Author Topic: Logan's Profiles - 8x8 Scimitar  (Read 367158 times)

Offline lauhof52

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Vought SB4U Viking - USS Ranger
« Reply #650 on: June 04, 2014, 03:26:41 PM »
Hi Logan. Nice to see once more a Viking! Splendid job! Could you send it to me without the blue background? Would be nice.

friendly regards
Lauhof

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Vought SB4U Viking - USS Ranger
« Reply #651 on: June 04, 2014, 10:20:16 PM »
Thanks! I thought you'd like another USN Viking. Check your email.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Recon Heinkel He 100D-4/F3 Trop
« Reply #652 on: June 07, 2014, 07:49:00 AM »
As always, click on the image below to see the picture at 100% or view it at my DeviantArt page. I've also submitted this to The Snoops, Sensors, Spooks, & Spies GB.



A substantial number of Heinkel He 100D-4s went to reconnaissance units, equipped with various cameras and assigned a Rüstzustand designation based on the type of camera installed. The He 100D-4/R3 was fitted with a Zeiss Rb 50/30 camera installed vertically behind the pilot's seat. The letters in "Rb 50/30" stood for the type of role the camera was to be used. For example, Rb stood for Reihenbilder, a shortened version of the original name—Reihenbildmesskammer—series-picture, topographic camera. The first number would be the focal-length of the lens in centimetres and the second set of digits would be the film format size, again in centimetres. The Rb 50/30, therefore, was a topographic camera with 50cm (19.69 in) focal length lens and a film width 32cm (12.60 in). This camera was manufactured by Carl Zeiss G.m.b.H. and was fitted with a Tessar 50cm lens.



The Rb 30 series was by far the most widely used reconnaissance camera operated by the Luftwaffe. First introduced in 1938, it was a large format camera designed mainly for task of carrying out photo-mapping work. At the beginning of the World War II, the Rb 20/30 was in general use throughout the Luftwaffe, however, as Allied aircraft slowly forced the Luftwaffe to fly at greater higher heights, the focal length of the lenses increased and the Rb 50/30 and 75/30 became more widely used. The camera was fitted with an iris shutter within the lens and when fitted with a full magazine of film (210ft) and all attachments, its approximately weight was 160lb. Using a large film format, 32cm wide perforated film, this would give a frame size of nearly one foot square. During the exposing of the imagery, the film itself was held flat within the camera by means of dynamic air pressure that was supplied by the camera motor drive.



This particular aircraft, He 100D-4/R3 Trop, Stammkennzeichen VO+SU, served in the Mediterranean and is equipped with two 300 liter (66 gal) external wing tanks common to the R3 variant. It also has the Trop modifications which consisted of the mounts for a cockpit umbrella on the left side of the fuselage, sand filters on the wing root intakes, and the radiator fairing that fixed the radiator in the lowered position.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline lauhof52

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Recon Heinkel He 100D-4/F3 Trop
« Reply #653 on: June 07, 2014, 03:05:38 PM »
Nice story and excellent profile! :)

Offline apophenia

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Recon Heinkel He 100D-4/F3 Trop
« Reply #654 on: June 08, 2014, 12:16:15 PM »
Indeed! Would the He 100D-4/R3 have been unarmed or did it retain some of the He 100's fixed armament?
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Recon Heinkel He 100D-4/F3 Trop
« Reply #655 on: June 08, 2014, 01:06:02 PM »
Thanks, guys! I was most happy with how the heavy exhaust stains turned out on this profile. I think it lends an air of authenticity to it. As for the modifications involved with the recon variants, many would be produced with armament but no radio. As with many German fighter sub-variants, however, there were many exceptions to this. Some reconnaissance aircraft their armament removed and many had a radio retrofitted to the aircraft. There were also standard fighter aircraft converted to the reconnaissance role with the addition of the camera fairing.

As such, it can often be difficult to determine the exact variant of aircraft depicted, even if the modifications are clearly visible. It's almost impossible to tell if an aircraft was built in that configuration or modified at a depot.

Obviously, this was the case with the Bf 109s and Fw 190s that I studied as the inspiration for these profiles.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - V-507 TARPS - VF-32 Swordsmen - Grenada
« Reply #656 on: June 10, 2014, 06:08:28 AM »
Thanks, guys! There'll be a lot of difference between the different variants of the He 100 when Talos and I are all done with them!

