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Have Gun Will Travel II: SP Artillery GB 2012

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  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: New york
Posted by JEFFB on Saturday, July 28, 2012 5:17 PM

Whew..finally started looking through the box!!  I decided to build the M109A6 Paladin, circa ODS. The kit includes PE, Skybow tracks, and someones metal barrel.

A quick search mentioned a large bow shaped slug of plastic in front of the howitzer required removal.

I buried slabs of scrap plastic and epoxy in the underside channel..and forgot about it for a month...oops!

searching through parts bin turned up a forgotten metal barrel for the 50 cal!!!  

Time to get building..any comment welcome!

Jeff

  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Denver, Colorado
Posted by waynec on Monday, July 30, 2012 5:25 PM
here are the pin tracks on my T-62. obviously it's easier to do before putting the upper hull on. some mud and fender shadow and no one will see the pins.

Никто не Забыт    (No one is Forgotten)
Ничто не Забыто  (Nothing is Forgotten)

 

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Monday, July 30, 2012 6:19 PM

Waynec -- that looks great! Very realistic lie of the track and in the shadows under the fender who would even think to look? Great stuff!

I have the etch underway on the AS-90, it's a bit of a learning curve but (touch wood) I seem to be getting the hang of it, I've used about 20 items so far and they're looking the part...

M/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by gunner_chris on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 3:41 AM

Wayne those do look great.  Is it just the glue that keeps the pins straight?  

  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Denver, Colorado
Posted by waynec on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 8:58 AM
yes, cya on the white plastic inside, aligned the pin so it was straight, added more cya and hit it with accelerator. will paint and dirty them today and add more pics. new finescale had a tip about using foam earplus when :gluing" tracks to road wheels. they conform to the under the fender space and provide enough pressure. here is a pick of zvezda T-34/85. i read going in the tracks were too tight and moved the idler closer to no. 1 road wheel but it was tight. this is drilling holes for pins after tank is complete. (tried blue tack to hold track down but didn't stay. thinking of using epoxy. the left side pic shows the blue tack not holding on no. 1 but ok on no. 4.  this is after pinning but obviously i couldn't put the white plastic brace under the pin inside the hull. not great but good enough for this build. cya on the brass ros before inserting into the hole isn't as tight, harder to work accelerator in without staining and harder to get hole at the correct height.  BTW as anyone tried using 2 part epoxy to secure rubber band track instead of melting the pins?

Никто не Забыт    (No one is Forgotten)
Ничто не Забыто  (Nothing is Forgotten)

 

MAC
  • Member since
    July 2009
  • From: Keyport, New Jersey
Posted by MAC on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 9:18 AM

Gentlemen I would like to enter the campaign using the M5OA1 ONTOS  Will that be acceptable?

Thanks

Mac

Thanks 

Mac

  

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 7:57 PM

Mac -- hi there! Interesting proposition -- this GB is expressly for SP tube artillery and artillery rocket systems, and the Ontos was designed primarily as a tank-destroyer. BUT -- it was used for direct fire against infantry in Vietnam, a traditional artillery role, so this may qualify it. Okay, it's a bit of a technicality, I guess... But unless anyone has an objection (did I exclude the M50 during the prebuild discussions? I really don't remember...) I'd say she's onboard!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN
Posted by EBergerud on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 1:41 AM

The Army actually burdened infantry with recoiless rifles at the start of Vietnam - it was hard to figure out a use for them as the enemy had no tanks so they ended up in storage or in static defense. I think the Ontos was used several times during 1968-69 when there were several "battles." Very common for NVA or VC Main Force units to grab a place and fortify it. Then something with punch firing direct was valuable. Believe several were used during TET. The LAW was an anti-tank weapon that I doubt ever destroyed a tank during Vietnam but was a very widely used weapon against enemy bunkers etc which covered some parts of Vietnam. I applaud keeping anti-tank weapons out, but this should be a keeper. You wouldn't keep a Priest out because every now and then they were shooting at tanks over open sites.  

Eric

 

A model boat is much cheaper than a real one and won't sink with you in it.

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 1:47 AM

Well put, Eric, and I'm in complete agreement, so I'll take that as a vote of confidence. Right, Mac, by all means rip into that Ontos kit and I look forward to seeing it built. Will update p1 shortly!

Cheers, welcome aboard,

Mike/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: New york
Posted by JEFFB on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 8:10 PM

The Ontos is an impressive kit when finished, the shear look of the quad barrels is intimidating

 

Good call Mike allowing this one!

