That is some dang fine work! 

This whole thing has been quite amazing to watch. I love this kind of work, I just don't usually have the patience for it. Well done.

BK

Some stunning progress there Harold. Thank for the link on the engine, as i mentioned in my PM, i have already built the AS90 at the tail end of 2017, but i would deffinetly consider this for the m109.

Nice review Gino, thank you.

Sergeant

Bish, if you are following this thread, I found a cool item to consider for your AS90 build. It is actually a review that Gino did in November 2013 on an Real Model resin M109A2/A6 engine kit. Please check with Gino, but I believe the engine in an AS90 is similar if not the same as the M109A2/A6. A 660hp V8 diesel engine from Cummins, coupled to a ZF Gear Ltd. automatic transmission.

Unfortunately, it is not the same engine.  The AS-90 uses a Cummins VTA903T V8 making 660 Hp, while the M109 engine is a Detroit Diesel 8V71T V8 engine making 450 Hp.   As both are V8 diesels, they may look similar enough to put in the AS-90 though.

Thank you Gramera, Gino and CapnMac82. Gamera, no problem with ammunition blocking the view of interior details. Gino, limo-charlie on the .50 caliber green ammo boxes. CapnMac82, I found Vallejo #71.289 US Dark Green over Vallejo Grey Surface Primer gives me a good Vietnam era Army Green. It is too dark for uniforms, but good for ammo boxes and gas cans.

I have started assembly on the AFV Club M109 L23. It is basically the same as the M109A2 assembly in steps 1 through 5. This is the version I worked with during the Vietnam War.

Bish, if you are following this thread, I found a cool item to consider for your AS90 build. It is actually a review that Gino did in November 2013 on an Real Model resin M109A2/A6 engine kit. Please check with Gino, but I believe the engine in an AS90 is similar if not the same as the M109A2/A6. A 660hp V8 diesel engine from Cummins, coupled to a ZF Gear Ltd. automatic transmission.

http://armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=9622

"Ammo can green" is one of those colors that's easy to spot, and hard to pluck out of a model paint rack.

Medium Green plus Black-green has been my starting place; but it never seems to be the same mix twice.

Very nice.  The interior looks great.  You will like the rounds.  They come out really nicely.  Another painting tip.  The two boxes next to the TCs chair are standard .50 cal ammo cans and should be dark green.  They are above the seat in the below pic.

Cool, I hope the shells won't block you from seeing all the detail you added though. 

Gamera

Oh wow, that does look good. Great show!!! 

And thanks, I really enjoy following along with you. 

 

Gino gave me a nice set of decals for the projectiles and powder canisters and I want the ammunition they are on to look good too. I have gone as far as I can go with interior painting until I receive the AFV Club ammunition, so it's time to park this model and get started on the M109 L23 I have waiting under my bench.

Harold

Oh wow, that does look good. Great show!!! 

And thanks, I really enjoy following along with you. 

Thank you Gino and G.S. I admit at times I feel out of my depth on this interior. I am truly thankful we have experienced artillery veterans in this forum.

Harold

Looking great.  The breech looks spot on.  Another tip, the powder cannisters in the rack at the bottom right of the below photo should be dark green with white lettering on them.

Powder cannisters (w/round and powder bags).

I am still hand painting the interior; however, I wanted to stop and tell you how pleased I am with Vallejo Metal Color, Gunmetal Grey #77.720 that I used on the breechblock assembly. It has that black-grey metallic shin I was hoping it would have and the paint flowed like nothing I ever used before with a brush. I highly recommend this Vallejo product for hand painting even though it was designed for airbrushing.

Harold

GreySnake

You are doing some great work in the interior Sarge. Can’t wait to see the next update.

 

In the meantime, I have been working on the interior hand painting which is very time consuming. I finished the HE (high explosive) projectiles with a galvanized steel lifting ring and some of the black details. Then as I started making progress, I broke the cammander's seat and had to build a new one from scratch. I like the new one better anyway, so it was no great loss. But I decided this is a good place to stop and post an update before I break something else.

I decided to try Vallejo Metal Color #77.720 Gunmetal Grey and #77.712 Steel on the breech assembly. So, I ordered both colors to compare with Vallejo Air #71.072 Gunmetal and Vallejo Model Color #70.863 before using them on the model. See sample spoons below. The AFV Club instructions indicate this assembly should be steel, but clearly, it is blued steel, or very dark oiled steel with a little shine. See photographs of the breech assembly below.

The shipping plug/lifting ring is unpainted galvanized steel.

The interior light is provided by M35A2 Dome Lights.  They have two lights on them to select between; one clear; one blue or red.  Most modern ones are clear/blue.

If none are provided in the interior set, you can get them at shapways:  https://www.shapeways.com/product/4N2MYKDE9/1-35-m35a2-dome-light-msp35-011?optionId=60183354&li=shops

DRUMS01

Still here and watching this build with great interest. Between the knowledge and surperb build quality, this will be the go to reference thread for some time.

I commend all of you and it is not even finished yet. This is a wonderful example of how a FSM build thread should work. 

Ben

 

I am pleased with the Royal Model photo-etched tread plate. The quality is excellent, and the 1/35 scale looks perfect. I created a paper template and transferred the layout on to the brass material. It was easy to cut with heavy shears and did not require any deburring. The tread plate is painted with Vallejo Surface Primer and 71.315 Tire Black to get a realistic rubber matt finish.