As always, click on the image below to see the picture at 100% or view it at my DeviantArt page. I've also submitted this to The Snoops, Sensors, Spooks, & Spies etc GB.



This profile depicts a Vought F-14A Vagabond of VF-32 'Swordsmen' as it would have appeared in October 1983 flying off the USS Independence during Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada. BuNo 161159 is shown equipped with a TARPS reconnaissance pod on the centerline station and was crewed by Lt. Byron 'Bammer' Olson (pilot) and Lt. Randy 'Cock' Roach (RIO).

On October 18, 183, Commander John F. Manning, Jr., then skipper of Fighter Squadron (VF) 32 aboard Independence (CV-62), noticed something was amiss. The aircraft carrier and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 6 were supposed to relieve Eisenhower (CVN-69) off the coast of Lebanon. But instead of heading east across the Atlantic Ocean, the Norfolk-based flattop was sailing south toward the Caribbean. By day's end, Captain W.A. Dougherty, Indy's commanding officer, informed CVW-6 and the ship's crew that a crisis was brewing on the island of Grenada, and American naval presence was necessary in case the situation got worse.


A bow view of the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62) underway.

However, before Indy reached Grenada, the political structure on the once placid island paradise deteriorated. The government was overthrown by a radical Marxist group in a bloody coup that left more than 50 people dead. Once in power, the Cuban-backed junta deported all international journalists and issued a shoot-on-sight curfew which jeopardized the safety of the isle's 1,000 Americans. On October 23, the day 241 Marine, Navy and Army personnel were killed by a car bomb in Lebanon, Cdr. Manning's operations officer told him US ground and air forces were going to rescue the Americans on Grenada. The decision to launch the operation—codenamed Urgent Fury—was made by President Ronald Reagan a few days earlier. In addition to protecting American lives, the operation was designed to thwart the formation of a communist government which would threaten Caribbean stability.



For most of the following 30 hours, the skippers of CVW-6's nine squadrons (VAs 87, 15, and 176; VFs 32 and 14; VAW-122; VAQ-131; VS-28; and HS-15) met with the battle staff officers and planned their strategy. One of the air wing's primary missions was to have A-7E Corsair IIs from VAs 15 and 87, and A-6E Intruders from VA-176 fly close air support for US Army and Marine Corps ground troops. Other CVW-6 tasks included using E-2C Hawkeyes from VAW-122 to provide constant airborne early warning protection; S-3A Vikings from VS-28 to conduct antisubmarine warfare surveillance; SH-3 Sea Kings from HS-15 to perform ASW and search and rescue operations; and F-14 Vagabonds from VFs 32 and 14 to fly photoreconnaissance missions and maintain combat air patrol.

The attack against the Calivigny military barracks on October 27 was a good example of the squadrons' integrated effectiveness. Eight A-7s from VAs 15 and 87 participated in that assault while F-14s conducted pre-strike reconnaissance. It was Urgent Fury's last serious attack mission.


Two aerial photographs showing the Calivigny military barracks at Egmont, Grenada, before and after attacks of U.S. Navy aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62), 27 October 1983.

Calivigny military barracks was a terrorist/guerrilla warfare training camp, which Cuban forces were using to fend off attacking US troops. They put up stiff resistance until Indy's attack aircraft leveled many of the buildings with Mk 82s and Mk 20s. What buildings VAs 15 and 87 left standing were riddled with more than 7,000 20mm rounds of ammunition. The attack resulted in several large explosions and fires, which indicated some of the barracks were being used for storing ammunition. F-14s equipped with TARPS pods also conducted post-strike bomb damage assessment (BDA) missions. The photographs revealed how effective the strikes had been.


An explosion during the bombing of Point Calvigny, "Operation Urgent Fury", Grenada, 25 October 1983.

"We did a real nice job on that place," said Cdr. O'Brien, CO of VA-87.

Indy's F-14s also conducted nighttime reconnaissance flights over the island. Using their sophisticated radars and infared detection equipment, the F-14s were able to locate enemy targets which were later attacked by US ground troops and Indy's A-7s. In addition, VF-32's Vagabonds provided area commanders with more than 20 miles worth of high-quality photographs of Grenada which were analyzed for targeting and bomb assessment.

"They [VFs 32 and 14] also conducted 24-hour combat air patrol, just in case any suspicious air contact came too close to the carrier battle group," said Cdr O'Brien.



