (aka Shapeways' "white strong & flexible").  The PM-55 is essentially a truck-borne version of the MT-55 bridgelayer, and thus suitable for MBTs to cross. WarPac MBTs at any rate; with a rating of 50 t, some western MBTs would be straining things... A model like this is only required for the single game turn it takes to set the bridge up - but it's such a beautiful model, I couldn't resist. The truck concerned is the Tatra-813 ("Kolos") 8x8 vehicle in production from 1967 to 1982, and with exceptional off-road capabilities due to its tubular frame split axle configuration. Karl Heinz sells not only the unfolding version shown above, but also a version in travelling configuration (plus a deployed bridge section).

And here is the travelling version... The PM-55 routinely sports a earth moving blade at the front to prepare the approaches to the bridging position, and Karl Heinz' model comes equipped with this. Like many Czechoslovakian pieces of equipment, the PM-55 saw some degree of export success, and this is why Karl Heinz models it - it served with the NVA (East German army).

And this is Karl Heinz' model of the AM-50, a lighter VLB that is also based on the T-813, and more suitable for infantry units being carried around in APCs. Like the PM-55, he sells an unfolding version; I've already paointed one of those up - you can see it in action here. The AM-50 was first trialed in 1972, with more substantial numbers coming in1974.

This is an attempt at making a vz.53/59 self-propelled AA gun. I've taken an H&R (?) BTR-152 model, and sawed off the back. Then I've stuck a ZPU-23/2 on top, and stuck on plasticard box on top of that to represent the distinctive ammo bin, and added some crew members from the artillery crew pack, The guns are noticeably too small (to me, anyway), since the vz. 53/59 sports twin 30 mm cannons, as opposed to 23 mm, and the curving superstructure on the left of the mount is missing in my model (not that you would see it from this angle, even if it was there...). IIRC, I've now made up sixteen of these conversions; this is the last, and will form part of my 183rd Battery of the 82nd AA Brigade - this unit was primarily equipped with SA-4s, but also had some SPAAGs for close-in air defence. The Czechoslovakians used this instead of the ZSU-57-2, which offered them no advantages. However, they never replaced it with anything more modern (such as the ZSU-23-4), and its lack of radar would have meant it would have had severe problems keeping enemy aircraft at bay in any conflict in the 70s, let alone the 80s. The Czechoslovakians trialed the SA-4 from 1974, and the 82nd AA Brigade went operational in 1976 (the 2K11M, i.e. "SA-4b Ganef").

The two vehicles are my own creations, printed out by Shapeways. They are Tatra 815 VT 8x8 prime movers, distinguished from the T-815 VVN truck mostly by having a shorter deck but a longer cab, so it can accommodate an entire howitzer crew. The T-815 series (also available in 6x6 and 4x4 versions) suceeded the T-813 starting from 1981, and going into full production in 1983. In addition to hauling artillery pieces, it could also be used to tow tank-transporter trailers, etc.

I think this is what Skytrex called a "BTS-M"; it's a PTS-10 light ferry as far as I am concerned. It's a fairly large model, hence the double-depth base. My bases are usually 30 mm square by the way; no way am I using Imperial measurements! The model has an odd lean forwards, as if it's braking extremely hard. Two of these models get used as part of the Pontoon Company of my Czechoslovakian 3rd Division's Engineering Battalion (along with a whole bunch of truck-borne pontoon elements).

And this is, IIRC, a Skytrex GSP-55 heavy ferry set. These are found in the (river) Assault Company that was added to Czechoslovakian divisional Engineering Battalions from 1979, along with extra PTS-10 light ferries.

Another artillery battalion... you can never have too many as a WarPac player! The tractors here are another of my own products printed out by Shapeways: the ATS-59G. The ATS-59G was the first 3-d printing effort I tried, and it still holds up reasonably well compared to my later creations.  You can see a close-up of the vehicle's rear below.