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by gunner_chris on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 10:41 PM

Finished painting now.  I found every time I tried to touch up the camo then I wanted to fix another part.  I think I need to settle on "good enough".

And I printed the decals off, homemade ones so they are getting the bonder tonight.

Tomorrow is applying the decals and some detail painting.

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by gunner_chris on Thursday, August 2, 2012 8:57 PM

I realized I oversprayed the tracks when fixing the camo.  Luckily I hadn't glued the road wheels so off came the tracks.  Not going to finish when I thought but now I've opened space to work and maybe fix the track sag.

Did the bonding but remembered I want to future coat first before the decals.

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Friday, August 3, 2012 12:05 AM

Gentlemen,

Lets call the "clean" phase of this bad boy pretty much finished. Not really sure what to do weathering wise, will dirty it up somehow.Wink

One thing I don't understand is what happened to the paint Confused. I painted the whole thing in Tamiya's dark grey. After few days I did some touch-ups and the colour was much lighter. You can see the difference on the top of the casamat and the gun barrel and mantlet.

Anyway, I gues that is the advantage of armor modeling: dirt and equipment can cover stuff up Whistling

Here are some pix...

 

MAC
  • Member since
    July 2009
  • From: Keyport, New Jersey
Posted by MAC on Friday, August 3, 2012 3:23 PM

Here are some photos of my work in  progress

This is the second armored vehicle That I have tried to make. I still have a lot to do  and I have to paint it

Thanks

Mac 

  

  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Denver, Colorado
Posted by waynec on Sunday, August 5, 2012 1:39 PM
he are the track pins after painting. very hard to see and, with the hull top on and fender shadows almost impossible. a little putty or modeling clay painted to look like mud and bob's your uncle.

Никто не Забыт    (No one is Forgotten)
Ничто не Забыто  (Nothing is Forgotten)

 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: New york
Posted by JEFFB on Sunday, August 5, 2012 6:23 PM

Waynec- the pins give the tracks a very convincing sag!!  Great idea

 

Work continues on the PALADIN. I added the armor plate to the drivers hatch, and some small bolts. The plate is .020 card...found a great use for junk phone cards!

Another disappointment was the metal barrel..theres a missing collar just forward of the mantlet, a bit of .030 disc corrected this issue. I used a cone shaped stone to size the disc,

Weld beads wee also added to the fume extractor..stretched sprue to the rescue!!!

Enjoy!

Jeff

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Sunday, August 5, 2012 11:47 PM

Wayne and Jeff, great work guys!

M/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Monday, August 6, 2012 4:05 AM

EBergerud
The LAW was an anti-tank weapon that I doubt ever destroyed a tank during Vietnam

Actually it did on numerous occasions. Starting in January 1968 when the NVA first employed armor at Lang Vei near Khe Sanh. During the battler there, they were used in the unsucessful defense of the camp to knock out some PT-76s. Later during the Battle of An Loc during the 1972 Easter Offensive they were used to kill NVA T-54s in the street fighting there.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN
Posted by EBergerud on Monday, August 6, 2012 12:44 PM

Should have stipulated US forces. The 72 Nguyen Hue (their word) or the Easter Offensive (ours) was the biggest battle of the war and PAVN used and lost several dozen AFVs. Don't think anybody really knows because at places like An Loc B-52s obliterated square miles of territory. Was thinking of writing a book about that campaign and interviewed Turley and Miller, two of our top advisers in the An Loc campaign. Both said if PAVN had thrown away the Soviet book and bypassed An Loc  that Saigon would have been very vulnerable to capture. "Smart" weapons made their bigtime debut in that campaign (guess TOW was sort of smart - the laser guided bombs used in the North were brainy for the time). So I suppose LAWs would have had victims - there was a lot of very close fighting at several locations. But I doubt many. I interviewed a lot of 25th Division vets and several used LAWs and found them very useful on occasion but noted they were glad the targets weren't tanks. (Depressing to read about debates over Hanoi's intentions at Khe Sanh or in 1972. We just never got it. PAVN was great exponent of hitting hard, let the fur fly, and see what comes up. In my humble, Hanoi and company was the most skilled enemy the US ever engaged. Surely they screwed up more than once but nobody has ever fought a perfect war.)  

