Tag Archives: 1/76
Too Little, Too Late
Armoured warfare wasn’t a staple of the Japanese army’s doctrine in WWII, at least not the way it was for the European combattants. As a result, most Japanese tanks were smaller and lighter, counting as medium tanks. Mounting smaller guns and less armour than Shermans and other US vehicles, the Japanese tanks weren’t going to […]
A Set of Armoured Speedbumps
Despite the general weakness of early WWII German tanks, the Wehrmacht was still able to sweep across Europe in 1939 and 1940. When the invasion of France came, it pitted the nearly training-tank-level German armour against an odd mix of ancient WWI relics and more modern, much heavier tanks. However, bad tactics and the German […]
Old-School Desert Strikers
Fighting a war is obviously a life-and-death matter. However, doing it in some of the most inhospitable terrain on Earth ratchets the stakes to a whole new level. This is what the British and Commonwealth forces found out when they fought the Italians and Germans in Africa. However, there was a group that took on […]
Have Gun, Will Travel!
In the days before tank destroyers and helicopters, the main anti-tank weapon was the anti-tank gun, a piece of field artillery specifically designed to kill tanks. Of course, just as had always been the case, the cannons weren’t really mobile, requiring a prime mover to get them into position and move them around the battlefield. […]
Improved? Yes. Enough? No.
The evolution of armoured warfare during the Second World War saw tanks evolve from lightly armed and armoured scouts and infantry supports to become massively armed and armoured battlefield titans. This was the case for most combatants’ tanks, at least. However, Japan’s requirements and particular war situation didn’t result in this. Thus, even their “Kai” […]
Panzer II, Low Countries 0
What kind of a score is that? Well, it’s the score from the European front in 1940, of course! The Panzer II helped blast a path through Western Europe (then Africa and Russia) despite its failings and overall weakness. This do-it-all little stopgap fought everywhere until it became brutally apparent that it was no match […]
Arii’s Sad Flak-Failing
Just like with the monkey’s paw, sometimes, what you get is not quite what you asked for. I was hoping to one day find a 1/76 Flakpanzer IV “Wirbelwind” so I could add it to my 1/76 armour collection. Well, I did, but the result wasn’t as happy as I thought it would be. While […]
Old School Tiny Tank Hunter!
Even though I’m not a huge armour guy, I know what I like. One thing I like, are German WWII tanks. Another thing I like are Matchbox armour kits! Combine the two, and now you’re talking my language! One of Germany’s most potent tank killers of WWII was the Jagdpanzer IV. The upgunned version, with […]
4 x 50 (cal) = Hamburger!
Effective mobile defence against low-flying enemy fighter bombers was a key development in WWII. It required a vehicle that could keep up with the armoured columns it was to defend, as well as one tough enough to mount viable weaponry. In the M16, aka the “meat chopper” the US and Allied forces had such a […]
Be Half Yourself!
Throughout history, there have been legends of beasts that were half one animal and half another, or half human/half animal. Well, the engineers in WWII took this idea and applied it to vehicles, creating half truck/half tank conveyances known, unsurprisingly, as “half-tracks”. One of the most famous and widely used of these was the M3, […]
The Sprue Lagoon 