Have Gun Will Travel II: SP Artillery GB 2012

You're really moving along there, John! Great work, it's looking good, especially for so small an item!

Cheers, M/TB379

Thank's Mike , I'm quite pleased how the engine has work out . I only needed to file the sides of the support  engine mounts a little and it fitted into the M7 hull nicely .

I found some crew figures to use , two from a Hasegawa M4A3E8 Sherman kit and Italeri's M4 doner kit had a figure on the sprue anyway . I had to cut the arm of the seated driver as he was slightly wider than the seat

I added a couple of control levers for the driver and he's sitting in place nicely

I'm really happy how this build is going so far , a really enjoyable project .

John .

Thunderbolt379

You're really moving along there, John! Great work, it's looking good, especially for so small an item!

Cheers, M/TB379

  Nice work as usual.

Thunderbolt379

The Atomic Canon -- Renwal? Revell? Glencoe? Sounds old -- 1:40th scale?

M/TB379

The Revell Renwal re-issue.  It is 1/32 and that makes it BIG!

Would AFV Club's M1128 Mobile Gun System qualify?  I guess it's more of an infantry support vehicle but it carries a 105mm cannon. 

Jim -- spectacular! Should make a highly indicidual an rare model!

Kevin -- I don't see why not, we had an M108 last year which mounted a 105 IIRC, and self-propelled is the clincher.

One day ... I have a yen to scratchbuild the giant Russian atomic guns, probably the OKD rather than the Kondensator, which was a mortar rather than a gun IIRC. (Or was it the other way round? I must find that feature in Tankograd Gazette...) But I'd need better photos and plans that I have access to as yet.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I'm jumping in for this build..after the 152mm Dana I need another piece of artillery on my shelf!  Still undecided on kit yet..finishing up my Maz 537g so I have some time!   count me in!

Jeff B

JeffB -- you're in! Can't wait to see what you build!

Okay, gents and artillerymen, here's my first progress post on Trumpeter's AS-90. First the obligatory boxtop pic:

And the first WIP:

67 parts used so far, and some filler work beginning. The boxy mantlet is not a good fit and will take a lot of adzing, filing, filling and sanding to make its five parts look like one.

the kit is a good one but misses some details and simplifies others. Yesterday I went ahead and ordered both the Eduard sets, which together cost more than the kit, especially off the shelf here (which price I certainly did not pay!), so it'll be an interesting exercise. I considered a punch and die set to generate the missing bolt heads, but when I checked out the price I winced and backed off...

There are a number of missing weld seams which I might do with strip plastic and a hot screwdriver, we'll see when I get there. I can't rip into the upper hull and turret until the PE arrives, so I'll do everfything I can on the lower hull and gun, and possibly get the wheels into colour. I'm considering building the wheels before painting and not bothering with colour on the facing sides, they certainly line up very close together. Anyone have any oppinions on this approach? How do you think it looks?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Great start on the lower hull  Mike 

All the 1/35 proposed Self Propellrd Artillery kits are going to look awesome .

I've done a little more on my 1/72 kitbash IDF M7 Priest

I thought I may of had the bogies and wheels attached by this stage , hopfully first thing tomorrow .

Instead I airbrushed the lower hull section Olive Drab . I tried mixing Tamiya Acrylics of  two parts XF-51 Khaki Drab with one part XF-62 , trying to get a slight brownish olive drab finish as one of my reference books mentions how a lot of Shermans and M7 Priest's came from France and that was the color untill the IDF refurbished them . Anyway it still looks olive drab to me , so I'll see how the upper hull looks after I get some paint on that .

Driver and 105mm Howitzer in place

I filed off the molded on spare track and boxes as one was sitting too high next to the driver hatch and I made some new ones from strip plastic and cut three track lengths from the Italeri M4 doner kit and sat them inside the new boxes

I aslo cut open the left side hinged armour plate to pose it open

Then I decided to cut down the pulpit to match some of the IDF reference pic's I have

Next up , the bogies and wheels .

John .

Marvelous miniature work here, John. To go to these lengths in 1:72 is truly skillful and ambitious, it's going to be an eyecatching model!

