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Description
During WWII, the tanks were separated on three main categories: light (up to 15 tons), medium (15-45 tons) and heavy (more than 45 tons). After the war most of the countries abandoned this classification, focusing on the main battle tanks, or MBT. However the Soviet military leaders soon returned to the light tank concept. After 1949, with the developement of Soviet nuclear weapons, most of the experts saw the future war as a lightning and powerful armoured charge through the nuked countries of Western Europe. Since communication would likely be broken during the attack, armoured vehicles would be used for reconaissance. Because in Europe there's aprox. one river per each 100 km of ground - not to mention numerous lakes, reservoirs etc. - the swimming tanks seemed an obvious choice. They had to be light, to keep themselves on the water - that ment thin armour and light armament.

The design that would become a PT-76 swimming tank started in the 1948 in the mind of the engineer N. Shashmurin from Kirov plant. His design was simple, could have been mass-produced and had a good mobility. An innovation of that time was a water-jet propelling system (WWII floating tanks used rudders and propellers). It was pumping water from the front to the end of vehicle, giving it a max. speed of 10 km/h in the water. The tank was armed with D-56T gun. It had a caliber of just 76,2 mm, but it was effective against infantry and light-armoured targets which were to be PT-76's main enemies.

The PT-76 became chassis for many other vehicles, like: BTR-50 and TOPAS armoured carriers, ASU-85 airborne self-propelled gun, ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft tank and many more. Some, like 2S1 "Goździk"* self-propelled howitzer are still in use of Polish army.
The tracks configuration was later modified and also used in many other vehicles which weren't directly based on PT-76, like MTLB armoured tractor/carrier (see it in my gallery) or PTS amphibious carrier.

PT-76 was used in many conflicts, including Vietnam, Afghanistan, Indo-Pakistani War etc. It was also used during Warsaw Pact's armies invasion on Czechoslovakia. It prooved a good reconaissance machine, but not a combat tank. It was quite large, and this forced the designers to give it rather thin armour (20 mm max.) which could withstand the impact of standard 7,62 mm shell, but for example those from AA-gun (12,7 mm) were too much for it. Thus it couldn't be used against enemy's tanks. During the siege of Khe San infantry in the fort destroyed 7 out of 16 tanks with light rocket launchers and machine guns. Also it lacks any WMD-protection system and fire-extinguishing ones.

Here you can see [link] (a film from the 1982 Warsaw Pact's armies excercises) (lasting till 2:58). At 1:20 you can see the BTR-50 transporter based on PT-76 chassis. If you want, you can download the subtitles for it from here: [link]

* Goździk is "Carnation" in Polish language. Russians had a strange tradition of calling their self-propelled artillery after flowers and other plants. This was later adopted by Poland.

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This model, from Belarussan company PTS, was standing in the shop since I remember. One day I went to the shop, hungry for a new model, when my eyes targeted its old carton box. I asked the shop's owner if nobody was ever interested with and and he replied "No, never". So I took it to the home, deciding that it'll possibly be sent back to the manufacturer and molten down in the factory for newer kits and that would be a big loss.

The model is not the Revell's masterpice, but not RPM's low quality set. The plastic is tough and hard to cut, but reacts well to the glue. Some pieces are fragile and I couldn't find a way to take them out of the frame. The tank itself is one of those Russian ugly ducklings that needs time to see how interesting the vehicle is.

There are several decals, I've chosen the one for 7th Lusatian Coastal Defence Division (7. Łużycka Dywizja Obrony Wybrzeża), also known (unofficialy) as 7th. Assault Division (7. Dywizja Desantowa). This unit existed from 1963 to 1986. Later it was turned into 7th Coastal Defence Brigade (7. Łużycka Brygada Obrony Wybrzeża) and later 7th Pomeranian Coastal Defence Brigade (7. Pomorska Brygada Obrony Wybrzeża).

Model: PST
Scale: 1/72
Paints: Pactra plus some Humbrol's metalizer.

