Product Description
TACAM R-2
(RO105)
includes one TACAM R-2 Tank Destroyer with crew.
After the disaster at Stalingrad in November 1942, the inadequacy of the 3.7cm gun which armed the Romanian R-2 tank needed to be addressed. Faced with the fact that the R-2 had to stay in active service, the Romanian Army decided to convert the vehicle into a self-propelled gun armed with a captured Soviet 76mm. The project was entrusted to Colonel Constantin Ghiulai, who had conceived the TACAM T-60. The first prototype of the TACAM R-2 was built between July and September 1943 and by early 1944 it was decided that 40 R-2 tanks would be converted to TACAMs.
The TACAM R-2 was armed with the Soviet 76mm ZIS-3 gun with either Romanian or German made gun sight and fired Romanian Costinescu ammunition (both AP and HE) rather than the original Soviet ammunition. The gun was mounted in a three-sided fighting compartment that was roofed to provide overhead protect for its crew.
The TACAM R-2 enjoyed the same performance as the R-2 but the fighting compartment gave it an unavoidable high profile and the overhang created by the length of gun barrel made trench crossing awkward. The gun was adequate for dealing with the T-34 at ranges of around 500 metres but by the Spring of 1944 the Red Army was fielding the heavy IS-2 tank and the 76mm gun was deemed inadequate for dealing with such a treat.
A proposal was put forward to up-gun the remaining chassis with the excellent TAC 43 Reşiţa 75mm gun or the German ‘88’ but with Romania’s defection to the Allies on 23 August 1944 no further consideration was given to the proposal.
Hull-mounted Guns
Some tanks mount weapons in the front of the hull instead of in a turret to save weight or to make them easier to produce.
A hull-mounted weapon mounted in the front of a vehicle has a 180-degree Field of Fire covering everything in front of a line drawn across the front of the vehicle. If the weapon is mounted at the rear of the vehicle, the Field of Fire covers everything to the rear of a line drawn across the rear of the vehicle.
The TACAM R-2 in Flames Of War
TACAM R-2
Mobility: Standard Tank
Armour Front: 1
Armour Side: 0
Armour Top: 0
Hull MG, Unreliable
Weapon: 76mm ZIS-3 gun
Range: 32”/80cm
Rate of Fire: 2
Anti-tank: 9
Firepower: 3+
Hull mounted
Unreliable
Whether poorly designed, unsuitable for the conditions, or requiring more maintenance than current supply considerations will allow, these vehicles have a significant chance of breakdown when pushed too hard.
If an Unreliable vehicle attempts to move At the Double, roll a die. On a roll of 1 the vehicle becomes Bogged Down.
Description of Components
1x 76mm gun barrel.
1x Crew sprue.
1x Fighting compartment roof.
1x Right track.
1x Left track.
1x Resin hull.
