As I've joined the Lets Get Small campaign I decided to try something different from my stash. It's a 105 MM Howitzer originally put out by JB Models and rebranded under the Airfix name. The kit allows the building of two complete guns, either the British L118 or the U.S. M119. An interesting feature of this kit is that you actually get four complete gun tubes (two of each type).

Here's some pictures of the parts.









The start of the first carriage.



Carriage and the start of the first M119.



This is my first artillery piece in over a decade.

Cheers,
tread_geek

Nice build so far.

There seems to be a bit of flash and mould lines to clean up.

Cheers

Mike

Thanks for the comments Mike. And yes, the flash and it's removal is definitely slowing the build down. As an example, the hole for where the gun cradle is to insert into the carriage was totally sealed by flash as was one of the side support holes that hold the gun itself. Both had to be drilled out. I'd have to say that 90% of the parts show seem lines.

The instructions are also not the best (clear) and in the last picture above I ended up positioning the gun tube in it's cradle in the wrong position. Thankfully I was able to disassemble it and put it back together properly (thanks to pictures on Prime Portal).

Progress on the carriage.



Corrected gun Position.



Gun traverse and elevation pieces. Boy are they tiny!





Next up is more cleaning and assembly of the gun support arms.

Jan

Okay, a little bit of progress. The olive paint on certain areas was put there to facilitate cleaning up the remnants of seem lines and to check joints. It's quite something how unforgiving digital cameras are for showing even the smallest flaw.

Firstly the gun itself. Drilling out the bore was an exercise in patience itself.







The carriage.





As I proceed I'll have to determine in what configuration this gun will be displayed. You are given three options, in firing position, towed with barrel facing wheels or towed with breech facing the wheels. As the "pistons" that support the gun cradle have to be glued this will effect their positioning.

Cheers,
Jan

Small update today. I've made some progress on the howitzer and one is pretty much complete. I've used Humbrol 66 Olive Drab as part primer and to offer some pre-shading. The flash on some of the smaller parts was excruciating to deal with. Time, a tweezer and needle files were required to deal with it. Overall, the accuracy isn't perfect but due to the small scale I doubt most will notice.

The mount in these pictures is not glued to the carriage.




The final pieces added to the gun cradle.




I'll start on the second gun next and have decided to build it in the fully towed position. The second gun is going to require a bit more work as there are four rather prominent sink holes in the front of the carriage and the flash seems a bit thicker. Odd how there can be such a difference in the same kit..

Cheers,
Jan

Finally made some progress on the second howitzer. As I mentioned in my last post, the second had a lot more flash than the fist one.

Major assemblies of the second gun finished.



Rough fitting of the parts in the travelling/towing configuration.



Getting pretty close to complete. Both should be ready for proper painting in a day or so.



Now I'll just have to decide how to display the two pieces. Maybe have to build something to tow at least one of them.

Cheers,
Jan

Nice work on thes little guys.

Rounds Complete!!

I appreciate the comment, Mike. I see from your profile that you were involved with artillery. Man, where were you when I started this build! The instructions and illustrations for this kit are in places ambiguous at best. Spent far too much time searching the Internet for pictures of these beasts to see where parts go. The location of parts for the gun in the towing position were particularly unclear and all the pictures on the 'Net only show guns in the firing position.

Cheers,
Jan

Finally I can see a light at the end of the barrel. This build has dragged on much longer than I had expected for what I believed would be a quick simple effort. Every time I'd take digital pictures of the progress I'd find an area that I thought was complete needing more attention. The second howitzer is now pretty much complete and just requires some cleaning up to remove construction dust and finger oil. Can't wait to start the painting.







I'd like to make at least some little vignette for displaying these little tykes but have serious doubts about my skills in that area.

Jan

nice work Jan, although after my childhood of modelling airfix! i dnt think i'll be going back you have done a great job so far though! gratz

Appreciate any comments, James. Actually the kit is the old JB models that was resurrected under the Airfix name. I've always had an affection for artillery and lets face it, there isn't too much available in Braille scale. After several Dragon Armor Pro builds I thought I'd take a break and do something a bit simpler...NOT! While not in the same league as Beyond's builds this kit has pushed my skills, limits and at times patience. Don't know how many times I've thought about whether it was worth all the effort to make it look decent.

