PzKpfw IV Aufs.F

Italeri model in 1:35 scale.
Figure from TAMYIA.

Panzer IV is the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the late 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen IV (abbreviated PzKpfw IV) and the tank also had the ordnance inventory designation SdKfz 161.

It was initially designed as an infantry-support medium tank (Begleitwagen, mittlerer Panzer), to work in conjunction with the Panzer III which was intended to engage enemy tanks. Later in the war it was up-gunned and up-armored and took over the tank-fighting role while Panzer IIIs were either put into infantry support duties or converted into other vehicles. The Panzer IV was the most common German tank of World War II, and was used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, such as tank destroyers and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. The Panzer IV was the workhorse of the German tank corps, being produced and used in all theatres of combat throughout the war. The design was upgraded repeatedly to deal with the increasing threats from enemy forces. The Panzer IV has the distinction of being the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout all of World War II, with over 8,500 produced from 1937 to 1945.

Text: Wikipedia

Fiat 3000 mod. 21 1a Serie

Tauro Models
1:35 Scale
The FIAT 3000 was a development of paramount importance in the history of the Italian Army. Born from the experiences of the I.st World War, it entered in service only after the end of the war and was the first tank produced in quantity for the newly formed Tank Corp.
Following the use of the tanks on the Western Front, the Italian Headd Quaters decided to test this new and interesting means of war. Italy purchased from France two Schneider and three FT 17 tanks. After long trials it was decided to produce the Renault FT 17, because of it's good cross-country performance.
FIAT modified the original project, placing the engine crosswise the hull and augmenting the armour and the armament. This first series, represented in the actual model, entered service in 1921 and was followed, in 1930, by a second series with some improvements and armed with a 37 mm gun.
In the second half of the thirties the remaing tanks were improved and modernised. The last operational FIAT 3000 tanks were used at the beginning of the 2.nd World War; the last few were destroyed in Sicily during 1943.

ZSU-23-4 "Shilka". Iraq, 1991.

Dragon
1:35 scale.









The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored, self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system (SPAAG). ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount". It is named after the Russian Shilka River.
Text: Wikipedia

T-62A

TAMIYA
1:35 scale.

The T-62 Soviet main battle tank is a further development of the T-55. Its 115mm gun was the first smoothbore tank gun in use.

The T-62 was produced between 1961 and 1975. It became a standard tank in the Soviet arsenal, partly replacing the T-55, although that tank continued to be manufactured in the Soviet Union and elsewhere after T-62 production was halted. The T-54/55 and T-62 were later replaced in front-line service by the T-64 and T-72.

Text: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-62

Opel Maultier

Italeri
1:35
The Maultier was developed to handle the immobilizing road conditions encountered on the Eastern Front. Conventional wheeled vehicles were useless on the unpaved roads; the supply columns could not get through the mud and snow. To remedy the problem, a field workdshop of the 2nd SS Division removed the rear suspension and wheels of a standard 3 ton truck and replaced them with the running gear of a captured Soviet light tank. This improvised halftrack proved superior to the regular trucks in rough conditions and several more were converted. The Maultier went into production by a number of manufacturers and over 6,000 were eventually built.

The best known Maultier conversion was built by Opel who reclassified their sturdy and reliable 'Blitz' 3-ton truck as a 2-ton because of the tracked suspension. Some Maultiers were fitted with an enclosed house-type body and were used as ambulances, command vehicles and radio vans. Because of the lack of raw materials near the end of the war, many were built with cabs made of cardboard and wood.
Almost 600 of the Opel Maultiers were produced with an armored body. Half that number were used as mobile rocket launchers while the other half were ammunition carriers. The armor was from 6 to 10 mm thick and the vehicle weighed 7.1 metric tons. The Maultier saw service on all fronts and saw limited use post-war in civilian service.



Text & Information of kit: http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/misc/military/maulpreview.htm

Sd.Kfz.10 Demag

Manufacturer: Italeri
Scale: 1:35

By combining the speed of a wheeled vehicle on roads and the performance of a fully tracked vehicle cross country, the German Army developed a series of halftrack vehicles during the 1930s. Initially designed for the transport of artillery pieces, they developed into a type of vehicle that grew in demand as the war progressed.
The smallest of the halftrack types was the 1 ton series, the parent firm of which was Demag AG of Wetter, an industrial town in the Ruhr. The layout of the vehicle was typical of most German halftracks, having pneumatic front tyres which were not driven, and a track unit at the rear, in most cases being over three quarters of the total length of the chassis. The tracks were cast steel with rubber pads, and the track pins ran on needle roller bearings. The track ran on an interleaved system of rubber tyred road wheels mounted on six axles.
The driver and mate sat in the front section of the body, and longitudinal seats in the rear body seated a further six men. The body was entered by simply climbing over the sides, and the interior could be covered from the weather by a fold down canopy and side curtains with clear windows could also be fitted.
Starting in 1934, the prototypes used BMW six cylinder petrol engines, but the pre-production versions, designated type D 6, used the Maybach NL 38 six cylinder engine. The production version switched to the Maybach HL 42 engine in 1939, and the designation of the vehicle became D 7. As well as Demag, the companies Mechanische Werke Cottbus in Silesia and Saurerwerke of Vienna, Austria were also suppliers. Some 17 500 vehicles were produced by 1944.
Text: Paul Handel
http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/sdkfz10ph_1.htm

Ba-20

Manufactured: Modelist
Scale - 1:35

The BA-20 (Russian: Broneavtomobil 20) was an armored car developed in the Soviet Union in 1936 and used in the early stages of World War II. It was derived from the civilian GAZ-M1 car, which was itself a modified version of a Ford design, produced by the Nizhny Novgorod-based vehicle manufacturer GAZ. The BA-20 was produced at the Vykunskiy Factory.

The principal use of the BA-20 was as a scout vehicle. The BA-20's tires were designed to be resistant to bullets and shrapnel by the simple expedient of filling them with spongey rubber. A variant, the BA-20ZhD, could travel on railway lines by replacing the normal wheels with flanged metal rail-type wheels.

The vehicle was exported to the Spanish Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, although the vast majority of BA-20s built served with the Soviet Red Army. They first saw combat in the conflict with Japan in 1939 on the Khalkin Gol river in Mongolia (see Battle of Khalkin Gol). The BA-20 was used by the Red Army in the Soviet invasion of Poland later in 1939 and the Winter War against Finland in 1940, as well as the early stages of World War II in 1941. Production was ended that same year, with some 4,800 BA-20s having been constructed by that time. During the Winter War Finland captured a number of BA-20 armoured cars and put them into service. In common with most armored cars derived from cars, the BA-20 was largely roadbound. The lack of all-wheel drive, high ground pressure, and low horsepower prevented it from moving cross-country except on very firm ground. The armor was too thin to stop anything other than fragments or small-arms fire, and the 7.62 mm machinegun was not adequate to penetrate other scout vehicles. The Red Army produced very few wheeled armored fighting vehicles in the war, but replaced the BA-20 with the BA-64B. The BA-20 is often mistaken for the very similar FAI armoured car. The main recognition feature is the flat roof of the BA-20; the FAI has two dome-shaped covers over the driver's and co-driver's stations. Early BA-20s had the same vertical-sided turret as the FAI. Later models, had a conical-shaped turret.

Text - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BA-20