Hello again ... I have the aged Italeri M109, which seems like a decent kit, along with the AFV Club tracks.

It is the stubby gun version, and the instructions refer to it as an M109G.

All of the marking are for Euro peace time armies ... did this vehicle type serve in Vietnam?

I would like to build a vehicle with an ACAV cupola ...

Mick you want to try and get the Italeri M108 which is hte 105mm version as the Aussies used them on Lease until the Tanks arrived in Theatre. I believe they were in an interesting three tone scheme.
The short barrel is the one you want for a Vietnam Era 109.
Cheers
Al

You can use this kit as a US used M109 in Vietnam, just be sure to leave off the german parts.
Going by this image:
http://www.marktplaats.nl/index.php?sref=http%3A//www.google.nl/search%3Fhl%3Dnl%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%3Anl%3Aofficial%26um%3D1%26q%3Drevell%2520m109%26ndsp%3D20%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Diw&url=http%3A//hobby.marktplaats.nl/modelbouw/309204430-m109-a3ga1-duitse-versie-italeri-1-35.html%3Fxref%3D1

Use the original flat commander's cupola
leave off smoke dischargers
leave off covering over gun trunnion
use original muzzle brake
use open (flat) gun sight housing
use US style tracks
etc.

Here's some info on units that used this vehicle (scroll down about half way):
http://www.landscaper.net/artyunits.htm

Background info:
http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/cv/arty/M109.html

Primeportal.net has some usefull walkarounds, and Barrel depot makes a metal barrel for the kit.

Enjoy your project.

Here's a nice one with a field-made armor shield that looks a bit like the "Okinawa" armor kit designed for the M113 (from Flickr).
Phuoc Tuy Province 1968 :


...and another one fitted with the ACAV turret (from Flickr as well) :


HTH
Frenchy

The Marines also used the M-109's in Vietnam.
They were used in the General Support Battalions of the Artillery Regiments:
4th Battalion, 11th Marines
4th Battalion, 12th Marines
4th Battalion, 13th Marines (Kilo Battery)

BTW, the chain link fence shown in front of the M-109 was not for keeping stray dogs out of the position (or drunken soldiers in). The purpose was to detonate B-40 and RPG-7 rounds before they hit the artillery piece and caused and unscheduled disassembly of the vehicle. Fencing like this was often used in front of FDC and ammo bunkers as well. Might be a nice add-on to a diorama if you can find the right materials.

Semper Fi,
Dave

most SPG's (generic) were placed in revetments of one kind or another. Normally there would be a sand bag wall that went around them with a small opening for entry and exit. The walls were usually a couple feet thick and about 3 1/2 feet high. If the SPG was going to be in the location for awhile they would often build a platform for the tracks to rest on. This platform would be as level and flat as they could make it, and aided the gun crew when doing a power shift to a different azmuth.
gary

never saw anything that fancey. But here's food for thought.
*when doing a power shift to change azmuth, normally one track is locked and the other is powerd to traverse the hull, but even then not always. The tracks will dig up the pea gravel like it were sand. The PSP plate (late type with the flat smooth surface) would hould up for a short while, but after a few moves it would also start to peel up. What was most common was oal logs about the size of rail road ties that were dug into the ground. Then the surface the racks sat one would be given a good coating of sand to aid the tracks in making a smooth shift without tearing everything up. Remember in Vietnam the normal firing position was a full 360 degrees.

*I'll do this in the various needs for the howitzer, and how they normally were done (but not always)
a. Powder; First thing you always try to do is to keep direct sunlight off the powder and even the powder tubes if at all posible. Reason why? The burn rate as well as generated power is effected by the actual powder temp. During the dry season it was common to take powder teps every three to four hours, and they actually have a factor number they figure in for the temp. As a rule you always try to build a powder bunker with a roof over it that also is strong enough to take a few 82mm mortar rounds. So expect to see at least two layers of sandbags and really three or four would be best. The powder will stay in the steel tubes till needed, but these tubes will have been opened, and then just have the lids stuck back in place. On an M109, M110 there will be two kinds of powder tubes; as well as two other groups that are known as "contact lots of powder. The last pair are for fireing extremely close to friendlies, and all powder will come from the same lot number of white bag or green bag.. So you will see four groups of powder canisters under one roof