I painted the HE projectiles with Vallejo 71.289 US Dark Green as indicated by the information Gino provided and ordered Vallejo 71.009 Duck Egg Green for the Smoke projectiles and 71.279 Insignia White for the Illumination projectiles. The HE projectiles are loaded in the ammunition storage box and the Smoke and Illumination projectiles will be standing upright in the deck storage.

The dark green projectiles look a little too green in this photograph, but that is my camera. They actually look like the Vallejo color chip below.

Question: Is the eyebolt lifting plug a different color than the projectile?

Question: If I were to add an LED light to the interior for daylight viewing, what color should it be: green, white, orange, red or blue? I have never used LED lights before in armor modeling, but with a full interior it might help to see inside.

The battery and switch can easily be hidden in the engine compartment.

stikpusher

I’d love to have a few of these for my yard... 

 

Only $418 + s/h (looks like ±$30 tax and ±$30 shipping; did not look to see if you need letterhead)

Dummy fuzes are only a hundred.

https://inertproducts.com/product-category/replica-ordnance/artillery-replica-ordnance/artillery-fuzes/

1:1 modeling is pretty spendy

Still here and watching this build with great interest. Between the knowledge and surperb build quality, this will be the go to reference thread for some time.

I commend all of you and it is not even finished yet. This is a wonderful example of how a FSM build thread should work. 

Ben

stikpusher

Ok, I’m going off foggy memories now, but DPCAM and FASCAM rounds, do they look the same as HE rounds? 

Yup, good memory.  They too are green w/just different markings to denote them.  All HE-type blasting rounds are green.

Ok, I’m going off foggy memories now, but DPCAM and FASCAM rounds, do they look the same as HE rounds? 

There is no "standard" ammo load per say.  It is really based on what you expect to fire for upcoming missions.  Illum and smoke are usually stored upright since they have semi-solid substances inside and you don't want it settling to one side or the other.  This would make the round unstable in flight.  Also, the inert rounds are not usually carried except at a practice range that doesn't allow live rounds.  They are not "war shots" and not carried in combat.  Usually, you carry a heavier mix of HE over the others.  So you can mix them however you want.

HeavyArty

Powder cans are dark green; rounds various colors depending on type (see below).

Dark Green - HE

Light Green - Smoke

Blue - Inert practice 

White - Illum

 

 

 

 

Gino: I have capacity for 34 projectiles, 22 in the rear ammunition storage box, 5 on each side of the deck near the rear door and 2 in front of the air cleaners on the right front side of the crew compartment.

I am guessing, but it seems reasonable to assume there would be some quantity of HE, smoke, inert and illumination ammunition on board and addition ammunition would be supplied by truck or FAASV. Is there a standard practice for storing ammunition, in other words so many of one type in the rear storage box?

Harold

I know nothing about this but it looks good Harold! I may be ignorant but I can still supply moral support!!! 

I’d love to have a few of these for my yard... 

HeavyArty

You can see the torsion bar blocks/ends in the below pic of a Dutch M109A2, which has a different powder storage sytem down the sides of the hull.

 

The two large air cleaner cabinets cannot sit flat on the floor because there is a torsion bar block right underneath them. I moved the bulkhead behind the cabinets out to the very edge of the photo-etched floor and there was just no way to get by them, so I notched the bottom of the cabinets to get them to sit straight.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50170773431_64a9a3e292_b.jpg

You can see the torsion bar blocks/ends in the below pic of a Dutch M109A2, which has a different powder storage sytem down the sides of the hull.

HeavyArty

Looking good.  As to color, about 90% is white and no primer gray inside.  The rest is a gunmetal breech, red halon extingisher bottles, black on rubber coated items, and black/white stenciling. Some pics.

The green cylinder in the middle of the front wall is a personnel heater.

Powder cans are dark green; rounds various colors depending on type (see below).

Dark Green - HE

Light Green - Smoke

Blue - Inert practice 

White - Illum

Grey - Chemical (No longer used)

 

 

...eliminate the grey resin pieces...

 

 

If you mean the six pieces in the crew area and two more in the driver's area coming off the sides of the hull and attaching to the floor, they are required as they are part of the torsion bars and present on all M109s.

Hope that helps.

 

Here is the reference I used for that conclusion, you will notice there is a small elbow like feature that appears to be welded to the side of the hull and the floor. It does not compare in size or shape to the resin pieces in the kit. But if they are part of the floor plan then they should be used.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50066878757_0417cebeca_b.jpg

Harold

Looking good.  As to color, about 90% is white and no primer gray inside.  The rest is a gunmetal breech, red halon extingisher bottles, black on rubber coated items, and black/white stenciling. Some pics.

The green cylinder in the middle of the front wall is a personnel heater.

Powder cans are dark green; rounds various colors depending on type (see below).

Dark Green - HE

Light Green - Smoke

Blue - Inert practice 

White - Illum

Grey - Chemical (No longer used)

...eliminate the grey resin pieces...

If you mean the six pieces in the crew area and two more in the driver's area coming off the sides of the hull and attaching to the floor, they are required as they are part of the torsion bars and present on all M109s.

Hope that helps.