SA-9 Gaskin

Fear not, dear reader - this is not another randomly started and never finished work-in-progress post, but finally a finished product post.  And it will be a short one.

Over the weekend I knocked out the Britannia chassis/main body BRDM-2 so it could be fitted to the SA-13 launcher turret to make it into a good proxy for a 9K31 Strela-1 SA-9 Gaskin which you can read about on wikipedia here if you so desire.

Anyway - onto the completed model photos:

So there we are - project and SA-9 completed.

My BRDM collection continues to grow...

Thanks all

Richard

Here comes another one! SA-9 Gaskin Work-In-Progress

I’ve always wanted an SA-9 Gaskin for some reason.  Probably because it was pretty common but I’ve always liked the vehicle.  When I was a kid (and had no $$) I somehow was able to get a couple of bits of micro armour – no idea where from – and I chose a Gaskin and a Scorpion.  So I guess I’ve liked it for a long time!

Anyway…  I wanted to get an ACE Models SA-9, but they are literally as rare as hen’s teeth and the 1 I found on Ebay (in years of looking) went for a lot more than I was willing to pay.  So the dream died a little bit.

This has meant that whenever I put together a Soviet force and want to add a mobile SAM I go for a SA-13 Gopher – as I have the model.  In my lists this is a bit more expensive than a SA-9 – as it’s a better missile.

One day I was thinking about it, and I realised the SAM hammerhead on the SA-13 is almost identical as on a SA-9.  Hang on a moment…  I stopped whatever it was I was doing and went over to my cabinet and grabbed a completed Britannia BRDM-2 and the launcher hammerhead from the SA-13 and put them together.  Not an exact fit – but good enough to game with.  In fact, you may not have noticed but I included this very slap-dash conversion in my last two games:

Its the one with the red square around it!

So then I decided to do a new Britannia BRDM-2 – slightly modified to better accept the ACE Models SA-13 launcher.  Essentially all I did was add some plastic card and filler to make the SA-13 launcher head fit slightly better:

  

You can see it needed a bit of green stuff work as well.

So here is how it might look with the launcher added:

So now it just needs to be painted and I have a dedicated BRDM-2 body if I want to use a SA-9 Gaskin.  Of course this does not solve the problem if I want to run a force with both a SA-9 and a SA-13, but I think the chances of wanting to do that are pretty slim.

So I’m putting this down as a win – just a worry that it took me something like 4 or 5 years to work it out!  D’oh!!!!

Have fun

Richard

Self-Propelled Mortar Collection

Just for a bit of fun I got all my self-propelled mortars out for a look - now the "set" is complete.  this does not of course mean it won't ever be added to - but the SP mortars for my 4 main forces are now done.

From left to right there are 2 S&S Models US Army M106s, the a single Italeri (conversion) West German Panzermorser, then a Soviet ACE Models 2S9 Nona, a S&S Models West German panzermorser and then finally 2 Britannia FV432M.

Quite a useful little bunch of models...

Thanks

Richard

ACE Models BMP-Ksh Update

Way back here in November 2010 I completed a bunch of Soviet vehicles including an ACE Models BMP-Ksh.  As you can see from this picture (taken at the time) I placed the main antennae (on the front of the turret) in a upright position.  (Third from the left)

My plan was the try and find a kneeling Soviet figure which I could place on the top of the BMP to look as though he was winding the antennae up (or down).

Of course I never got around to that....

A few weeks back (in a moment of complete stupidity) when I was transporting some Soviet vehicles down stairs for a game, for some reason I decided that the upright antennae was lower than the side of the box I was carrying everthing in, and closed the quite heavy (for a plastic antennae anyway) lid, breaking the antennae into three peices.

I was not a happy camper...

So in the days after the game I decided to rebuild the antennae, lower it into its travelling position, and cover the end of the antennae in a tarp.  Rather than try and glue it all back together, I used plastic rod, some peices of the orginal antennae, plastic tubing, wire and green stuff to remake it anew.

Here's the end result:

All-in-all I'm happy with the result.

Thanks

Richard

Multiple MTLBs

Next up is a batch of MTLBs.  Very useful vehicles, used by the Soviet Naval Infantry and Motor Rifle Infantry primarily as gun/mortar tows, but also used by Arctic Motor Rifle Divisions as an APC due to their excellent low track pressure and ability to travel across snow and other soft terrain prevalent in northern Norway.

I had one MTLB from several years back which I posted here way back in 2010!  Time flies...

