Tachanka

Tachanka!

Hi everyone. Switching gears for a bit, I've been working on some models to represent the Makhnovists of the Russian Civil War and Ukrainian Revolution. Nestor Makhno was a anarchist peasant from southern Ukraine who led a movement of peasants and workers for freedom and equality. Unfortunately for them, this meant they were forced to fight against a combined Austrian-German occupation force, their own Ukrainian ruling class, and then both the White and Red armies of the Russian Civil War. The above forces packed heavy weapons and equipment, including airplanes, tanks, and armored trains. What is a peasant to do?

Tachanka from the museum in Guliai-pole, Makhno's home town.

Luckily, Makhno and his comrades had peasants' ingenuity. They are credited with the invention of this deadly little cart - the Tachanka: a simple peasants cart, hooked up to four horses, but with a machine gun placed in the back. The Makhnovists used them with violent effect against enemy cavalry and infantry. They would speed into battle, often setting up on the enemy's flanks. Tachankas could also be quickly and quietly pulled into position in the dark of night or under some other cover, to surprise the enemy with a hail of unexpected machine gun fire

The tachankas also made the Makhnovists very difficult to pursue, which was essential for a smaller, lighter, and poorly-equipped band of peasants going toe to toe with the major powers of their region. Many of the bigger armies were dependent on the train lines, and incapable of chasing the anarchists across the Steppe. This task became harder when tachankas fired back as the Maknovists retreated. The tachankas were so effective that many of those opposing forces adopted their use, and even carried them into World War Two.

That success, in fact, is at the heart of my dilemma. I recently began working on models for the Makhnovists, but there are not many model tachankas available in the scale i'm using (1/72). The ones that do exist are based on later models, and just don't look like peasant horse carts. So I decided to scratch-build my own. It wont be perfect, but I dont have to spend any extra money as i have all the pieces at my disposal. If it comes out well, I'll make a few more. If not, then I'll learn in the process.

I began by cutting a model covered wagon in half. Then i carved out stepped sections for the sides of the benches. I used index cards and wire to make the seats and rails. 

I took the wheels off of the wagon and glued them to some scrap plastic sprues. The riders are mostly Strelets' Terek cossacks cavalry with their epelets and traditional ammo pouches cut off and their hats raised up with a little pinch of clay. I also cut off their legs and reglued them so they're sitting sideways. I had to swap legs to make that work, so one has 2 right legs, another 2 left legs. The gunner is a modified Streltsi of 17th century Russia. I got 3 of them that came as extras in a box of Strelets Rif Rebels, i thought id never have a use for them. A little knife work and they look ok for my purpose. I built the rest of the gun from cardboard, wire, and round sprues cut for wheels. If this comes out well, ill buy nicer guns for future versions.

The Tachankas had good sets of axel springs on them, so i cut some more plastic bits and wire to build a basic spring structure and raise the cart up above the wheels. I modified some unused horse rigging, probably from some HAT artillery and limber set.

The horses are just the Terek cavalry horses that belonged to the figures i used. I cut off their blanket rolls (though not yet in the photo below) and smoothed out the ridges of their saddles the best i could.

Then i cut out the mud guards, or whatever they're called, from index card, and carefully glued them into place, using toothpicks and wire bits for supports.

Next, i will spray paint the underside of this model dark brown (which would be harder to do after its based), attach the horses, and add thin wire for the reins. The whole thing will then be sparypainted brown and placed on a thin, t-shaped base (of what, im not sure yet). Then, Ill be ready for painting it up. Ill share more from this project as it develops, thanks for reading this post!