On October 29, most of the American students on Grenada were safely back in the United States praising the US military for rescuing them from possible captivity. US ground troops numbered nearly 6,000 by that time, and had secured most of the island at the cost of 19 dead, 87 wounded. The enemy, a small element of which was continuing to resist capture, had suffered about 70 dead and 396 wounded.



"It was very gratifying for me as CO of VA-87 to see the CVW-6 team come together on such short notice and make a very significant contribution in Urgent Fury," said O'Brien. "Although the ground troops in Grenada deserve the most credit, we [CVW-6 and Indy] played a strong supporting role.

In an article published in Indy's newspaper, The Guardian, on November 5, 1983, Colonel J. P. Faulkner, then Commander 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit, concurred. "We [Marines] couldn't say enough about the air support Indy provided," he said. "We knew [they] were there whenever the call went out."


A U.S. Navy Ling Temco Vought A-7E-4-CV Corsair II (BuNo 156807) from attack squadron VA-87 Golden Warriors in flight over Port Salines airfield, Grenada, during the U.S. invasion of Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury), on or after 25 October 1983.

According to O'Brien, Indy and CVW-6 were at their "peak" in combat readiness when they were detoured to Grenada, because both had recently finished spending several months on predeployment exercises in preparation for possible operations in Lebanon.

"As it turned out, we went to Grenada first, and that's exactly the kind of real training we needed," said Cdr. O'Brien. "They performed well in Grenada."



If the Grenada operation taught Cdr. O'Brien anything, it was never doubt the importance of combat readiness. "Usually before every major training exercise a squadron or ship commanding officer will say training is important because it keeps you at your peak," he said. "But sometimes those words have a hollow ring because you know you're just going on another routine training exercise. Well, our involvement in Grenada proved that combat readiness is a day-to-day necessity. The mission was totally unexpected, but [Indy and CVW-6] were ready at a moment's notice. We went down there prepared and did the job right."

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Hungarian Heinkel He 46K 'Lucifer'
« Reply #657 on: June 11, 2014, 02:31:46 AM »
And back to Eastern Europe for another Heinkel He 46 that's even more plausible. Click on the profile to see it on Photobucket where you can click again and see it at 100%. I've also submitted this to The Snoops, Sensors, Spooks, & Spies GB.



Hungary was one of the largest operators of the actual Heinkel He 46, but their version had a different powerplant. So I did one of the "G/K" in their colors. As a result, the write up on this one is going to be shorter than usual. I encourage you to read more about the real ones if you're interested.

On 10th April, 1924, with the permission of the government, the Air Office—Légügyi Hivatal - LÜH—was established within the Trade Ministry. On 16th December, 1928, Altábornagy—Lieutenant General—Vassel was appointed to a post which did not exist on paper: Inspector of the Air Force. Leadership of the LÜH fell on Doctor György Rákosi who served on the General staff as a Colonel—Vezékariezredes. Even during the period of complete concealment there were nine air squadrons forming three air group cadres in the MKHL—Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő—Royal Hungarian National Air Force, then under the control of the air department.

With the development of home aircraft production in mind, Dr. György Rákosi gave orders for the construction of the AVIS experimental fighters. Not only this, orders were placed the year after, 1930, for Italian aircraft imports. Orders for German aircraft imports followed in 1935. Consequently, 76 CR 32 fighters soon arrived. Thereafter 66 Junkers Ju 86K-2 bombers, 46 Heinkel He 46K-2, 5 He 45 and 18 He 70K reconnaissance planes were delivered to Hungary. Including training machines, German imports amounted to 190 aircraft.



This profile depicts a Heinkel He 46K-2Un of the II 'Lucifer' Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron based at Székesfehérvár during the mobilization against Slovakia in 1939. Note the crudely applied camouflage paint on the wing struts, stabilizer struts, radio aerial, spinner, and even the propeller blades themselves. Note also the Gebauer 1934.M machine gun on the observer's ring mount.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Hungarian Heinkel He 46K 'Lucifer'
« Reply #658 on: June 11, 2014, 02:46:43 AM »
Nice.  I hope you know that I only have one He-46 kit in the stash and you are making it hard to choose what to do with it!
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Offline apophenia

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Hungarian Heinkel He 46K 'Lucifer'
« Reply #659 on: June 11, 2014, 03:12:31 AM »
Love those early WWII Hungarian schemes  :-*
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Offline Matt Wiser