So to that one I've now added several more:

From left to right, S&S, 2 x ACE Models and then 2 x S&S.

I outfitted 2 S&S MTLB's as Supply or Tow vehicles by adding a little stowage:

While 3 (2 x ACE and 1 x S&S) were left pretty plain to act as APCs:

I did add some decals to their rear doors so they could be distinguised in games:

I know they're not "standard" Soviet 3 digit numbers - but I thought because they were MTLBs rather than more normal APCs I'd do something different.

So that's it for MTLBs.

Thanks

Richard

VDV Company Unit by Unit

OK - as promised here are the photos of each of the individual units broken down.

I'll start with the Company HQ

Moving from left to right we have Sniper (forgot to put a spotter figure in...) Medic, Company CO, Company Political Officer, Company HQ BMD-1P, Company Sergeant, Senior Technican (with radio) and a paratrooper.

First Platoon

The squad in the centre is the Platoon HQ squad, with each squad having 5 dismounts - an NCO, a RPG, a RPK-74 or PKM, and 2 paratroopers with AK-74 (possibly one also having a BG-15).  BMDs are a mix of BMD-1s and 2s.

Second Platoon

Similar set up to the First Platoon

Third Platoon

Again this is very similar to the First Platoon.

Now we get into the support options.  The Company would have attached to it some AA options - typically a MANPADS squad with SA-7 or SA-14.  The Battalion also has a ZU-23-2 Battery so I have mixed these two together.

Three of the four figures are armed with SAM.  The fourth is the NCO in charge.  The SAM squad could be carried in a BTRD, such as the one on the right, which could also act as a portee for a ZSU-23-2.  I've added another ZSU-23-2 onto a Gaz-66 truck - which could either tow the AA gun or again act as a portee.

Another company support option was the Automatic Grenade Launcher Squad - equipped with AGS-17 AGLs.

Again this squad is transported in a BTRD.  They had 2 x AGS-17 and 3 other squad members (and NCO and 2 other crew)

Each Battalion also had a 120mm Mortar Battery

The battery had 6 mortars, so I thought it reasonable that each of the three companies could be supported by a gun section of two tubes.  I also added in a 2S9 Nona for more options.  Beside (on the right) the 2S9 is a Mortar Fire Controller.

Probably only used if they were without the BMD's a Parachute Regiment has an anti-tank battery of AT-4 Launchers and SPG-9 recoilless rifles.  I've included them for completeness sake.

I've also included a Foward Air Controller and a Forward Artillery Observer, along with there UAZ-469 rides.

Finally - the ASU-85 platoon

So that's pretty much it for my VDV.  Of course there are a couple of other units that could fit in with the VDV, like a BRDM Anti-tank Platoon, but they can also fit in very easily to a Motor Rifle Company, so I'll hold them over for that.

Thanks for looking

Have fun

Richard

Complete VDV Mechanised Company + Attachments

Well I've finally finished and managed to photograph my first Cold War 1-to-1 company (apart from a T-72 Tank Company).  This is a VDV (Soviet Paratrooper) Mechanised Company primarily equipped with BMD-1 and BMD-2 air-portable/air-droppable infantry fighting vehicles.

All the figures here are from Liberation Miniatures and the vehicles are a range of ACE kits, S&S Models, Liberation Miniatures, MMS, GRAN and MAC.

Here are a few photos of the whole company plus attachments:

I hope you can get an idea of the size/scope of the force by looking at these pics.  Tomorrow I'll break it down into it's constituent units.

Thanks

Richard

BMD's and BTRD

Well I didn't quite realise it at the time my my last post was my 150th post - so I'm quite chuffed with managing to make it this far!

Enough self-congratulation - on with the show.

Next up are a couple of ACE Models BMD-1s.  As I said in the last post, the under-carriage on these were a bit of a nightmare, a real lesson in pain-in-the-neckery - basically because they allow you to have the wheels up or down.  Once I had decided what to do with them and which hatches to leave open - it was all relatively straight forward. 

I added some standard Liberation Miniatures Russian Tank crew as the drivers, and did some head swaps on some more tank crew to create VDV vehicle commanders.  I'm happy with the end result - (it would of helped if I had put one of the turrets on properly!) so here they are:

At the same time I quickly worked up an old MMS BTRD and added a GRAN or ACE ZU-23 to give my VDV some more AAA.  Here it is:

And here it is with the Gaz-66 AAA from last week:

Finally here is a group shot of my most recent VDV armour:

Thanks

Richard