1:72 Škoda TVP-46 ‘Pardál’ main battle tank; Czechoslovakian Army, 1947

[Dizzyfugu]

The kit and its assembly:
Another Panther conversion, but a more thorough one than the last Coelian II SPAAG. This is a kind of conceptual remake of a similar what-if model I did a while ago, a Syrian Panther from the Six Day War. A similar inspiration struck me when I wondered how the Panther could have been used after WWII elsewhere, and I settled upon Czechoslovakia as a potential and plausible operator – after all, the Czechoslovak Army inherited some German WWII tanks and some of these designs were even produced in the country after the war, e.g. the Sd.Kfz. 251.

Like the Syrian Panther I used a Dragon kit as basis, but this time one with a plastic hull (instead of the white metal parts that some kits come with). The model goes together well, some PSR is necessary at the seams, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits had to be added manually.
The choice for the plastic hull was dictated by the different turret I wanted to mount: a scratched fictional design, based on a Trumpeter KW-2 turret that was reduced in height, combined with a Hasegawa Panther's commander cupola and a narrowed gun mantlet, plus an Aber metal barrel for a Soviet 85 mm D5-T gun for a T-34/85. A wild mix, but it looks ...different.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Mounting the turret onto the Panther hull was another thing, though, because its ring bearing would be considerably smaller than that of the original Panther turret. Instead of trying to narrow the original hull opening to match the turret I rather settled upon a "big solution": the complete replacement of the hull roof except for the drivers' hatches and the engine deck with 1mm styrene sheet and adding a new opening for the turret – using the opportunity to move the turret slightly forward, to change the tank's silhouette further. Went better than expected, and it even looks good!


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


As a sign of modernization and to change the Panther's overall look even more I replaced its original solid "dish" road wheels with cast T-34 "spider" wheels, which were mounted on late production T-34/85s: very fine OKB Grigorovich aftermarket resin parts from Bulgaria (all orifices are actually open and there's only little flash!). The selling point behind this idea is/was that Panther and T-34 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it's 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther's interleaved wheels in the outer and middle "row" without major depth problems. Just the inner wheels row uses OOB Panther wheels, but they are hardly visible.
Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though. The "inside" halves of the T-34 spider wheels were turned around, received scratched hub covers and jackets to fit onto the Panther's suspension arms and the respective pegs. The "outside" halves were taken OOB but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides made from styrene tube for proper depth and fit, also improving the wheels' hold on the small and rounded pin tips. This stunt was easier on the former Syrian Panther, due to the resin's wheels' design, but superglue is your friend and eventually everything was in place. To keep things simple, I used the Panther's vinyl tracks – I wanted to use more modern tracks, but these were not compatible with the rest of the running gear, esp. the sprocket wheels.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Unlike the Syrian Panther I omitted any side skirts, but I slightly changed the equipment on the flanks. Some track spare sections were replaced with three auxiliary fuel tanks left over from a Roden 1:72 IS-3 kit, and some of the surplus track sections were now mounted onto the turret flanks. The whip antenna on rear hull was created from heated black sprue material.

More to follow soon. 

[Gondor]

Very interesting build

[Dizzyfugu]

Very interesting build

Well, its' ...exotic. 

[kerick]

Very interesting!

[Dizzyfugu]

Painting and markings:
This was a bit of a challenge, because I was not able to find proper and/or reliable color references for Czechoslovakian tanks directly after WWII. What I could find was vague evidence that ex-German vehicles like Hetzer SPGs or the Sd.Kfz. 251 Halbkette troop transports retained their Hinterhalt scheme or were at least painted in a very similar three-tone pattern in sand, brown and green. Vehicles supplied from the Soviet Union apparently carried the typical uniform greyish-green factory finish, esp. tanks like T-35/85s. Since my fictional T-46 would fall between these "vehicle pools" I eventually decided to adopt the Soviet style – even though a uniform livery would look rather boring, IMHO.

Finding a suitable model paint tone was another challenge, though. My favorite would have been Humbrol 114 ("Russian Green") but that tone has been OOP for long and my last tin had long turned sour. As an alternative I found the recommendation of Tamiya XF-65 "Field Grey" in an armor modeler forum, and beyond that I found in my supply a bottle of ModelMaster 2027 (FS 34096 "B-52 Dark Green"). In the end it became a layered mix of XF-65 as a kind of overall primer, with FS 34096 (which is slightly more intense and greenish) streaked on top of this.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


With a dark-brown washing and some dry-brushing with Revell 45 (RAL 7003 Schilfgrün) and later with Revell 75 (RAL 7030 Steingrau) only around the edges and the thin rubber rims on the wheels, the finish did not look too bad, and the uniform color IMHO even helps to point the modifications out and makes them easier to spot. And the unusual green-grey tone certainly makes the Panther look less German than a Hinterhalt-esque paint scheme.
Markings/decals were minimal – again due to the lack of proper visual benchmarks. What I could find was either the use of a vertical Czechoslovakian flag as a national marking, or the roundel based upon it. Since I was lucky to find a suitably small pair of the latter (from a Hobby Boss Zlin Z-142) I went for these and added a simple tactical white code to the turret flanks, too. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The black vinyl tracks were also painted/weathered, with a wet-in-wet mix of grey and red brown (all artist acrylics), plus some dry-brushing with light grey to emphasize details. Once they were mounted into place, mud and dust around the running gear and the lower hull was simulated with watercolors and a greyish-brown mix of artist mineral pigments, dusted into place with the help of a soft brush.

