DONE +++ 1:72 Mark I tank (male) under Bolshevik flag, Russian Civil War, 1919

[Dizzyfugu]

A late and spontaneous submission, after having found pictures of the former British Mark V tank at Kubinka Tank Museum, which carries a garish paint scheme and Soviet markings (after havin been captured by Soviet forces in 1919). I did a little legwork and found the story behind this specimen interesting enough to create a fictional sister ship - also because I had an Airfix 1:72* Mark I tank in The Stash with no real plan so far.



The Mark I will be built OOB with just minor, cosmetic mods, including an added machine gun and an open hatch with a figure.

*Box says 1:72, but I assume that it actually is an 1:76 scale kit? It also looks a bit wimpy for 1:72.

[NARSES2]

*Box says 1:72, but I assume that it actually is an 1:76 scale kit? It also looks a bit wimpy for 1:72.

Yup 1/76 or may well have been boxed as OO/HO originally ? I got it when it first came out, but can't remember

[tigercat]

Looking forward to seeing it

[Dizzyfugu]

Progress is fast - after all, the kit is not a complex affair, just a box with tracks all around.  Fit is surprisingly good for an old Airfix kit, the gun mounts were a bit fiddly and the vinyl tracks seem to be a little short, but I do not dare to strech them because they are pretty thick, too, and I am certain that they will quickly break. Just finished painting, and I am in the late weathering phase.

Here's a look at the parts:


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The sponsons' interior, the gun mounts are fiddly:


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Hull assembled and the steering trailer dry-fitted:


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Dizzyfugu]

Some impressions from painting; the tones are Humbrol 108 (WWI Green, looks a bit brownish here) and Revell 360 (Fern Green).


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Decals are few and puzzled together from various sources. The Red Stars come from a Lend-Lease P-40, the "02" was once a "20" and taken from a T-34/76.


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some weathering, just simulating dust...


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Dizzyfugu]

Hrmph, what I had feared has happened; everything went smoothly until I tried to mount the vinyl tracks. I did not try to mount them as loops, as suggested, since it was already clear that they were 5mm too short (see above). However, trying to attach them to the model turned out a real nightmare, since no glue, even superglue, would not help much! Their stiffness also did not help, and when I eventually had them in place (I laminated them into place with half of a superglue tube underneath...) and had them left to dry with pegs, one track broke overnight, right on the front idler wheel.  Emergency repairs are underway, the doctor is concerned about the patient's status. Sh!t. 


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Mark I (Male) tank of the  Northwestern Army, captured by Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, Petzrograd/Baltic region, 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

That looks amazing, even more so when you realise just how small those Airfix Mk 1s are. 

IIRC the original instructions suggested you either sewed or stapled the track together. How that was supposed to work when they weren't actually long enough defeats me! 

[loupgarou]

I had built a few in my time,and don't remember problems wth track lengths. Maybe time has dried the tracks and shortened them?
Anyway don't worry, Dizzy, it the tracks are the "classic" Airfix old-time ones,they will soon melt the body plastic. 
BTW, I think you can omit the "tail", as the tanks would have been mostly used for street fighting in Russia (or just to scare opponents).

[NARSES2]

IIRC the original instructions suggested you either sewed or stapled the track together.

Yes they did and I tried to get my mum to sew them a couple of times 

BTW, I think you can omit the "tail", as the tanks would have been mostly used for street fighting in Russia (or just to scare opponents).

Certainly think you can leave the tail off, it was very soon discovered that they weren't needed. The clothes pegs holding the track together looks like the ultimate trench crossing extensions 

[Dizzyfugu]

The tracks' material in itself is horrible, it is very stiff (much like the early ESCI vinyl track stuff) and when you take a close look at the bare tracks you see the "clouds" of five different injection points - and these clouds hardly mixed at their borders, so that there are small nicks on the tracks' outer edges(!) and I am afraid that they's easily come apart at these intersection If I had tried to pull them for more length. One option could have been a bath in hot (cooking) water for this stunt, but I eventually took them "as is" and added the small filler pieces underneath. Horrible, nevertheless... If I ever build a British rhomboid tank again I'll certainly go for the Emhar kits. These also come with vinyl tracks (and they consist of two pieces each?!), but the material cannot be worse. 

