"Carta Armatura" Carro Armato P43 bis tank - part two

Having glued the turret base to the turret, the gun to the mantlet and the commander's hatch, I undercoated the parts with Citadel Chaos Black.

I then dry assembled the running gear and the hull. Using masking tape, I masked the running gear and sprayed the hull and turret with Citadel Zandri Dust.

Once that had dried, I masked the turret and hull with strips of masking tape. This was then sprayed with Humbrol Dark Green (30) spray.

The strips of masking tape did mean there were some rather large patches of Citadel Zandri Dust on the turret roof and the engine deck.

The masking tape was removed and the paint allowed to dry.

The running gear was masked again, and the turret was installed on the hull. Masking tape in thin strips was then applied, ensuring it covered both the yellow and green areas.

This was then sprayed with Army Painter Leather Brown.

I have still to determine what to do with the running gear.

"Carta Armatura" Carro Armato P43 bis tank

In September 1943 Fiat and Ansaldo began development of a new "Heavy" tank design which could be comparable or better protected than the German Panther.

The result was the P 43 bis (an "improvement" on the existing but unproduced P43). The tank design featured heavily sloped armour (80-100mm), a 450 HP engine (possibly derived from the engine in the T34) and various main gun options ranging from the 90/42, the longer 90/53 and the larger calibre 105/23 guns. These designs never passed the wooden mock-up stage.

Last year Rubicon Models in cooperation with Heer46 brought out a model based on the plans.

Like the Krupp Steyr Waffenträger I bought last year, this is resin kit. The hatch for the turret is safely in the zip lock bag (and not shown).

The casting is smooth and required no work (I washed it with some scouring cream just in case).

Like the Waffenträger the parts go together easily. This has not been glued together (I will undercoat it before assembly).

The flat piece is the bottom of the vehicle.

The tank does not seem to have either a coaxial or hull machine gun. I might add an AA machine gun to the cupola.

For Weird War and Post 45 games, the plan is to assume that Fiat Ansaldo managed to actually build them in quantity and supplied them to German forces.