I'm not really sure about 1968. The fighting around Khe Sanh was a nasty business and we weren't on the winning side of every skirmish - that's not good for record keeping. Wikipedia (which has a dicey entry on the Easter Offensive) notes in the PT-76 entry that LAWs did not do well at at Lang Vei and it was a recoilless rifle that did the dirty work. (As earlier noted recoiless rifles were often found "dug in" throughout Vietnam.) I guess we didn't give ARVN the ONTOS during "Vietnamization" - Not sure why - I'd guess they would have found use for them. Maybe we figured a dug-in RR was more effective. A few of those might have come in handy in 72.

The Army didn't like the LAW as an anti-tank weapon and intended on retiring it but Congress got stingy after "Peace" in Vietnam. We got some AT4s from Sweden but found there were precious few tanks to fight. As I understand it, LAWs, being nice and light, found a second wind in Afghanistan and Iraq for hitting caves etc. Not long ago I talked to an old friend who served as a 17 year old Marine in WWII, joined the Army and was with Task Force Smith in Korea and a province adviser in Vietnam. For thirty years the guy's been toasting Army for not having a really good US made Panzerfaust-like weapon. (Comment on the LAW - "worthless on a modern battlefield.") He said during the Korean battles in 1950 that the bazooka was seriously flawed and the soldiers knew it and that if infantry had their own anti-tank weapon that worked well they would be more inclined to stick around. His point is that if you run into a tank you don't necessarily have the time to get in gunships or aircraft and considers Army doctrine (ie unsupported US infantry will rarely see a tank to be a matter of faith. The Army's been right - so far.    

Eric

 

A model boat is much cheaper than a real one and won't sink with you in it.

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by gunner_chris on Monday, August 6, 2012 10:35 PM

I got the tracks touched up and sagging.  Went with a suggestion to glue down the track to the middle 3 wheels.  I much more like how it looks now.

I still need to tone down the tools, maybe add a little rust.  But not too much because the det commander would never stand for that.

I put the future down where the decals will go, and they are ready so in the next couple days hopefully they'll be going on.

I don't like so far how it photographs, I'm hoping its partially the iphone as well it'll look better with some dullcoat on it.  It certainly doesn't look that bright in person.

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: New york
Posted by JEFFB on Thursday, August 9, 2012 8:04 PM

Looking good so far Chris!  My camera does the same thing..found turning the flash off helped.

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by gunner_chris on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 8:38 PM

DONE

I was going to add antennas but I noticed that I don't have AMU's so not worried about that detail.

Made up my own decals, fixed up the tracks and its been dullcoated.

Phew.....

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 8:56 PM

Well done, GC, she looks great -- the custom decals and clearcoating really set the tone!

Updating p1 gallery!

Mike/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: NJ
Posted by JMart on Thursday, August 16, 2012 5:46 PM

Workshop back in business after a Spring of flooding/damage/repair. Time to re-start some Dark Side stuff, apologies for the late entry.

Maquette 1:35 ASU-57 (light airborne Soviet SPG ) with Eduard PE. Will post the sprue pics later.

Anyone who has bult this kit feel free to suggest anything :)

cheers

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Thursday, August 16, 2012 8:16 PM

Welcome aboard JMart -- have updated p1, go for it!

M/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Australia
Posted by taxtp on Thursday, August 16, 2012 8:42 PM

Good one Chris, it's striking.

Cheers

Tony

I'm just taking it one GB at a time.

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Thursday, August 16, 2012 11:51 PM

Well..its finished and its dirty.

Comments, suggestions, critiques, jokes all wellcome...

Cheers...

And some of the followers...

 

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Australia
Posted by taxtp on Sunday, August 19, 2012 2:33 AM

That looks pretty good Castelnuovo, really good. The dirt effect is convincing.

Mike - Can I change my build from the 1/72 Bishop to a 1/48 Bandai Wespe please ?

Thanks

Tony

I'm just taking it one GB at a time.

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by Thunderbolt379 on Sunday, August 19, 2012 2:45 AM

Castelnuovo -- absolutely, first rate work, it looks great! Updating p1 shortly.

Tony -- certainly, and that's quite a rare kit!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Australia
Posted by taxtp on Sunday, August 19, 2012 6:44 AM

I was lucky enough to pick it up at a swap meet today, It's not in collectible condition, so I have no qualms about building it. At least I get to keep to my chosen scale and still join in.

Cheers

Tony

I'm just taking it one GB at a time.

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