Have Gun Will Travel: SP Artillery GB 2011

@ Redleg: Join in!  Theres more than enough shootin-an-scootin fun to go around!  

All, I would have just posted pictures of my progress...but my cameraphone decided to be out of batteries.  If I remember to jump back on after my field manual/technical manual study time I'll try again.  I've got most of the interior bits in and ready to go, and I've started on the exterior.  While I'm happy where I am with this build, its my little GAZ-MM truck that I'm really looking forwards to.  I've got a compulsion to...I'll just post pics if it turns out.  Anyways, this is the link to the tutorial I will be using to paint her up (I've got to figure out how to get around painting camo on the 40 rocket barrels).  

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=157067&page=1&ord=1

And since I feel bad about the pictures, here is some awesomeness based on the same chassis as my type 89; the type 95 SPAAG!

Redleg -- thanks for the insight, there's nothing quite like hearing it from the guys who did it! Welcome to the unit, hope tou stick around and build! It stretches the mind to think of a gun barrel visibly flexing during discharge!

Beav -- no worries, post when you can, and THANKS for the Type 95 pic -- I wish Trumpeter would issue this animal based on their common chassis kit! It cries out for scratch/conversion, but a whole lot of info would be needed for that...

Cheers, M/TB379

It stretches the mind to think of a gun barrel visibly flexing during discharge!

Here's a video (no sound though) of an M107 firing from a firebase in Vietnam. You can see the tube's droop starting along about 1:08:

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675067360_artillery-fortification_M107-Self-Propelled-175mm-howitzer_bunkers_soldier-carry-shell

Hans von Hammer

It stretches the mind to think of a gun barrel visibly flexing during discharge!

Here's a video (no sound though) of an M107 firing from a firebase in Vietnam. You can see the tube's droop starting along about 1:08:

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675067360_artillery-fortification_M107-Self-Propelled-175mm-howitzer_bunkers_soldier-carry-shell

 

 

Hans - Why did you go and do that.....I was forced to watch it.........now I am all aroused in the middle of the afternoon .

 Note the nice "small" powder carge. The M107....a howitzer with cahones    Ahhhh....the memories!

As far as participating.....those who know me know I usaully have my WIP posts in armor. I am starting a commission build of an M108 105mm howitzer for the 1 Bn 40 FA reunion. Interesting notes....they may be the only army unit to recieve a USMC citation for their support of the Marines during Tet. The 1/40 fired 165,000 plus rounds in about 15 months of deployment.....That is a lot of steel!

When I have updates I can drop the link here and if anyone wants to comment, you can in either place

If that works, let me know

Rounds Complete!!

Hey guys..I'll start cutting sprue as soon as they release the Dana. I've been waitng for this one since November.   There was a mention of an issue w/ the kit ..I guess the rear of the turret was incorrectly shaped, or was it the stowage box..?

If anyone has any pics, or info..drop me a message  thanks 

JeffB

Here are a few pics of some of the contents of AFV Club's M40 Big Shot in 1/35 scale.  I didn't take pics of all the sprues as there are a lot.  Detail is quite good IMHO. 

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The box art

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the box of goods

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The clear parts

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The PE fret and a string for the tow cable.

Some more pics

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The lower hull in a "special" box

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The aluminum gun barrel

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I tried to get the rifling

I got this big girl on her feet today.

I made an appointment to get in the sheet metal shop tomorrow.

Tony Lee

Even more pics

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The kits supplied rubber band T66 tracks.  The detail looks pretty good although from what I have read, the units in the field used T80 tracks.

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So I bought some of AFV Clubs T80 indy link tracks.

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One of the many sprues

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Some of the smaller parts of the 4 part per link assembly.

Macattack80 - Before you go too far on the M40, you may want to look at my build log from a year ago

/forums/p/117939/1180092.aspx#1180092

It will save you some time...aggravation and maybe help!!

