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P.01b-50m Mit (M.1932) Light Tank

41.5k MrVaultech  5.2 years ago

Ostpreußen Heer P.01b-50m Ausf. (M.1932)
"Baby Pz IV H"
A major improvement over the existing P.01a-50m light tank, in adding an improved 50mm cannon, adding various layers of armor onto the lightweight hull, as well as major improvements to the engine to counter the added weight.

Turret
With the addition of the Rh-50 (M.1932) 50mm Cannon, specifically it's larger breech and longer barrel, has to be offset in the mantlet so the commander wouldn't be crushed by recoil forces when fired. Additionally, the gunner was moved off more to the side and back to accommodate the noted increase in breech size, still capable of firing from nearly the rear of the turret.
The armor on the turret still remins at it's 45mm of RHA, but has additional 5mm skirts added to it's cheeks to provide protection from Solid Shot Anti-Tank shells and Anti-Tank rifles. Alongside the added armor, the commanders cupola had additional vision blocks installed to give better 360° vision from his position.
Lastly, the MG34 coaxial was moved to the left side of the gun to accommodate the Cannon being offset.

Hull
The hull sees a major upgrade to match the level of protection of the turret, was built with it's weak side armor upgraded to 30mm of RHA and the rear up to 22.5mm of RHA. The 45mm plate of armor covering the radio operator now has a 30mm RHA plate weldes onto it for greater protection, while the 30mm lower plate also has a 30mm plate welded on to protected the transmission and crew.
Much like the turret, 5mm skirts were added to the sides to help protect against Anti-Tank rifles, although they add quite a bit of weight combined.
As noted with added weight, it was found the original 200hp engine wasn't quite capable of moving the now 25 ton tank at speeds before, so the engine saw major refits and upgrades to the tune of 276hp total output. This lets the P.01b-50m move at almost the same speeds as the original P.01a-50m LT, regardless of terrain.
No changes were made to crew layout or hatches.

Versatility
As noted in the above section, the upgrade of the engine has proven to greatly relieve the stress of the added weight, keeping it capapble of the 58kmh (36mph) road speed and 40kmh (25mph) offroad speed.
Also, with the added new Rh-50 (M.1932) Anti-Tank cannon, more emphasis was taken to defeating enemy armor over attacking enemy infantry. The APHE shell is given a 77mm penetration value against unsloped steel thanks to the lengthened barrel and slightly longer shell casing. While still capapble of firing the typical 50mm HE shell at enemy infantry and light vehicles, it's prefered by tank division dommanders for the P.01b-50m to load mostly APHE shells, with a few HE thrown into the ammo racks for emergencies.
No change has been made to the radio, it's still controlled by the radio operator in the hull.

Controls
Pitch - Forward/Reverse
Roll - Traverse Left/Right
VTOL - Turret Traverse
Trim - Elevate/Depress Gun
AG7 - Activate Coaxial Gun
AG8 - Activate Main Gun

General Characteristics

  • Created On Android
  • Wingspan 9.4ft (2.9m)
  • Length 12.9ft (3.9m)
  • Height 7.9ft (2.4m)
  • Empty Weight 50,371lbs (22,848kg)
  • Loaded Weight 50,504lbs (22,908kg)

Performance

  • Wing Loading 30,029.2lbs/ft2 (146,615.6kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 1.7ft2 (0.2m2)
  • Drag Points 4086

Parts

  • Number of Parts 147
  • Control Surfaces 0
  • Performance Cost 511

Required Mods

  • Tracks 2 by MOPCKOE_DNISHE
    Version 0.8 (7/7/2019 11:58:44 AM)
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