Regards,
Jan

Jan - Nice work on the small package. Are you going for the 3 color NATO paint or Sand??

as far as artillery....between my eyes, big fingers and the lack of subjects, it's what keeps me in 1/35!!

Nice work

Rounds Complete!!

Good work onthe teeny weenys. Nice detail on those guns.

Thanks, Mike. I am trying my best on this "trying" kit. As for colour, I have a bit of a problem. The instructions state that the howitzers are "generally painted a single colour" and give the options of either sand, NATO green or bronze green with black tires. I have searched high and low on the Internet and found mostly units in just plain NATO green or sand. However, I found two pictures of an M119 in Afghanistan that appears to be a two colour scheme of NATO green and black. Was there a two colour scheme used? Could it be that the third colour is bleached out? Any insight you could give me on the three colour NATO scheme would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I think a plain sand would be a bit dull.




Thanks Marc. Yes the detail isn't too bad but preserving or enhancing it has be quite a labour due to flash.

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Guys.

Simple answer is that the British do not use 3 tone colour as per Germans or US NATO forces. Light Guns were always NATO Green with some black - but this really depended on where you could paint the black onto the Green. Normally it was on the trails, around the spade and tow hook area and the base plate. However, as the Gunner's painted their own kit the pattern and implementation of the colour scheme in accordance with regulations was entirely down to unit policy. Most guns are just green.......

Thank you Robert. I appreciate the information and your "vote" is registered. At this point I'd really like to do a multiple colour scheme.

Cheers,
Jan

P.S. Would a Bedford 3 ton tow a l119?

hey tread_geek

for the towing question it would be better off using airfix's bedford 4 tonne as these towed them. if your going to use a 3 tonne bedford which is ww2 style youd have to build total new artillery piece. but the 4 tonne is perfect plus airfix's landrover 1 tonne fc truck is perfect aswell.

ive seen quite a few of these on the motorways on my trips to yorkshire
so either of these would be perfect

good look with the build ill keep an eye on this 1 i had the very same idea for this campaign

tony

Tony,thanks for the information. I've checked my stash and found a JB models 4 ton Bedford. That will work for a UK L119. I also found a Hummer cargo that would work for a US version. Now what to do with the two L118 barrels!

Thanks,
Jan

Jan

Here is a 3 color NATO M119

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Jz-5rE9gxykFhOIWTLWCMQ

Also here is my M119 in 1/35



Hope this helps

Rounds Complete!!

Thank you very much, Mike. The picture on the Web site you listed is rather similar to the other two I have see. However, the rest of the pictures in that album show at lot of detail that will be very useful in detailing my build. Your M119 looks extremely nice and the diorama/vignette setting is extremely effective. Might have to steal some of it for mine! I can see the brown on your howitzer and in the other photos and a least on my monitor it and the black are quite subdued. I was also surprised to see the use of wooden ammo boxes in the images. May have to challenge my scratch skills and create some.

Thanks again,
Jan

hey there jan just for some inspriration of towing the l119 heres a link to someones build of the bedford and l119

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/2441144653_c3b829933f.jpg?v=0

tony

Thanks, Tony! The picture of the model was interesting but I see that the builder put the firing platform on the bottom of the trail as opposed to on top. In checking at that site I found some extremely interesting detail shots of the real guns. I'll review them and see what I can scratch and add to my pieces. Every time I think that I m getting close to completion I get these wonderful resources that I can't resist incorporating into my build. What a great place and great people there are here!

Cheers,
Jan

The wooden crate is the standard two round packing for 105mm shells. Inside the crate are two black fiber tubes which hold the rounds.

At 1/72 they will be tiny.

Glad to have been of help. Anything else just pull my lanyard!!

Rounds Complete!!

Jan - Here is another great place to get pics

http://www.primeportal.net/artillery/seymour/m119_walk.htm

Granted it is on display but it gives you some close shots

Rounds Complete!!

Looking good Jan. Can't wait to see them painted.

I also can't believe you're gonna do a vignette and add tiny ammo crates?! Actually after seeing that microscopic piece in the alligator clip I can believe that.

My hat's off!