This was my first AFV Club kit and I am quite pleased with the quality of the kit as well as the overall build. I found the kit pretty cheap on Mercari and it was only missing the decals, so the gun remains unmarked. I’ll add some generic U.S. Army markings at some point. The figures are Tamiya.
Looks great. I imagine if they fire that gun, the dude by the wheels will be deaf! I’ve always been tempted to do their 155mm Long Tom. Base and figures look great too. Well done.
Ha ha, I imagined the scene as though they’re in the process of setting it up when they think they hear potential enemy activity, hence the readiness of the guy up front. Now, if he chose to stay there once the area was cleared, that’s his mistake!
As for the Long Tom, I would recommend it - this kit went together quick and easy and makes for a nice display piece. I don’t think the Tom is all that far off. What made this one so easy is that it required very little painting beyond the overall Olive Drab and the parts that did require brass or silver were easily handled with a brush.
This looks great!
It came out really nicely. Good job on it.
The M115 kit you built is not the WWII version though, but a post WWII version. AFV Club has since released the WWII version which has different (civilian-style) tires/wheels, a different tow dolly, and a few other changes.
The WWII version is kit # AF35321.
Very cool scene,I just finished up an M40 sp 155mm howitzer myself
Great job there on the gun and the figures! Base looks sharp too!
Nice work!!! [Y]
Gino: Is that kit accurate for a Korean War gun though?
8 inch howitzer is a complicated thing to et in a diorama.
It’s typically a Division or Corps asset, so way in the rear with the gear (no need to get too close with an 18,000 yard range).
And, there’s space between all the tubes, if only to let the 5 ton and 7.5 ton trucks deliver ammo. And to then laager the ammo and gear around to do the voodoo that the redlegs do so well.
So, it’s easy for such a dio to get cluttered, if only with the 8-10 half-deaf redlegs.
Not really. The M115 upgrade was done in 1962. It was briefly used in Vietnam in that configuration, but was quickly replaced by the M110 8" SP gun. Some did serve in National Guard units into the late '70s. Many European armies used them up until the 1990s and many Middle Eastern armies still have them today in limited numbers.
Thanks! Guess I’ll have to look out for the newer boxing…
Look nice. I built that as well and have unfortunately run out of Army howitzers to build at least as far as towed.
Vary nice work Dan. AFV Club is one of my favorite manufactures too. As Gino said the gun is Vietnam era, but the uniform color you have is Second World War maybe Korea but not Vietnam. In Vietnam our battle uniform was an olive-green shirt, pants, and field jacket. The helmet cover was often camoufloge green as shown in the picture below. The following link is a YouTube video of the M-115 howitzer in operation, take a close look at the uniforms.
Harold
