CGM Prod. 1/35 M3 105mm Mountain Howitzer, Complete, 5/11/09

I'm enjoying the build alot and its great to see resin kits being used. I don't know why more people try them, well saying that I tried a wodden boat, no more about that.

I think there is factors like cost, clean up, quality of parts and I could go on and on......

You seem to have the bull by the horns here.

Keep up the good work.

Terry.

Bill - Always a pleasure to have you stop in!!

Terry & Steve - glad you are enjoying it. It makes the time to post worth while. as far as the hard work....so so resin kits can be a challange.

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments. (yes Karl.....I'm looking for a bulb!!)

Rounds Complete!!

I really enjoyed reading through your W.I.P the kit looks brilliant so far. All theh hard work is paying off well.

Terry.

Karl = Yep.....I usaully use two lights but one of them....went the way of OOPs on the floor...need to get a new bulb.

OD I have the felling does not do well wilth blue background...especially low light....will change to white until more light....Thanks.

Doc - Thanks for looking. That's my....trademark....the different

Thanks for looking and for your comments.

Rounds Complete!!

 Mike, I have never seen this piece before. She's got a very menacing look about her. She's looking great.

                                                                 doc

The build looks good, Mike!

You have to get some better lighting for your pics though; either that or try a white or gray background. The light you have there is casting a weird, ethereal blue pall on your finish, similar to the problems I think "CitadelGrad" (Bill) was having in that Sherman build.

Kevin - Thanks for stopping in. As far as the figs...I think I am looking at the Dragon airborne figs....just have to get them in some artillery positions. But in concept..Gino and Joe will be in this one.

Yep, this is different and rare, but you know me...different is my middle name!!

Gino - Thanks for looking in. It won't be long now and things can go back to normal!

Marc - The fall may be interesting this year!!

Thanks to all of you for looking in and Happy Easter and Passover to all!!

Rounds Complete!!

Sweeeeeeeet lookin' piece of arty there Mike!! Any plans to add a figure or two to this for size comparison? Nice rarity for the collection fer sure!

After the parts bath, I began work on the lower carriage;

• 1. A coat of Tamiya Black for a prime on all the lower carriage parts
• 2. Assembled the trails to the lower carriage
• 3. A coat of a mix of Tamiya OD and Green Yellow on all the parts
• 4. Tips of the trail bars were painted with Alclad Steel
• 5. Trail bars mounted on the top of each trail
• 6. A small section of blue painted tape was attached to each ramming staff to simulate straps the painted with Model Master OD
• 7. The opposite tips of the styrene wire used for the ramming staffs were stripped to expose the wire to simulate the screw section
• 8. The ramming staffs were mounted

In between drying cycles for the lower carriage I took the upper carriage and howitzer and:  

• 1. Primed with Tamiya Flat Black
• 2. Masked the breech
• 3. Painted with the Tamiya mix.
• 4. Once the green mix was dry, the howitzer was masked and the breech was painted with Alclad Steel.
• 5. The breech block was primed and then painted with Alclad Polished Aluminum.
• 6. The equilibrators were primed
• 7. After drying the piston section masked and the remaining portion painted with the Tamiya mix.
• 8. After the mix dried, the masking was reversed and the piston section was painted with Alclad Polished Aluminum

After the lower carriage was assembled;

• 1. The tires were painted with a mix of Tamiya Flat Black and NATO Black.
• 2. After drying, I used a circle template painted the rims with the Tamiya Green mix.
• 3. After the tires were dry they were mounted to the lower carriage.
• 4. Using MIG Faded US Green I shaded the inner areas.

With everything dry on the upper carriage:

• 1. Assembled the howitzer was to upper carriage
• 2. Installed the equilibrators
• 3. Installed the breech block
• 4. Fabricated the breech block lever from a strip of .020 styrene
• 5. Painted the breech lock handle (from Italeri M101 kit) with Alclad Aluminum
• 6. Installed breech lock handle
• 7. Painted firing lock with Alclad Steel and installed
• 8. Applied some MIG Faded US Green to upper section.
• 9. Assembled the upper and lower section
• 10. Applied a Burnt Sienna wash to the entire howitzer.
• 11. Applied some MIG Dried Mud to the tires

Here is a rear view of the M3, You can also see the trail locking pins fabricated from .026 SS wire.

That's it for now. What remains are some details including the section chest straps, sights then some final dry brushing and work with graphite. Then it will be on to the base.

Time since last time hack - 6.0 hours

H Hour Total 15.5 hours since start

Thanks for looking in, all comments welcome

Rounds Complete!!

Karl - Thanks, that dio actually was my first build after coming back to the hobby....humm 4 years or so ago.  It's good to go back and look at every now and then.

Thanks for the comments on the current build....I know...its resin....Doog is allergic to resin

Thanks Again

Rounds Complete!!

Mike,

A hell of a nice WIP you've got going here!

Good work on the current project here, and on that dio you put up as well--really nice stuff!

Bill - Its always fun to wake up to the smell of muzzle blast in the morning!! Thanks

Wayne - Always a pleasure to have you stop in. Thanks for the comments and for watching.

Rounds Complete!!

Redleg, this is a cool build.  I like the completed build, too.

WE had a couple of howitzers, Betsy and Lizzie, at the Citadel, that our salute gun battery fired at parades, there's NOTHING like hearing artillery.  

