3e. Orthos Airborne Airdefense Gun

The next Greci vehicle is the Orthos.
In the greek mythology Orthos is a two-headed dog, guarding the herd.
And this is exaclty the role of the Orthos Airdefense vehicle.

The Orthos is based on the Tisiphone chassis and hosts a retractable AA turret.
The challenge was to mount a AA gun that can traverse 360° and can also fire almost straight up. One idea was to build a rather squat turret on top of the vehicle (similar to the German WWII "Kugelblitz" vehicle), but I just couldn't get a nice design that would fit the rest of the vehicle.

The gun mount I designed hosts a twin-linked Lasercanon in a turret piece that reminds of some of the modern Oerlikon AA turrets.

By a set of "legs" it is elevatable, and the Gunner sits underneath. It mounts a set of optical sights on the right turret wall, as well a small radardome right above the two guns.

As you can see, I used the available space to the max, as the turret almost touches the outer wall, while the elevating legs fill all the available space at the bottom.

When it folds down into its traveling position, it can be completely covered by the roof.

Here you can see, that I cut a pair of slits to accomondate two small plasticcard strips, to keep the roof in position.

It will be quite some work to create the proper set of hatches, but I'm sure I will have two hatches covering the round turret area (like a tankers hatch), as well as either a one piece or two piece rear hatch, that coveres the rear rectangle area.


But now the gun nicely fits the vehicle and gives it a very distinctive look.

UPDATE (27 Aug):
Unfortunately the rules don't allow lasguns for Air-Defense, so I had to exchange the two guns with twin-linked Autocanons.

Therefore I also added "cartridge ejection slots" for the empty ammo casings.

I'm not really sure what the crew thinks about these hot cartridges raining down on them, but I didn't realize this fauxpax, till the glue was dry and settled.
Oh well, they're airborne :-)

UPDATE (17 Sept): Way too much time passed since the last update :(
Oh well, here we go:
At first I continued with the standard roof design and built some hatches to cover the gun.

As usual, the were hinged and fully functional.


Actually it looked rather good, and nicely matched the Tisiphone. However, the functionality didn't work properly. When opening the hatches to operate the AA-Gun, it looked very funny.
It simply wasn't what I envisioned :(

I decided to get away from the normal roof with hatches.
So I cut the side-walls down ...

... and incorporated railings for a canvas to cover the gun

... as well as a storage possibility, when in operation/travelling mode.

For the canvas I used paper towels, that are first covered with wood-glue and then soaked in water

then I carefully cut it to the right shape

and once dry, it is nicely removable :)

I did the same also for the operation position:

3d. Kratos Airborne Assault Gun

The fourth vehicle of the Greci vehicle family is the Kratos.
The Kratos is an Airborne Assault Gun and is also based on the extended Greci chassis, just like the Tisiphone.

First I printed the plan I had made up fo the individual parts on a sheet of paper, and then I used a rubber cement (I use "fixo gum") to glue it to the plastic card. The rubber cement is a temporary glue that can be removed without any residuals.

Within minutes all the pieces are cut and ready for assembly.

Here is the basic hull of the Kratos. You can see the opening for the exhaust and the one for the rear ramp.


This is the first layout of the Kratos top.
(ltr) Engine vent, Gun mount, vision slit for driver.
In the roof are the openings for
(ltr) Gunner-, driver-, ammo-, and commander-hatch.

And the first pieces for the interior. Most of the driver station is allready in place.

UPDATE (06. Aug)
Gun mounted.
Due to the limited space, the Kratos gun has no direct feed, but a special breech loader.


Gun mount/mantlet from the outside

Drivers vision slit

Drivers station with basic paintjob


Added storage for the basic ammo load

This is the Loaders station

with folding seat


And basic paintjob


UPDATE (08. Aug)
And finally the Gunner/Commanders station:



Next was the roof with the 4 hatches (Driver, Loader, Commander, and one for fired casings :)
Plus the vision-blocks and rivets and the rear ramp.

The hatches do open



What's still missing is an optical side for the main gun, that will be placed on the right side of the gun mount, plus the rear lights and rivets for side and rear.

And, of course, the suspension, wheels, and tracks.