Hi folks,

Not a lot of progress but I hope to finish off the sighting this week, which will complete steps 1,2,3 and 4 and then move on to the gun sadle and associated fittings in step 5.



Al

Hi folks,

A bit more work on the sight, very tiny parts here. so take your time. In Step 3 Parts A65 and A56 fit into Part A31. These rods slide in to the mechanism and if I were building this again I'd used brass rod here as it might make life easier.









Al

Beford I forget, Darren has a walkabout of one here on site:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/3743

Al

Hi folks,

Well I have encountered my first real issue with the kit. AA58 and 59 are the trunions for the gun. These are linked by a small cog wheel Part A53 underneath that should roll up and down Part A11 the elevating arch. However either part A11 and A53 are two big or Parts A58 and 59 have suffered some shrinkage in the mould but there is no way A53 is going to roll over A11. Even after filing A11 and A53 down there was still a mis-match. In the end I not only filed the parts down but had to shorten the elevating arm both ends.

My thoughts here are that A58 & 59 have suffered some shrinkage in the mould. Fortunately little will be seen of the elevating arm but my advice here is don't fit the associated fittings to the trunions until you have test fitted part A53 against Part 11.

Al

I see your taking this build slow the Alan

Hi Darren,

If ever there was a case for a large magnifier this would be it

Al

I am doing the Phesant and belive me mine is going slower how are you coping with the micro brass?

Hi David,

Yes, the Phesant is on the build list. I haven't added any PE yet to the gun as I want to get all the small plastic parts done first and the fit of the main parts, the I can get the fumble finguers out of the way!! Their PE set for the boxes was easy to work with and fixed well to the palstic, I hope the gun set is the same.

I really must think about getting a larger glass to work with, there are a host of small aprts to deal with and my eyes were never that good to start with .

On the 17pdr I think the fixing arrangement for the gun could have been done better by adding a locking part underneath. I may glue mine just to make sure I get it to sit right on the wheel base, work progresses through and I got a bit more done yesterday. Will update with some pics tomorrow.

Have you got a blog going for the Pheasant, that would be handy?

Cheers

Al

Hi folks,

Here's progress so far. The elevating arm was an issue in my kit anyway, and I found that when I mounted the barrel it wanted to lean to the right so I fixed it in place with some glue. The side fitting and some smaller fitting I have yet to add but I'd left them off as I was doing a lot of handling of the of the breech area. These can now be added.

When you're doing the Trails be sure to add parts C8 at the time you join the trails together. The spades are designed to lock in two separate positions depending on towing or firing.

test fit







Joined up - spades added









Al

Good progress Alan.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for looking in. It's a tricky beast!

Al

Hi folks,

Nearing the end. Started fitting the small PE items, some locking handles for the spades and open firing position. The crow bar has 5 small PE fitting that need to go on the right hand side trail, there are position points for these on the side but they are very small parts so just take your time. As I jumped around the instructions a bit I'll also need to go back and check for anything that got missed!!

I also added the sighting mechanism on the LHS.

If I was building the gun again, I'd either stick closely to the instructions or build from the trail up, but as there are many small parts to add and that need to be allowed to dry first I hopped around a bit, but that's just how I build.











Al

Alan I can send you the gun shield portion of the E.T. Model 17pdr Anti Tank Gun Mk I product if you would like to give it an outing?
Here is a link to it if you are interested.

Hi Darren,

Thank you for the kind offer. I'll stick with the kit shields thanks, they look pretty good and hopefully will not be too difficult to fit!

Cheers

Al

Hi folks,

Some pics for reference.

This is an interesting picture of a dug in gun. The crew seem to have dug a trench in-between the trail legs. It makes a lot of sense as the loader must have been pretty exposed and I imagine trying to load 17pdr shells from a kneeling position was probably a non starter.



a few more I came across









Al

Hi folks,

A bit more work on the gun.









Is anyone else building this one or has the kit? I'd be interested to know if you have any issues with the gun trunnions (parts A58 and A59). My parts were too small to fit round the gun correctly and allow the elevating arm and roller to fit correctly. This also showed itself again with part A59 being slightly bigger than part A 58! At first I though it was just bad building on my part but both parts fit to completed part 4 so the height is pre-set already. This meant a wonky shield so a bit of filing, cutting and readjustment was necessary.

This is a beautifully detailed kit, maybe a little over engineered, but isn't that what we want! I'm annoyed though about the fit of said parts. Let me know if you have the kit, I'm tempted top get another just to see if I was unlucky and got a Friday kit, but I'll wait for a bit more feedback from builders to see what's what.

The gun has had a basic coat of paint and I'm mulling over a few ideas on how it might be presented.





Cheers

Al

Hi Darren,

I thought I'd check out some of that bandage you sent me.





Al

A couple of pics of the crew on a small base:

Glad to see the net came in handy Alan. Here are a couple of pictures you may find of help.

Thanks Darren,

Al

Hi folks,

SOme work on the base. I choose the Great North Road Railway Piece but wanted it angled so sawed a bit off each end. Added some styrene for up the base level and marked out the basic gun position. I got one of the model scene grass mats for basic ground work although it's a bit short for the whole base. My plan thus altered a bit. I intend to cut the mat so that the brown track is closer to the embankment. To the RHS of the gun pit I might carve out a curved road/track area so that and the pit should make up for the short fall in the matting.

Anyway very much a WIP, some pics.














Al

Looking very promising Alan. Looking at the gun the cut out notch in the gun shield seems to be missing.

Hi Darren,

There are still a couple of small parts to be added, whether one is the cut out notch or not I'm not sure, I shall have to look for a picture.

Not the best photo, as there is no natural light at the moment but progress on the base. I fixed the matting wiht some PVA Glue. I was able to stretch it out quite a bit so pretty much covered everything in one go, well at least on one side of the track! I added a small drainage ditch and some random weeds/flowers to one side of the tack too and dulled the track a bit. The joins around the gun pit will be hidden by soil.





Al

A couple of pics with more natural colour. I have a selection fo telegraph poles and signage I could recycle from a past life.





Al

Been away for a while, but this is looking interesting Alan.

Cracking stuff mate! Cracking stuff!