I'll also keep the trailer on the model. These captured tanks did not really see the battlefield and were rather used for propaganda purposes, so that the trailer could be omitted (like loupgarou mentioned). However, the trailer is movable, and AFAIK it was frequently raised on the Mark I's when they were travelling on streets, so that this is a neat (and working) option for the upcoming pictures. I am looking forward for some grainy b/w shots, these should look really cool, together with a new street base that I have built during the Xmas pause. 

Stay tuned!

[Dizzyfugu]

1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
The Russian Civil War (Russian: Гражданская война в России, tr. Grazhdanskaya voyna v Rossii) was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the two Russian revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. The two largest combatant groups were the Red Army, fighting for the Bolshevik form of socialism led by Vladimir Lenin, and the loosely allied forces known as the White Army, which included diverse interests favoring political monarchism, capitalism and social democracy, each with democratic and anti-democratic variants. In addition, rival militant socialists, notably Makhnovia anarchists and Left SRs, as well as non-ideological Green armies, fought against both the Reds and the Whites.

Thirteen foreign nations intervened against the Red Army, notably the former Allied military forces from the World War with the goal of re-establishing the Eastern Front, and a wide variety of leftover WWI material was transferred. Three foreign nations of the Central Powers also intervened, rivaling the Allied intervention with the main goal of retaining the territory they had received in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


After the revolution the Bolsheviks swept through Russia nearly unopposed. The republic had collapsed after the Soviets were given all political power, leaving no solid resistance to the Reds. In May 1918, the Czech Legion in Russia revolted in Siberia. Reacting to this, the Allies began an intervention in Northern Russia and Siberia. This, combined with the creation of the Provisional All-Russian Government, saw the reduction of the Bolsheviks to most of European Russia and parts of Central Asia. In November, Alexander Kolchak launched a coup to take control of the Russian State, establishing a de facto military dictatorship.

The White Army launched several attacks from the East in March, the South in July, and West in October 1919. One of the hotspots during this period became Estonia and the Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) region. Estonia had cleared its territory of the Red Army by January 1919. Baltic German volunteers captured Riga from the Red Latvian Riflemen on 22 May, but the Estonian 3rd Division defeated the Baltic Germans a month later, aiding the establishment of the Republic of Latvia. This rendered possible another threat to the Red Army—one from Gen. Yudenich, who had spent the summer organizing the Northwestern Army in Estonia with local and British support. In October 1919 he tried to capture Petrograd in a sudden assault with a force of around 20,000 men. The attack was well-executed, using night attacks and lightning cavalry maneuvers to turn the flanks of the defending Red Army. The Allies gave large quantities of aid to Yudenich, who, however, complained that he was receiving insufficient support. This support even included a mixed bag of six former British tanks, including at least one "male" Mark I tank from 1915 and several modern Mark Vs. They caused panic whenever they appeared, since no tank had been available or even developed in Russia at that time, but due to their small number they had rather a propagandistic effect than actual battle impact.

By 19 October Yudenich's troops had reached the outskirts of the city. Some members of the Bolshevik central committee in Moscow were willing to give up Petrograd, but Trotsky refused to accept the loss of the city and personally organized its defenses. Trotsky himself declared, "It is impossible for a little army of 15,000 ex-officers to master a working-class capital of 700,000 inhabitants." He settled on a strategy of urban defense, proclaiming that the city would "defend itself on its own ground" and that the White Army would be lost in a labyrinth of fortified streets and there "meet its grave".


