operation unthinkable Archives - Page 4 of 4

Constructing the T28 Super Heavy Tank

One of the Clash of Steel Starter Sets have been on my wants list ever since I found out about them at the beginning of the year. I ordered Operation Unthinkable boxed set containing the British and German tanks.

I decided I would add to the game by ordering the other Operation Unthinkable set, which contains American and Soviet tanks.

The T28 super-heavy tank was an American super-heavy tank/assault gun designed for the United States Army during World War II. It was originally designed to break through German defenses of the Siegfried Line and was later considered as a possible participant in the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland.

This is the GF9 finished model.

This is the sprue.

The kit was relatively easy to construct.

The next step will be a white undercoat.

Constructing the Tortoise Heavy Assault Tank

There are 17 tanks, two of which are the Tortoise heavy assault tank.

The Tortoise heavy assault tank (A39) was a British heavy assault gun design developed during the Second World War, but never put into mass production. It was developed for the task of clearing heavily fortified areas such as the Siegfried Line and as a result favoured armour protection over mobility.

This is the GF9 finished model.

This the sprue.

Constructing the model was quite simple, though initially I wasn’t quite sure about how to affix the tracks.

I did think about adding some extra weight to the model, but couldn’t find the weights I had bought in the past for this purpose.

The next stage will be a white undercoat.

Constructing the ISU-130

I decided I would add to the game by ordering the other Operation Unthinkable set, which contains American and Soviet tanks.

The ISU-130, is a tank destroyer based on the IS-2 chassis armed with an 130mm S-26 gun.

This is the GF9 finished model.

This is the track sprue.

The kit also allows you to build the ISU-122 and ISU-152 variants as well. As there are five kits I think I will mix and match the different variants.

Firstly I went with the ISU-130. The kit was relatively easy to construct.

The next step will be a white undercoat.

Basecoating the Maus Super Heavy Tanks

The Maus was a German World War Two super heavy tank that was completed in late 1944. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed before the testing grounds were captured by advancing Soviet forces It is the heaviest fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle ever built at 188 metric tons. It was armed with a 128mm gun and a coaxial 75mm gun. The Maus was intended to punch holes through enemy defences in the manner of an immense “breakthrough tank”, whilst taking almost no damage to any components.

I have been constructing two 15mm models of the Maus Super Heavy Tank. One from Zvezda and the other from Clash of Steel. Having given both models a white undercoat I gave them a base coat of Army Painter Desert Yellow Spray.

This is the Zvezda model.

This is the Clash of Steel model.

I sprayed the tracks with Mechanicus Standard Grey Spray, though I think they will be painted a dark brown colour eventually.

The next stage will be painting the tracks and the camouflage. I am going to go for the similar pattern as on the GF9 Clash of Steel model.

Though as I don’t have an airbrush I am going to have to do this by hand with a paintbrush.

Another Maus

This Maus came in the Operation Unthinkable starter set for Clash of Steel. One of seventeen tanks in the box.

This is the sprue.

The model was a relatively simple build.

I kept the tracks off the model to paint separately.

Having recently constructed the Zvezda Maus, it’s interesting to compare the two models.

They are pretty much identical.

However from a modelling perspective, the Clash of Steel version is much easier to put together.

I then gave the Maus a white undercoat.

The yellow of the plastic can still be seen, but I wasn’t trying to do a thicker base coat, this was about setting a primer for the sand base coat later.

Next step will be painting the model a sand colour.

15mm M18 Hellcat

I have the Operation Unthinkable boxed set containing the American and Soviet tanks. The GF9 Operation Unthinkable boxed set, the American versus Soviet, contains 21 tanks. Two of these are the M18 Hellcat.

The M18 Hellcat is a tank destroyer used by the United States Army in World War II and the Korean War. Despite being equipped with the same main gun as some variants of the much larger Sherman tank, the M18 attained a much higher top speed of up to 55 mph by keeping armour to a minimum, and using the innovative Torqmatic automatic transmission.

This is the GF9 finished model.

This is the sprue.

The model goes together quite easily. I like how the track sections are complete parts.

The turret was a little trickier, but got there in the end.

I gave the model a white undercoat.

The next stage was to paint them, using Army Painter Army Green Spray.

The next stage will be painting the tracks.

More Operation Unthinkable

I decided I would add to the game by ordering the other Operation Unthinkable set, which contains American and Soviet tanks.

In the box, as well as the rules, counters, and dice, are twenty one tanks.

For the Americans you get

Two T28 tanks
Two M18 Hellcats
Three T29 heavy tanks

The Soviets have

Six T54-1 tanks
Three IS-3 heavy tanks
Five ISU-130 SPGs.

Here are the sprues from the box.

What I didn’t realise was that the T54-1 model can also be made up as a T44 or a T55 as the different turrets are included. This gives even more flexibility over just using them as T54-1 tanks.

I thought that these would make ideal models for gaming scenarios from the Hot War series of books by Harry Turtledove.

This is the Operation Unthinkable Workbench.

Operation Unthinkable

One of the Clash of Steel Starter Sets have been on my wants list ever since I found out about them at the beginning of the year.

I ordered Operation Unthinkable boxed set containing the British and German tanks.

Operation Unthinkable was the name given to two related possible future war plans developed by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee against the Soviet Union during 1945.

In the box, as well as the rules, counters, and dice, are seventeen tanks.

For the British you get