guys
all ive done is make the turret
i scratchbuilt a mantlet along the lines of a black prince
and cast it up for future builds
the turret ended up as a cross between a black prince and a comet
i do like the look of it so far
and im enjoying this build
ive also put the tracks on the right way round
all comments welcome
regards andrew

Looking good Andrew !!
Although it is a "what if" and you're still early in the process, you might want to deepen and widen the trough that the gun barrel rests in.
The way it is now, the gun wouldn't be able to depress more than a few degrees and would put the vehicle at a disadvantage when engaging low lying targets.
If you do increase the depression, considering the size of the 17 or 20 pounder's breech, you might have to raise the roof a bit too.
Anyway, just my $.02 worth.
Cheers

jjumbo

well spotted john
yes i have to file it down a bit more
your good at spotting the details
which is what i need
ive been detailing up the build and its coming along nicely
so far in happy with it
ive plans on another big churchill type
im still thinking about it
regards andrew

exellent point... is that why the Achilles was an open top turret?

mark

Hey Andrew,
Comes from taking a close look at some of my own scratch builds and thinking they look a bit "off" !!!
I was halfway through a conversion of a M3 Stuart into a 'What If?" SP with a French/U.S. 75mm gun when I realized there was no room for the recoil of the gun.
Had to cut the lower hull in half and extend it about a scale meter so it looked somewhat more plausible and give the gun crew some elbow room.
It's currently gathering dust along with the rest of my shelf queens !!
Looking forward to your finished product !!!




Hey Mark,
The M10, the vehicle that Achilles was based on, was designed with an open top right from the start.
I'm not sure if the open top was because of size of the breech or an attempt to keep the height of the vehicle lower.
The American Army had developed some odd tactical doctrines after seeing what happened in Europe in 1939-1940.
Light weight, lightly armoured tank destroyers were thought to be the way to combat tanks rather than having tanks combat
tanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M10_Wolverine

At least the British up-gunned some of their M10's with a 17pdr, replacing the 3" gun that was originally designed as a coastal defense cannon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-inch_M1918_gun#M7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17pdr_SP_Achilles

Some American and British units did make field modifications to their vehicles by added roofs but it wasn't too common.
Must have been bloody cold and wet to crew them in bad weather.
Cheers guys

jjumbo

Nice progress Andrew,

This is looking very impressive as are your scratch building and casting skills!

keep up the good work,

James

thanks james
i like casting up parts
it makes whatif building easier
as i can use lots of standard parts like barrels and hatches
its coming on well
regards and thanks for your interest
andrew