Finnish Continuation War in 1/72

[Milgeek]

Hello all,

I have started making models and the first major project I undertook was to start making a collection for war-gaming based on a late Continuation War Finnish Army. I'll journal the progress of my collection here, I hope someone finds these models interesting (please forgive my amateurish modelling)!

At the moment my main focus is on support and auxiliary vehicles and my first few models were the all important trucks!

Ford V3000 - US Model 'stake truck'. HQ Company supply truck.


(Conversion, Valiant V3000 bonet/Pegasus GMC chassis.)

Captured Soviet BA-20 Light Armoured Car. Recce Company HQ vehicle.


(ACE plastic kit. Finnish designation BAB B)

Ford V3000. Infantry transport.


(Modified Valiant resign model.)

Captured Soviet BA-10 Armoured Car. Recce Company.


(UniModel plastic kit. Finnish designation BAF C.)

Captured Soviet ZiS-6. Medium Artillery Company.


(PST plastic kit.)

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As I said, this is a war-gaming quality collection so there will be several 'easy build' models included (like the Valiant resin V3000) but I will also be including a few premium display quality kits as some of the Finnish vehicles are quite niche and hard to get in kit form.

Regards,

Steve

[Marcus]

Nice work, I look forward to seeing more.

/Marcus

[Karelia]

Thanks for the effort. Am looking forward to seeing more!

[Juha Tompuri]

Nice, thanks for sharing.

Regards, Juha

[Milgeek]

ModelTrans German Fordwerkes V3000s (Italeri Opel Blitz Conversion kit)







For my Finnish Heavy Anti-Tank Company. This was a bit of a bugger to make, and being a conversion of the Italeri Opel Blitz isn't entirely accurate (but as the only 1/72 Fordwerkes V3000 available is an expensive Hunor resin one, I'm happy with this).

Steve

[Tom Houlihan]

Good to go! Keep sharing, please!

[Milgeek]

More Continuation War Finnish models off the production line (finally)...

'The Mighty Yag' - Zebrano Yag-6 Soviet Heavy Transport
The Finnish army captured two of these 'monsters' (huge by mid-WW2 standards) and there is some very nice photo reference in the SA Kuva archive of Finnish troops inspecting them. While there is little information on 'what happened next' I am - as usual - using a little 'artistic licence' and have assigned my Yag to my Finnish heavy artillery company as a prime mover.



(Note: This is perhaps the worst and most frustrating model I have made and I won't be buying Zebrano again.)

1939 Chevrolet Medium Truck - Converted resin Ford model by Valiant
After the legendary Ford V3000 truck, pre-war American imported Chevrolet trucks seem to have been a popular (or at least reasonably numerous) transport vehicle in the Finnish Army. I couldn't find a plastic kit of this exact model of Chevy so I converted a resin truck to look like it. I am using this model for infantry transport.



Steyr Raupenschlepper (RSO) prime mover - Conversion of Altaya die-cast model
The Finns received (purchased) 50 plus RSO's from the Germans in the summer of 1944. Intended as an artillery prime mover it was capable of towing both the PAK-40 AT gun or the leFH-18 105mm howitzer (which the Finns had also acquired from the Germans). There is also a nice shot of it in the SA Kuva archive of it towing a captured Soviet 122mm field gun. I will be assigning two of these models to my medium field artillery company.




Well, that brings me up-to-date. I am currently working on some radio cars/vans.

Steve

[Milgeek]

1939 Chevrolet Panel Van Radio Wagon - Converted resin model by Valiant
I wanted to illustrate the Finn's reliance on commercial vehicles, particular pre-war American imports. So I put together this early war commercial panel van, pressed into service as the HQ radio wagon...



I've heavily weathered this particular model as I imagined that by 1944 a pre-war vehicle would be showing a fair amount of wear and tear.

Steve

[Milgeek]

My first Finnish tank complete!

T-50 Light Tank - Altaya Diecast Conversion
Unfortunately, 1/72 T-50 models are as rare as rocking horse doo-doo! I believe there are a couple of hard to get hold of 'short run' resin models out there (somewhere). But, not wanting to spend a fortune (and being wary of short run resin kits after my Zebrano experience) I instead picked up a very cheap Altayo diecast T-50 from eBay!

It's a terrible shame that this little tank isn't better represented in 1/72 plastic as it's a wonderful design, which was - sadly - overshadowed by it's larger sister, the legendary T-34. Anyway...

Finland actually only ever capture ONE of these light tanks in 1941. But that particular tank acted as a command tank, until it finally suffered irreparable breakdown in June of 1941. My rendition of the Finnish T-50 represents it's 1943 scheme (or at least, my best guess, as only a couple of black and white photos still exist)...







Hope you like it,

Steve

[Karelia]

Well done! Keep 'em coming...

[Milgeek]

T-34/85 Medium Tank - Plastic Soldier Company
I went for an 'easy build' PSC model as I am still learning to paint scale models and so didn't want to ruin an expensive Dragon kit! That said, the PSC is an ideal model for wargamers - it's reasonably accurate, but quick to put together (and there aren't lots of small parts to get knocked off). I did do some 'upgrades' to make it more authentic, adding some of the modifications made by the Finns.



The Finns only captured a handful of these tanks from the Soviets, but after the Sturmi it was probably their most effective piece of armour. As with a lot of the Finn's WW2 armour, their T-34/85s continued to serve after the war (with further modifications).

My example is a composite which is intended to represent a Finnish '85' from the summer of 1944.





As a concession to wargaming use, I did not add the short turret mounted radio antennae. I could see that getting lost within 5 minutes!

Hope you like this,

Steve

[Milgeek]

Latest addition to my Finnish Continuation War collection...

1937 Chevrolet Medium Truck - Manairons kit
Sweet little 'easy build' kit from the Spanish company Manairons. I've seen a couple of examples of this pre-war American commercial truck in the SA-Kuva photo archive, but I've used a little 'artistic license' for my example.



I've created a camouflaged version for my wargaming Finnish anti-tank company. It's also heavily weathered, as I guess that by 1943/44 a 1937 vintage truck would have been bashed about a bit!





I need 3 similar types of truck to tow my section of 7.5 cm Pak 40 AT guns, all of which will be similarly painted as these were front line service vehicles.

Hope you like this,

Steve

[Christoffer]

cool miniature armored vehicles.

[Hauptmann Holston]

Fantastic painting and weathering! I don't see how you do it, I can barely paint 1/35 scale. Outstanding work! Keep'um coming.

[Capsoda]

Great camo and weathering.