I've been filling and sanding, I just fixed the gaps around the final drive covers. There should technically be a weld seam in that location but I can't see me being able to heat-texture strip plastic in a right angle corner without obviously damaging the perpendicular surface. There are two weld seams around the final drive covers themselves, and they are condidates for reworking. I may not have much else I can do before the etch arrives, and I'm sure I'll get the itch to pull out that Chinese Type 83 in the meantime...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt379

Marvelous miniature work here, John. To go to these lengths in 1:72 is truly skillful and ambitious, it's going to be an eyecatching model!

  Keep up the good work!

Mike, you're off to a good start already.  You can put me down for an 1/35 AFV Club M1128 MGS.  Thanks.  If this runs for a year I will try to finish the M40 from the last one here as well. 

Almost nothing on my AS-90 that was supposed to be square was square.  It required some persuaion and the occaisional terse word.

Looks good so far.  Your plan for the wheel sounds good too.  Looking forward to more updates.

Macattack80 -- will update p1 right away, looking forward to that M1128!

I assembled the AS-90 wheels yesterday, after looking closely at research photos and pics of other models and deciding that the inner rank of wheels is simply not clearly visible even from the most oblique angles, thus a painted distinction between the hub and the rim back there is not necessary. I'm hoping to get them into paint later today.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Well, I got the AS-90 wheels done today. I did six in black and six in green to match the camo that seems to have been used in Bosnia, but did the back of all pairs in standard NATO green as it seems logical that the continuation of the theatre camo over the outer faces would have been a local addition -- that's a guess of course. That's pretty much all I can do now until the etch arrives.

Oh, I was researching the Braveheart canon modification which is included in the kit, and was surprised to find that the 52-calibre barrel was an abandoned project. So I won't be using those parts; and when I eventually build that second one in my stash it'll be in Iraq markings, not a long-gun what-if.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I'm nearing the finish line as the painting is done along with a few light coats of clear gloss so the IDF M7 Priest is ready for the few decal markings and wash / weathering

I'm using some of the Black Dog IDF Equipment set canvas rolls and there's other packs from the spares box with some woodern crates as well .

I found a nice piece of mesh secreen on some UH-1D Huey PE sets I have and it was the perfect fit for the vent cover on the engine deck

I also found some more figures to use depicting work on the engine

Everything is going along well .

John.

I just stumbled upon this pic on the net which has the same markings I put on my IDF M7 Priest

I'm not sre of the time period but the crew are wearing beige colored uniforms and it's a little hard to tell if the M7 is brownish olive drab or sand grey ???

I can easierly repaint my crew figures , I just hope my olive drab finish is correct . I would hate to have come this far and find out I completely "stuffed-up" 

John .

I'm not quite finished yet but here's a sneek peek ...

View from the rear ...

I added a small instrument panel for the driver and he also has a uzi for self protection

I tried repainting my crew figures with a beige / buff color but I'm in two minds as what color I should use ?

I think I might go back with the faded green uniform

John .

John -- that's an amzing amount of work on so tiny a model! Well done, this is amazing to see!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thank's for the kind comments Mike , they are very much appreciated .

Here are some finish pic's of my 1/72 Israeli M7 Priest Self Propelled Gun

I replaced the original crew with some identical figures from the spares box and I airbrushed them with a 50 / 50 mix of Tamiya acrylic XF-62 Olive Drab and XF-2 Flat white for a faded green uniform color with a small amount of black enamel wash and finished with a few coats of flat clear on the figures

I'm very happy how the engine deck work out with the mesh screen an a crew member preforming field maintanence

Overall I'm very happy how this build came together , it was a combination of Italeri's 1/72 fast assembly M7 Priest with Italeri's M4 (M4A1) Sherman bogies , wheels , tracks and engine , some Black Dog Israeli resin equipment canvas sets , stowage box's from the spares box and a little scratch-building  .

John .

Very well done, John! Kudos on completion of a fiddly challenge! That's a minior masterpiece!

Adding your build to p1 right away.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thank's again Mike .

I'm not sure if this kit would be suitable although one of my IDF reference books has it catagorized in the Self Propelled Rocket Launcher chapter .