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Trotsky armed all available workers, men and women, ordering the transfer of military forces from Moscow. Within a few weeks the Red Army defending Petrograd had tripled in size and outnumbered Yudenich three to one. At this point Yudenich, short of supplies, decided to call off the siege of the city and withdrew, repeatedly asking permission to withdraw his army across the border to Estonia. All tanks were abandoned and were quickly pressed into red Army service, sporting huge Red Stars. But, again, their warfare value was rather symbolic and one of these captured tanks (a Mark V "hermaphrodite" is still existing as an exhibit at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Moscow, carrying its post-capture livery.

Units retreating across the border were disarmed and interned by order of the Estonian government, which had entered into peace negotiations with the Soviet Government on 16 September and had been informed by the Soviet authorities of their 6 November decision that, should the White Army be allowed to retreat into Estonia, it would be pursued across the border by the Reds. In fact, the Reds attacked Estonian army positions and fighting continued until a cease-fire went into effect on 3 January 1920. Following the Treaty of Tartu, most of Yudenich's soldiers went into exile. Former Imperial Russian and then Finnish Gen. Mannerheim planned an intervention to help the Whites in Russia capture Petrograd. However, he did not gain the necessary support for the endeavor. Lenin considered it "completely certain, that the slightest aid from Finland would have determined the fate of [the city]".



Specifications:
    Crew: 8 (commander/brakesman, driver, two gearsmen and four gunners)
    Weight: 28 long tons (28 t)
    Length: 32 ft 6 in (9.91 m) with tail
                  25 ft 5 in (7.75 m) without
    Width: 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
    Height: 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)
    Fuel capacity: 50 imperial gallons (230 l; 60 US gal)
    Suspension: none (26 unsprung rollers)

Armor:
    0.24–0.47 in (6–12 mm)

Performance:
    Speed: 3.7 mph (6.0 km/h) maximum on even ground
    Operational range: 23.6 miles (38.0 km) radius of action, 6.2 hours endurance
    Power/weight: 3.7 PS/tonne (2.7 kW/ton)

Engine:
    1× Daimler-Knight 6-cylinder sleeve-valve 16-litre petrol engine with 105 hp (78 kW)

Transmission:
    Primary gearbox: 2 forward and 1 reverse
    Secondary :2 speeds

Armament:
    2× Hotchkiss 6 pdr QF gun
    3× 7.92 mm Vickers or Hotchkiss air-cooled machine guns




1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:76 Mark I tank (male), vehicle "02" of the Northwestern (White) Army, captured by Bolshevik/Red Army forces during the Russian Civil War, Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), 1919 (Whif/Airfix kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The whole build went very quickly, hardware was done in just two days, but the track issues added two more painful days , which, on the other side, were used for the finish. The tank looks pretty convincing – but it remains close to its real-world benchmark, so that the fictional element of this what-if model is rather small. But the paint scheme still looks cool, and so different from the typical British rhomboid tank liveries from WWI.

[PR19_Kit]

That looks terrific Thomas. 

And there's no way you can tell what size it is from the 'diorama' type pics either.

How much of the backstory is real and how much is Whiffed though?

[Old Wombat]

That looks great, Dizzy, & the back story fits!

[Dizzyfugu]

That looks terrific Thomas. 

And there's no way you can tell what size it is from the 'diorama' type pics either.

How much of the backstory is real and how much is Whiffed though?

Yes, the model looks better than expected - and it is "just" a vintage Airfix kit, built OOB! Also agree about the size impression: this is really hard to tell in the pics, it could also be 1:35? And I did not edit much in the pictures themselves! Perspective is key. 
The background is VERY close to the real 1919 events, just the fact that at least one British Mark I had been delivered among the six tanks overall is fictional. 

[Gondor]

Looks the buisness Dizzy 

Does anyone know exactly what the wheels at the rear are for? I have been lead to beleive that they were something to do with stearing but I have no idea how if they are.

Gondor