Hi folks,

A bit more work,

The melted barrel has been replaced, muzzle break drilled out and the 3 thrust collars added to the botton on the gun. Also added the stop stud.

On the firing platform, I've used the PE and added the butt straps, picket plates and toe plates. The hook brackets remain to be added to the arms.

If you don'r have or want to do the PE thing you could drill out the Picket Plates and add a small plate above them. You could also added the Butt Straps but the PE seemed easier and more appropriate here.











Al

OK, I confess - I've built the Tamiya 25 pounder with the Edouard PE. And very exacting and finicky it is. But it looks the business when it's done. The FAT is relatively straightforward, but the gun is quite tricky. And the limber.... well, let's just say it's still a work in progress after some weeks.
Can't comment on the scale thickness of the gunshield (not having seen an original recently) but the Edouard part showed no inclination to bend in building.
So, good luck with the build and I shall watch with interest.

Al:

Here are a couple of photos from the June 2011 "Military Modelling" that give a good impression of the shield thickness. It looks to my untrained M45 eyeball that PE might pretty accurately portray the scale thickness.

Dave

Hi Ian,

Thanks, would you post up a couple of pics of the finished gun, I'd like to see the PE shield with some paint on.

Hi Dave,

Yes I was studying some photographs this morning and I'd tend to agreen the PE part looks about right.

Thanks for the pics, I have a copy of the mag as I spotted the article on the Candaian 25pdrs a week or two ago.

Some progress later.

Thanks guys.

Al

Hi guys,

This is where things are at now.

I've completed the firing base, there are about 30 plus small PE parts part to add here, but worth the effort





The carriage takes a lot of cleaning up and the fit between the rear and tow hook top partr isn't that good, mor eleaning up! Also on the rear sides of that part of the assembly there is a lot of missing rivet detail so more to do there. I've starte dto add some of the many small PE fittings and I'm probably at the stage where I need to decide if my original work on the spikes was worth the effort or whether I should replace the and the same if true of the rubbing plates that I thinned down?

If you are adding the small tool box on theform RHS it might be worth adding handles and making an angle on the rear edge of the top runners as that is how an original books looks.

There is a nice filler plate for the Gun Cradle, which I forgot to photograph, other than that things are moving along.

Al

Hi, yes, I'll try to take a couple of pics for you. I'll post them as soon as I can.
Liking the progress so far. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Ian,

Al

Hi, Alan.
I've placed 6 photos in the Armorama gallery. Described as "Tamiya 25 pounder with Edouard PE additions".

I'm afraid I can't make head nor tail of the instructions for uploading them to the forum, though

If you can't find them, let me know and I'll try again with uploading them to the forum.

Thanks Ian,

I can get them from the gallery, Nice work so far. Don't forget the turning handles were brass.

Many thanks the shield looks looks fine, although there seems to be slightly more detail on the front of the kit one, more pronounced. I'll mull it over but I may go for the easy opion .

Thanks again appreciated.

Al

Hi Guys,

A bit more progress. I started adding the missing rivets to the rear RHS of the carriage. (I hate rivets )



Also took a look at the kit shield. The details on the front are more pronounced that on the PE version so I cleaned up some sink marks on the rear and thinned the sides a bit. With the addition of some of the PE parts, this might pass muster and in truth is a lot easier for me. I can only deal with so much PE.



Al

The rivets certainly do improve the look. I, at least, think that they were worth the effort. I've not yet managed to cough-up the money for a punch set (so have never had to suffer the way that you did there), perhaps I'll someday look into the rivet decals or other cheaper options to improve the appearance of my models. (Though, I'm sure that if I did it, there would be glue smeared everywhere and erratic wanding rows of unevenly spaced rivets, so it's not clear that the final model would be "improved" by the effort. )

Dave

Hi Dave,

Not the neatest work I've ever done, but has the requried effect.

Bit more porgress, this leaves the LHS rivets, break and sight fittings and the shield to complete on the gun. There are some small fittings to go on the tow hook area and some straps on the inside leg of the carriage.



I'm quite pleased with the spikes on the RHS they look OK, a much better 3D look..

Cheers

Al

Hi folks,

A bit more work on the shield. I tried to get the best of both worlds here, a bit more detail, keep life simple (use the plastic version) and still have some depth in the shield. The PE one looks too flat to me. Useful if you want a towed version but still not how you'd really want it. The Bronco kit should solve all these issues when it comes along.