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks for the link redleg12.  Great build sir!    After seeing it though, I think I might build a different kit as I know I won't come close to your rendition.  You set the bar quite high on that one.  The kit itself isn't daunting....its making it look good is what might propel me to choose another kit.

Hans, awesome video!  Thanks for sharing.  That is one heck of a gun!

Nice job on your builds so far everyone!

Kevin - Don't let me scare you off. It is a complicated kit wit a lot of parts. You can use te WIP to find the land mines. When built it is a nice model.

Rounds Complete!!

They used to have about seven or eight  M40s out on the direct-fire range at Graf back in the /70s..... Shot 'em up to hell & back, lol... Those things never "looked American" to me...

Hans - Why did you go and do that.....I was forced to watch it.........now I am all aroused in the middle of the afternoon

Heh... Could almost smell the Wolf-puzzy, couldn't ya... You could take it up with ol' Aiming-Post Amy, Redleg...  I imagine she's done with the Fisties by now and can get yer tube back in battery...

Hans, awesome video!  Thanks for sharing.  That is one heck of a gun!

Yer Welcome... Nothing like a little visual stimulation from hot steel on a cold & snowy day...

-End of Mission

redleg12

Kevin - Don't let me scare you off. It is a complicated kit wit a lot of parts. You can use te WIP to find the land mines. When built it is a nice model.

Rounds Complete!!

I guess.  This B-1 is taking a lot out of me.  I am being a little gun shy I suppose, if you pardon the little pun I threw in there...

Hans -- great video! Yes, the droop and the flex can both be seen. I guess medics used to get sick of being asked if there was any cure for droopy tube...

Kevin -- that M40 kit is a beauty! And a most interesting subject! Is this the one based on the M24 Chaffee chassis? If so, there was a marvelous conversion feature in FSM many years ago as a howitzer from one source was mated with Italeri's unique M24 kit with a lot of scratchbuilding in between, and to see it kitted at last is great. Don't be put off, jusrt go for it!

Cheers, Mike/TB379 (who glued a few more bits to the M110 last night... Italeri should be condemned to spend eternity building their own kits...)

Thunderbolt379

Kevin -- that M40 kit is a beauty! And a most interesting subject! Is this the one based on the M24 Chaffee chassis? If so, there was a marvelous conversion feature in FSM many years ago as a howitzer from one source was mated with Italeri's unique M24 kit with a lot of scratchbuilding in between, and to see it kitted at last is great. Don't be put off, jusrt go for it!

Cheers, Mike/TB379 (who glued a few more bits to the M110 last night... Italeri should be condemned to spend eternity building their own kits...)

Thunderbolt379,  the kit is well detailed IMHO.  I believe that the M40 is based on the M4 chassis.  I think I will give it a go and throw some rounds down range.

I heard that some of Italeri's kits are PITA's.  I guess they put all their engineering in their helicopter kits.

Kevin -- Oh, now I can see it has HVSS suspension, of course it's Sherman-derived... Sorry! The one I'm thinking of was the M41, one of those instances of two vehicles sharing the same number, which always puzzled me. At least that's what I'm remembering.

I look forward to seeing this one built!

Cheers, Mike/TB379 (Yep, Italeri varies in the same model between beautiful plastic molding and rubbish enginering. They're one of those companies that doesn't believe in locator holes and thinks tiny parts will stick perfectly well to flat surfaces all by themselves...)

The problem with Italeri is the plastic and their molding. The make nice, well detailed kits but......you get plenty of practice filling sink marks and injector pin marks. Also the removal from the sprue always needs help with Italeri. Keep the Mr Putty liquid putty ready and finish with Mr. Surfacer 500 and 1200.

