Russia

Russo-Balt Armoured Car

The Russian Army was one of the earliest proponents of Armoured Cars, and already in the autumn of 1914 they started the work on several more or less improvised designs. One of these were the Russo-Balt Armoured Car. (The name - as often is the case with russian WW1 Armoured Cars - is derived from the manufacturer, the Automobile Firm of Russo-Balt, based in Riga, and producers of the very first Russian Motorcar.)  The basis for this armoured car were trucks made by that company that were given armoured plating and armament at the Izhorskiy plant in S:t Petersburg. There were five variants; the Russo-Balt T: a self-propelled 76.2mm gun; the Russo-Balt M: a ammo carrier for the type T; the Russo-Balt E: of whose design we know practically nothing; the Russo-Balt D: another heavy A/C carrying a 37mm Maxim-Nordenfelt Gun; and finally the Russo-balt S - the "S" came from the chassis type: "S 24/40")  All in all, it was not an advanced design, in fact, it was one of the simplest Armoured Cars made during the Great War: an amoured shell put on the above mentioned truck chassis: no turrets, just four holes for MG:s, one on each side. The first full Armoured Car Company of the Russian Army used Russo-Balts, and it was formed already in september 1914. Like many of the early Armoured Cars, the performance of the Russo-Balt M was pretty albysmal, not least because a very weak motor. (It sported only a 4 cylinder, 40 hp engine, far too small by any standards.) According to some sources only 15 of these armoured cars were made. (Thanks for Michal Derala for his helpful corrections! Also check out his site.)

The Model

is made from a Modelkrak kit, and as mentioned in the Review section, it is well up to Modelkrak usual standards, i.e. it's very good. I did some small improvements, e.g. adding towing hooks the rear and front, handles to the bonnet, a latch to the front armoured grille cover and substituting the kits rather plain MG:s for new ones made by White Metal.

Technical Data

Weight 2.96 tons Maximum Armour 5 mm Maximum Road Speed 20 km/h Armament 3 x 7.62mm Maxim MG:s Crew 5 men

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