1/72 ICM BM -24-12 Multiple Rocket Launch System

It looks to be a fun build with lots of detail

During the 1967 Six Day War the IDF were able to capture significant numbers of the BM-24 240mm rocket units mounted on Zil 151 and 157 Trucks . Many of the vehicles captured were intack with ammunition and even had the instruction manuals with them , which were quickly translated and the vehicles were put back into service with the IDF and used against it's previous owners

The clear advantage of Self Propelled rocket equipment is the ability to fire the weapon and relocate to another site before counter battery fire can be brought to bear on the unit

Anyway I was wondering if this build would be suitable for the GB .

John .

Hi John,

Yes, absolutely, rocket artillery counts, and the Katyusha is about as self-propelled as you can get. I'll add it to p1 for your next build!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I am a bit behind where I had hoped to be.  Combine laziness with a couple of Star Trek movies and I didn't get this M-44 done...yet.  Maybe by Monday.

It's shaping up pretty nicely if I do say so myself.

Buffirn , your M-44 is looking awesome and I really like the camo scheme

I found a nice color reference pic of the IDF Katyusha on this site ...

http://milinme.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/the-bm-24-12-in-the-idf/

Looks like the wheel hubs and chassie are flat black and the vehicle body israeli Sand Grey .

I'll look around the spares box and see if I can find some ground crew figures to use as well .

John .

Jim and John -- going great here, we have a real GB going! The M44 is looking great, nice paint application, I know how difficult it is to get smooth organic curves with hard demarkation.

I'm working on other projects until my Eduard sets show up, then I can move the AS-90 along.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Helo, great job on the little M7.  You do such nice work in that small scale    Can't wait to see your next project.

Buffirn, I really like the paint job on your M44.  Keep up the good work.

My M1128 is on the way from the people at Lucky Model.  Should be here by next week at the latest.

OK I'm in.

Glad to see the ground rules here don't allow tank destroyers. They're having a SPA build on Flory and they are so lean on the ground on armor modelers that they let in SP guns. That defeats the point. Some of the SP anti-tank guns have a certain grace to them. There's nothing graceful about artillery. We want something with a face that only a mother could love - or an infantryman in need.

So the next kit in the cycle (its AFV time regardless) will be the Academy M-12. (I've heard it'd a decent kit: hope that's true.) I won't be spending money on extras, but we'll see if we can't scratch build some embellishments. (I'm seriously going to try to make a styrene carton of cigarettes to scale - Lucky Strikes I think - if it's big enough. Also wondering about fashioning something that could pass as a bottle of French wine.)

It's a pity the Army couldn't figure out a way to put the Black Dragon on tracks, so the redoubtable 155mm carried by the M-12 will have to do. The Army wasn't sure whether guns of this size should be on tracks, just as they were unsure about the value of the Black Dragon. War is a stern teacher, and American gunners proved very good with this heavy stuff and it earned it's supper first in Italy and then in NW Europe.

Anyway, it's artillery and it's ugly.

Eric

Hi EBergerud,

Good to have you aboard. I have also heard this is a very pleasing kit, so will be watching with interest.

Adding you to p1 right away,

Mike/TB379

I was reading through the Thomas Gannon , Israeli Sherman book and came across a pic of three IDF personal loading a 240mm shell into a BM -24 Katyusha ...

It would be awesome if I could find some 1/72 scale figures to match the photo . Especially seeing the enormous effort required to load a single shell !

I'll start cutting some sprue tonight and clean up the cab interior pieces for airbrushing .

John .

A little progress made on the 1/72 IDF BM-24 Katyusha

It's a bit of good luck that all the chassie , axle's and wheels are molded in black ; Which will save me time not having to airbrush them

So I started with a mix of equal parts of Tamiya acrylics of XF-57+XF-59+XF-20 for a Sinai Gray color scheme and airbrushed the cab interior and some of the rear body parts .

I decided to also buy the ICM 1/72 BM-13-16 and BM-14-16 Katyusha vehicles to add to my IDF collection .

There are some very small little bits of flash on the rocket tubes , so I'll clean those up next and hopefully over this weekend i can get this nice little vehicle together .

John