It’s a U.S. Army Howitzer released by the AFV club, built in May 2014.
It seems to be the cannon kit that the spirit and soul of this marker will be felt. I heard the quality is very high level.
This coil spring does not have metal parts and is molded by plastic injection. It requires considerably high technology for molding and injection.
You should be careful about the loss of the parts very much. Many parts are smaller than a rice grain and need attention for assembling. Because it is considerably small, cutting gate filing is hard work, and having sore eyes…
The gun mount is movable up and down, but it’s better to fix it at the same time near the assembly completion because some parts are loose and easy to pull off. We can choose a state whether the kit is transported or during a bombardment. This is a firing position I choose.
High quality, perfect circle gun barrel is made of aluminum. It became like this when I built little by minor parts. I didn’t know which part I made at the beginning.
(04-May-2014)
The Assembly of the howitzer was completed. There are not so many photo-etched parts, and the cannon has a high quality only with plastic parts.
(11-May-2014)
Chain photo-etched parts quality increased as every chain circle twits 90 degrees.
The weight of the kit increases after attaching the tire. The tire does not seem to be hollow but solid rubber.
Because the complicated mechanism area has many parts, assembling was difficult.
It is a howitzer having a machine gun. I suppose it’s unique.
(11-May-2014)
I blew surfacer on it.
It was blowing mahogany on the dark area.
Now I’m painting primary colors. I must be careful handling this kit as there are so many fragile places.
(26-May-2014)
A howitzer was completed. Cannons have only a tiny bulletproof board. Comparing it to tanks, that can’t be helped. The crew feels naked and exposed, I suppose.
Although this 105mm howitzer looks small, the effective range is approximately 11km, requiring ten soldiers. I don’t know, probably one commander, two monitors, a calculation man, three for the cannon operation, the others are loaders?
I could choose a transportation or shooting position; this is shooting. Like last I made Diana, measurement poles bright color white and red accentuate well and good looking.
There seems to be a killing power radius is approximately 30m in such a small cannon. Infantries can take damage easily if advancing on flat ground, and there is no point in hiding.
The places where the metal parts seem to rub are lightly painted in a metal collar. The pattern of the tires is molded finely.
Two etching metal plates are on the left side of the cannon. As for such parts, the AFV Club’s work is excellent.
These small parts help my understanding of the complicated cannon mechanism.
After understanding the real weapon’s performance, firstly, I felt it was weak and unreliable but powerful. This cannon reminds me of the 105mm howitzer loaded on one of the Sherman tanks variations.
I set out a radio operator and commander with this howitzer. The radioman is taking requests from the front. The front-line commander should not be here backward, but he looks like the artillery commander.
The other two people are from the next booth. When it is only a cannon, I think it’s fun, but it’s vivid with displayed figures. Of course, the satisfaction is high based on the AFV club’s cannon kit preciseness.
(01-June-2014)
I am interested in models of tanks, airplanes, ships, military figures, I build them little by little when I feel like it. I am also interested in the history of war. My starting is Tamiya’s Military Miniature series in elementary school.
From elementary school through university students repeatedly suspend and restart my modeling, it’s about 25 years of this hobby’s history.
From February 2007 I was quietly doing a site called “Miniature-Arcadia”. It is being transferred to this blog with the same name from December 2016. My update pace is uneven, but please come to see me here occasionally.