[Old Wombat]

I'm liking this build for all sorts of reasons!

Keep it coming, Dizzy!

[Wardukw]

Yeah this is a strange one..im liking that muchly 😆

[buzzbomb]

Now this is really nice, the concept really works for me

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you all, model has been finished, waiting for its photo session. ^^

[Dizzyfugu]

Photo session completed, editing pending. 

[frank2056]

Very interesting build! I love swapping out some of the dish wheels.

You can safely paint it in Russian 4BO; any roughly green shade will be 100% accurate.

[Dizzyfugu]

Here we are, finally... 


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
In the final phases of World War II, discussions unfolded between President Edvard Beneš, the head of the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile based in London, and the Moscow leadership of the Communist Party, headed by Klement Gottwald, to deliberate on the establishment of a post-war government. The rendezvous transpired in the city of Košice, which had already been liberated by the Red Army. On April 5th, 1945, a program document outlining the principles of future policy was endorsed. In compliance with the agreement, all sanctioned political parties were to function within a coalition known as the National Front of Czechs and Slovaks, thereby excluding and prohibiting opposition. A government of the National Front of Czechs and Slovaks was formed on 4th April 1945, with the Social Democratic Party chairman Zdeněk Fierlinger as the Prime Minister.
The Government returned to Prague after its liberation on May 10th. Fierlinger flew into Prague on a Soviet plane and took part in the victory parade. He rode in a car ahead of Beneš, who received the loudest cheers from the city's people.

The Soviet Union began pursuing its interests from the first days of Czechoslovakia's liberation. President Beneš faced pressure from the Soviet Union to cede the Carpathian Ruthenia territory as a form of war reparation, leading to a treaty signed on June 29th, 1945, annexing it to the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Shortly after the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, followed by Nagasaki on August 9th, a delegation of Soviet geologists and Red Army officers displayed keen interest in the uranium mine at Jáchymov in the Sudetenland. The Soviets had effectively taken control of the mine in September, prompting Prime Minister Fierlinger to advise the local authorities to take no action.

The parliamentary elections in 1946 led to significant representation for leftist and communist parties in the new constituent assembly, prompting Beneš to form a coalition with these parties in his administration. The election results determined the composition of the Slovak National Council and local committees. Subsequently, the Communists began gradually consolidating their control over the country.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


On the young nation's territory, large stockpiles of abandoned German vehicles were still lying around. These would be gathered, and, after evaluation, it would be decided whether some could be used again or sent to be scrapped. This included over 3,000 vehicles of various types, of which some 700 were scrapped or cannibalized for spare parts. Among the complete vehicles were some 50 Marder 38T (Sd.Kfz. 138 and 139), Jagdpanzer 38(t) a.k.a. Hetzer in German service, and some SPGs like the Wespe and the Hummel field artillery. Beyond that, most vehicles were damaged beyond repair, but a small number of heavier vehicles of German origin were brought back into the nascent Czechoslovak Army's service with lots of effort – also as a development measure to bring the country's industry back to its feet.

Plans for an indigenous MBT had already been lingering under German control since 1941, though. During the war, the first encounters with the Russian T-34's quickly led the German army to look for alternative solutions for a new medium tank. One of them was to commission occupied Czechoslovakia's Škoda company to design a new medium tank for the Wehrmacht. In Fall 1941, Germans contacted the Škoda engineers and designers and by the end of 1941, first drawings of the new vehicle (designated T-24) were ready. At the same time, another team was working on an even heavier vehicle, the T-25 and the T-24 project was cancelled in favor of the T-25. Technically, it was one of the most advanced drawings of the Škoda design bureau and just like the T-25, it was inspired by the sloped shapes of the T-34 Soviet tank.