To give you an idea of the artillery stuff....here is an old build of mine showing an M102 and M35A2 set in position

The howitzer area

The back of the truck

When you are ready, if you need help, just pull my lanyard

Rounds Complete!!

As I told Manny in his thread on the 150mm gun, an artillery position is the most complicated positions to show. Even with a small gun like this, there will be live ammo, ammo crates, open crates, fired brass, section chest, commuication (phone or walki-talki), ramming staffs, and personal weapons & equipment stacked.

Even a hasty position which has been fired from will have much of the above. I was planning on all this for the M3.

If it is a matter of staying small, in the WWII era you have the M3 105mm, The M2 105mm, kit from Italeri, little bit bigger than the M3. Also the M1A1 75mm pack which various resin kits, Tamiya old metal kit and a new styrene kit coming from a new company called Vision.

105mm ammunition is avalable from Verlinden. The also made 75mm pack ammo. That kit is discontinued but shows up now and then on ebay. Crates for both can be found from Verlinden and others. On all of these I would recommend you buy one and cast as much more as you need.

Commo equipment is availabe from Warrior and Verlinden. Ramming staffs are scratch from styrene rod.

The M3 kit goes for about $25 from CGM. You will pay about the same for a 75mm pack resin kit, most of which are copies of the Tamiya metal kit. The Tamiya kit on ebay will be about $50+. The Italeri M2 105mm will be in the range of $15-20.

Hope this helps.

Rounds Complete!!

Chris & Bill - Thanks. Since this is an off beat item I thought it best to be anal and do step by step. Glad you liked it.

As far as the kit, I will try to fid CGMs web and pass it on BUT.....unless you are an artillery "lover" like I am, the kit itself has VERY POOR instructions. I have had to read half of the TM to make sure it is assembled correctly and find what was missing. The molding is a cottage industry quality. Voids, trapped air, etc. Most of the early hours were cleaning, filling and sanding. I also have to cast a set of sights from the Italeri kit.

Straight up, for the money, it is not worth it. For me, it fills the gap on the list of US artillery and no one else has this model and from that end, I'm ok with it. Most others may not!!!

If you like playing with resin, are interested in the subject and are looking for something airborne..ok but...this little kit will require work.

Just letting you know...then again, my calling card is the strange and different.

Thanks guys for the kind words and support.

Rounds Complete!!

I spent a bunch of time cleaning up the parts and then began assembly. First, I assembled the gun and sled section.

• 1. Attached the sled mounts on either side (these attach to the carriage and support the sights)
• 2. Installed the breech
• 3. Installed the elevating gear
• 4. Scratch built and installed the travel lock assembly The pin is styrene covered rod which is stripped except for the end attachment point. The lock catch is styrene rod with a flat plate of styrene glued to the top to create the catch. The lock itself is a kit supplied part.

Next was the lower carriage

• 1. Installed the wheel locking handle
• 2. Firing base release pedal
• 3. Scratch repair for the firing base pivot joint. These were made using a Waldron punch to punch .020 styrene sheet
• 4. Attached the firing base (installed in the firing position)

            Attached the swivel axel for each wheel. These were installed in the firing position

Moving on to the trails.

• 1. Using 26 gauge wire, I fabricated the hold down for the section chest straps and installed on both trails
• 2. Attached the towing pintel
• 3. Drilled out the trail lock for a trail locking pin
• 4. Using .020 styrene, I fabricated ramming staff holders. These will hold two ramming staffs which will be fabricated from styrene covered wire. The ramming staffs are only mounted on the right trail (as you look from the front).
• 5. Using .020 styrene, I fabricated the section chest holding blocks. The section chest would contain the sights and tools for working with the ammunition. I will have a section chest on the ground nearby which will be taken from an Italeri Kit.

Lastly the upper carriage

• 1. Mounted the traversing hand wheel (hidden from view)
• 2. Using Archer raised detail to enhance the traversing gear box cover.
• 3. Mounted the equilibrator mounts and added Archer details
• 4. Archer detail on the elevating gear box cover
• 5. Attached the elevating hand wheel

With all this done, the parts were given a good bath, rinse and drying. They are in the process of being primed along with the equilibrators, breech block and trail bars.

That's it for now. Hopefully base paint and pull the subassemblies together next.

Time since last time hack - 7.0 hours

H Hour Total 9.5 hours since start

Thanks for looking in, all comments welcome

Rounds Complete!!

Bill - Thanks....I'm glad to pass on information. This hobby is also a historical learning experience.

Rounds Complete!!

Hans - Not sure if these guys are still in buisness. I have tried to find them with no luck. Found this kit on ebay a year or so ago.

Marc - Unfortunatly I have a family commitment the weekend of MCon and it looks like I won't be able to make it this year. Besides, I never build for shows...I doubt something like this would do well with all the bigger super stuff out there. This is a true "redleg" build.

Huxy - Hummm, much of the other allies are not well represented. There is a ton of just US variants that are not made or only in resin. I feel your pain.

Kevin - Yep....you know me....I find & build the horse of another color. This should be a nice little display of a not too well know item. I'm sure many of your mortars are like this. Thank god for the TM.

Thanks to all for stopping in and leaving a comment. Hopefully this helps expand your mind!!

Rounds Complete!!