Academy are set to release their M7 PRIEST,
U.S. HOWITZER MOTOR CARRIAGE and it looks as if they sorted out the problems with their M3 suspension for this kit.




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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Man, I hope that its good!

John

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the infomration about the boggies, this is grand news and I'm really pleased they did the early version.

Cheers

Al

Yes, finally an early M7 without having to do a major kitbashing.
I can see that some British North African Priests will soon be popping up on work benches everywhere.
Glad to see that Academy sorted out the bogey issues from their M3 Lee kit.
Hopefully their rumoured M3 Grant and other Sherman kits will follow suit.
Do we dare hope for a DV hulled Sherman, Ram or a Sexton?
Great news for all the Shermanaholics out there!!
Cheers

jjumbo

This is something!
Never built a Priest, let alone an Academy anything... What is Academy like for quality in general?

Curates eggs really. They sometimes do gems and sometimes DOGs. The M3 lt and Medium are widely slammed for innaccuracies (some real some imagined or claimed in ignorance of fact), the M10 has wrong Hull angles and turret size but I have yet to see someone post what it should be), the M18 has severe problems due to academy adding the ability to motorize it and having a fictitious rear deck. The Sheridan (Better left alone as it has severe dimension issues), Shermans - actually quite good but not up to current DML standard although they did get the Mantlet right which DML didn't. I'd suggest reading trhe reviews on PMMS for a fair assessment and Pavels review of the Sheridan which justifies the criticisms.
Having said that they give you interiors on a lot of kits M3 Honey, M3 Medium, M10,s etc and the Sherman Suspensions are really good (IMHO as good or better than the latest DML excepting the HVSS which is passable.
The pick of the bunch to me are the M4A2 Mariens (sic) , m4A3 105 dozer despite the Dozer blade being neither an M1 or M1A1 but exactly between them; the M4A2 76 and the M36 and Achilles (even with the faults).
I think they are definitely better start points than the opposition. They will correct errors as is indicated here and seen on the earlier M4A2 where they corrected the hull rear angle.
From what we see here it looks to be quite good but I'm certain it will be found wanting in some way or other. I'm happily awaiting two or three.
Cheers
Al

Give it three days and Voyager will have the first update set announced...

For such a Shermaholic I'm surprised you haven't sampled the Academy Shermans. Their Marine Sherman M4A2 75 is excellent and you get some nice extras with it such as foundry symbols and casting numbers that can be shaved off the sprue.
I have the Priest on order frpm HLJ and the proposed released date is October. Price:$31.08 USD; €22.25

Man, what a great week this has been for allied modellers!!

I'm a bit ignorant on the Priest (a lot actually), will a British variant be buildable from this kit? What were the differences between them in US and UK service?

This looks like a great kit! Some good news and it will be good to have something different from the German panzers.

Thanks for the update

i always had a soft spot for open toped vehicles
and a good priest is on top of my must have list (next to the tamiya hetzer)
i have to get my finger on one of those
great news exer
trench

Nice to see a 'new' Priest on the production line. Don't forget that with a few minor additions the different M7s can be built including a Priest Kangaroo.

Nice to see the new M7 finally come to light. It looks like only a couple of mods like an M3 Lee/Grant differential cover will be required to make it one for N. Africa.

Chris "toadman" Hughes
Toadman's Tank Pictures
Who just happens to have a M7 photo CD.

Pretty much the same, actually, apart from small items, like fuel cans and such. Vehicles in North Africa might have a British sun compass. The problem until now was, the only Priest available was Italeri's, which depicted a 1944-45 production model, and the British Priests were all acquired much earlier in the production run, so an earlier suspension and revised hull armor and transmission housings were required. Of course, in later campaigns, the Sexton largely supplanted the Priests in British service, at least in NW Europe, and many early ones were converted to Kangaroo armored personnel carriers.
In US service, the early variants survived much later than the equivalent Shermans, since the M7 was ordinarily used for indirect fire, and suffered fewer casualties, so there will be plenty of opportunities for US markings, and kitbashing the two Priest kits will yield yet more US variants.

Does anyone happen to know, who else used the Priest, besides the US, the UK, and Israel?

The Free French,

French 2nd Armoured Division M7 in front of Notre Dame in Paris, 26 August 1944.


The South Africans.

6TH SOUTH AFRICAN ARMOURED DIVISION IN TRAINING IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 2 SEPTEMBER 1943

and the Canadians.

Well of Course it is coming I just finished my Conversion to an early from the Italeri kit! Never Fails does it???
Cheers
Jeff

Canadian Army Field Artillery Regiments in Normandy were initially issued with 105mm Priests or
with towed 25 pounder field guns.
There were 3 Batteries per FAR, each consisting of 2 Troops of either 4 Priests or 25pdrs.
Canadian built Sextons mounting the 25pdr. eventually replaced the Priests which were later converted to Kangaroos.
Cheers

jjumbo

This is more for the site master than for the article...

The correct link to Academy site is: http://www.academy.co.kr/

You can pick your language from there.
___________________

By the way, great news on this kit!

Thanks

Thanks Mark- fixed it

Thanks for the great news! I like this version much better than the Italeri!

Did someone say Sexton? That would be an even greater release!


Jeff