Here is my latest. It is AFV Club's new(ish) M40 SP Howitzer. I made a few additions and corrections. The biggest is that I lengthened the cradle on the gun by 8.5mm to fix AFV Club's error. Apparently they used an 8" howitzer cradle as reference, which is shorter than the 155mm cradle. The inaccuracy is also present on their M59 (M1) Long Tom kit as well since it uses the same gun and cradle parts. Here is a thread at M-L that talks about the cradle length issue. You can see where I added the extra length. I used a couple spare Sherman road wheels as spacers.



I swapped out the kit tracks with a set of T-80 steel block track from Dragon. The ones that come in the kit are from late WWII. I also added correct decals since the ones in the kit are incomplete. I have depicted B 11 "Big Bruiser" from the 937th FA Bn "Arkansas Long Toms" assigned to the 8th Army in Korea in 1953.

I also added extra track blocks from AFV Club's T-80 set to the front glacis and made retaining straps from left over PE frets.

Enough talk, here it is:







More here.

As always, all comments are welcome.

Nice build. It looks really brutal - and probably also was brutal if you were on the reciving end of the Howitzer!!

Gino,

Steel! As usual, an incredible job.

Looks good, that is one big gun! Did it include driver's compartment details?

Thanks guys. It was a fun build, but took me a while. The kit didn't come with a driver's area. I'm assuming you could use any late Sherman driver's area though, since it was built on a widened Sherman hull.

Very impresive, nicely done!
greetings robert

Cool model, Gino. The extended barrell turned out great and adds to the fierceness of this beast. Apart from the barrell and the tracks, is everything else OOB? Its an impressive model, with all the extras at the back ... spade, extended loading area,etc. Ive always wanted to build a model with the HVSS suspension, and this is definately the best contender so far. Nice one.

Very nice. yours is the first one I've seen online that has corrected the shape of the spade gussets in the rear.

Looks great!
I think I wil build one when I finish the models I still have to build!
The interior is monochromatic, and this is a great advantage for me, as I paint my models by brush!

Looks Great Gino, and the added length works well. You weren't tempted to use the colourful dragon decal? that's the one I'm going to use when I get around to it

Thaks guys. Yup, other than a few modifications such as cutting the tabs off the spade gussets, adding a fire extinguisher from the spares box, making the retaining straps on the spare track racks, adding barrel lift rings, lengthening the barrel, and swapping the tracks, it is OOB.

It is a great kit and I highly recommend it. No issues with building it at all. It comes with PE and rifled metal barrel as well.

I didn't like the look of the dragon decal and couldn't find any referance material on it to complete the markings. I did find lots of info on "Big Bruiser", so I went with it.

Great work Gino. Been looking forward to seeing you finish this one. I seem to remember you started it a little while ago. Looks like it took you some time to finish her up.

EDIT: Couple of questions if you don't mind. From your post, I gather that the gun cradle is the same as their Long Tom kit, so the same correction would have to be made to that kit as well?

How much spacing should be added, and what are the ideal spots for this to be done. I noticed that on the ML thread, 8.5mm total is mentioned? Can you verify please? Also, I noticed that you added the spacing at different points than the builder on the ML thread. Where is the correct location for these spacers to go?

Good to hear from you Zok. This one did take me a while; with my Master's program and fiddling for a while with the AFV Club T-80 tracks (4 tiny peces per track, yuk!!). Once I ditched the AFV tracks for the Dragon ones, I was back in business.

Yes, the M59 Long Tom towed gun (M1 for WWII designation) is also too short. I added about 8.5mm to the cradle to fix mine. I chose to add the forward 4mm spacer at the front of the middle reinforcemment ring as opposed to the center of it as the guy at M-L did. Same basic procedure, I just cut it a little more forward where there was already a straight line for alaignment. Either is correct; both the middle and rear ring need about 4mm added to each of them.

Good luck.

Fine job you did there. Looks great.

I like it a lot. The spare track looks nice and rusty. I see some decal edges on the front decals, but maybe it's the light. I like the color too. Which did you use?

Impressive looking beast. Kinda scary when you realise that it carried the same calibre weapon as a WW2 light cruiser (ship!).
Just found these;
http://www.koreanwar.org/html/units/937fab.htm
http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/memoirs/documenting_memoirs/participants_to_date.htm
which I though might be of interest.

Thanks guys. Yup, the camera brings up the decal edge on teh front. You can't see it with the naked eye. It is an impressive weapon.

For the color, I used Testors Model Master OD Green. I then gave it a pinwash of dark drown, then drybrushed with the OD again. Lastly, I weathered it with some rust brown, dark brown, and armor sand for dirt and dust.

Nice work, Gino. I have one of these sitting on the shelf, but haven't started it yet.

The idea of using the spare Sherman VVSS road wheels for spacers in the barrel is brilliant! Gawd knows I have planty of those to choose from.

That does look sweet their

Well look like I am a LT now ;-)

Cheers

Looks good Gino.