M 13-40, Modelarstwo, czasopisma
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
A small Italian desert-warrior
by Bernhard Lustig
It is very interesting to see that there seems to be a
renewal of interest in Italian AFVs. At nearly every
exhibition you can see more than one Italian vehicle.
Could one of the reasons be that there are some
modellers who are bored with German armour?
I think one main reason is that in recent years many
excellent young manufacturers in Italy have matured
and improved the quality of their products, and most of
them are interested in the armour of their own country.
I took an update set from the young Italian
manufacturer “Model Victoria“ and tried
to improve the old but still very
good Zvezda (Italeri) kit with it.
50
The M13/40 was built between 1940 and 1941, until
production switched to the M14/42. The modified M14/42
looks very similar to it’s predecessor, but had a more
powerful engine, which also was used in the later
M13/40. The Italian Army pushed these vehicles into
service at the end of 1940. Most of the existing vehicles
took part in the disastrous battle of Beda Fomm in the
eastern Egyptian desert in February 1941, where more
than 100 vehicles were destroyed or captured by British
troops. Most of them were later used by the Australian
Army. The Australians painted a large kangaroo on each
side of the turret to aid identification from distance.
The M 13/40 was the main battle tank of the Regio
Escerito (royal Italian army), and was used widely by the
Italian divisions Ariete, Centauro and Littorio in the desert
war.
The Ariete and the Centauro Divisions were founded by
the transformation of two armoured brigades into
armoured divisions. The first armoured brigade was
transformed into the 131st armoured division. (Centauro),
the second armoured brigade founded the 132nd
armoured division (Ariete). The Italian army had three
groups of AFVs:
L for light tanks (L 3and L 5)
M for medium tanks ( M11/39, M13/40, M 14/42)
P for heavy tanks (P 40)
51
The M13/40 was crewed by four men
and had a 125 hp FIAT SPA 8 T liquid
cooled V-8 diesel engine, givind a
maximum speed of 30 km/h. Later in the
war, many vehicles were equipped with
a 145 hp-engine like the M14/42. The
maximum speed rose from 30 km/h to
32 km/h. This tank was armed with one
47 mm Ansaldo 47/32 gun, one 8 mm
Breda Model 38 machine gun on the
turret roof and two 8mm Breda Model
38 machine guns in the right front hull.
In the desert war the crews often added
sandbag-additional armour placed on
the frontal armour plate. This and the
heavier engine forced the crew to
reduce the weight by reducing the
ammunition stowage from 70 to 53
rounds.
In the time between 1940 and 1941 710
M 13/ 40 were built, and today there is
an existing example at the Royal
Armoured Corps Museum at Bovington
in the UK.
52
The basic kit I used was a Zvezda
(former Italeri) M13/40. This is an old
but nicely detailed kit with some
advantages over the Tamiya one. Of
course this kit is more than 20 years old
and some details are not to the same
standard as kits of the 90´s, but the
update set from Model Victoria (MV) will
correct most of the mistakes and add
missing details . In addition to the
update set I used a workable resin
track set, also from MV.
fit perfectly to the Zvezda kit.
nuts.
A very nice detail is the motor vehicle
badge, placed on the vehicles upper
left glacis plate. It shows an axe
wrapped with rods, a five-pointed star
and the insignia “RoEto“. This part was
originally cast in either bronze or
aluminium. This small detail is too fine
to hide behind the sandbag armour!
There are no parts for updating the
turret-roof 8 mm-Breda machine gun,
so I had to use an Eduard etched brass
set. The other parts of this set were
placed in the spare box, as they are not
necessary for this vehicle.
But my absolute favourite in the MV-
catalogue is the workable track link-set.
Every track link is highly detailed, and
made in resin. It is placed on a sprue,
pointed one single time. Take a sharp
scalpel and you will cut it easily. You
don’t have to clean a single part! Click
together and you will get the best
workable M 13 track I’ve ever seen!
The kit includes a large amount of
personal gear, which was stowed by
the crew on the outside of the vehicle.
There are nice bedrolls, different kinds
of bags, gearboxes and two kinds of 20
L-Italian fuel cans. The use of these
parts is optional and I didn’t use several
items. The only things I missed are the
lenses of the large headlights, placed
on each side of the vehicle. Because I
had no MV lenses, I took these parts
from an Italeri Opel Blitz kit. I filed them
down and placed them into the lights.
There is a small etched brass fret with
parts for the rear air intake, the license
plate (two options) and some wing
I connected the vehicle according to
the instructions. The suspension is
pretty good and fits easily together. As
can be seen in the photos, the upper
hull received the majority of the parts,
the front glacis plate and the rear
engine deck were replaced completely.
Now it’s possible to open all hatches. It
would be nice if Model Victoria could
provide some interior detail to show
when the hatches are open…please!
In a very short time the tracks are
complete, the price for this is much
lower than the Friul ones.
All parts of the MV update were
produced to a very high standard and
53
In 1940/41, the Italian vehicles
received a grey-green base colour
(grigio verde scuro). Because this
colour was obviously inappropriate
for the service in the desert, the
troops over sprayed each vehicle
with a sand colour. I started by
painting the whole kit in Tamiya XF
65 (field grey). I used Tamiya XF
55(deck tan) for an irregular
overspray. After a drying period of
24 hours, the tank gets a very light
washing with Burnt Umber artist’s
oil paint.
Smaller areas get a special
washing with a black oil colour.
Chipped paint was produced with
a very thin brush (3/0) and Andrea
acrylics. For rusty areas I used
Mussini “laser-oxide-orange“ an
expensive, but fantastic colour.
Tamiya enamel thinner and put it
on the tracks with a wide brush.
I painted the divisional signs and
the white disc for air recognition
on the turret roof with a home
made etched brass stencil.
The figure is from Royal Models
with the head replaced by a
Hornet-head. Most parts of the
figure were painted in Humbrol
enamels.
The tracks get a basecoat of
Tamiya XF 63 (German grey). I
used different pastel chalks to give
a rusty and sandy impression to
the tracks. I mixed them with
54
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]