More 20mm WW2 Randomness - 76mm Russian Gun

"Get that barrel lower - the fascists are STRAIGHT AHEAD!"

Here is some more random 20mm WW2 painting. This is another project which had been sitting on the desk, primed and base coated for like a year, and once I cleared off the German odds and ends from the same corner of the desk, I thought I should just finish this off as well.  This is a Russian 76mm gun.  The gun, the crew and the accessories are from the Plastic Soldier Company's very nice line of 1/72 scale plastic kits.

I built this more as an experiment than anything else - I had not attempted a large gun in 20mm scale yet, and this seemed like an easy one to try.  The kits from PSC are very, very nice.  In this case the gun could be built either as the 76mm or as (I think) a 57mm AT gun.  I felt the 76mm was a bit more "iconic" so I went with that for the model.

1/72 model kit from Plastic Soldier Company - highly recommended!

I believe the Red Army used these 76mm weapons both as direct-fire support weapons and as indirect artillery support.  I am one of those gamers that hates having indirect artillery pieces of any size beyond medium mortars on the table. But in this case I thought it would be great to have as an AT gun for the Russians...my modelling skillz, however, were not strong in this case - the gun still ended up with a bit of an elevation.  This is a good reminder not to let go of a model piece before the glue is actually dry...

PSC gives you everything you need - gun, crew and accessories...

I really have to credit PSC for the all-around excellence of these 1/72 plastic kits.  And I generally hate plastic kits, so I don't praise them mildly. With PSC you get nice guns, nice selection of crews and accessories like ammo boxes and spent casings.  You really get everything you need in one fell swoop.  I guess they could throw in a base or something, but since every gamer has their own preference for basing,  I don't blame them for leaving that out.

Something for the German players to watch out for when we try 20mm WW2...

This gun will defend the motherland in games of "Battlegroup", "Chain of Command" and maybe even "Bolt Action", and give the German panzer and infantry commanders some pause...