Now when your artillery is as ancient as these pieces, you need a lot of them to have any hope of doing anything! This is the H&R M-30 122mm howitzer (I think they call it something like mk. 31/37), or the vz.38 to the Czechoslovakians. These pieces were found in the artillery battalion of the motor rifle regiments: 3 batteries of 6 pieces, which translates to 4 models in MSH. The vz. 38 designation tells you they are a 1938 production piece, so they have, by 1970s and 80s standards, a truly horrible range. These pieces soldiered on until the demise of the Czechoslovakian state (there were grand plans to replace them with 2S1s in the late 70s/early 80s, but few of these were actually purchased). My close-in eyesight has detriorated markedly over the last two years, so I now need separate glasses to paint with. Even so, I found I couldn't be bothered painting the faces on the crewmen here - I just couldn't see them! And I certainly can't see them at a gaming arm' length away...

This would appear to be a T54 or T55-based ARV vehicle, but I can't remember which manufacturer it is... probably Scotia.

While this would appear to be a T-34-based ARV. Again, not sure who makes (or made) it. A platoon's worth of vehicles like this is part of each tank or motor rifle regiment's enegineering company; more are found in the divisional Engineering Battalion's maintenance company.

The towed tank here is I think a Scotia POL trailer, while the tractor is another of my Shapeways creations: an AT-S. These are usually found hauling artillery pieces in my forces. The AT-S was a design from the early 50s, and superceeded by the ATS-59G. To my-brought-up-in-New Zealand mind, it's got a definite "Hillary crossing the Antarctic" feel to it.

Travelling in a fried-out combi! On a hippy trail; head full of zombie...  Well, near enough, anyway. This is the Scotia UAZ-452 minivan; I will probably add some ambulance markings in the weekend to it to give it some sort of utility.

This is the van version of Scotia's UAZ-452. I will probably add some sort of diorama scene here, given the large expanse of available base, but I will have to buy some more crew figures and the like first, as I appear to have run out...

Tatra-111 trucks; one of which was already painted. Another of my Shapeways efforts - these ones have suffered from very noticeable "stepping" during the print process. These trucks can be used not only for Cold war Czechoslovakians, but also for WW2 Germans, being produced from 1942 to 1962 (by which date the cab had been given a more modern look).

H&R assault rafts. WW2 German, I believe, but who can tell the difference? Me, of course! Czechoslovakian ones were not even inflateable!

No idea why I have this - it's a Scotia decontamination vehicle. And why do I not need it? Because I've already made the Czechoslovakian equivalent of this Soviet vehicle, and printed it out via Shapeways! A stationary pair of these vehicles, each mounting a jet engine on the back, were supposed to decontaminant chemical warfare agents from a column of exposed vehicles driving between them. As a professional chemist, I have doubts about the efficacy of this... These vehicles were found as part of the divisional NBC battalion. WarPac forces took a lot of effort regarding counteemeasures for the C part of the NBC equation, even though it appears they naver had any serious intention of using themselves (unlike the N part, for which they had serious plans for...).  For example, FROGs were in service for over a decade before a chemical warfare warhead was even considered for them.

Another Scotia Soviet duplication, for which I have the Czechoslovakian equivalentalready printed out... It's quite a nice piece of kit, though.

A battery of BM-24 MRLs; another of my Shapeways creations. These weren't used by the Czechoslovakians. They were instead found in Soviet Tank Regiments in the 1960s, prior to being replaced by the BM-21 Grad: 12 per regiment. I made up the model since it's just an AT-S with a launcher on the back deck instead or a tarpaulin, so a relatively easy conversion..

And finally, this would appear to be a Scotia BAT, but it's missing what i consider to be the most important part of the protoype - the enormous dozer blade, which is a real shame, because the thing isn't easy to scratch build...

So, a bunch of rear-zone elements for the most part, but that's fine, logistics can be fun too!

OT-62s -

I've just received some print-outs of the TOPAS and OT-62 models I described in my post of December 12.  They've come out quite well, given I ordered them in the cheapest ("white soft & flexible") plastic, although the wheels were really too finely sculpted to be very noticeable.

OT-62 variants...