As the war came to a close, the Czechoslovak High Command sent its ideas about the new tank to the VTU (Military Research Institute). It was supposed to be a 30- to 33-ton machine, armed with an 85 mm to 105 mm cannon, with the armor of 20 to 65 millimeters. It was to be propelled by a diesel engine with maximum speed of 50 km/h and it was to have a 5-member crew. On December 3, 1946, VTU design bureau presented a miniature mock-up proposal, based on the best elements of studied German, British, Russian and Czechoslovak constructions. The VTU institute proposed to use the German 88mm-105 mm guns as its armament. After the war, in 1947, this project was worked on, the demands and construction elements of the vehicle were further refined, but it became clear that such a project was much too ambitious for the country's recovering heavy industry, so that a more modest solution was settled upon – the modernization of existing material.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


This project encompassed roughly fifty Sd.Kfz. 171 "Panther" hulls of various variants, which were still in good shape and salvaged from the battle fields and workshops and refurbished at the nationalized Škoda Works at Plzeň in Bohemia. To standardize these vehicles only the hulls and parts of the original transmission remained. Škoda's engineers tried to replace the Panther's original Maybach gasoline engine with a Model V-2-34 38.8 L V12 Diesel engine (from the T-34), but the changes would have been much too demanding to warrant the conversion, and effectively the V-2-34, with an output of 500 hp, simply lacked power. The V-2K (600 hp) for the KV line of tanks was considered, but again the required notifications were not considered worthwhile. Therefore, the unloved Maybach engine remained, and it would soon lead to serious maintenance problems.
Many other elements were replaced with new indigenous products or parts of Soviet origin. For instance, the turret was a completely new welded construction of a relatively simple, box-shaped design with vertical side walls, outfitted with a German commander cupola. It carried a D-5T 85 mm gun from the T-34/85 in a cast cylindrical gun mantlet, together with a coaxial 7.62 mm (0.3 in) DT machine gun. Another manually operated machine gun was installed in the glacis plate, manned by the operated by the radio operator.
The Panther's original wheels were replaced with cast lightweight T-34 wheels, even though the suspension and the complex interleaved layout remained. A new track was used, together with an adapted sprocket drive wheel. In this modified guise the tank was accepted by the Czechoslovak High Command in 1946 and received the new designation TVP-46 (Tank Všeobecného Použití = multipurpose tank) with a domestic name: "Pardál".

the Pardál's active career was only short, though. Forced by the Soviet Union and pressed into accepting the Soviet tanks into their army, the Czechoslovak High Command had in 1950 to abandon the support of any indigenous tank project, and a few months later, all the independent design and construction works in Czechoslovakia were ended. T34/85s became the standard tanks of the Czechoslovakian Army, and the Pardál MBTs were relegated to training units – massively suffering from maintenance problems with the Maybach engines, though, which rendered the type almost inoperable. Most TVP-46s ended as static educational exhibits or as armored targets on gunning ranges. When the Czechoslovak High Command ordered 1,800 T-54s in 1957 and decided to produce the Soviet tank under license, the remaining small active Pardál fleet of only a dozen vehicles was retired and scrapped. Other former German tanks, like more than 200 Hetzer SPGs, remained in service until being discontinued in the Sixties, though.


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Specifications:
    Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader/2nd gunner, driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner)
    Weight: 42.5 tonnes (41.8 long tons; 46,9 short tons) 44.8 tonnes
    Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in)
                  8.42 metres (27 ft 7 in) overall gun forward
    Width: 3.27 m (10 ft 9 in)
                3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) with side skirts
    Height: 3.02 m (9 ft 11 in)
    Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels
    Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)

Armor:
    15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.15 in)

Performance:
    Maximum road speed: 46 km/h (29 mph)
    Operational range: 250 km (160 mi)
    Power/weight: 15.39 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)

Engine:
    Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 petrol engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)
    ZF AK 7-200 gear; 7 forward 1 reverse

Armament:
    1× 85 mm (3.34 in) D-5T cannon with 63 rounds
    2× 7.62 mm (0.30 in) DT machine guns (coaxial with main gun, in the front glacis plate)
        with 2.500 rounds


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Škoda TVP-46 'Pardál' main battle tank; vehicle "310" of the 1st Armored Brigade, Czechoslovakian Army; Bohemia, 1947 (Whif/Dragon kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Quite a complex build. The modified running gear was fiddly and the scratched turret from leftover and aftermarket parts a creative mess. But everything blends nicely together, and the simple greenish-grey livery suits the modified Panther – now the fictional 'Pardál' – well. Whiffy, but pretty plausible. ^^

[NARSES2]

That looks really good Dizzy   

From some angles the turret almost looks like something you'd see on a late War british cruiser type tank ? and on others it's very KV series. Makes you think 

Oddly enough I was only thinking about immediate post-war Czechoslovak history this morning over coffee, and was musing on the possibilities of the Czeck/Slovak split occuring in 1945 rather than 1993 with he Czech Rep falling under western influence and the Slovaks under the Soviets ?

[Wardukw]

I have this habit of looking at a new build without reading the post just to see what I can identify what's been done ...that turret got me pretty good Thomas mate..it looked familiar but at the same time it didn't...a cut down KV2 turret 😆
I had to read what ya did to find that out 
It's the perfect turret for that.. it's just a massive box after all.
Love this build Dizzy..not long did it confuse me ..which is great 👍..but it looks extremely good to..wonder how long it will take before someone posts this as real some place else 😀 😄

[buzzbomb]

Very, very nicely done. It is a concept that really works