Deweycats Norwegian Pansarbil 22 Armoured Transport - 1/56th scale

Building Bolt Action armies other than those of “The Big Five” can be akin to being a religious zealot wearing a hair shirt – it’s self-inflicted grief endured because of a belief that other nations deserve to be represented.
Currently, one of the most ill-served nations on the table is Norway. Their army .pdf has, for example, but one artillery piece. Period. While Norway was no military juggernaut, their OoB was broader than that. This includes Armoured Fighting Vehicles. By 1939 Norway had acquired four AFVs: each a unique model, and all but one an ingenious design.
The first was a light tank, the L-120, based on a single Swedish Landsverk L-120 purchased without a turret or armour. A turret was fashioned in Norway, as were simple metal plates installed for the armour, and the tank was put through trials and participated in some exercises in the late 1930s. It had been removed from service prior to the German invasion in April 1940.
The next three were all Norwegian efforts to build wheeled AFVsw. The first was a true armoured car, the Pansarbil 21. It was based on a 6 x 4 Morris truck chassis. It was fully enclosed and had a rotating turret armed with a single MG. This vehicle was in service as early as 1935 but was retired from service by 1939.
The next two were essentially armoured transports – the Pansarbil 22 and 23. Both were based on Chevrolet Commercial trucks, the Pansarbil 22 was based on a 2.5-ton dual rear axle 4 x 6 truck, and the Pansarbil 23 model based on a 1.5 ton single rear axle truck chassis. The 23 model only had a single front mounted MMG as armament.
This model represents the Pansarbil 22. The commercial truck had its body stripped off, and a simple armoured structure installed. Note there are no doors, presumably the driver and front gunner entered via the truck bed. The truck was armed with the front mounted Colt model 29 MMG, and in the bed initially a 57mm cannon was installed, but this was removed before 1939 and at the time of the invasion a Kongsberg-Hotchkiss 37mm gun of naval origin was mounted. There are photos of the Pansarbil 22 both with and without a large round gun shield. I am not sure what gun had the gun shield, so I went with the 37mm gun without the gun shield, as the photo of the 22 without a gun shield are that of the 37mm gun. In game play, the presence or absence of the gun shield does not affect point cost or game play.
While neither the Pansarbil 22 or 23 saw action in the April 1940 fighting, both were in service and stationed at the Gardermoen, near Oslo. The units stationed there responded to the German assault without their two AFVs. Both vehicles were captured by the Germans, and Pansarbil 22 was then employed by occupation forces, complete with a new paint scheme (please refer to historical pics).
This model includes stl packs specifically for resin as well as FDM printing. The resin files do provide better detail, as I had to reinforce parts of the model for the FDM print and simplify the main gun. The resin stls include hollowed and pre-supported stls.
The test print in the photos has an FDM hull, and resin wheels and main gun.
As this model is currently ignored by WLG, as for point cost, the Pansarbil 22 can be costed as follows:
- Wheeled, 8 passengers, 7 + armour, open-topped = 43 points (same as Italy’s AS-37)
- front mounted MMG, + 10 points
- light ATG, covering front and sides, + 50 points
- Total = 103 points (regular)
As there was only one in service at the time, only one could be taken in any Norwegian list.

Printing tips
1) There are separate files for FDM, basic resin, and pre-supported resin, including a hollowed hull. These supports worked for me, but results can vary due to machine, resin, temperature, etc
2) When printing in FDM, I recommend using tree supports, particularly for the gun, and use a brim for the gun and the MMG print.
3) In all cases, remove supports with care, and always test fit before gluing.