If I'm bored one day I might make up some alternative versions with deeper wheel cut-outs purely for the WSF plastic - but this will necessitate making the tracks wider than scale.  It might also be a big job, time wise - I'll have to inspect the (virtual) model and see, because sometimes shifting a bunch of components laterally is a doddle; sometimes it is almost impossible, depending on how they are connected together.

...and Polish TOPAS variants.

I've also made up and printed out some bridges that I will use on my terrain boards - I want them to be removable in case they get blown in-game by engineers.  Bridges make excellent scenario objectives, because it doesn't matter how many amphibious vehicles you have in your attack force, the logistical train will be carried on trucks - lots of trucks - and they need bridges. 

Shapeways -

For the past week and a half I've been spending most of my "free" time making up a Polish TOPAS-2AP model for my Shapeways "shop", along with various related vehicles, and I thought I might post some words about the process.  Since I have no intention of starting collecting a Polish 7th Landing Division force (touch wood!), these aren't meant for me, so they are really meant for the gaming community at large.  Maybe somebody out there is desperate to field a 7DD force, but is just stymied by the lack of available models in 1:300th scale...

OT-62A as rendered by Shapeways

 I started out by creating a plain unarmed OT-62A, as shown on the right.  Now this, of course, is a Czechoslovakian model, so I should be able to find a use for it in my collection.  Well, at least I would be able, if I hadn't already got dozens of Heroics & Ros BTR-50PUs standing in for OT-62s, that is...  Once I had this model done, it wasn't so hard to modify it to produce a bunch of variants.  For example, there is the standard OT-62 (often called an OT-62B) that features a small turret on the right cupola (from the viewpoint of the vehicle's driver) mounting a machine gun, and, optionally, an 82 mm recoilless gun on the side of the turret.  Not that these weapons can be printed out in plastic - they are too thin.  But the turret to hold them should be fine.  Then was the OT-62R3 command variant, with a generator on the back, just like the BTR-60PU.  Next was a DTP-62 maintenance vehicle featuring more stuff on the back deck. 

WPT-TOPAS in sketchup

Then I made three Polish versions - a TOPAS, which is simply an OT-62A with a higher engine intake on the back deck so it's more difficult to flood in choppy marine conditions, a WPT-TOPAS, which is essentially a DTP-62 with a large (machine) gun shield over the right cupola, and finally a TOPAS-2AP as shown in the first picture, and which has a centre-mounted turret mounting a high-angle 14.5 mm machine gun (again, my model just has a hole for a length of 0.3 mm diameter wire to be inserted to represent the actual gun). The software I use to make these models is Google's Sketchup, because it's freeware.  I've never used anything like AutoCAD, just Sketchup, which I first used before having my house built in Tai Tapu.  Which alas, I have never lived in, because it's in New Zealand, and I am still in Japan...   Note that Sketchup works with polygons - curved surfaces have to approximated by curved lines (see the gas cylinder heads in the WPT picture to the left).  However, you are free to make a circle be composed of pretty well much as many segments as you want, so this isn't a practical limitation in terms of modelling a curve (although curves can take a lot of time to get to mesh correctly with the rest of your model).  Sketchup was initially written for architectural-sized designs in mind - occasionally it has problems connecting things when the dimensions get really really small, and it also fails to tell you what your dimensions actually are when you get under 1 mm in size, which can be a serious problem when you work at 1:300th scale! 

Netfabb in operation

Accordingly, I make up all my models in silico at 1:1 scale, and only shrink them by a factor of 300 as the antepenultimate step before converting them into an "stl" file, which is the format the Shapeways printers require. (The ultimate step before uploading to Shapeways is checking the stl file for errors in another piece of freeware called Netfabb, because there will inevitably be some.  For example, the model isn't a single "shell" because there is a plane hidden inside it somewhere.  Or it isn't a closed shell, because there is an opening in it somewhere.  Many of these errors can actually actually automatically fixed by Netfabb, like the ones shown on the left picked out in yellow.)

