New Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicles

 Sticking with my recent North American theme, I've also managed to finish a few vehicles for my Canadian battle group.  The first of these were amongst the first models I ever 3D printed on my old Saturn printer.  I learnt a couple of lessons on these, but never felt the need to reprint them - I can live with the small errors.

So I really wanted to print some Canadian Lynx's - based on the American M113 1/2 C&R.  They are a unique option - only really fielded in this particular format by the Canuks and I find this AFV to be a very interesting choice for a recce vehicle.  It forces the Canadians to pursue "recce by stealth" as their only real option.  "Recce by fire" is right out the window when your heaviest weapon is a .50 Cal HMG - unless you manage to borrow some Leopards - a fairly limited resource and not recce trained really.

The Tank Museum has done an excellent Tank Chat on the Lunx that you can find below

There is also a good article about the Lynx on the Canadian Encylopedia

Anyway - onto the models - which are all Bergmann prints which you can find for free.

This is my Platoon Commander.  I converted this model by drilling out the drivers hatch so I could open it and install an Elhiem crew figure.  I also added an Elhiem Miniatures .30 Cal MMG to the rear hatch.  The track commander is a AB FGigures British WW2 tank commander.  I think this all worked out quite nicely.

The second vehicle in the Platoon Commander's section is more plain, but does come with the additional .30 Cal and a nice red bike for quiet recce's!

The Platoon Sergeant's track get's his own little blue bike!

This is the second Lynx in the Platoon Sergeant's section.

This is the Platoon Commander's section

And the Platoon Sergeant's section

And this is the whole platoon, ready for action.

The next vehicle is a little bit different, but interestingly enough based on the same M113 chassis.  The is the ADATS CDN, with ADATS standing for Air Defence Anti-Tank System.  It's basically a short ranged missile system, equally capable of engaging and destroying aircraft, helicopters and tanks (and other armoured vehicles of course).  Fom what I understand it was a pretty decent/capable system - and was even trialled by the US Army - but it was a late comer - arriving in Canadian service in 1989, and being killed off in America due to the end of the Cold War.

This is another excellent STL from Wargaming 3D

In my Cold War Battlegroup variant it is currently available for the Canadians as a Speculative Weapon.  So of course I needed to have one - or two.

 

This is the ADATS CDN in firing mode.

This is the ADATS CDN in maintenance mode, with the platform on the sides of the vehicle raised.  The radar is in the stowed position as it would be under non-combat travelling conditions.

And finally the two vehicles together.

That's it for today.  Maybe some more American stuff next time.

Thanks for looking

Richard

Dutch 103rd Reconnaissance Battalion

Hello 2024 - a year I've decided that I will attempt to have a focus, and that focus will be Americans!  I have 3 US WW2 armies that need to be completed (and started!) and various USAEUR forces and a USMC force for the Cold War that need to be completed.

At the same time, I'm also trying to complete some Cold War Recce units for my (completely in my head at the moment) new Cold War game.

So what better way to start 2024, than with a Dutch force!  It all makes perfect sense to me!

So this is both a new project and more importantly, a completed project.  It's a full strength a platoon from the Dutch 103rd Reconnaissance Battalion based at Seedorf in West Germany circa 1985.  I think it has a great mix of vehicles - including a couple (the standard M113 and the M106) that you don't really find much in the Royal Dutch Army.

Here's all the vehicles that make up the unit:

The unit consists of the Platoon Commander in his M113 C&V command and reconnaissance vehicle, armed with a 25mm autocannon (centre front), a reconnaissance group (centre back), a tank group (obvious), a rifle group (in the M113) and a mortar group (in the M106).

Here's a close-up of the Commander in his M113 C&V:

The reconnaissance group is made up of 4 x M113 C&V split into 2 teams, each with 2 M113 C&V.

Here's some close-ups of the various M113 C&V's that make up the two reconnaissance teams. Team leaders are shown in the the turret hatch.

All the M113 C&Vs are 3D prints. The Platoon Commanders vehicle has been further modified by drilling out the drivers hatch and making a new open hatch. The commanders are all AB figures and the driver of the Platoon Commander's vehicle is an Airfix figure from their Dakota Skytrain kit, with a green-stuff dodgy headset added.

The tank group is made up of 2 Leopard 2NL

Both Leopards are old Matchbox models, and I've added 3D printed Dutch style smoke launchers and wire reel, plus Elhiem FN MAGs which they used rather than the German MG-3s. The Tank Commander is an Elhiem figure.

The rifle group is mounted in a standard M113

Again the M113 is a 3D print, the M113 commander is an Elhiem NATO driving figure, while all the infantry are also Elhiem NATO figures

The mortar group is mounted in a standard M106

The M106 is a 3D print and the mortar crew are again Elhiem figures

So that's my first completed non-American project for 2024.

Thanks for looking and have a great New Year!

Richard

Back to Denmark - Final figures Part 2

OK - so for once I actually finished something when I said I would!  So without further ado I'll jump straight into the pics.  They are a bit large - so you'll have to use your imagination a bit to think that they are actually just 20mm figures.

First up my Hovea SMG armed NCO.  This is a Wartime Miniatures WW2 US Army figure with a Thompson SMG from this set:

Next up my Forward Observer Team - made up of an Elhiem Miniature (the observer) and a Wartime Miniature (the big fingered pointer) from the same previous set - so he was holding a tommy gun.  This was replaced by the scratch-built Hovea. Perhaps I should have reduced the size of his pointing finger - its a monster!

Now my Medic and casualty.  Both are Wartime Figures with the Medic coming from this set while the casualty (more obviously) comes from this set.  The only thing I did was remove the M1 Garand from the casualty as I thought it made him look more like a WW2 figure, while without the gun he could be either a standard Infantry man or a Homeguard figure.

Last up is the 60mm Light Mortar team.  Both AB Figures from this set.   As shown previously they had their small arms removed and replaced by Hovea SMGs and like all the rest, scrim was added to their helmets.

And now the final pic of the whole bunch - with the Medic/casualty in the background.

So that is that job done.  Now the only Danes I have left to do are a small, 8 man,  HJV Special Intelligence Patrol (at some point in the future) and some vehicle crew for a couple of Land Rovers.

Thanks

Richard