b. projectiles; A little rain never hurt a projo! You'll almost never see rounds still strapped into the shipping pallet! Takes too long to get them ready to shoot when you need them the most. Normally the HE rounds are grouped together and are fused, but even then there will still a about fifty or so that are not fused and still have the nose plugs in them. These rounds will get one of the three different time fuses (we kept about a hundred like that). There will also be a contact lot of HE rounds that like the powder all come out of the same lot number. These are kept seperate, and beside them will be about 25 unfused.
there will be another group of WP rounds, and normally these will have a sandbag wall on three sides. There will be about 40 of them plus another 25 or so unfused. The case wall on a WP round is thin, and that's why it's a good idea to keep them protected as best you can (some units actually built a small bunker for these and ILL. rounds). There was no contact lot for WP
Illumination rounds are usually left with loose nose plugs in them, as you used a time fuse with them. There will often be anywhere from 30 to 50 of them depending on the location and friendlies in the area. Once again the case walls are somewhat thin on these rounds as well.
Smoke rounds are kind of an oddball. Some units shot more than others did. We probably didn't shoot 25 for my whole tour, and often used a WP round for a marker round instead. Never shot smoke close to friendlies, but others may have.
CoFram, cluster round, firecracker or whatever you wanted to call it. Never had a lot of them at any one time, but maybe 50 would be right. Sand bagged on three sides with loose nose plugs. There was not known contact lot number for these as well. These rounds were painted O.D., but marked differently than HE
c. Fuses; there were basicly four fuses we used, and these were never placed in the same area with powder or projectiles. Actually had it's own little bunker. We probably kept 200 fuses in that bunker, and often had to make a run to the ammo dump for more fuses.
d. Primers; for the life of me I cannot remember exactly how we delt with them, but do remember they also were kept by themselves for obvious reasons.

the only things found in the firing area were a can of primers (looks like a 30 caliber ammo can), at least one bucket of water, a three foot long wooden rod with a sand bag wrapped around to use as a swab, a rammer staff would be close by on towed guns (and often close by with an SPG in case the loader failed). Nothing else except for a field telephone. No radios were used by anybody I ever saw.

In the photo of the dug in M109 one needs to remember that this piece would probably not be used to fire in a zone sweep, but used a defensive point (sic). I've seen it a few times and always felt that I was glad I wasn't on that gun, or even positioned close by. That's what tanks are for.
gary

Gary is right on target with his details. For those building dios, the addition of water bucket and swab and the available rammer staff is an important addition.

The bucket and swab because if you try to load powder when there is a spark in the chamber your whole day will be ruined.

The rammer staff because the hydraulics on the early guns were very fussy. Even the new ones on the M-109A1's were pretty tempermental at times.

Semper Fi,
Dave

So far nobody said anything about the old verlinden emplacement for the M109. I have one and there is one in his early pubs.

been a few years since I shot 109's, but it seems that we used the short rammer staff if the hydraulic one failed. If you show the breech in te open positon; remember the inside of the breech is a mate silver color. As well as being spotless. Another little thing that 90% of the folks don't do with SPG's is (especially M109's and M108's) to simulate all the wear and abuse the rubber pads on the tracks take (even the road wheels to a certain extent).. There'll be chunks of rubber ripped right off of them when they do a power shift of the hull for a major azmuth change. You won't see this quite as bad with the M107's and M110's as they're usually shot in one basic direction with the spade dug in..

Lastly; when you set up your M109 in a shooting position always take into account the blast from the muzzel brake. It's horrible!! Nothing is done much at the sides of the hull due to the blast. It's almost alwas at the very rear of the turret, and even then back out of the way. Nobody gets between the guy handeling the projectile and the turret. I can't remember what the blast is like on an M108, and probably didn't fire a hundred rounds on an M109 in my career as a professional sandbag filler. Towed guns were so much nicer!
gary

Another thing that I have seen missed a lot in doing the M-109's is related to the tracks as well. On our 109's the end connectors on the tracks would ofter wear loose and would slap against the lower hull when we moved. Other than the noise, the first tell-tale sign of a loose track connector was bright aluminum gouges in the hull sides where the steel end connectors gouges out nice little divots of aluminum armor.

I haven't started building my M-109's yet, so I don't know how to get this done in scale. But the hubs of the road wheels were a clear glass (or plastic) so that the crew could check the lube levels in the hub.

Semper Fi,
Dave

I've mentioned this a few times as well, to the point where I decided to leave the photo in my Photobucket album. To replicate the effect I just gouge it with a worn No. 11 blade.

The end connector scrapes on the hull are exactly as I remember them.

The wheel hubs in this pic are different than those on early model M-109's. (perhaps this is not an M-109?) Anyway, the center of the wheel hubs on the early M-109's were a plastic/glass window so that we could check the lube levels in the wheel.

I'll try to add a pic of the detail if I can find one in my collection.



In this shot, you can see the flat area in the center of the hub. Since this gun is now just a display piece, the glass has been painted. When in service, the crew would have seen the fluid levels about half way up in the glass.

Semper Fi,
Dave