M11/39 Italian Tanks (and some US Steel for the 8th Army – a Grant and a Sherman), plus an Aussie! For What a Tanker
I have been heavily engaged hobby-wise since December at building out both 8th Army and Panzer Army Africa tank forces. This blog post describes my last few tanks (well, for now) for What a Tanker© in WWII North Africa. As I plan on running this scenario at HAVOC in April, my goal was to create a diverse-enough tank list so that the players could have a very fun game that also would reflect the wide diversity of tanks and tank destroyers used by both sides from 1940-1943. I analyzed my respective armies’ 15mm/1:100 scale tank rosters, and concluded a couple things. First, my Italians lacked some rivet-laden death traps, also known as Fiat Ansaldo M11/39’s. Second, my British could use another M3 Grant and an M4 Sherman to deal with the German’s Tiger I. Upon further research, I learned that the Australians captured several of the M11/39’s – so that inspired me to build one for the 8th Army as well. Therefore, I built 3 M11/39’s, one Grant, and one Sherman.
This overall North Africa project has been documented in this blog in five previous posts, (which you can read about here, here, here, here, and here) and I plan on a summary post as well in the near future. There I will detail more about the game scenario and how I run it. These 5 tanks brings me to a total of 46 tanks since December for this scenario.
The M11/39 designation meant that it was an 11-ton tank, built in 1939. 100 were built by Fiat. It had a 37 mm hull-mounted gun and a turret with double 8 mm machine guns. It did not do well in combat, due to its inferior design, especially the turret having no anti-tank capability. For What a Tanker© games, this means that the tank’s turret is meaningless – it is like having a tank destroyer without the benefits of a tank destroyer.
I decided to try a different source for the tank models, and found that I could get three from Old Glory for $25, which seemed reasonable. I also bought a few other vehicles for other scenarios. I was surprised to see that they were completely made of metal – even with a lead warning on the package! As a metal aficionado, I was pleased.
I did have however a concern with the quality of the castings. They all had significantly problematic mold lines on the machine gun turret, and the details on the hull were much less clear than Battlefront models. Still, the price reflected that, so it was up to me to make it work. Which I did.
Two of these would be for the Italians, and one would be an Australian-captured M11/39 tank. While technically not a squad, they certainly could have started out that way in the Italian Army! For that reason – and because my good friend Azazel runs a fun painting challenge each month (and is an Aussie) – these three will constitute a submission from me for March’s “Squad March” painting challenge.
The turrets needed a good amount of surgery and filing.After assembly and a lot of filing. I glued the machine gun turrets as it made no sense to have them be movable for What a Tanker games..The three M11/39’s assembled.
For priming, I went with a brush, as these seemed to be very smooth castings. I worried that it would be difficult to get the paint to “bite”. They also were hollow at the bottom, so I needed to devise a way to mount them for painting. I ended up using a small square dowel and poster tack on small plates.
I did not take as many pictures during the process as I wanted to get these done for a game this weekend, but unfortunately some snow took care of that, and they will get a chance next weekend. I list all the paints I used at the end of the blog for those interested.
Poster pack on the M11/39’s as they are prepped for camouflage paint. I use gauze on the spray booth filter to extend the life of my spray booth filters.Close up of the poster tack before painting.This is not a fine Italian meal by any stretch!After the poster tack was gently removed, I got this result.
Then I used washes, pigments, decals, and other paints to finish them all up. There will be an eye-candy section following the sections on the tanks.
My Italian M11/39’s with the model I used. I ended up with more green, but I still liked the results. In any case, I always want my tanks dusty and dirty.And here is the M11/39 the Aussie’s captured that will join the 8th Army forces.A nice comparison with a photo of the actual Aussie M11/39’s used. I love the ‘roos.
I read that the Aussies used these until they ran out of diesel (their tanks had gasoline engines so diesel was rare). Then they blew them up. I believe that there are no surviving examples of the M11/39 in the world.
I already had one M3 Grant painted, but with the Germans having a Panzer IVF2 and a Tiger I in the DAK inventory, I wanted to augment the 8th Army’s later war desert forces with another Grant and a Sherman.
Awaiting decals, pigments, and varnish.The completed model with the one I used as a guide. There was no way I was going to be able to pull off the white and black outlines here on such a small model. I do like how it came out – again dirty and dusty.
The major difference in painting here from the M3 Grant was the camouflage pattern I used.
M4 Sherman awaiting decals, pigments, and varnish.The completed model with the guide in my research material.Here are the two with images I printed out from Battlefront’s web page.
Please let me know any feedback in the comments section, I do appreciate your thoughts. Now it’s time for…
Here are the three M11/39’s, with the Aussie on the far right.Right front view of one of the Italian M11/39’s. The main gun is the antitank weapon, and can only be moved with the tank itself as the turret had only machine-guns. Left side view of the M11/39.The two Italian M11/39’s hit the road.Rear view of the two Italian M11/39’s.The Australian M11/39 with ‘Roo markings so as not to attract friendly fire.Gotta say I love the ‘Roo.Other side.Aussie M11/39 driving by a wrecked Panzer IVD.M3 Grant with Desert Rat markings.Nice left side view of the M3 Grant.Coming at ya!Rear view.The M4 all dusted up. I also gave the M4 Desert Rat markings.M4 Sherman moving out.I don’t want to end up like Heinz!Rear view of the M4 Sherman. I had to pin the bustle rack, and at certain angles it looks off, but at a distance its unnoticeable.The 8th Army additions all assembled.All the tanks that were completed for this post.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THE M11/39’s:
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo “Surface Primer – Black”
Battlefront “Monty Shade” (shade)
Army Painter Quickshade “Soft Tone” (wash)
Army Painter Quickshade “Strong Tone” (wash) – on Australian version only
Battlefront “Dark Gunmetal”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Rust Wash” (wash)
Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Desert Dust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Natural Umber” (pigment)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Microscale Liquid Decal Film
Appropriate decals from Battlefront
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THE M3 GRANT AND M4 SHERMAN:
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo “Surface Primer – Black”
Battlefront “Chocolate Brown” (M3 Grant only)
Battlefront “Tommy Green (M4 Sherman only)
Battlefront “Monty Shade” (shade)
Army Painter Quickshade “Light Tone” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Rust Wash” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Dark Rust Wash” (wash)
Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
Battlefront “Dark Gunmetal”
Secret Weapons Washes “Armor Wash” (M4 Sherman only)
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Sienna” (pigment)
Vallejo “Desert Dust” (pigment)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Microscale Liquid Decal Film
1/8″ rare earth neodymium magnets
Appropriate decals from Battlefront
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
Thanks for looking and for sharing your feedback!
As for research materials, I used the same ones as I cited in previous posts plus Google searches and Battlefront’s website. Here the books are in case you are interested – you can find them on Amazon and I highly recommend them all:
Jean Restayn:WWII Tank Encyclopaedia, 1939-45
Smithsonian/DK: Tank: The Definitive Visual History of Armored Vehicles
Michael Green:Axis Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the Second World War (Images of War)
Robert Jackson:Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles Visual Encyclopedia
I would again easily recommend all of these books as really good resources for gamers and modelers. Thanks for looking and for sharing your feedback in the comments section.
Now I might go back to retro sci-fi for a bit! Still have many more tanks to do, but those will be for other scenarios.
Do you have a favorite tank of the ones here? Why? Let me know!
from Mark A. Morin https://markamorin.com/2019/03/03/m11-39-italian-tanks-and-some-us-steel-for-the-8th-army-a-grant-and-a-sherman-plus-an-aussie-for-what-a-tanker/
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