The M40 is based on the M4 long carriage...."jumbo". The only howitzer to use the M26 frame was the T92 240mm gun. Only 2 were built. here is the remains of one of them

http://www.redleg2scale.com/walkaround%20gallery/T92.html

As for the M41... the M41 155mm howitzer is based on ye M24 Chaffee frame

http://www.redleg2scale.com/walkaround%20gallery/M41.html

As is ye M37 105mm

http://www.redleg2scale.com/walkaround%20gallery/M37.html

If you are looking for the different kits, you can look here

http://www.redleg2scale.com/RBMI%20Info/SP%20kits.html

hope that helps....at least create some conversation

Rounds Complete!!

Alright, here are some poor pictures, but they do show my progress.

Redleg -- marvelous links, those are great resources. I see, well, i find myself tempted to have a crack at that conversion one of these days myself, the M41 155 howitzer was certainly a weapon with some visual interest about it.

Beav -- it's great to see the kit at this stage, i've often looked at the parts and tried to visualise the interior painted up. It'll be a real looker when it's done!

I've pressed on with the M110 and my opinion of Italeri hasn't improved. It's a good job I have a few scratchbuilding skills and am not afraid to take superglue, drill and styrene and adjust a detail or a bit of engineering as strikes me as necessary. At this point I've built up every part possible before entering the painting phase. Here she is:

Next it's time to mask everything that needs it, axles, the gun slides, attachments for yet more fiddly bits to go on. Then into colour -- Olive Drab with preshading, fade and shade treatments, and West German decals, plus rust, dust and dirt.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Looks like your making great progress Mike..the gun breach assembly looks great!!!  Its really amazing how long that gun tube is, when sitting next to the othe rkit parts!

Pvt mutt...the  amount of road wheels on german armor is one reason I shy away..you made i tlook easy though!!

Hey Guys, here is my progress mocked up to date...basically all construction is done except for the tracks and roadwheels.

I'm a little disappointed by the crew areas, there simply isn't much, between the main compartment, commander's cupola (weird, but it is not connected to the main area at all) and the driver's area; the only thing I've been given is a chair, an air compressor, and foot pedals.  I don't want to make up stuff to jam in there unfortunately.  I will close all the hatches except the forward engine bay hatch, essentially the only one from which you can see stuff.

Beav -- excellent work. I know what tyou mean about the paucity of interior detauil, it's set up to have the back ramp open but there's almost nothing in there to see... Scratchbuilders' paradise, but researech data might be hard to come by. www.sinodefence.com might be a source... I think that's the URL, I could be wrong.

I'm chasing one of these kits right now and if I score it I might build the Type 83 SPG later in the run of this GB, canibalising the tracks in the new one to complete the others...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Kevin . Nice work....looks like you are ready for paint.....3 color camo or sand????

Beav - Looking good, It won't be long for paint for you too!!

I should have the start of my M108 up this weekend.

Rounds Complete!!

redleg12

I should have the start of my M108 up this weekend.

Nice little pop-gun, lol...

Always giggled a ittle when I saw those things (in the museum, that is)...  Lot more room in the turret though...

Progress report on my Emil goes like this: It looks like the PE fenders are going to work out so I went ahead and removed the plastic fenders. While watching some tv today I assembled the breech of the gun and the gun base.

The kit fit  has been excellent and the flash minimal to this point.

Happy Weekend to you

Tony Lee

Well, the forecast is good for tomorrow, which means I will hopefully be spraying (and praying) my basecoat of khaki/tan at the very least.  Today I got a good primer coat of Tamiya Haze Grey down.

OK....for those interested, you can see the start of my M108 build here in the Armor section

/forums/t/134859.aspx

All comments are welcome either ere or in the WIP tread

Rounds Complete!!

Nice work guys, they are all looking great. Speaking of the weather, I've been prevented from spraying by abnormally high humidity last week, however finally got a chance yesterday. I'll skip over the preshading photos as I've now got the sand down. It's just a mix of 75% Tamiya HF-60 Dark Sand and 25% XF-2 Flat White.

The tracks are actually matt black at the moment, but the photo was overexposed so they look a little weird.

Cheers

Tony