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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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| Crew Compartment: Part 2 | Apr 28, 2007 |
Remember how I said I suspected the Verlinden set to be wrong in a number of areas? Well, good research proves me 100% correct. I picked up an excellent reference from Easy One Productions, which is a PDF version of the original M12 Technical manual. Sometimes a tech manual is only marginally useful, this one is just amazing. If you are doing an M12 interior, this reference is irreplaceable and required for the project. It blows away every other reference I had previously.
One spot that quickly changed shape was the firewall at the back of the crew compartment. There are a number of holes cut in it in the real vehicle, most notably for airflow through the oil coolers, but also access panels for various things, and a whole extra compartment for the fire extinquisher system. While I am waiting for a few extra parts, I hacked up the original academy piece to start laying out the various holes and components that have to go on it. I will eventually replace this with a much thinner piece of styrene, as suddenly the thickness is a critical concern due to the various things you can see through it... such as those oil coolers.
Another issue that I found is that it seems everybody was basing their interior info on the assumption that the M12 used a similar layout to the M4 Shermans. This turns out to be very far from the truth, other than the steering levers almost everything is very different.. This caused me to make a new shifter lever, parking brake lever, clutch pedal and a pair of very unique seat mounts. The shifter looks particularly awkard, but there is no doubt in the TM how it was done. I do have to go back and replace the balls on the end of the handles, they are just goofy in how oversized they are.
The last big issue in this chapter is part of the upper hull. I had always assumed that when the vehicles were updated in 1943/44 that the new sponson compartment was added and the old bulkhead removed. That's not the case. The original co-driver hatch on the side was removed, but the actual opening was left unchanged. So I had to add some additional panelling to the upper hull as well, to represent this.
After I replace the firewall, I still have a lot of stuff to add to the compartment such as oil cooler lines, fire suppression system, electrical wiring, clutch linkages, and also some stowage. But other than a few pieces of stowage, the tech manual shows me exactly where all this stuff is supposed to be. I'm talking every wire, tube, hose and rod in the entire vehicle interior.
Expect at least two more chapters on this area alone. |
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