I just picked up the Italeri M107 Mad Dog SPG from a recent swap meet, and know this is the forum to ask for help. The build will be around late Vietnam era, and plan to weather suitably…
Here’s the box…a suitable amount of shelf rash, but inside intact!
A quick look inside, the decals are yellowed, and a distictive Italeri dark green plastic…prolly hard as a rock!
There’s many pics of this equipment in service, so picking just one spg will be hard. Does this kit have any major issues, other than the looonnngggg plastic barrel w/ proper seam, that will need correction?
This is a really great kit to build. I did one years back when it was released inder the Testors label. It holds up well for its’ age. That long thin barrel gives it a nice wicked look for an SP gun.
With the long barrel, I’d be careful about replacing it with a metal one. All that weight might cause it to tip over because the overhang is so long.
You can get a seamless joint on that barrel by using a slower-setting glue, like Testors liguid cement. If you use a faster-setting glue like Tenax, you’re not going to get the benefit of the melted plastic filling up the seam. Glue it together and press it or clamp it gently for a good couple minutes so that the glue melts the plastic into a raised seam. Then set it aside for a good 24 hours.
When you come back to it, use an emery board to file down the seam close to the surface, and then use some sheets of progressively-finer sandpaper to smooth the barrel. Twist the barrel inside the sandpaper so that you get a uniform rounding of the barrel.
Wet-sand the final time with a fine sandpaper, and you should be good to go. This is how I do my barrels, and I can count on one hand the times that I’ve actually used a meal barrel instead. Good luck!
stickpusher- thanks for looking in ! This kit is going to use up precious shelf space!
Doog- Thanks for the heads up about the metal barrel. The kit is really light in the back…prolly would 've nosed in for sure! I found something interesting, the Tamiya thin glue I use was useless on this build…just didn’t want to melt the plastic? I switched to Testors thin glue in the glass bottle, and that worked fine…
I pinned the spade w/ a bit of plastic rod, now I can remove it to paint and weather easier. The kit actually shows little flash, but numerous ejector marks in difficult locations. When I glued the breech halves together, the CA glue reacted violently to the plastic, and started showing small fractures . I was able to sand the damage away…heer’s a pic of the section
The gun section dropped right in, and really shows an impressive amount of detail ! Here’s where I’m at today…the roadwheels are tacked on for photo’s only
I have a question for our arty members. The gun section has a large hole below the breech, where the shell cradle swings, was this actually on the real vehicle? I can’t imagine anyone standing by this gun when it fired !!
I taped the gun tube…all 8 inches of the monster…for a quick dry fit…
Jeff B - The metal barrel for the M107 is not a problem with weight. The real deal had a problem with barrel droop and fatigue but not the plastic kit. Looks like you are well along with assembly. Here are some photos of my M107 build, maybe to give you some ideas for painting and weathering.
Thanks Mike ! Your gallery wont alllow me to view anything but the Ontos, but I see the style weathering I should use. I have the barrel glued, but had to pause the build to finish my Buffalo MPCV w/ slat cage for an upcoming show…
ok…the spade should be worn to bare metal about half way ? Another question I have is the purpose of the rack along the left side…would that be for ranging poles?
Gino- thanks for the clarification for the aiming stakes I’ll have to research them more to understand the use
I finally finished the MPCV , and was able to relax enough to sand out the 107 barrel. Aquick swipe of sandpaper and a shot of Tamiya primer…and I’m off to the booth!
Thanks for looking in…I decided to use a guide coat of thin paint to hide the nearly black kit plastic…and pre shaded w/ MM gunmetal. After a suitable time to gas out…24 hrs …I started adding paint. Good ol’ Tamiya Olive Drab thinned 50/50 w/ Tamiya laquer thinner…and 2 drops of Future in the jar. This seems to slow the flash off , and I find the end result is a smoother finish.
I post shaded w/ the base color and about 3 drops of desert yellow…here’s my model so far
I need to research the color of the seats, and paint the smaller details. any feedback welcome!
Looking good. Thanks Gino for giving him the heads up on the view. Nice look so far.The crew seats in the rear had the traditional wafer thin cushion covered with OD cloth. The loading tray on the loader is a steel color. The panoramic telescope will be more of a US Dark Green. Besides wear and scratches on the recoil spade, the drivers climb point on the front, the traversing ring, will show wear. All of the hydraulic handles on either side of the gun have black bake-a-lite knobs on them. Hard to see but the hydraulic rod on the spade extender would be an aluminum color.
If you use the aiming stake it is 2m tall, red and white, the ends are usually beat up and a steel color. The primary aiming device was normally an infinity colimeter. The aiming stakes would be used for distant aiming points.
Thanks Gamera- I actually messed up the pre-shade , and just highlighted the base color ! A few drops of desert yellow, over several light coats is what your seeing!
Mike- good info of the detail parts…I had the seat cushions nato black.
Here’s a question…on the spade assembly, theres 2 trays on top. would these be used for projectile holders?
Time to work on the tracks…was planning a metal set from Spade Ace, but the kit ones lok decent…
speaking of weathering…how should I go about doing this one ? Afraid my normal umber wash would dull my finish too dark, so any advice what do to ? I looked through Steve Zaloga’s link about OD painting…and that was mentioned. I assumed a pin wash of red clay color aound details…
