Here’s my rendition of this wonderful but intricate kit. I thought it was a fairly fast build and finish. A little tedious at times like some of their other artillery but a huge asset to the US modeller. A nice field group of these could be nice e.g. more than two. Comments welcome, please see my link to my blog for details & more images http://theabroadsurgeon.blogspot.com/
Looks great; nice build! My brother has this in his stash somewhere. I’m not a US armor fan, but you did an amazing job on this artillery piece. Thanks for the link, too.
Overall nice work. A few comments…
The breech block and inside the breech area should be shiny silver. Same for the slide rails (top flat areas on the carriage that the gun sits on).
The sights would not be on the gun if it was being towed, they are put on by the crew once the gun is in position.
Though you did a great job chipping…in all my years with artillery, I never saw a M101A1 (originally the M2A1, redesignated M101A1 after WWII) chipped anywhere near as much. As stated by many in this forum this is art and this is your interpertation. I don’t know if you were looking for “scale/reality” or “art/interpertation”.
As I said, in general very nice.
Rounds Complete!!
redleg’s the artillery guy here, so if he says it look good, I can’t help but agree!
I really like the finish and chipping though–I think it looks the part of “war”! Great job! And some nice figgys, too!
Ditto, a very nice build!
Thanks, Jim
without taking a serious look elsewhere, I noticed that your howitzer dosn’t have the bottom shield. Did it not come with the kit? Or maybe they didn’t use them in WWII.
gary
Thank you for the praise for the finish. Redleg - while I have your attention - your input would be very appreciated regarding the sights. I did set the piece for firing position. Were these sights finished in OD or gloss/satin black that I’ve seen a few of them painted? One of the first to show up on the internet had a level painted onto the left side. I used references for the placement as the directions are incorrect. However, they were off a totally OD museum example.
I did weather it a little heavy mostly for the reason I haven’t done a really weathered piece in a while and I am a recent convert to the OD world, it gave me a practice model to work on an OD finish. My excuse will be that it is an abused North Africa piece. Now to find a fitting crew for that…
edit: The breech is on the to-finish list with the sights, I use Tamiya’s weathering sets for those mixing gunmetal with steel. Very fine finishes.
Gary, I believe the bottom shield was on the later variants/versions
http://www.usarmymodels.com/AFV%20PHOTOS/105mm%20HOWITZER/105mm%20Howitzer.html
However, I believe, redlegs will know better, that the sprues contain the parts for the butterfly/2-piece shield consistent with a later version the could be forthcoming. As for the lower shield I’m not sure it came with it. The sprues are MIA by now.
This is a great US model site as I orient myself for the world of M_A_ as opposed to Ausfuhrung!
only reason I asked was that I never saw one without the shield
gary
OK the sights
As you can see they are not truly OD but more Dark Forest Green. The eyecup at the end is black rubber. The oval part on the top is the optical head. The side facing forward can be painted silver but is really glass with a mirror inside on a 45 degree angle. The same for the quadrent site on the oppsite side…DFG.
If you want wore detail you can reference this picture.
Notice it is clean…the sights are delicate instruments and are taken off during transport
As far as the breech…the sliding block and the inside of the breech would be clean and shiny steel.
You can drybush some steel on the lunet (tow hook) as that will be worn from towing. Also the ball and socket lock on the trails. The spades (if they show) would be scratched, some slight rust and some steel shine. Some of the hard edges on the trails could also have some steel shine from paint wear.
The breech handle should be steel. And lastly a lanyard should be connected to the firing lock on the left side (looking from the front) of the sliding breech block. A small section of dark green thread with a little black ball at the end.
Hope this helps
Rounds Complete!!
My greatgreatuncle was a NCO in a M2A1 Artillery unit in the 1940’s at Camp Grayling Michigan. He never served overseas in WWII as he was discharged from the Army due to the death of his father (my greatgreatgrandfather) on a Hardship discharge so he could run the family farm.
I’m suprised Dragon didn’t include empty casings for the 105mm ammo as well as a lanyard. I also have this kit as I got it in yesterday.
If you only want casings, you can make them with brass tube and sheet styrene. If you are looking for 105mm ammunition, Verlinden makes a good 105mm set. Also Verlinden has an ammunition crate set. Archer make two different dry transfers for 105mm ammunition crates during the WWII era. One is strictly HE the other has a mix of HE, WP, and Illumination.
Rounds Complete!!
I got a set of RBmodel 105mm ammo from http://www.tankratsafvdepot.com/
ArmorScale also has a set as well (made by RBmodel)
Nice lookin’ 105… Redleg covered everything so this ol’ Redleg’ll let it go there… Other than the lower gunshield issue, which can be explained away by a couple things besides the model it is, a bad latch that allowed it drop while being towed, which will rip it off most tick if it hits anything of any substance while on the Prime Mover, or a Gunbunny that didn’t raise it in the first place during March Order… It’s only about a quarter-inch thick anyway.
One tip on painting though, the muzzle should also be bright silver inside, unless it’s had a few rounds fired recently, making it a dull steel color with a few black streaks, or all black if it’s had a lot of rounds fired recently… Just keep in mind that when a gun has had a few dozen rounds fired in a short time, the Section Chief will have the tube punched at the first opportunity he gets after the next “End of Mission” order… He does this for several reasons, but the chief ones are that a dirty tube will have a quite measurable effect on muzzle-velocity and subsequently accuracy and range, along with increased wear on the bore, thus shortening tube-life.
But mostly, it’s that he can’t stand a dirty tube… A fresh bore, nicely lubed with new, golden RBC, will produce a wonderful blueish-white cloud of smoke and the renewed scent of fresh Wolf-p*ssy along the gun-line…HOO-SHAAAaaaa![:D]