Tuesday 25 April 2017

CV33 (or L3)

Yes the tankette has more than one name.  It is the Italian tankette, a 2 man armoured vehicle armed with twin machine guns. Some were flame thrower equipped but they were quite rare from what I am lead to believe.

The model is by Frontline (LINK) wargaming and cast in Resin. The hull and the tracks are cast separately so some supergluing is required. But not much!

While it was used in the Spanish Civil war this is for my Western Desert Chain of Command forces. Which will be expanded on this year. (Crosses fingers and hopes not to get side tracked).

Again the reason for Chain of Command is the reliance on infantry and not heavy armour. You are more likely to be able to field an armoured car than a tank for example.

The bottom picture is clearly a real one and not a model, and is included for those that are not familiar with the vehicle.

That's it for today. I should have a Japanese ww2 Platoon finished by Thursday so I will try to show it then. So until Thursday take care, have fun and paint if you get the opportunity!

Best Wishes Clint

24 comments:

  1. Yet another tank I have never heard of before. Nice work, Clint.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. Many people are unaware of the Italian tanks as films etc. tend to focus on German and American.

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  2. Informative and nicely painted. You really are becoming quite the tank historian hobbyist, Clint :-)

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    1. Thank you Simon. Given the huge interest in German tanks (and to lesser extent British, American and Russian) a very little knowledge of Japanese, Finnish and/or Italian tanks seems to go a long way. I really do not know much at all of the CV 33 so it always good to put it on the table and show something a little different.

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  3. Nice tankette Clint, I echo the comments above and it's nice to see rarer tanks being shown

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    1. Thanks Andy. As we all know there are rare tanks and VERY rare tanks. By Using Chain of Command rules the chances are the smaller tanks will get used more frequently! (Well That is MY hope!)

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  4. Nice work on the little tank Clint :)

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    1. Thank you Tamsin. Not a big scary tank I know. But still I would rather not have to fight one!

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  5. Love the L3s. They had a battalion of them in Russia in 1941. They lasted about a month and a half before all of them broke down. They did see some limited action but were completely unsuited for the environment. They did a bit better in North and East Africa.

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    1. Thank you Chris. I intend to use it in a North Africa setting. Therefore it will never meet a KV-1.... T 26 in Spain well just maybe!

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    2. I don't think they saw combat against other armor. They faced down some infantry before becoming infantry themselves.

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    3. Cheers Mate I will bear that in mind. I suspect in games though players will want to use armour, so in what if scenarios I don't see reality as too much of an issue.

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  6. I do love these small tank models as they're generally unusual and not overally armed or armoured.

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    1. Thank you Joe. I find them best for Skirmish games as they do not over power the Infantry which main battle tanks tend to.

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  7. Smashing work Clint, not sure I would want to be in one that was equipped with a flamethrower - imagine sitting on all the fuel!

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    1. Thank you Michael. Which ever version you are in will attract bullets like crazy. So I am not sure I would want to be in any version.

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  8. Nice one my friend. Any one who can take a look inside one will wonder how two men would fit in it. I saw the one at Bovigton years ago and was struck by just how small they were plus there seemed to be no bulkhead between the engine and crew. When used in Abyssinia one tactic to deal with them was to tip them over and as the only hatches are on the top this trapped the crew inside.

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    1. Thank you Tim. I was aware of the Abyssinia tactic. I still like the tankette though and would love one in real life.... the envy of many a re enactor!

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  9. I love you little tank. Excellent work.

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    1. Thank you Carl. I have a truly ODD vehicle on the painting table at present.....

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  10. Great job mate. I've painted a few of these for my 6mm forces and it's like painting a grain of rice. When I looked at the example in the Tank Museum my admiration for Italian tank crews only increased...You have to be bloody brave to face the enemy in one of these metal coffins.

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    1. Thank you Lee. Not seen one in real life but I can imagine!

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  11. Looks great dude! I quite like all the little tanks. I need to get something for my Bolt Action Fallschirmjager force

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    1. Thank you Simon. For Bolt action I would think of armoured cars as the Germans did not have any really small tanks. But if you want tanks Panzer mk II or Luchs (If very late war)might be the way to go.

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