SF3D/Maschinen Krieger: Y-15 Tank

 THE HARDEST PART

Warning orders have come down, you've prepared the best you can, the day comes and the FRAG order arrives, and you move up on the departure line........ and wait for the go word (hence the hardest part in the waiting).......

I did some minor conversions on one of the tanks by drilling out the commander's hatch and cutting one of Drew's new ground crew figures and fitting him in. I took a 15mm WWII Honey tank hatch I had extra and trimmed it down to fit appropriately and then added the sitting ground crew member to the front of the tank and I liked how it worked out. I magnetized the turrets, and other than filling a few holes etc. Here ya go!

There isn't much information available about the Y-15 tank as this was a scratch build by modelers (back in the 80's/90's) and had a very short narrative about them in some of Kow's books. To give you what little write up I could find I found this snippit listed below from a forum, and I can not verify if it's a reliable source or not, but I think it's a translation from one of the Kow Books Vol 1.

Y-15 tank

The tank in Pzkw.182

"The mercenary army which declared war on the Shutoral army had the tank Pzkw.182 in 2882 in it. The Shutoral army foreign legion and movement police party stationed on earth were immediately attacked by the mercenary army, which captured much equipment, arms, and vehicles, etc. ] The mercenary army organized tank troops, made up of the captured tank in Pzkw.182, and it began production of a copy named the Y-15 tank, formally under the newly established mercenary army central army arsenal.

The tank troops composed by Y-15 tank sortied in order to meet the advance guard of the SHUTORARL armies 56th armored army corps which descended to September 25, 2882 on Australia, and the 7th armored movement infantry division.

However, the Y-15 was comparatively small, compared to the large-sized Shutoral tank, and was out ranged by the prime tank group of the Shutoral army which carries laser of large power, and it was hardly able to to combat them. "

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

 The AFS I & II (Armored Fighting Suit)

A very important Armored fighting Suit for the Independent Mercenary Army early Was has started to become one of my favorites. Here is another company that I have just painted up (I use Slave2game packaging of 6 suits to a bag as a platoon, and three platoons to make up a company. Not anything official, just what I want to do). The following is a bit of knowledge about the universe these bad boys come from. 

23,491 suits of the AFS, including the Mk III, were the standard armored fighting suit of the Mercenary troops in the early stages of the war. 20,992 of these were Mk. II, a refined, more efficient, and better-armored weapon. Out of the rest, 2,314 were Mk I, which was the earliest prototype of the AFS.

Although the Mk I was a little inferior to the Mk II it was greatly invincible early on because the Shutoral forces had no effective countermeasure. It is said that the AFS Mk I was the single most important type of AFS during the war.

The AFS was an outgrowth of a strength enhancing exoskeleton, which was developed by a Mercenary engineer for use in remote regions where heavy lifting equipment wasn't available. This exoskeleton was then covered in a layer of tungsten steel and further strengthened by armored resin. A Prg.41 laser was added to the left arm as a built-in weapon. Using the AFS Mk I's onboard fuel supply, this weapon could be fired seven times on full anti-vehicular mode, or up to fifty times on a smaller setting (such as against infantry). The AFS was initially designed as a weapon for use in guerrilla style warfare, but with the overwhelming success of the suit, it was switched to mass production.

2,314 Mk I suits were produced at the central Mercenary production center in a former rock salt mine situated in the North American continent.

Only one major variation of the AFS Mk I was made, and that was a commander's suit. The FuG8-L radio was switched with a longer ranged FuG8-B radio. However, this was never too reliable and when these commander suits came in for repair or maintenance, the radio was usually switched back the more common FuG8-L.

The AFS P Polar Bear was simply the 'arctic' version of the AFS, adding better insulation and heating for the pilot and equipment.

Many AFS models had two hands, removing the arm laser and allowing for great flexibility, although at the loss of any inbuilt weapons. These were classified as the AFS Type E.

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin 

SF3D/Maschinen Krieger: Goblin

"He appears as a giant, obese, bloated goblin (more akin to a troll) with lots of warts, lumps, and scars, and carries a large staff decorated with an animal skull, closely resembling a ram, adorned with shrunken heads."

Thus goes the description of the Great Goblin from the Hobbit, and we find that the IMA's (Independent Mercenary Army) Goblin is not far off from that description.

At first glance it appears obese, bloated, with lumps etc., but don't let that fool you. Owing to the success of the HAFS (Heavy Armored Fighting Suit) Jerry, the HAFS Goblin was a dedicated attempt to make a heavier SAFS suit. This suit would utilize many of the advances of the SAFS whilst adding heavier armor and greater weaponry, in this case an additional three 100 mm rocket tubes. The movement system of the HAFS Jerry was mated to a SAFS for the cockpit, with only minimal modifications to account for the lack of arms and differing weapons load.

I will point out that the HAFS Super Jerry (which was designed around the same time as Goblin, but  produced after the Goblin) is the next generation of HAFS Jerry suits. It contains more armor (especially around the legs and closed canopy), additional sensors - including the indirect sighting system found on the SAFS - and an all new weapon layout of a laser and triple rocket pack, similar to that found on the HAFS Goblin and HAFS Gladiator. In fact, the HAFS Super Jerry starts to share a lot in common with the HAFS Goblin.

I did some conversions on my Goblin's, I drilled through the tail to place and pushed through a metal wire for the antenna's located back there and drilled out behind the cockpit hatch to place another. The final thing I did was to use some plastic card and cut it to the proper size of armor to protect the joints around the legs and used a match to heat it up and shape it. Yes I burned myself the first time trying it. But that's another story. 

Here are a few snaps of these bad boys.

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Painted Samurai lord from Sept 2017

 This is for you Dean, as I said yours was amazing. Tap here to see Dean’s work

Cheers

Kevin