Long absence, new updates for: J2M3 Raiden and M13/40 (new project) - April 25, 2026
Hello everyone. It's me Antony, back with another Blog in 2026.
I know. I've been absent without writing anything new here. As most of you are aware, Julie (our family's dog) passed away on February 18. And, during those days I fell into depression. Some things related to my personal life haven't been going well and sometimes it has affected my work a little - making me think about finding something else to do in life and giving up my current position.
I haven't been active on Blogspot lately, except for Antony B. Arnoni - Literary Works with chapter 4 and 5 in German for The Two Survivors. The reason for that is because my brother and I had to attend the HDD from the computer I use the most. Since we installed Fedora Linux as an alternative to Microsoft Windows after the controversy surrounding Windows 11, we had to format the HDDs to be compactible with Fedora. Unfortunately, some issues appeared while I was working on my Unity3D RTS project, which we figured out to insert the HDD to the computer my brother use in order to save the majority of my personal things (photos, music, videos, docs and more), as well his personal things and our mother's. Since there are tons and some are updated compared to our personal things on the other computer, we're working on updating all the things and save anything that is new before formating the HDD and re-import our things back and re-install the HDD to the computer I use.
Another thing that caused backlash is recent news surrounding the new Brazilian Digital Statute of the Child and Adolescent (Digital ECA), which came into effect on March 17, 2026, enforcing the user's ID to access any inappropriate content on social network. Places like X, Discord and others had to adapt in order to follow the guidelines of the new Digital ECA and some games companies had to change their terms of service according to this, with RIOT being forced to change the age classification to Mature for League of Legends and game loot boxes are targeted as prohibited. Rockstar Games (known for the GTA game series) announced they won't be selling their games in Brazil in response to the Digital ECA. MidnightBSD also announced they ended their activities in Brazil since they wouldn't accept the implementation of an ID system into their OS. It's a similar thing that is happening in the UK, Australia and in other country.
I don't like to get too political regarding this, but other countries implemented an age verification by ID card or facial scan. For the majority of users, it wasn't necessary the state to intervene with such drastic measure in order to prevent a child to access the internet from a cellphone or any other device and ends accessing inappropriate content where their parents could do so. Also, providing the users' ID card or facial scan could lead into personal data being leaked and being used by anyone with evil intentions. Not mention that people sees it as a censorship - not being allowed to express anything on anyplace that could be interpreted as a critic towards the government.
I'll continue posting some things, even though X is starting to get weird, with some posts being branded as 'mature' and you have inform your ID to allow you to visualize those posts. Fortunately BlueSky didn't implement a similar thing, which is fine for one thing.
Enough of that. I'm going to share you the images of the Mitsubishi J2M3 Raiden.
The J2M3 received a nice pair of landing gears and fairings. I tried my best to fit the fairings according to the schematics. In addition, I had to adjust the fuselage to create some space for the wheels when it's retracting during take off.
Also, I added the cockpit's internal components like the gunsight, seat, dashboard and stick. And imported the Armature to rig the Japanese air interceptor.
The J2M3 Raiden is going to be my next Japanese aircraft made after the Ki-61 Hien and the Ki-27 Nate. I have plans of starting the Ki-84 Hayate, Ki-44 Shoki or the G4M Betty. But for now, I'm going to conclude my existing WW2 planes like the Macchi C.202 and C.205, Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and Ju 88, Heinkel He 111, Ilyushin IL-2, Gloster Meteor and others.
Before concluding this Blog, I'm going to share you the new project I started these days. And again, this habit never ends. The project in question is the Carro Armato M13/40 - the Italian's medium tank from World War 2. Here's the brief story of this tank.
The M13/40 was designed to replace the M11/39 as the main medium tank. The name refers to "M" for Medio (medium) according to the Italian tank weight standards at the time, 13 tonnes was the scheduled weight and 1940 the initial year of production. In 1939, the Regio Esercito requested specifications for a new tank based on the British 6-Ton tank - with some units captured during the Spanish Civil War. Ansaldo presented their model, capable of housing a 47 mm Cannone da 47/32 M35 gun. This gun was capable of knocking down light armored vehicles and British cruiser tanks, although it proved to be inadequate against heavy infantry tanks. The tank would receive three or four Breda 38 machine guns (one coaxial, two on the hull and one on top of the turret for Anti-Air defense) and the crew is composed of four men: the commander who also operates the main gun, the loader, the driver and the radio operator who also operates the machine gun. The interesting feature is the diesel engine that powers the M13/40 tank as few countries like the Soviet Union with the T-34 would adopt instead of the petrol engine that would burst in flames when hit. However the tank's main armor is fixed by rivets - dangerous when hit by non-penetrative rounds that could pop out in violent ricochets. The main gun is inadequate to face modern Allied and Soviet tanks like the T-34, M3 Lee, M4 Sherman, Cromwell, Matilda II, Churchill and Valentine tanks. The major action the M13/40 saw in WW2 was during the Invasion of Greece, North Africa campaign, Sicily and Italy; with considerable victories against the British. In 1942, as the Allies began deploying M3 Lee/Grant medium tanks and Crusader Mk IIIs, along with towed 6-pounder (57 mm) anti-tank guns in their infantry units, the M13/40s were outnumbered, outdated and easy to knock out. Despite the crewmen attempting to put sandbags to increase survivability, it was no use. Production ended around 1941 as Ansaldo presented its successors: the M14/41 and M15/42. Some M13s were retrofitted to house the powerful 75 mm Obice da 75/18 modello 34, designated as the Semovente da 75/18.
What's interesting about the M13/40 is that it led to the development of its successors: the M14/41 and the M15/42. Although the three tanks are pretty similar, the minor differences are the engine radiator grids being larger and the final medium tank having a larger gun compared to the other two.
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| M13/40 |
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| M14/41 |
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| M15/42 |
See? These are the Italians medium tanks used built in World War 2. They're pretty similar, which I can make the three of them in one project, as well the Semovente da 75/18. But the Italian tank self-propelled gun will be for another Blog.
Let me show you the renders of the M13/40.
Pretty cool, right? Unlike my previous tank projects, I decided not to abuse the Subdivision Surface modifier. The wheels, the Breda machine guns and the main gun were made with cylinders - divided between 64 and 128 edges for a smooth design. The only component with Subdivision Surface is the gun mantlet. And again, I won't be using that modifier in order to overload my 3D models with tons of vertices and triangles if the idea is to make high-poly count models to decrease animation performance.
Also, I plan to resume my previous tank projects for cleaning up the excess of subdivisions. I've been working on the T-34, SU-100, Tiger I, Panzer III and IV before starting the M13/40. I'll share the images in the future.
Well, that's it for now my friends. I hope you like this Blog. Let us hope this year bring us new content and something different from the usual. In case I have some spare time to enjoy, I'll be working on other things aside from Blender projects and my personal things. Until the time comes, you will be surprised to see them. See you next time.
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