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Hungarian Heinkel He 46K 'Lucifer'
« Reply #660 on: June 11, 2014, 11:23:34 AM »
Logan; nice work on the VF-32 Vagabond. You planning on an ODS bird, where somebody gets a kill or two, besides the single Mi-8 Hip VF-1 splashed?
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Offline lauhof52

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Hungarian Heinkel He 46K 'Lucifer'
« Reply #661 on: June 11, 2014, 02:05:43 PM »
Very nice colorscheme! Love the Hungarian one! :-*

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #662 on: June 17, 2014, 02:36:50 PM »
Thanks, guys! Apophenia, the Hungarians are the only ones that that I see camouflaging propellers. Really weird. Matt, I'll definitely do an ODS bird eventually, but I'll determine the circumstances when I get there! It'll be a little ways off, though.

The following images are only mockup concepts, not finished profiles. I made them for my own reference and hadn't intended to post them anywhere, but I know there's a number of tank buffs on the forum and I thought they might be interested in the concepts.

There isn't a real backstory to these. I have a few Excel files that I update pretty regularly where I have outlined my "ideal" Table of Organization & Equipment (TOE) if I had my pick of WWII equipment. It's just a little exercise that I use to help me evaluate the relative merits and disadvantages of equipment in WWII. It also helps to understand the problem of things such as "why did Germany use so many different types of trucks?"

Anyway, to permit the interoperation of different types of equipment, I do allow myself a limited amount of equipment swapping for comparable armament, engines, radios, etc. So, here are some examples of the designs I've gone with.



The first is an IS-2 variant. It's actually pretty standard. I've extended the turret rear somewhat to give more room for ammunition and operation of the radio. I've also eliminated the machine gun at the turret rear, replaced the cupola, and added an M2 .50cal machine gun for the commander. I'd keep the original main gun, suspension, engine, etc. I'm really of the opinion that the IS-2 was one of the best tank designs of WWII. The more I study it in comparison to its contemporaries, the more I like it. Armed with the 122mm D-25T howitzer, a single battalion of this variant would serve as an integral part of late war infantry divisions.



The second is a more drastic modification. This involves the replacement of the 122mm gun with the German 88mm KwK 43 from the King Tiger. This would give the tank greater armor penetration, greater accuracy, greater rate of fire, and a greater ammunition load. This would be at the cost of barrel life and much worse high explosive content. This variant would essentially be a late-war medium/heavy tank making up nearly half the tanks in a 1945 tank division. Why bother with this variant rather than a standard IS-2? Well, a couple reasons. First is that it's more likely to engage in tank vs. tank combat compared to an infantry support tank. The second reason is that a tank division operates cut off from supplies for up to days at a time. As a result, 28 rounds is really insufficient for the deep penetration mission. Swapping out the gun for the 8.8cm KwK 43 should alleviate some of this without a reduction in anti-tank firepower.



The next profile is a far more extensive modification, however. This is the final variant of the Sherman, which would be my standard medium tank of the war.

The initial 1942 M4A1 would be almost unchanged from the historical vehicles. I haven't given it a ton of thought, but I'd likely replace the M3 75mm gun with the 7.5cm KwK 40 from the PzKpfw IV, extend the turret bustle a little bit ŕ la Firefly to better accommodate the longer 75mm gun and the radio, and that's about it. The standard turret is fine, the VVSS suspension is fine, and the R975 engine is fine, at least for mid-WWII.

Very soon thereafter, however, I'd switch to the M4A2 with the GM 6046 engine and the M4A3 with the Ford GAA engine. The lower silhouette of these engines would allow the switch to the lower hull height of the M10 tank destroyer. For this, imagine an M10 hull, but with the hull machine gun and thicker frontal armor of the Sherman retained. I won't bother showing a preview of this, because the forum's very own wandering engineer mocked up a very similar concept himself here.

By 1944, however, there are even better options available. For the armored divisions, at least, I'd adopt the torsion bar suspension of the M4A2E4. As soon as possible, I'd also switch the gun out for the British QF 17-pdr, supported in smaller numbers by howitzer armed tanks for HE firepower. I'd adapt this to the "T23 turret", eventually upgrading that to the "Jumbo" turret, again extending the turret rear to account for the 17-pdr's greater recoil. Finally, I'd increase the frontal hull armor to 102mm by 1944, also like the Jumbo. Unlike the Jumbo, however, side armor would remain the same as the standard tank in an effort to keep the overall weight down. In case anyone is wondering about all these modifications, they were all incorporated on Sherman variants at one point or another. For example, for the last year of the war, Patton had his Third Army Shermans fitted with the glacis armor plates from knocked out tanks, effectively doubling their frontal armor.



