Chaco War II tank

[frank2056]

The Chaco War (1932-1935) was a particularly nasty and devastating war between Bolivia and Paraguay. It marked the first use of tanks in battle in South America (the Bolivians had a handful of Vickers tanks and Tankettes). The Bolivian tanks were a complete waste - poor tactics, poor supply lines and a truly terrible environment for tanks to operate; oppressive heat and humidity (yet little potable water) and miles upon miles of nearly impenetrable thick and thorny bushes. Paraguay won that war, but at considerable cost.

After the war, Paraguayan generals were incensed at the "generous" concessions given to the Bolivians - basically rail access to the Paraguay river and other trade assistance that Paraguay had offered before the war - while ignoring the huge tracks of land in the Gran Chaco that were won by Paraguay. In the OTL, this led to a series of coups. In the alternate timeline, Paraguay sees an opportunity to take some of the potentially oil rich lands in Southern Bolivia, in the Tarija area. They obtained a handful of tanks from the Polish Pz. Inz. company, who had tried to interest the Polish government in their Pz. Inz. 126 command tank. The Polish government was not interested, feeling that the 7TP and various tankettes were up to the task, but the sale was approved anyway since they were interested in improving Polish tank tactics and training. Doing so in a realistic manner in Poland would have surely alarmed both the Germans and the Russians, but the sale of the tanks (with Polish "advisors") would not raise too many eyebrows.

The Pz. Inz. 126 seems to be a whif by RPM, which produces an extensive line of Polish and British tanks based on the Vickers 6 ton and Polish 7TP. They add or remove a couple of sprues and voila! a new kit. I liked the box art:


This is not an easy kit to build; it has thick sprue attachments, flash, mold misalignment and limited detail. I built mine mostly OOTB, with a few added details or parts replaced because the original parts were too thick.

This is the basic paint scheme:



The crew areas are painted in gray to help reduce the heat - although I'll add some green mottle and fix some of the overspray. The figure will be modified to make it look like a tank commander. It's one of the figures that came with the excellent Miniart BA-64B kit.

Thanks for looking!

[Joe C-P]

Interesting idea for this kit, both the build and backstory. 

[frank2056]

I decided that the gray areas look too much like unpainted plastic, so I repainted them with Russian green:







I'll try something new - rather than paint the tank, hate the results and have to redo it (a waste of time and paint) I'll try the camo on these pictures, then pick the one I like most. I may make an umbrella for the turret.

Here's a camo example update. I don't know which one looks better:

Splotches:

Wiggles:

[Maverick]

Although usually fiddly builds, the RPM small 35th armour kits are always quite interesting.  I like the 'wiggle' option, although I'd consider another colour along with the light green.

Regards,

Mav

[Jacques Deguerre]

I like the splotch pattern but either will work. I like the idea, since I'm a big fan of the TANKS! website (LINK) and I'm frequently fishing for "between the wars" Whif ideas.

[frank2056]

I added a brown, but I think it looks too German:



The Tanks! Website is great. The interwar vehicles are fascinating. I just finished this RW armored car (also an unusual but difficult to build Mirage kit), a Polish wz. 34:

[Maverick]

I don't know Frank.  I'd say more vaguely Japanese looking, but nice either way.  Perhaps a darker grey or black might look less Germanic.

Regards,

Mav

[jeremak]

Maybe use more than 3 colors? For example add light geen, or light grey-green to this ochre and brown? Here are colors used by polish aviation before 1939: http://hobby.szeroka5.pl/shop_content.php/coID/102/product/Lotnictwo-Polskie-1939
Sploches od FS 34151, or even something grey, and paint wiggles on it?

[rickshaw]

I'd suggest a sand.  A bright contrast helps to break the outline.  Use it on the edges and in the darker areas.

The Chaco war is a fascinating little war which unfortunately got overshadowed by the Spanish Civil War in the popular imagination.  The Bolivians and Paraguayans tried a lot of innovative things such as aerial resupply and movement, the use of armour (as you've noted) and new weapons such as SMGs and LMGs.  The terrain though was appalling, as was the weather.

[NARSES2]

Nice model of a difficult little kit  Like your scenario as well

The Chaco war is a fascinating little war which unfortunately got overshadowed by the Spanish Civil War in the popular imagination.  The Bolivians and Paraguayans tried a lot of innovative things such as aerial resupply and movement, the use of armour (as you've noted) and new weapons such as SMGs and LMGs.  The terrain though was appalling, as was the weather.

Agreed. Osprey have a book coming out in November on it in there Men at Arms series

[frank2056]

Nice model of a difficult little kit  Like your scenario as well

The Chaco war is a fascinating little war which unfortunately got overshadowed by the Spanish Civil War in the popular imagination.  The Bolivians and Paraguayans tried a lot of innovative things such as aerial resupply and movement, the use of armour (as you've noted) and new weapons such as SMGs and LMGs.  The terrain though was appalling, as was the weather.

Agreed. Osprey have a book coming out in November on it in there Men at Arms series

I have that book on pre-order at Amazon. For such a brutal war, it's hardly known. Its negative effects on the combatants lasted long after the war, especially in the victor, Paraguay. There's even a connection with the Spanish Civil War, since Paraguay sold a captured Vickers tank to one of the sides in the conflict.

[NARSES2]

For such a brutal war, it's hardly known. Its negative effects on the combatants lasted long after the war, especially in the victor, Paraguay. There's even a connection with the Spanish Civil War, since Paraguay sold a captured Vickers tank to one of the sides in the conflict.

Yup, although not quite as brutal as the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) in which Paraguay's population shrunk from 1,400,000 to 221,000 ! Argentina, Uraguay and Brazil lost another estimated 1,000,000. I don't think Paraguay has ever fully recovered, especially pschologicaly.

[Mossie]

Nice looking machine.  How about combining the splotches & squiggles?  Maybe following the edges of the splotches with a few extensions & off-shoots?  Black/dark grey, or maybe a darker brown would make it different enough from German camo & suit the jungle terrain?

Must admit, I knew nothing of the Chaco war before it was mentioned in this thread or the War of the Triple Alliance that Chris mentioned.

[NARSES2]

Must admit, I knew nothing of the Chaco war before it was mentioned in this thread or the War of the Triple Alliance that Chris mentioned.

Beyond the Chaco War and Wars of Liberation neither did I Mossie. Then I picked up a paperback which dealt with 19thC S American military history and it opened my eyes a little.

[Rheged]

Must admit, I knew nothing of the Chaco war before it was mentioned in this thread or the War of the Triple Alliance that Chris mentioned.

Beyond the Chaco War and Wars of Liberation neither did I Mossie. Then I picked up a paperback which dealt with 19thC S American military history and it opened my eyes a little.

I had a vague idea of various South American  hostilities, having  read Modern History  at some point in the previous millenium, but until this thread started  I had no idea of details.  I'm going off to find  out more. Anyone care to offer me a SHORT reading list?