I decided the best course would be the get the Mack truck (my prime mover) built just enough to figure out how to complete my 8" howitzer. That involved getting the towing pintle up to the right height, and that in turn required that I clean up and assemble the lower half of the truck -- or at least the chassis and suspension, etc. so I could prop the wheels on.
So I spent Sunday doing just that. It's not like it's time wasted, as it got me a good head start on the prime mover, and a massive truck it is too. I had to clean up the chassis, suspension, axles, engine, etc.
The Azimut truck isn't a bad kit, as resin kits go. The lower part of the engine block is provided and it's pretty cleanly cast, but there is a massive resin overflow at the top which took a while to sand down -- I wasn't a fanatic about it, as it disappears up into the bottom of the truck anyway, but it wouldn't fit properly unless it was whittled down a fair bit.
Construction of the suspension was pretty straightforward. The fit of the model is good so far.
I propped six of the ten wheels on and measured how far off the ground the towing pintle is. That should give me a decent final height for my trails before I assemble them -- I may actually try a dry fit on the pintle, but that would involve affixing the wheels to the truck and that might be more trouble that it's worth. (I obviously don't want to glue the wheels on yet.)
I then turned back to the gun and worked on some of the fiddlier parts of the suspension. I have to leave a lot of parts off until I have that height determined. That I can't do until I have my Masters Productions WWII wheels for the gun. D'oh! So for now it's a little of this, a little of that.
Some of the parts will also require a bit of conversion, but nothing too spectacular. Easy stuff I can do.