I mentioned earlier that the Fireflies would be supported by howitzer-armed tanks to make up for the Firefly's lack of HE firepower. Due to my choice of standard army howitzer, this gun would be the Soviet U-11 122mm howitzer. It is scaled to fit and seems to work pretty well. This would also be the standard armament for Sherman engineering tank variants.

Anyway, I thought some of the forum's tank buffs would like to see some of these concepts since the modifications really affect the appearance of the vehicles, especially the Sherman. It also emphasizes how much like a LEGO kit the Sherman was given all the different pieces they tried on it.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #663 on: June 17, 2014, 09:15:02 PM »
Nice ideas. Slightly off-beat with the German guns fitted to Allied armour but, then, I don't know your tech tree for the background to these.

:)
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Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #664 on: June 17, 2014, 09:26:37 PM »
Well, it's sort of a "best of" type list, with no limitations other than rough entry dates for equipment. Of the 4 vehicles, though, there's only 1 German gun (the 8.8cm KwK 43). The 122mm guns are Soviet and the 17-pdr is British.

My early war tank guns are Austrian and Czech, for example.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Volkodav

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #665 on: June 17, 2014, 09:30:02 PM »
Well wasn't the famous 75mm used in the Sherman based on a French WWI field gun?  Will stand corrected if I am wrong.  It does make sense to use the best available although I do find the UKs use of 7.92mm in tanks interesting, they could have extended it further i.e. Vehicle crews Mech Inf etc. using the same calibre.  ;)

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #666 on: June 17, 2014, 10:05:07 PM »
Yeah, but only loosely, Volkodov. The main thing was that they all used basically the same ammunition. As I remember it, during the fighting in North Africa, French 75 cases and powder were combined with the German AP rounds from the PzKpfw IV's 7.5cm KwK 37 and fired out of the M3 Grant's M2/M3 75mm guns. Interestingly, that means that the 75mm gun used on Chaffees until the 1990s used ammunition of the same dimensions as that of the original 75mm Mle 1897, nearly 100 years old.

The 7.92 caliber of the BESA also struck me as odd. As I understand it, the BESA was just a copy of the Czech ZB-53 and the RAC just never bothered to convert it, considering it to be more trouble than it was worth.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline von hitchofen2

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #667 on: June 17, 2014, 11:26:40 PM »
The 7.92 caliber of the BESA also struck me as odd. As I understand it, the BESA was just a copy of the Czech ZB-53 and the RAC just never bothered to convert it, considering it to be more trouble than it was worth

converting it to .303 from 7.92 Mauser/.318 was viewed as too much of a logistical challenge, and didn't matter too much as the Royal Armoured Corps supply chain was entirely separate from the rest of the British Army

conveniently, captured stocks of German 7.92x57 S Patrone could be used to feed the tank BESA guns, so units rarely ran short of ammo

Offline dy031101

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #668 on: June 17, 2014, 11:31:09 PM »
I think I would steal some of your ideas somewhere down the road  :) ;D
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Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #669 on: June 23, 2014, 01:54:11 PM »
So, I've also been studying the idea of airborne armor for my "What If" TOE recently, and I came to the unsurprising conclusion that both the M22 Locust and the Tetrarch sucked. The problem is that, given the 7 ton weight limit imposed by the Hamilcar glider, how do you get much better? Well, the short answer is that it isn't easy. Seven tons isn't much to play with. Both the PzKpfw II and the T-26, for example, were around 9 tons—too heavy. Fortunately, the vehicle that I think could have been the answer to this problem was one that I'd already selected as my early war tank destroyer—the Skoda Š-I-j (successor to the Skoda Š-I-D).



Now, you could use the vehicle as-is and I think it would've been superior to either the Locust or the Tetrarch. I think, however, that with a couple of modifications you could arrive at an even better vehicle. I put 7.5cm StuK 37 "Stummel" on it in place of the A9J 47mm main gun, raised the superstructure slightly, and gave it a German-style cupola. Other than that, I just swapped out the horn for a light and installed an MG 34 in place of the existing machine gun. Obviously, if you were going for Allied-only weapons, you could just as easily go for the M3 75mm howitzer and an M1919A4 or BESA.



