"Tank riders and armoured infantry 20mm?" Topic

Who does tank riders I can put on tanks and Panzer grenadiers that I can put inside half tracks? Scale is 1/76. The idea is to have removable figures who can be swapped out when they disembark.

Try AB Figures from Eureka Miniatures. They have all sorts at 20mm.

You may find most 20mm are too big to fit inside the HT or transport. I suggest the beefier 15mm miniatures might be a better fit.

Is it only Germans you are after? I probably have a sh*tload of the sitting geezers that come with all of the PSC 251 kits – they would work pretty well with 1/76 as they are definitely on the very petite end of 1/72. Also they are hard plastic so easy to group in a sabot type arrangement to drop into your vehicles.

In soft plastic, all of the HaT tank riders sets (8262-8265) could work too as they are all pretty small figures.

Thanks all. I haven't assembled any troops in this scale in years so I am not up to speed with what's out there. Good tips on sources especially re HaT, I'd no idea there was such a thing.

At some point I assume I am going to need lorried or otherwise mobile Commonwealth infantry. So I guess I'd need removable figures for those. Ditto Germans in half tracks. Russians I think will ride on the tanks, gunners in the bed of the tow vehicle (note to self: make sure tow vehicles have a bed).

They'd be replaced on table by the relevant section base, or whatever, once they dismount. So I think I need a few token visible crews to show that that's where they are.

Hat are a good deal although they do go in and out of production. Kelly's Heroes also make some. They aren't as finely sculpted as AB but considerably cheaper.

link

At the risk of teaching you to suck eggs, when it comes to soft skinned vehicles be sure that you need them. Unless it is an ambush or raid scenario, you do not see many soft skinned vehicles in combat. The odd gun-tower, yes, but infantry carriers etc., not so much. Certainly in British and Commonwealth forces they would have dismounted well out of 'combat range' and then tramped forward. Pretty much the same for German Panzergrenadiers though their half tracks would take them into sharper environments sometimes. It is just a thought but it might save a lot of hassle. Tank riders though? Definitely in the combat zone.

I think there has been a recent production run of quite a few of the HaT WW2 sets. I have seen plenty of the riders lately and some others I haven't seen for ages like the Brit Machine Guns set.

AB have various sets of riders, crew and personnel in transports. All work well with most 1/76 and 1/72. Here are their Russian tank riders on a Dragon 1/72 T34.

@ Artilleryman

Fair point although I like the idea of being able to do battles where the appearance of the enemy comes as a surprise to one side or the other – for which it is helpful to show infantry or gun crews still on their transport.

@TP01 Interesting, thanks. I probably need to see some of these in the metal for a sense of how they'd work with 1/76.

I also think it's important to leave adequate visible space on tank turrets for "patriotic" slogans:

TMP link

As a side note, I have Vietnam War M113 with riders on the top deck. I cast a top deck as a template and positioned the figures on it. I then used pins, packs, and filler to attach the figures together in a single mass. That way they could be deployed on the M113 or removed as needed. I did the same with rows of figures riding in trucks.

Buckey BobL Long time, no see!

I think only soviets chose to ride into combat on tanks.

Did anyone mention shq? They're at the more slender end of metals. You may struggle to model a 251 with removable riders. Pretty cramped.

Hi Don
Happy you remembered me.
Hope all is well with you.