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Modeller Build Logs
M-12 155mm GMC |
| By Hans Haase | | Started: | Mar 1, 2007 | | Updated: | Sep 2, 2007 |
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The M-12 is, in allied terms, a somewhat rare vehicle. 100 of these self propelled artillery pieces were built in 1942 and 1943 for the purpose of training and were based on M3 medium tank chassis, with the then-standard M1917/M1918M1 155mm gun of French design.
As the actual invasion of Europe got closer, it was decided that the standard 105mm M7 self-propelled howitzer may be too small for dealing with stronger fixed emplacements, and a number of M-12's were modernized and upgraded for combat use. These became the largest self-propelled US artillery deployed in Europe and saw heavy use throughout the European campaign.
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| 155mm gun: Part 1 | Jul 13, 2007 |
The 155mm main gun was a bit of a pain in the butt, mostly because I opted for the aluminum barrel. All you get is the gun tube, as opposed to the Academy piece which has much of the recoil tracks molded in. This caused a bit of a problem, in that you can't really remove the plastic components from the kit barrel, so you have to scratch-build a lot of it.
(My apologies to the Gun Monkeys out there if the terms here are wrong, I was a radio guy when I was in the Army.)
I was able to get the front recoil stop off of the Academy barrel, and pretty much destroyed the rest of the thing. This is the small set of lugs toward the muzzle. The longer tracks that would normally be on the back few feet of the barrel, I couldn't find a way to attach to the barrel again. So I used some various shapes and sizes of styrene strip inside the cradle to represent it all as best I could. Once the gun is glued in, it looks the same but I don't get the luxury of being able to show any recoil movement. I also attached the Eduard strips to the gun cradle, which basically just show some bolt detail that was otherwise missing. Normally I add actual bolts in place of these strips, but I was lazy.
You can also see the combination of Verlinden and Academy parts for the gun pedestal. The open holes in the brass supports there are something only done by the Verlinden set. I am really disappointed in Eduard for dropping the ball in this area, as you are stuck either doing a lot of scratch work, or buying the mostly poor verlinden update. |
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