Several months back, I posted a picture of my M578 on another thread. At that time I said that I was going to put it on a base. Now that that has been done, I thought some of you might like to see the final product.

Just to remind everyone what was done. The M578 is a conversion using the Italeri M110A2 SPG and the Perfect Scale Modellbau M578 Turret. A complete Drvers area was scratch built and the interior of the turret was super detailed.

The base is made from a Verlinden cobblestone sheet that was cut to fit my concept. The drain area was fashioned from Apoxie Sculpt and a strip of plastic. Ground work is Aves ClayShay with grass tufts and rocks added.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.













Dave

Hi Dave - really like your build and layout - getting the engine hanging perfectly balanced, from the boom is spot on (and not as easy to do as it looks) - nice all around build!

Cheers
Nick

Thanks Nick. Getting the engine to hang right was easier than you might think. I assembled it, scratched the harness and then determined the balance point. Once that was done, I drilled the hole and attached the clavicle. Plus it helped that I had some time with this vehicle during my military time.

Dave

Woow that is a impressive build . I seen one of those M 578 in a tamiya magazine when I was younger and always wanted to do one. It's inspiring and the detail is making me want to get one. But I have to get better at my resin techniques before I get one.

Happy modeling

Actually the PSM kit is a good one to start with. The casting is excellent with very little flash and no warping. The detail rivals some styrene kits I have gotten. If you are going to venture into resin, the PSM kits are the way to go. The only drawback was that the instructions can be a little confusing unless you pay close attention to them and think about two steps ahead of where you are.

Dave

Ok Dave - now you make me want to try it! ( both the m578 and getting something to correctly balance from a boom!) that plan will go into my memory bank...I've tried to suspend things from cables/chains before with less good results than yours - never actually "hanging" correctly from scale cable (as whatever I'm trying to suspend doesn't have enough weight to settle correctly) or, asymmetry when using chain - it will work next time (!) - again, nice overall build.

Nick

Nice job Dave!! Where'd you get the figure with the fatigue cap?

Hey Tom

He's a composite. Legend boots, Verlinden legs, Tamiya upper torso and head with the cap from the Dragon US Rangers set.

As you know, not many Cold War figures to work with, so most of mine are fabricated. The other guy is a composite also.

Dave

Hi
That very nice. I like the interior very neat. The figure's look nice as well.
I've been building Mine with the Italeri M107 & Verlinden's conversion, it's built just need to finish the painting. I'm modelling mine for Vietnam.
Nice to see the more unusual vehicles built.

Shaun

Thanks Shaun. I bought the Verlinden conversion some 15 years ago, but never tried doing it because I was not happy with the solid block turret. I had considered using some of that kit with this model, but found that the PSM kit was far superior to the Verlinden one. Good luck with your build.

Dave

Besides my passion for this era of armor and always wanting to do the M578 conversion but never had the time or guts (mostly missing the guts) - one of the first things that popped out to me was the figures! I've been known to buy an M577 just for the figures alone!

I love all the detail and respect how much time and energy went into such an amazing build.. The water draining across the cobblestone is a nice touch!

Thanks for the nice comments Bruce. Like you I have a certain passion for the vehicles of the late 70,s/80's Cold War Era. One of the other vehicles that is on my to-do-list in the future is the M113A1 TOW CAP. Nobody makes one, so it will be a kit bash as well. Hobby Fan has a conversion kit that has a good bit of the parts needed, but it falls short of the actual vehicle. Not my next project, but it is in the near future.

Dave

I'm with you guys! Having spent my first five years in the Army in Germany from 1972-1977, you can imagine why that's a sweet spot for me. Funny about the M577. I think at one point Tamiya created a separate kit just of those figures and I bought a couple JUST because that was about the ONLY place to get "Cold War" figures.

As I've said before, while I understand that the "Cold" war is probably nowhere nearly as interesting a period for modelers as "hot" wars would be, we had over two GENERATIONS of soldiers in that one and that's a LOT of people and time to have such limited figures available.

(Dismounting soap box now )

Tom

Yep I'm up on the Soap Box with you Tom. I have been saying for years that not all American Military wore Jungle Fatigues in the 60s and 70s. Wouldn't it be great to see some figures in the OG Fatigues that we wore in Germany in the 70s when you and I were over there

Are you listening Major Manufacturers

And don't forget the winter field uniform! Remember field pants, and the wool OG shirts as well as the black galoshes and parkas!

There were a WHOLE lot more soldiers who wore that set of uniforms than EVER wore jungle fatigues!!!