Polish Projects and Prototypes - 1939

[randowe]

Thank you

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Greetings all,
Update.

The last two fully tracked SPG's for this mod are ready:

105 mm wz 28:


..and 155 mm wz 19:


The 4x4 trucks are coming soon.
While it was not planned (or at least I don't know of it), one of these could be used as a gun truck.
Historical precedence:

Now the 75 mm Schneider was obsolete for AA use, and these gun trucks were used in all roles, including firing on ground targets, including firing on tanks.

As such the one on the new chassis would be categorized as artillery.
The field artillery version of the 14TP would only really show up in like 1941-ish, so this unit is a bit necessary.

Then the PZInz 202 and 222 half tracks, and these would have a few variants including a 20 mm armed fire support vehicle, an APC version, an AA version and some others (I'm sure I put those in some early post).

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Wow, didn't notice that this topic has 2500+ views.

Anyways, this truck will easily carry this gun:

Say hello to the 75 mm Schneider truck.

And this gun too:

Say hello to the 40 mm Bofors truck.

As I wrote before, the 75 will be an artillery truck, and the 40 mm would be the replacement of the WW I era anti air 75 mm Schneider trucks.

From what I can find, these were not planned, but the weapons, chassis and their predecessor all existed.
If I do find that some other trucks were meant to be used as gun trucks (as in - I run into real designs) then I will make a correction, but for now this is the best I know of.

Icons soon - of these and the normal versions too - the 342 and the 343.
They did look a bit different, the 343 had a longer cab and slightly smaller wheels than the 342 (note the 342 has 10 mounting bolts per wheel rather than 8). These differences can be presented in the resolution of the game icons, so I'll go for it.

343:

The 343 will also be a people transporter too. Note the detail with the side doors and steps to easily climb into the back.

342:

This one is strictly cargo, except when it's a gun truck.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Update:

Here's the 342 cargo:


The icons for the 342 versions with the 75 mm Schneider and the 40 mm Bofors, as well as the the 343 will show up over the next couple days.
Getting the tarp over the back is the next level of pixel art for me.

I'll have to go back and revise the PZInz 152 to have a brown tarp too so it looks better.

Now a bit about dual purpose flak units - there was a 222 half track planed armed with a 20 mm autocannon as a mobile firing position, so that will totally be a DP unit. The 7TP with the twin 20 will also go there, as will its replacement, the 14TP with the twin 20.

Regarding the half tracks...
All I was ever able to find was that the PZInz 202 would have an AA version. It is unknown if the 202 was to have a 40 mm or a 75 mm (the new one - wz. 36, not the Schneider), so I guess I'll just make both. It had a 2 ton cargo capacity, it could carry a big boomstick.

And then for late war a twin 40 as well. Sort of a half track equivalent to the US Army's M19.

There may also be a version of the 202 with the 40 which would be the bigger brother of the 20 mm armed 222, as in a larger DP unit. This one would have an armored up superstructure (I need to make it for the armored transport version that was being discussed by PZInz anyways - or so the legend of Polish historical forums goes).
The regular AA versions would just have a normal flatbed mount, and accordingly adjusted defense ratings.

This will fall a bit short of what Gustlik's efile has, but I'm limiting fictional units to those that were only one step away from existing, so they must be a development of an existing vehicle, only using a later designed historically accurate chassis and weapons.

Also, playing the campaign "Really Great Poland". Pretty well done and entertaining. I can also say that the creator(s) of that campaign did quite a bit of research too, I get pleasant surprises every couple missions with an "oh this is in game too" when new equipment is available.

I wonder if ORP Nieuchwytny will be included in the campaign later on...





Historical note - how they could have scrapped this one of a kind ship in the 1970's is just sad.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

Bofors 40.

Next is Schneider.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

And here's the 75 mm field artillery gun truck.

The lighter sibling, the PZInz 343 will be coming up soon.

Then I'll do the half tracks.

And then it's time to build a campaign for these units.

[RoyalBengalTiger]

PZInz 343.

While the real one had slightly smaller wheels than the 342, in the size that these icons are the difference would be within a pixel, so I only modified the look of the cab.



BT027. That's a series of 26 icons I did for this project (it started at BT002), quite a bit.
BT001 was from years ago, all y'all can look that one up if you're curious.

I'll need a bit of time now to make the half tracks (actually - fake not make, just like wheeled vehicles have to be cheated into existence, Sprocket doesn't really support half track suspension).

[RoyalBengalTiger]

25TP was bothering me for quite a while now.

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/20/25TP#

Zasadnicze uzbrojenie miało być zainstalowane w niskiej dużej wieży, początkowo wykonanej ze spawanych płyt pancernych, docelowo odlewanej[1].

The referenced source is:
Janusz Magnuski. Czołg średni 20/25TP. „Nowa Technika Wojskowa”. 9/2006, s. 118-119, 2006. Warszawa: Magnum-X Sp. z o.o.. ISSN 1230-1655. (pol.).

For the English speakers, the main armament was to be installed in a low profile, large turret, initially made of welded armor plates, but eventually out of a casting.

The slab sided turret I had was based on a reconstruction already, and the cast version is nowhere to be found.

Then there's World of Tanks.

This tonk, supposedly designed by Habich, has a single piece front plate and a drive sprocket in front.
The 10 and 14TP had a single piece front, but the gearbox and drives were in the rear.
The 25TP had the front drive / front gearbox setup and needed the step on the hull front to access the transmission. Sort of like Pz IV.
It also had straight sides and no sponsons above the tracks, when looking at the reconstruction of the original.

The WoT tank has the correct suspension, correct machine gun mount on the hull, correct AA MG and quite a lot of other details.
It's armed with a Bofors 105 mm, but Poland never used that particular 105, not to mention good luck fitting it on a tank that size.

There was also no Polish tank design with such a tiny gun mantlet, all were variations of the flat plate with holes drilled into it:






So, with that in mind, I went on a quest to create a cast turret, as this was the planned course of action.
Here's what I came up with:

Please note that on the pixelated level, this will be touched up so the gun shield appears to be made of plates and not as a casting.
Sprocket does not yet have the Bofors style gun mount, so I used the closest one I could to make it easy when doing pixel arts.
The shape of the turret is also using the original welded design. I figured I'll try just rounding the edges, applying a smoothing filter, and seeing what happens.

The turret looks a bit like what the T-44 would get in 1944.

What do y'all think - my reconstruction, or the World of Tanks one?