I'm not a very efficient CAD worker.  Every time I finish a model I invariably think to myself "it's got C2 symmetry - I'd have saved myself a third of that time by just drawing half of it and mirroring the image" - and promptly forget that whenever I come to make up my next model!  And there are no doubt all sorts of software shortcuts and tricks and things that I have no idea about that would make life much easier for me in terms of draughting the designs. So it takes me something like 16 hours of work  - or more - to come up with a new design from scratch like my OT-62A; any subsequent modifications are obviously much easier; they can usually be done in an evening.

Once one of my models is on my Shapeways "shop" anyone can order it for themselves.  It isn't an ideal set-up.  For one thing, Shapeways currently has a ridiculous postage policy - it's  20 dollars (US) minimum - in addition to the handling fees.  So this completely negates the primary advantage of on-demand 3-d printing - producing stuff only as required.  My father thinks I should be buying my own printer (he models as well, but he doesn't work in anything smaller than railway's 00 scale: 1:76.2 in other words) - but I can't justify the several thousands of dollars this would currently entail...  The handling fees are actually bundled into the amount of plastic printed out, and not charged "separately".  The more plastic ordered, the less the handling fee, at least, per unit volume of plastic.  This is actually quite a reasonable way of doing things, but is very frustrating for someone working at 1:300th scale, because the charges really kick in once your print volume gets down to 1 cubic centimetre or so in size.  Just what you are looking at with a 1:300 vehicle, in other words...

So if you order a single OT-62 of mine, the amount you will have to pay Shapeways, in US dollars, not counting the postage, is currently 2 dollars 93 cents, and that's for the very cheapest plastic.  Far too expensive for the average gamer, who is likely to need lots of them...  And if you order, for example, 4 of these in one go, you will be paying four times that amount.  However, if I take my model, multiply it four times in Sketchup, and connect them with a sprue, to make a single item of four OT-62s, the amount you pay Shapeways is only $6.89.  Barely twice as much, not four, because you are ordering just "one" item, not four, so you pay less handling fees.  Now seven bucks for four simple APCs is still not exactly cheap, but it is much more reasonable than 12 dollars!  But to get the price down like this means I have to make up yet another model for such a multiple set on a sprue - both in Sketchup, and in my "shop", and that will take yet another half an hour of my time...   

What's more, the printer operators often arbitrarily reject models because they are "too small" - even if they have been printed out successfully before, which is very frustrating (you will get informed about this only after your order has been placed, and the rest of the order has gone through successfully, and I will get informed about it afterwards too, in which case I will have a fruitless argument explaining why they they can't read their own guidelines). Of course, occasionally it actually is my fault, and the model has structural details that are too delicate for their printing standards to cope with (or to be more exact; their post-printing handling procedures to cope with).  I'm getting better at avoiding these mistakes, but it's a long road...

Having said that, 3-d printing is clearly going to come on leaps and bounds in the immediate future.  The current print resolutions aren't all that good, at least for the cheap plastics (the more expensive ones at Shapeways cost up to 3 times as much as the prices I have quoted above!), so traditional moulded metal currently has a clear advantage there.  But moulded metal is only commercially viable for large enough production runs to justify the cost of the physical sculpting and the mould.  OK for bog-standard items, but not for the kind of model we all only need one or two of.

Of course, in the longer term, we won't actually be using figures anyway.  We'll all be using holograms.  Think how much the cost of touch-screens has fallen recently.  Soon we will have gaming-table sized touch-screens in our houses, and they will make great gaming boards.  And since holographic TV is already being prototyped, it's just a matter of time before we will be virtually pushing our troops across the table rather than doing it in meat-space...

Badass... -

Badass...

I've been asked in the past why, when I play Moderns, I usually field Czechoslovakians.  Maybe I have Czech ancestors, or something?  The answer is far more prosaic.  It's simply that I think OT-64s are cool. Nothing says "Czechoslovakian" more than a bunch of OT-64s on the table, and in particular, they look cool in a way that, for example, a BTR-60 doesn't.  Which is a bit unfortunate, in that in 1:300th scale, nobody makes a decent OT-64A model - which was the main mark that was produced in real life.  The Heroics and Ros OT-64 is a great model (see left), with nice crisp features, but it isn't an OT-64A.  H&R do do an OT-64A, but, alas, it's not at all a nice model - the turret is essentially a round blob, overscale, and the octagonal plinth the turret is mounted on is nowhere to be seen.

