Italian SPA-Viberti AS43 Armoured Car .stl pack – 28mm

This .stl pack was designed as an option for the Italian player fielding mid to late war Italian RSI units. The .stl pack includes files specifically for both resin and FDM printing.

Italy entered the Second World War in just about the worst strategic situation of any of the major combatants. Italy was saddled with a small industrial base, few natural resources, a colonial empire that was little more than a costly millstone around their neck; a prestige project they could ill afford.

From there things simply got worse. Although their troops fought with grit and determination, their battlefield losses could not be replaced, and their alliance with the Germans was nothing akin to the Western Allies; there was no “Lend Lease” to offered to make up the Italian deficit in equipment and transport.

But wait, it gets worse. Post capitulation in September 1943, Italy descended into a virtual civil war. A Fascist rump state, the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or R.S.I., was formed in the northern half of the Italian boot and continued to fight with the Germans.

The RSI’s army started with a huge deficit. The Germans had already stripped most of the heavy equipment from the Italians. Fortunately for the RSI, work had begun the previous year to build a simpler armoured car, based on the TL 37 truck. More basic than the earlier AS40/41 series armoured cars, the SPA-Viberti AS43 were essentially an armored box placed onto the TL 37 transport truck. The turret was taken from the L 6 light tank and was armed with one turret-mounted light automatic cannon and a co-axial MMG.

The reported numbers of SPA-Viberti AS43 armoured cars built within the short life of the RSI Republic vary widely; the numbers vary from three (based on ones seen in actual photos) to more than one hundred. I found multiple sources for both stats.

I do anticipate we may see this model in the upcoming “Tough Gut” Theatre book; but even if not, it did exist, it was used in combat, and it belongs as an option in an RSI platoon. In Bolt Action, its point cost would be

• +7 armoured car (+ 50 points)
• Light auto cannon (+ 30 points)
• Coaxial MMG (+ 5 points)
• Recce (+ 10 points)

Total 95 points as regular

This model was designed for both FDM and resin printing. THE FDM .stls have the axles separate from the hull to allow “flat to the built plate” printing, plus some detail (e.g., the front grill) was made more robust. As well, the rod that extends the rear wheel well is left off the FDM print, for the obvious reason it would never survive an FDM print unless grossly oversized. The resin files include both the base .stls plus pre-supported .stls with the hull hollowed.