CPT - I have to find an air freshener for the studio with that odor!!

Rounds Complete!!

Wow, more excellent work.  I've got competing memories of the smell of paint on sun-heated metal, and the smell of grease and hot oil.  Oh, and pre-cat paint on plywood, and the smell of broken sugar pine packing crates.

Did I mention that the memory of the taste of burnt propellant is making me thirsty (lucky me, not one drop of 3.2 anywhere nearby--plenty of ice-cold Shiner instead).

Now,  as long as my tinnitus does not act up, all good <G>

Pawel - See the picture below. Everyone made their own set up that worked for that crew. I like the look of this and decided to add it to the build. In this setup the crew has a TA312 - Telephone and a remote speaker system. The table also left room for a clip board to keep the firing record.

Thanks for the comments and for stopping by.

Hello Mike!

Lookin' good as always! Could you please write more about that commo table on the trail? Was it common? How was it used? Thanks for sharing and have a nice day

Paweł

Gino - As always its a pleasure to have you stop by the firing point. Thanks

Rounds Complete!!

She is coming out great Mike.  The brake lines and wood really make it come to life.  Great job so far.

So in order to make things look like wood I used…..wood. Under the base plate are 6 scale size projectile base crates stacked to elevate the carriage made with 3/32 plywood. The blocks behind the spades are also made from 3/32 inch plywood. The same plywood was also used to make the communication table on the trail. The table was then clear coated and painted the same color as the howitzer.

As you can see in the last photo, I added the bridge marker disc to the trail. While in the decal work, I made a custom Viet Nam map for the AG shield. It is a copy from a photo and scaled to size.

Next up was to complete the brake lines. The kit has the brake lines along the trails but has no lines from the wheels to the hydraulic brake unit and also has no lines from the trails to the brake unit. Using the Aber hydraulic line fittings kit and 32 gauge wire wound into a spring for the strain relief for the lines. Then the lines were painted with the same color as the howitzer.

Completed the final assembly of the lower and upper carriages and the shields. Still need some touch up to go and the panoramic telescope head I will put on once I build a collimeter and put it on top of the ammunition storage and line them up.

Hopefully I can get most of my casting done over the coming holiday. Now it is time for all the little details!

Steve - always a pleasure to have you stop by and always love you creative comments. Especially all your friends you bring along.

Gamera - thanks, it is the little details that I love

Bruce - thanks for stopping by and for the comments.

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Coming together nicely!

Great to see you back on this again. As usual looking good, I too think the greased barrel is a great touch.

Good effect Mike!

Such finesse and attention to detail ✓✓✓✓✓.

 ....ahhh, so it's not just me up early this morning....

            (I think I could use a beehive round)

             sorry I've been so AWOL  lately

               I'ma watchin'...

               and I'ma goin' back to bed too..........  

Karl - Thanks for the peek, Yep, this place is REALLY SLOW.

Gino - Thanks, I was happy with the way the greased look turned out

Thanks guys for stopping by.

Rounds Complete!!

Looking great as always Mike.  I really like how the bare metal barrel came out.

Looking good, Mike----good to see you keeping it going over the weekend. Man, this place slows down between the workdays!

Karl - Thanks for stopping in

Mac - No Redleg I know wants to fire either a beehive or killer junior. A beehive is a round made special for final defense, it has 300 fleshettes or essentially razor blades. Killer junior is firing an HE round with the fuse set to about 1 sec. When it blows, the dirt is kicking up just in front of you. If you are firing this way you are in a world of hurt. On the other hand, when you fire a beehive round it is known as the boots and goo round....100 wide and deep that's all you will find. If you have to fire beehive, bring them in close enough to maximize the effects of the round.

Thanks for the comments

Rounds Complete!!

My boss at my part-time job sent me off to a class which was to make we junior middle-managers into 4.0 whiz-bang nobbins of the newest incarnation of combining all the arms into Combined Arms wonder.  So, the room always had a fascinating skew of talents and skill/tool sets on hand.

So, we are being all schooled up on the various fires that could called into one's battle-space.  One of the youngsters in the back of  the room--AF, Coastie, maybe a Postman--asked about direct-sighted artillery fires.   The crossed-cannon-ed instructor with the impressive fruit salad remarked about how a commander who let the bad guys in close enough that the red-legs were direct sighting probably ought be done over for hazarding.  "Unless they're Marines--they'll treat their tubes like rifles with unique ballistics, given half-a-chance, harumph."

That's the kind of thing that will stick with an impressionable navla officer.  Particularly  one charged with not getting just the SPG & towed tubes over the littoral, but all the trains onto the same shore as well.  (Hard to get many M-114 on an LCU(L) in Roll-on, Roll-off configuration, but better than slinging them under CH-53s and having the crews having to wait on the trains to catch up.)

CapnMac82--Hey man, I know ALL ABOUT "hearing loss"! It's an occupational hazard!

Glad to hear you're keeping your wits about ya, Mike!

Roger that...

Rounds Complete!!

redleg12

Capn Mac - What.....What did you say.....I can't hear you.... I can't walk so well from dropping a projo on my foot.... two fingers missing as the got caught in the breech...flash burn on my arm.....can't smell as my sinus was destroyed by muzzle blast.....and I am a redleg!!  LOL  Thanks for stopping by and for the fun comment.

Rounds Complete!!

hahahahahahaha what an awesome summary of a gunners career

Capn Mac - What.....What did you say.....I can't hear you.... I can't walk so well from dropping a projo on my foot.... two fingers missing as the got caught in the breech...flash burn on my arm.....can't smell as my sinus was destroyed by muzzle blast.....and I am a redleg!!  LOL  Thanks for stopping by and for the fun comment.

Rounds Complete!!

Now, doog,

Being a red-leg requires some boffin-like skills.  Why, even the lad more stout of brawn than brow have to be clever enough to not drop the rounds coming off the trucks on themselves ,the gun captain, the commo wire, the truck drivers, and the like.

Now, they may look at you quizzically when you speak, but, that's because the hearing loss means they have to squint to lip-read.

But, they know their p's & q's, particularly the reciprocating ones.

Dogfish - Glad you are enjoying the build. It will all come together soon.

Karl - Even after all these years, all that good training and many years of being with the howitzers, the knowledge is still there. Good to know the training lasts.....forever!! I am off to go check on my equalibrators!

Rounds Complete!!

Nothing to say, but to sit back and watch. I like how you know what to call everything.

Rollin', rollin' rollin',......!

Thanks. Always wanted to see how one of these went together.

Dogfish - Great to have you drop into the firebase.

Rounds Complete!!

This will be fun to watch!

Bill - I am hoping to get some bench time for fathers day!! Feels great to be back at the firebase!!

Rounds Complete!!

Good to have you back at the bench Mike, summer's always a good time to hide out in the bunker!