Finally, I am almost done. The summer seems to suck up a lot of time and thus builds are going slow.
The ammunition was tedious work as it required a total of 80 individual decals to create all the markings!
This first picture shows two pallets with HE projectiles. The closest have some fused with PD fuses, the other pallet has some with time fuses. The projectile pallets that come from AFV look plastic. I scratch pallets from 1/32 plywood. Two sheets glued together, the top one drilled for the shell insets. The underside was 2 struts of basswood cut to scale 2 x 4 to allow fork lifting of the pallets. The dunnage for the propellant was also cut basswood to match the 2 x 4 used to pack the propellant. Ammo cans for the fuse cans (fuses packed in 8 packs in 50 cal can size).
Fuse boxes were pin washed with MIG dark wash. The wood grain was also brought out using MIG dark wash as a stain. The projectiles are marked using the AFV ammunition kit decals and were pin washed with MIG dark wash. The propellant canisters use the AFV kit white bands and custom decals to depict both Green bag and White bag propellant.
A third pallet contains two rounds of WP with custom markings (in red) with the yellow band below the markings (closest). Nest was HC smoke with custom black decal markings and lastly Illumination with custom black markings. All the rounds were pin washed with MIG dark wash or a grey oil (white illumination rounds). Also shown is the section tool chest which was pin washed and the handle and box seam were dry brushed with Alclad steel. In the background is the projectile carrier done with Alclad steel
Gun communication is a Plus Model wire reel (RL 50) painted Tamiya flat black for the wires and Tamiya OD green for the reel. The paint was rubbed off on the edges to show normal wear and the reel was pin washed with MIG dark wash. The wire off the reel is 30 gauge SS wire painted Tamiya flat black. The TA312 (telephone) is a radio from an Italeri accessory set. The bottom half is cut off to give the right size for a TA312. The handset is from the same kit. The phone cord is 30 gauge SS wire coiled around a drill bit. The handset and cord are painted Tamiya flat black. The TA312 is painted with Poly Scale dark green then washed with MIG dark wash.
The log book is .020 styrene sheet cut .25 x .3 (scale 8 x 11) then covered with BDU camo decal. The log book is where the crew would keep their record of fire forms and their log sheet to keep track of rounds fired for tube wear.
Lastly is a 5 gallon oil can for bore cleaner. It has a custom decal marking, then a MIG pin wash and then a drip line down the front of Flowquil spilled oil...to simulate spilled oil!!
The pail for bore cleaner was filled half way with wood sealing polyurethane which was tinted with Tamiya Clear red and red brown to simulate RBC in the pail. The bore cleaning rod was styrene rod stock and the fuzzy end of Velcro to make the bore brush.
The rammer was pin washed with MIG dark wash along with the prime box (30 cal ammo box).
View from the rear shows the ammunition preparation area and in the background the rammer and primer box on the ground inside the trails
This photo shows the current state of the build. You can also see the water cans and a box of MREs (Yummmmm).
The spades were "dug" in by mixing up a small batch of base material which was mounded and filled in around the spades.
The last item to complete is the infinity collimator. This was scratch built using parts from the Academy machine gun kit. Parts V17 for the yoke and W12 which is cut up, modified and reassembled as the tripod base are used. The collimator is 0.6" long section of 0.10 styrene tube. The eyepiece is 0.060 rod inserted into the tube. The top was drilled and 0.030 rod inserted for the adjustment knob. It is painted with Tamiya OD.
I will be making up some sandbags to hold the collimator and finishing up the collimator for installation on the base. I still have to do the tall grass and bush thing and then I am done. I should have finished photos of the complete build next week.
Total hours this update - 13.5 hours
Total hours this overall build - 64.0
Thanks for looking and as always, all comments are welcome.
Rounds Complete!!