After some investigation, I worked out that the Dragon M2A1 105mm Howitzer kit (#6499) contains most of the parts needed to build the M2A2 version , ie a M101 deployed to Korea and Vietnam among other conflicts.

Here are my first photos:

I have identified the existing M2A1 parts in the photos in GREEN and the M2A2 parts in BLUE.
The part numbers relate to the Dragon Sprues in kit #6499




The BLUE parts in the photo are identified in the instructions as "Parts not for use" and are highlighted in blue in the sprue diagrams.


Ian

Nice work Ian. The modifications to the M101A1 are not major and as you find the parts, I presume Dragon was planning another release.....say change the figs to VN figs, new instructions and TA DA a whole new kit!!

I have not had the chance to sort through the kit yet.....nice job!! Thanks for saving me some time.

Rounds Complete!!

After looking at the photos, I relized that I had not identified one of the parts.
The photo has now been corrected in my original post.

A Vietnam era crew would make sense for a future kit release.

Ian

Nice work Ian,

Converting this kit to a M2A2 has also been on my to do list since it was issued! I'll be watching keenly watching your progress!

In Australia we used the M2A2 for many years with the only major difference being that Australia adopted a Canadian style sight on the original mount.

W

I was looking on eBay and I found a Eduard set to upgrade the Italeri M101.

Eduard 35242

This set includes replacement gun shields as well as several other parts that are included in the Dragon kit. Once the detail set arrives, I will report back on which parts I intend to use as I am certain that there will be some parts that are better in etched metal than plastic and like wise other parts are better done in plastic than etched metal.

I did a quick check for this set on Squadron.com and it is available so I guess that other Hobby stores around the globe will also carry it.

Ian