Even more badass

So even though OT-64s were the reason for me acquiring a Czechoslovakian force, I've been stuck for some time with a collection of models that wasn't quite satisfactory.  But with the advent of 3-d printing, the solution has now been placed in my own hands, quite literally as you can see to the right :-)  I've made up some turrets to convert the H&R OT-64 into an OT-64A, and had them printed out at Shapeways.  Shapeways can't print anything with a diameter less than 1 mm, which doesn't quite capture the dimensions of a 1:300th scale 14.5 mm HMG, so I've had to add the gun barrels later, using some 0.3 mm diameter wire.  This means it's not just a job of simply pressing the "purchase" button, alas.  In fact, cutting the gun barrels, sticking them in the turrets, and then painting the things was quite an involved process.  But nothing that an overly compulsive gamer like myself can't handle...

And I like the result, which is what counts, after all.  In each MSH battalion, I've upgraded the standard platoon combat team APCs (6 per battalion), as well as the vehicle carrying the AGLs, but have left the vehicle carrying the SA-7s turretless, as well as the battalion commander's vehicle.  This is mostly to help identify them more easily (my AGL stands don't have guys on foot around the vehicles, so can be easily enough told apart from the standard infantry combat teams), but also because the turretless vehicles were generally the ones to carry the support weapon teams in real life - the turret took up quite a lot of internal space.  The Regimental HQ and the engineers' vehicles I've also left turretless, as well as the regimental AT vehicles: the ATGW teams often mounted their Saggers on the roof of their vehicles so they could fire them from there, rather than having to always dismount.

SKOT-2AP; photo from Wisnia6522 / Wikipedia

The OT-64A was known in Polish service as the SKOT-2A; the Poles also introduced a modified version, the SKOT-2AP,  in which the turret was redesigned so it could fire at high angles, in an anti-helicopter role (the OT-64A turret was limited to just 30 degrees of elevation).  IIRC, the Scotia model might have been a SKOT-2AP rather than a SKOT-2A, but I also seem to remember the photos of the model being so poor, it was hard to tell...  I'm hoping Andy at H&R will bring out a new set of turreted OT-64s to complement the current plain OT-64; that would render my primitive Shapeways efforts superfluous, and hopefully he could also satisfy Polish gamers with a SKOT-2AP. since that wouldn't be much more effort than making a SKOT-2A up.

Tatra 815 trucks and tractors -

Recently I've been experimenting with using the Shapeways service - they will print out models for you in 3D, using various kinds of plastic.  You can either buy from people who have set up on-line "shops" with them, or upload a design yourself.  So I've been making up various models, using the free Google Sketchup software, and printing them out - since I now also have a "shop" there, anybody can order mu models from them, not just me (be aware that their postage charge is very steep if you are only ordering a few!).

Here are five different Tatra 815 variants that I have made in 1:300th scale (the bases are 30 mm square).  They have been printed out in the cheapest plastic that Shapeways offer, so the printed details are not as good as they could be - but I can't afford the more expensive plastics, because as a gamer I tend to need multiple examples of everything...

These 8 x 8 trucks entered full-scale production in 1983; the Czechoslovakian company Tatra has a history of innovative truck designs featuring a rigid tube skeleton with split axles for superlative off-road performance, making them idea for military duties.  The variant with the long cab (first two examples), the T-815 VT, is a dedicated artillery tractor.   The next two photos show the standard truck, a T-815 VVN, while the bottom example is a container carrier, the T-815 VPR.  Now hopefully, you will be able to click on the images to see expanded versions the pictures (although that will just reveal the sloppiness of the paint jobs as well as the lack of details "close up").  Fingers crossed for my first post with pictures...