| number4 | 22 Nov 2014 8:10 p.m. PST |
So I just finished putting together, painting and weathering nine of the superb PSC T-70's to make a Soviet light tank company (3 x platoons of 3 tanks each), now I need a mount for the company commander. Would this be a regular gun tank or be radio equipped? |
 Doms Decals  | 23 Nov 2014 7:04 a.m. PST |
I'm not sure if they had radios initially, but when the 9-RS radio was introduced, it seems to have been issued to T-70 company commanders. Never seen an interior photo showing it, but I assume it went in the rear of the turret bustle (not the most accessible of locations, but that turret is seriously thin on space….) Certainly the occasional photo of a T-70 with a radio antenna has a small whip antenna at the left rear of the turret, which otherwise seems standard externally. link Another about 2/3 of the way down here – his notes on the different production models say only a couple of hundred had an antenna mount installed. Scroll down to the bottom though, and there are photos of earlier command tanks with the antenna towards the front of the turret. link |
| Doms Decals | 23 Nov 2014 7:09 a.m. PST |
(Oddly, Googling for images gets you a few models with an antenna at the front right of the turret, but the only photo I can see of the real thing with an antenna there is a German beutepanzer, so I'm not sure if that's an alternative position used by the Russians, or a German added radio.) [Edit] See the bottom of the second link in my post above – that is a Russian radio antenna position, not just a German addition.
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| Black Bull | 23 Nov 2014 7:27 a.m. PST |
link second one down has antenna front right looks Soviet no big crosses or anything else you would expect on a German one is winter tho' |
| Doms Decals | 23 Nov 2014 7:31 a.m. PST |
Yeah, found some more like that one on the link I've edited into my first post – centreline towards the front of the turret is a Russian fitting, earlier date than the back left position. Googling this has kept me amused during a spectacularly anticlimactic grand prix finale, but has probably got me in trouble too. I have two boxes of PSC T-70s languishing in my unpainted pile myself. Obviously they were destined to back up my T-34s, but I fear that plan has changed…. link |
| Black Bull | 23 Nov 2014 8:26 a.m. PST |
While your here how about some tac markings for Ivan why should Tommy and Jerry have all the fun :-) |
| Blutarski | 23 Nov 2014 8:35 a.m. PST |
….. Am I correct in recalling that the early war Soviet tank company commander's radio was a receive-only unit??? Perhaps one of our Eastern Front wargame veterans can clarify that point. B |
| Doms Decals | 23 Nov 2014 8:37 a.m. PST |
While your here how about some tac markings for Ivan why should Tommy and Jerry have all the fun :-)
In a word, research…. Ivan melts my brain every time I try to do anything remotely systematic with him. Finding examples of Soviet markings is easy, but understanding the system any particular unit used enough to cover a battalion or even a company, never mind a brigade plus, is another matter entirely…. I suspect at some point I'll have to cave in and succumb to. "this sheet has three photographed vehicles from xxxth tank brigade, and a plausible guess as to what the hell went on the rest of the unit" but it's not really how I like to do things. |
| number4 | 23 Nov 2014 10:11 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the detailed replies! Of course it's hard to tell whether these photos are of company commanders, battalion commanders or the command tanks used by SU-76 battery CO's – but I think I'm pretty safe in going for a whip antenna to distinguish my company commander on table. Yeah, markings are a nightmare and can be even more maddening than the British army for doing things on a unit basis 'as the colonel shall direct' The lack of a standardized system was done for operational security too. link The Germans were indeed watching and compiling lists of known turret numbers: PDF link Some units late war had tactical signs similar to the British armored divisions while many had geometric symbols. It all depends on who, when and where: wio.ru/tank/oz/oz-en.htm |
| Doms Decals | 23 Nov 2014 10:19 a.m. PST |
Yep, there were systems, but the key is the s at the end of that word unfortunately…. If you have a few data points you can make a somewhat educated guess, but fully documented units are another matter entirely…. |
| number4 | 23 Nov 2014 1:08 p.m. PST |
Y'know there are many photos of vehicles with no markings at all, especially early war; I can't help but wonder how their crews found the right vehicle when the order to mount up was given in a hurry – it must have been like a Chinese fire drill! |
| Doms Decals | 23 Nov 2014 1:14 p.m. PST |
"Do you remember where you parked it darling…?"
"I think so comrade sergeant…." |
| Black Bull | 23 Nov 2014 1:38 p.m. PST |
The TK-71-1 (or 3) used in the T-26 and BT-5 or 7 was transmit and receive. |
looks at how these pre-painted buildings are packaged.