So, what does this nifty little vehicle get you? Well, 30mm frontal armor, for one. It gives you far superior HE support than the Locust and Tetrarch. It is lighter, better protected, and smaller in every dimension. It also requires fewer crew.

What are the disadvantages? Well, it certainly couldn't carry quite as much main gun ammunition, but you could at least bum some more rounds off your airborne artillery since they share the same ammo.



It also lacks the turret of the other two tanks, is slower, and forces the commander to load and fire the main gun. Still, you only need to keep up with paratroopers (who are walking), you get that nice 75mm howitzer, and double the armor of the Locust or Tetrarch. I think it's a very good trade-off, personally.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Volkodav

  • Counts rivits with his abacus...
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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #670 on: June 23, 2014, 05:12:57 PM »
Why am I now imagining a shortened Hetzer with a 6pdr?

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #671 on: June 23, 2014, 11:19:56 PM »
It would be neat, but it would definitely be too heavy for a Hamilcar. You might be able to do something AH-IV based, but that'd basically end up with something a whole lot like an Skoda Š-I-D!

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Tank Concepts
« Reply #672 on: June 24, 2014, 12:51:12 AM »
Here's another modification of the vehicle with a more angled front superstructure, like the Hetzer. It would still have nearly vertical sides.



It definitely has a bit of an SdKfz 140/1 Aufklärungspanzer 38(t) mit 7.5 cm KwK37 L/24 look to it. Sort of a scaled-down version.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - USAF EB-51E - DSES Bicentennial
« Reply #673 on: August 16, 2014, 01:31:55 AM »
As always, click on the image below to see the picture at 100% or view it at my DeviantArt page.



The "what if" story below comes from Phil Peterson (philp) on the forum. The profile is a tribute to his father, who served with the 17th DSES.

Quote from: philp
Capt. Weber of the MTANG is sitting in the recliner in the Alert shed sucking on a Coke and trying to find anything on besides the Soaps when the calm is broken by the Alert siren.

He and his wing-man race to their F-106s.  The sleek, grey delta winged aircraft look fast even sitting still in the cool Montana morning.

As he straps in he gets the info.  An enemy bomber has pierced the northern defenses and is heading for SAC Headquarters at Malmstrom AFB.  His mission is simple, find the bomber and splash him before he gets near enough to drop his payload.

In just a few minutes "Astro" and his wing-man have leveled off at 30,000 and are zooming at Mach 2 towards the spot the ground controllers have indicated the bogey's last position.  As they close in he starts getting some return from his radar.  The enemy plane is low and using some active jamming.  Astro noses down in an attempt to acquire a lock on for his AIM-4 Falcon missiles when suddenly the radar signature blossoms into a huge target.  Chaff, a weapon first deployed back during WWII, has hidden the bomber from his view and combined with other jamming, it has lost the Delta Dart.

Looks like the bad guys are going to get through.  Luckily, in this case, the bad guy is an EB-51 Panther of the 17th DSES (Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron), the last Active Duty squadron flying the ECM version of the Panther.

Their role is to probe our defenses looking for weaknesses so that they can be upgraded making a successful attack that much harder should a real shooting war break out.


There's actually a lot of custom work that went into making the B-51B an "EB-51E" ECM aggressor aircraft for the 17th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron (DSES).

You'll notice the "antlers" or "horns" on the nose and tail, the extra antenna all over, including new blade antennas and fairings on the bomb bay door, and a new chaff pod that would be on a hardpoint on the exterior of the bomb bay door.



Just as much work, though, were all the custom markings that I had to put on the aircraft. Most of them are in different places on my EB-51E than the were on the EB-57s, because of the configuration of the aircraft and the limitations of the profile layout. For example, the Bicentennial marking (above) that I custom made for the profile was on the chaff dispenser of the EB-57 and I put it on the engine of the EB-51E. Likewise, I move the unit markings on the right side of the tail to the left side so that they could be seen in the profile. They include the ADC badge and the Outstanding Unit ribbon with Oak Leaf cluster. Finally, the Bicenntial band on the fuselage was a neat detail that I really liked and I think helps highlight the era the aircraft served in.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline lauhof52

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Re: Logan's Profiles - USAF EB-51E - DSES Bicentennial
« Reply #674 on: August 16, 2014, 02:14:10 AM »
Logan, you did an outmost good job! Very good! :-*

regards
Lauhof