"15mm Futuristic T-34 and Panzer-III?" Topic

I'm looking for 15mm sci-fi miniatures to represent the futuristic equivalents of the T-34 and Panzer-III. At worst, I'll simply use Khurasan's Red Lightning as a very rough IS-3 equivalent.

Well, there's the 'Midwar Monsters' T43 from Battlefront (bit pricey). It looks … very different.

Not sure what to tell you for an equivalent Pz3…

It costs about $12 USD per tank, which is not too bad; however, I was looking for something a bit more futuristic.

For pseudo-T-34s and pseudo-Pz.III I would suggest you to start from 1:72 kits of less known modern-contemporary tanks and make liberal use of Plasticard and Green Stuff to achieve your own highly original designs, what do you say?

I would suggest Argentinian TAM or Brazilian OSORIO as a nimble Pz.III equivalent.

Turkish ALTAY or Indian ARJUN could be a heavier, more formidable option

Check QRF for some of the more obscure modern stuff. Some of that can work for scifi without changing it at all.

quickreactionforce.co.uk

Thanks for the info!

Do you think that the British Vickers Mk3 will work as something Russian?

Or will the Type-63 work well (though it isn't very futuristic)?

Other than that, the GZG Tankette could possibly work for either side:

For Neo-German transportation, I'd go with the Old Crow Halftrack:

Very good Golan, I see that you're starting to get in the spirit, the point, in my own opinion is not to "stick to the basics" but to take every concept a bit further.

Sit and jut down a list of what spells: "futuristic" for you in a tank:

-blocks of reactive armour?

-tubes and dispensers for active anti-missile measures?

-arrays of sensors and antennas?

-asimmetric placement of a small, fully automatized turret?

then try to find way to implement some on your models.

BTW the British Vickers Mk3 looks GREAT!

Look at the Vickers Valiant and Cadillac Gage Stingray two neat futuristic looking tanks which never went to full-scale production!

A few antennas on the Vickers an/or the GZG Tankette would probably do the job.

Why not use a T-34 and a PzIII?
Apparently, equivalent designs in the 40K universe have not cahnged in 30,000+ years!

Cadillac Gage Stingray. Still a dead sexy looking tank.

I like the FMC M8 Ridgway better, personally, but they're both nice light tank models!

Cobbled together this baby after discovering this thread. Would have posted earlier, but too little time.

Construction & Paintjob by me ;-). T 34 from Battlefront, main gun,tribarrel, and other bits from GZG. Antenna comes from a nylon brush. Skirts scratch-built from thin sheet plastic.

Here she is:

Sweet looking tank..thanks for sharing

For the sci fi panzer III, GZG's or Combat Wombat's vehicles might do as they tend to be extremely small.

@LAWOFTHEGUN

That is an excellent looking conversion and I would love to make several. Could you please list the GZG parts you used?

Could you make one using the IS3 or KV hull?

@Dragon Gunner
Glad you like it :-).
The gun is from V15-ACC02, sensor sphere from V15-ACC04, boxes from V1-ACC01, to be found here:
link

The tribarrel (including a proper mount) usually comes with the tank models from GZG, you should ask them if they would sell them as singles.

As a matter of fact I do have a Battlefront KV-1e (was suppose to become a looted tank for my Germans, like the T-34). Will give it the sci fi treatment, but that might take 2 or 3 days.

GZG really needs to put up pictures of those parts. Thanks LAWOFTHEGUN you have been an inspiration. My scifi warlord army is getting bigger by the moment. Its an oddball collection of obsolete 2nd rate and 3rd rate armor purchased at some backwater planet arms bazaar.

World of Tanks has some intersting vehicle protoptypes that never made it into production. If I could find some of those in 15mm I would have a field day making conversions.

Looks great!

Now that might be a fun 15mm group build, each modeler taking an historical tank and dressing it up to look like a sci fi vehicle. Set a period (maybe 1916-1950), scale (the original vehicle kit has to be 15mm or 1/100 scale), and then an end date (like say finish by midnight TMP time on March 31).

I prefer to use 1/72 tanks for my Sci-Fi builds since I think future tanks will be more like the Siler than like Combat Wombat's tiny panzers.

Hmm, sizewise I do really like the GZG and and CW tanks. I tend to imagine sci fi tanks as manned by only two guys supported by an AI/a super computer, with many systems (including engines) miniaturized to the max. But I do also think that even in the far future, not everybody will be able to afford state of the art equipment, and would have to go for cheaper options…

with many systems (including engines) miniaturized to the max

Familiar rationale for wee vehicles, and makes for a smaller tank … if, that is, the tank only has the drive, weapons and comms power of today's tanks.

I assume they'll have much, much more of all of those, and advances in tech will mean that a large tank can be propelled much more easily than today, so the tanks will be larger too.

Also there's the basic fact that crew, even two of them, are cooped up in the vehicle and fighting. Not sure if I'd want to be crewing a GZG tank in those conditions, any more than the Warsaw Pact tankers enjoyed being crammed inside the T-72.

Would this be a good Neo-German tank?

As for the Neo-Sovs, I think I'll buy them the cheapest T34's I can find in the market and do the conversion like LawOfTheGun mk2 did (with GZG bits).

I wish someone would make the T-55 Enigma in 15mm:

That's a very cool version of a classic Soviet tank. I know that DLD Productions was working on one when they went onto silent running mode.