Anyway some updates.

I used a mix of the kit and PE fitting on the rear:



The kit brackets for the pouch seem much better sized than the PE ones



I replaced the ugly looking logs on the front of the shield





The firing platform is complete and ready for further painting.



Same detail for the wheels



Break is on but a further small PE fitting to add there



test fitting





Next the fitting on the tow hook, gear myself up for more rivets and start on the sighting arrangement.

Cheers

Al

I have to say Alan you are really rocking along with this build and it looks to have a lot of promise.

Hi Darren,

Thanks, apart form a lot of clean up it's a fairly simple build. I've kept the PE parts to those I think add something to the model.

OK last update for today. Fitted the 3 small Hand Spike Brackets on the tail (they look like pedals), very footery, added some rivet detail to the LHS and started work on the sighting arranngement. The PE instructions provide a small replacement unit but the instructions tell you to cut off part of part X8. That's the hollowed out bit sitting flat, and that part apears sort of accurate. I hollowed out the filled in bit. The sight should site to the right of part X8 so I will wait until I have the bits assembled to see how the new part fits in be fore I cut anything off.

I also missed of part X3 from the gun barrel but removing it to fit the part shows the nice gun slide filler Eduard provide.





Got some straps and final thigns to add but almost done.

Al

Hi folks,

this is the altered site with the added PE part and some plastic rod. I drilled out the ends of the rod and after much fotering aded the sight. It moved the unit over about 2mm just make sure you line up the scope with the appature in the shield. It will be interesting to see the Bronco kit which hopefully will have a much more accurate part.

Part 3 is abit shapeless, so i aded a filler block with 4 small studs again another part that could be better.







Al

Hi folks,

This is how thing look at the moment. Some buckles to paint and some straps to add.











Al

Hi folks,

A little bit more work, added a pick shaft, and some more straps. A test fit of the crew.













Al

Ah, posting to myself again

Some markings on the gun and some Klear, finished the trailer adding some of the PE along the way.

Al

Hi folks,

That completes the gun and trailer. I'll add a few stores to the trailer over the coming weeks. Considering that this was made in 1976 it is still a nice model to build. Lacking some imortant detail and requiring a fair bit of clean up it none the less builds into a half decent 25pdr.

The Eduard PE set adds some needed detail but I'd advise forming the parts first before removing any of the plastic bits as a wrong fold can mean that a correction will easily snap the part.



Cheers

Al

Very good work Alan. The model looks very good. How much of the PE set is left unused?

Hi Pat,

Thanks, it was an interesting build and I learnt a lot about the 25pdr that I didn't know which will come in handy when the Bronco gun comes along.

The only major bit I can think of that I didn't add is the pick head, I think I have a resin one somewhere and if I come across it I'll add it in.

Parts left are mainly those required to make up the replacement shield, although I used what I thoguh would enhance the plalstic version where appropriate. Some were just too small for me to handle lol, lol.

A picture tells a 1000 words





I've been talking to Derek Barton about the crew and these chaps would suit an earlier gun better as responsibilities changed in the latter half of the war so trooper placement was slightly different. However, an earlier gun is in fact what they were designed for but they make a good crew none the less although the No 3 on the gun looks a little relaxed for the setting and might have been better with his hand on the firing lever and looking down the sight.

Cheers


Al

Thanks for posting the pic it does indeed make it clear how much the PE resulted in an excellent model

Thanks again Pat, a few more pics of the finished gun and trailer.

















I built it with a view of matching it to the Chevy Gun Tractor I built a few years ago:



I built quite afew vehicle linked to 151st (Ayrshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, 11th Armoured Division and I'd quite like to see it parked near a German Bunker 'Under New Management' .

I wounder if Italeri will re-release this one, for the pending new 25pdrs? It''s a nice vehicle even given the age.

Cheers

Al

Alan - re No3 (layer) looking relaxed...he should be leaning a bit forwards when you finally fix him in place but he'd be quite sensible in keeping his head back and away from the sights if it's loaded and ready to fire.
On the 105mm pak-how that replaced the 25pdr we saw a few black eyes and cut foreheads as even though the gun recoils on the slide the whole thing jumps a bit when fired!

Nice build mate. I'd like to see the Chevy released as well. The kit includes some of the parts for the 15cwt truck as well and has provided most of my scratch built and conversion material for years!