Kamidaiko (Kamikaze Kugelpanzer)

[RAFF-35]

Just decals and weathering to go now.... Maybe a little backstory? Possibly not 

If you don't fancy writing the backstory, I'll offer my services as a jobbing backstory writer.  It's too good a model not to have some written material attached.

That's very generous of you! I'd be interested to read what your spin on it would be! The fixed points that I had in mind for this design is that it used a 24hp Type 97 motorcycle engine and was supposed to be equipped with a Type 97 heavy tank machine gun, although in practice,  other infantry weapons were fitted on an ad-hoc basis..... Talking about you writing a backstory is kind of giving me motivation to write one too 

It's your model, so you get first crack at the backstory.  Your initial ideas suggest to me that you have something interesting lined up without  me butting in!

Don't be silly, the more the merrier! I love getting an insight into how different people interpret the same thing 

[NARSES2]

The Book??? Which book is THE book? 

The Book, or rather books (Zenrat has his own  ) , is my referees notebook in which the names of honourable members are kept in order that they may be scrutinised by the various sub-committees in charge of discipline, dodgy jokes etc. Erasure can normally be obtained by the purchase of a pint or two     

It's a very, very long standing joke 

[Charlie_c67]

The Book??? Which book is THE book? 

The Book, or rather books (Zenrat has his own  ) , is my referees notebook in which the names of honourable members are kept in order that they may be scrutinised by the various sub-committees in charge of discipline, dodgy jokes etc. Erasure can normally be obtained by the purchase of a pint or two     

It's a very, very long standing joke 

Worn as a badge of honour by many...

[Rick Lowe]

The Book??? Which book is THE book? 

The Book, or rather books (Zenrat has his own  ) , is my referees notebook in which the names of honourable members are kept in order that they may be scrutinised by the various sub-committees in charge of discipline, dodgy jokes etc. Erasure can normally be obtained by the purchase of a pint or two     

It's a very, very long standing joke 

Worn as a badge of honour by many...

And seen as a Challenge, by Certain Others... 

[RAFF-35]

Right, I've stayed up past my bed time to finish the weathering and prepare my version of the backstory.....

The fall of Okinawa had made clear what an Allied invasion of the Home Islands would look like. Masses of armour, overwhelming artillery, and wave after wave of American infantry. Japan's remaining armoured strength consisted of small reserves of Type 1 Chi-He, Type 3 Chi-Nu, and a scattering of more advanced Type 4 Chi-To and Type 5 Chi-Ri tanks. These were all too limited in number to meaningfully stem such an assault. Even where these tanks could match the ubiquitous M4 Sherman in combat, they existed in quantities far too small to matter. Japan needed weapons that could be built quickly, cheaply, and in large numbers. Out of this desperate realisation emerged one of the war's strangest defensive weapons, the Kamidaiko (meaning the "Divine Drum"), a tiny spherical suicide tank intended for the final defense of the Japanese mainland.
The Kamidaiko was conceived as a weapon of attrition, an expendable machine designed to blunt and disrupt the first waves of an invasion. Its form was unlike any other armoured vehicle fielded in the Second World War. Nearly spherical in profile, the Kamidaiko resembled a steel ball split by two massive wheel hubs, with the driver seated in the center of the hull. The shape was simple to manufacture, economical in its use of materials, and intended to deflect incoming fire off its constant curvature.
Strategic scarcity shaped the Kamidaiko's construction. Armour plate was reserved only for the vehicle's most critical surfaces. A 25mm steel shield in front of the driver and reinforcement around the wheel hubs. For the rest of the vehicle,  lower quality alloys, salvaged industrial metals, and even wooden structural elements were used wherever possible. Protection was minimal by conventional standards, but the Kamidaiko was never intended to survive prolonged combat. Its rounded shell was meant to spoil aim, encourage ricochets, and make the tiny machine a surprisingly difficult target under fire.
Power came from a modest 24-horsepower V-twin engine, taken from the Type 97 motorcycle. This gave the Kamidaiko only limited speed, but enough mobility for its intended role. Short, sudden dashes from concealment into the path of advancing enemy formations. Most Kamidaikos mounted a single Type 97 heavy tank machine gun in a forward firing position, though shortages often forced crews to substitute whatever infantry weapons were available. The machine gun was not the Kamidaiko's main weapon, however. Its real lethality lay hidden within its oversized wheel hubs.
Packed into the domed hubs was the Kamidaiko's primary payload, up to 200 kilograms of Ammonal explosive, supplemented by ball bearings, scrap metal, and improvised fragmentation. In effect, each vehicle was a mobile mine, designed to drive directly into enemy concentrations and detonate at point-blank range. Against infantry, the blast could shred tightly packed formations. Against vehicles, the Kamidaiko was employed to strike the vulnerable front or rear of a convoy, immobilising the column and creating a chokepoint for follow-on infantry attacks. The driver, as with so many late-war Japanese weapons, was expected to die in the attack.
Operational doctrine varied across the Home Islands. In some regions, Kamidaiko units were organised into swarms, intended to overwhelm advancing troops through sheer numbers. Dozens of the little machines would rush from hidden positions, machine guns firing, before closing to detonation range. Elsewhere, they were used more conservatively as mobile pillboxes which could be dug in, camouflaged, and employed in static defense until their explosive charge was needed as a final measure. Their low profile and unusual shape made them well suited to concealment. Kamidaiko were hidden in hedgerows, tucked into barns, or buried in prepared revetments along likely invasion routes.
The Kamidaiko was most feared in ambush tactics designed for the fragmented, close-range battlefields expected in Kyushu and Honshu. Japanese planners anticipated Allied columns pushing inland along narrow roads bordered by villages, fields, and wooded hills. Kamidaiko teams would lie in wait until a convoy entered a prepared kill zone, then surge out to destroy the lead and rear vehicles. Once the column was trapped, local militia and guerrilla fighters (often poorly armed reservists, civil defense volunteers, and in some cases women and children pressed into service) would descend on the immobilised force with satchel charges, grenades, and improvised weapons. In this role, the Kamidaiko was not a battlefield tank, but the catalyst for a wider, deeply desperate form of resistance.

[Old Wombat]

That backstory is good! Very good!   

[kerick]

Well done all around!

[RAFF-35]

Well done all around!

Was that a deliberate pun? 

[NARSES2]

That backstory is good! Very good!   

Agreed    The models not bad either       

[NARSES2]

Well done all around!

Was that a deliberate pun? 

The Book has been brought out 

[PR19_Kit]

The Book has been brought out 

I didn't think it was ever 'in'. 

[Rheged]

That is a backstory of considerable imagination with enough totally believable  detail to confuse the unwary reader.  I am impressed!!

[RAFF-35]

That is a backstory of considerable imagination with enough totally believable  detail to confuse the unwary reader.  I am impressed!!

Thank you very much! Plausibility and confusion is what I aim for with my builds 

[kerick]

That is a backstory of considerable imagination with enough totally believable  detail to confuse the unwary reader.  I am impressed!!

Thank you very much! Plausibility and confusion is what I aim for with my builds 

Sounds like a well rounded way of thinking!
Yes that was deliberate!

[Rick Lowe]

That is a backstory of considerable imagination with enough totally believable  detail to confuse the unwary reader.  I am impressed!!

Thank you very much! Plausibility and confusion is what I aim for with my builds 

Indeed! Well Done.