Description
During WWII, the tanks were separated on three main categories: light (up to 15 tons), medium (15-45 tons) and heavy (more than 45 tons). After the war most of the countries abandoned this classification, focusing on the main battle tanks, or MBT. However the Soviet military leaders soon returned to the light tank concept. After 1949, with the developement of Soviet nuclear weapons, most of the experts saw the future war as a lightning and powerful armoured charge through the nuked countries of Western Europe. Since communication would likely be broken during the attack, armoured vehicles would be used for reconaissance. Because in Europe there's aprox. one river per each 100 km of ground - not to mention numerous lakes, reservoirs etc. - the swimming tanks seemed an obvious choice. They had to be light, to keep themselves on the water - that ment thin armour and light armament.

The design that would become a PT-76 swimming tank started in the 1948 in the mind of the engineer N. Shashmurin from Kirov plant. His design was simple, could have been mass-produced and had a good mobility. An innovation of that time was a water-jet propelling system (WWII floating tanks used rudders and propellers). It was pumping water from the front to the end of vehicle, giving it a max. speed of 10 km/h in the water. The tank was armed with D-56T gun. It had a caliber of just 76,2 mm, but it was effective against infantry and light-armoured targets which were to be PT-76's main enemies.

The PT-76 became chassis for many other vehicles, like: BTR-50 and TOPAS armoured carriers, ASU-85 airborne self-propelled gun, ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft tank and many more. Some, like 2S1 "Goździk"* self-propelled howitzer are still in use of Polish army.
The tracks configuration was later modified and also used in many other vehicles which weren't directly based on PT-76, like MTLB armoured tractor/carrier (see it in my gallery) or PTS amphibious carrier.

PT-76 was used in many conflicts, including Vietnam, Afghanistan, Indo-Pakistani War etc. It was also used during Warsaw Pact's armies invasion on Czechoslovakia. It prooved a good reconaissance machine, but not a combat tank. It was quite large, and this forced the designers to give it rather thin armour (20 mm max.) which could withstand the impact of standard 7,62 mm shell, but for example those from AA-gun (12,7 mm) were too much for it. Thus it couldn't be used against enemy's tanks. During the siege of Khe San infantry in the fort destroyed 7 out of 16 tanks with light rocket launchers and machine guns. Also it lacks any WMD-protection system and fire-extinguishing ones.

Here you can see [link] (a film from the 1982 Warsaw Pact's armies excercises) (lasting till 2:58). At 1:20 you can see the BTR-50 transporter based on PT-76 chassis. If you want, you can download the subtitles for it from here: [link]

* Goździk is "Carnation" in Polish language. Russians had a strange tradition of calling their self-propelled artillery after flowers and other plants. This was later adopted by Poland.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This model, from Belarussan company PTS, was standing in the shop since I remember. One day I went to the shop, hungry for a new model, when my eyes targeted its old carton box. I asked the shop's owner if nobody was ever interested with and and he replied "No, never". So I took it to the home, deciding that it'll possibly be sent back to the manufacturer and molten down in the factory for newer kits and that would be a big loss.

The model is not the Revell's masterpice, but not RPM's low quality set. The plastic is tough and hard to cut, but reacts well to the glue. Some pieces are fragile and I couldn't find a way to take them out of the frame. The tank itself is one of those Russian ugly ducklings that needs time to see how interesting the vehicle is.

There are several decals, I've chosen the one for 7th Lusatian Coastal Defence Division (7. Łużycka Dywizja Obrony Wybrzeża), also known (unofficialy) as 7th. Assault Division (7. Dywizja Desantowa). This unit existed from 1963 to 1986. Later it was turned into 7th Coastal Defence Brigade (7. Łużycka Brygada Obrony Wybrzeża) and later 7th Pomeranian Coastal Defence Brigade (7. Pomorska Brygada Obrony Wybrzeża).

Model: PST
Scale: 1/72
Paints: Pactra plus some Humbrol's metalizer.