@ Golan

Here is a link to the Gruntz forum with one already painted up :)

link

Cheers Matt

@comstarhpg – Alright, I want it, I want it NOW!

Thought you would :)

To javelin98:

It's really BEYOND ME why hasn't anybody already bought up the rights to DLD's stuff and re-released it, it would be a surefire way to make money.

Here is my sci fi version of the KV-1e. the tank itself is from Battlefront Miniatures. Main guns, tribarrel, sensor sphere, missile launcher, and commander from GZG. Infantry GZG New Israeli.

You know what?

The KV-1 long gun conversion looks WAYYYYYY more modern than the T-34 conversion.

I think that's due to the longer gun, it helps hiding the model's true origins, while the T-34's turret is way too recognizable.

Here are a few things that led to my designs.I am a former combat arms Soldier but now I am a transporter. That changed my view a lot for me. Lets take the M1 and the Stryker. I can move, fuel, and repair 4 Stryker AGSs for the price of one M1. Currenlty it averages $11,300 USD per C-17 flight hour and it can only carry 1 M-1 or 3-4 Strykers. Look at it this way, right now it costs between $6 USDK-$20K to move one 20' container to Afghanistan, not the contents but just the trans costs. My lancer would probably come in at 45tons and the siler comes in at about 300 tons so do the math on cost to move that baby. most of my vehicles would fit in most transport systems today. The Siler is beautiful and a great kit and I highly recommend you own a couple but combat wombat vehicles are built on what I think is feasible on the size/fire power/armor/speed paradigm. With the increases in automation tech I agree tanks will be crewed by one or two guys. I wouldn't call combat wombat tanks extremely small, I think they size well with thier modern counterparts. To each his own, put some lead on the table from which ever company you like and get your game on.
CW

The more I look at the long-barrelled KV-1 the more it intrigues me,

what did you use for the gun, "LawOfTheGun mk2"?

@Moqawama
The long barrel is one of the gun options you usually get with the tracked / walker MBTs from GZG.

You mean it ain't available separately?

@Moqawama
At least I don't see them in the Web stor. Mine are leftovers from a platoon deal I bought. Why not try and contact Jon at GZG about single MBT gun Sprues?

My 15mm hovertanks based on T-34 hulls. I swopped turret and engine compartment pieces, and used the tracks to make straight skirts (but on reflection I think flared skirts may look better)

link

If you used tracks, just swopping turret and engine and putting a sci fi turret on would work easily.

I used various Old Crow, Brigade and GZG turrets to signify ATGW, APC, Light Tank, TD and Comms Tanks on the same basic T-34 hull mod – turrets are all sold separately.

I appreciate your idea, so angular and essential the T-34 hull lends itself well to the SF-concept, and doing without the too-recognizable turret is enough to make the resulting vehicle convincing enough!

You used 1:100 T-34s or 1:87 ones for your conversions?

It's the Plastic Soldier 15mm T-34, I don't know what scale they use exactly.

How about putting a BTR turret on top of a T-34 or Panzer III?

@LawoftheGUN

Thanks for the VERY RAPID conversion. I have to agree with Moqawama the models true origins are easier to hide. I also think the less common the tank was the easier it is to hide its origins. It looks fantastic!

@Combat Wombat

Thank you for that explanation for the justification of lighter forces. I get into spats with former armor people on occasion and I cannot not deny nothing beats the killing power or survivability of a MBT. Logistics is why we have lighter forces in my opinion.

Re: Lighter stuff, there is a lot of experimentation with robot tanks going on even today, they are quite a bit smaller as no need to carry crew.

@freecloud
Could you please tell me who makes the roads in the picture on your blog?
link

I think they're Hot Matz roads?

Please correct me if I am missing the mark.

Roads are Tomy Tomica, suitably dulled down and dirtied for the far future

link

As expected, I was missing the mark.

They look real nice, even if perhaps all those pedestrian crossings make them more suitable for an urban environment, but whatever…

seen this up for auction on eBay?

auction

I'm loving Lawofthegun's tank conversions. I've done a few WW2 tanks as scifi conversions and used old 1/72 scale kits, so BIG tanks!!

Here's one of mine…

More pics at my blog (which I really, really need to get back into)…. link

Whilst I don't know about Panzer III versus T 34 per se, I think my red eagle and federal medium tank models will make a good Centurian versus T 62 like in 1973. In some ways the Red Eagle is actually stronger than the federal medium tank, but in other ways the federal tank is definitely better and higher tech. And then the Siler fills in on the role of the Tiger, sort of like at the battle of Kursk, although the Kursk analogy is not too exact as the federal medium tank is not completely inferior to the Red Eagle, as the Panzer III was to the T 34. It's more like if the Israelis had had some M103s in 1973, for those ultra-treadheads out there.

As an aside, whilst I realise that the M1 is the most powerful and advanced tank the Americans have ever fielded, I think the M103 is the flat-out coolest. Perhaps influenced by the fact that I had a Rocco-Minitank model of one in the 70s as a child?

Anyway, back to subject, I bring this up because I have just had the print master of the federal medium tank and APC out and was playing with it. I plan to decide which caster to send those to, as well as the Horizon/Iguana ATV, within the next 2 to 3 weeks. It's a big decision as I anticipate all of those vehicles will be very popular, so I need to decide carefully who will provide the best turnaround and casting quality.