Hello Everyone:

I would like to share my latest build of the M110A2 in 1/35 scale by Italeri which I converted to Egyptian version and placed on a small diorama.
Here is the link for the youtube build video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EPXdpD4qec

Here is the build process:

The Italeri Kit:


The real M110:



Assembly:

Priming:

Base coat:

Weathering:


3D printing the wood crates:


Preparing the base:


The finished Model:




Building the figures:

The finished Diorama:

Very cool. We don't get to see modern Egyptian stuff too often. There are a few painting tips that can enhance it. The rotating band on the projo is brass colored (at least on the ones I have seen) and you may want to paint the fuzes as well.
Although the powder cannisters don't necessarily have to be right behind the piece, you may want to show one or two as it's sort of a condensed scene. Oh, and a water bucket and swab are alays a nice touch,
And just as a personal preference I like to use foil on the bare metal parts of the pistons on the equilibrators and spade.

This SPG, its figures and diorama are very well done.

Thanks Robert for the valuable input

I like the idea of a bucket and swab, where do you think would be the most logical place for them?

Thanks Jphillips

Nice arty subject!!! Looks great. Maybe too big of a shell for one guy?
I saw these weapons fired at Grafenwehr and the crew had a loading tray with one man of each side with a third guy pushing the roand into the breach with a ramrod.
J

Looks great overall. The swab bucket would be directly behind the gun maybe on the inside of the spade. It is used by the crew to swab the barrel and wash out/put out any burning embers that are left over.

The only critique I have is the guy holding the projo. He must be a big dude. Those rounds weigh 200 pounds each. As jrutman says above, usually, two guys carry the round on a carrying tray. These two guys load the round onto the arm that is at the rear of the gun. It swings down and allows them to load at ground level. Then it hydraulically lifts the round and places it behind the breech. A guy with a rammer then pushes the round into the breech and rams it into place. Then the loading tray is swung out of the way so the gun can be fired w/out hitting the loader.

Here you can see the round being lifted into position.


Standing by to ram another round.


Loading arm down picking up another round.


8 inch/203mm round on the two-man carry tray


Hope that helps.

I based my diorama on these photos before making it, these guys seem to single handedly carry the M110 shell

The first two pics are practice rounds. The first is a 203mm trainer which is light. The second one is an inert 155mm round, which weighs only about 100 pounds, and it looks like it is kicking the guy's ass. The last pic is powder cans, which weigh a lot less than 203mm rounds. There are very few people who can hold a 200 pound weight out like that at that height, not for long anyways. That is why the M110 has the hydraulic loader/rammer.

Gino took the words right out of my mouth. All those pics were not of the correct round.
Put it like this. The field piece you are modeling has the same caliber gun as some heavy cruisers carried in WWII. And all those guns were in turrets that had auto loaders.
Takes a very rare man to hold 200 pounds out from his body like that at all.
J

Hi Hussein,
Good to see an artillery piece in this forum!
Thanks for showing.
The guy at the front of the gun....
Why is he there?
If he is intended to act as an observer, these guns are directed via a forward artillery obeserver, who reports to a battery. Here, the battery commander and his staff command the guns with data to direct the gun. You may see the aiming device, collimator, at hip height of the left soldier on your picture of a real M10. Remember, the grenades follow a long way, thus not flying in straight lines. In reality, after the first shot, he would be deaf for weeks, if not for the rest of his life!
Having done part of my artillery officers education, we trained with these guns with a crew of 10 or 11 gunners.
Also, the blackened muzzle is not a reality! I can imagine that such would happen if the paint would get very hot. But by than, the gun tube would create severe problems. Therefore, a battery commander very carefully controls the amount and speed of grenades fired per gun, just to keep the barrel in 100% condition.

Nevertheless, you made a nice replica of a tremendous piece of artillery.
Thanks!

Yup, all the above is true. If you notice in all your reference pics above, no one is on or anywhere near the gun when it is being fired. The gunner firing it is doing so with a very long lanyard for a couple reasons. One because the gun tends to jump and can roll back when firing. It is also possible for it to explode and kill anyone near it when it goes off. Lastly, they were loud as hell and had a big shock wave. If you were anywhere forward of the back of the gun, the shock wave and noise could physically harm you. They could actually make you nauseous. These guns were very effective, but not very safe.

Thanks Gino,

Not to speak about the impact of a winter ride with these guns in Munster Shooting Rang, Germany in December during a very intense snowfall........
If you were so eager to jump forward during your officers training to act as a gun commander, the ride would cure you for the rest of your life!
And you only worked your butts off to be posted in a M109 battery!!!

But that will never be a problem in Egypt I presume!

I agree again! This is naval artillery,mounted on tracks. If you google pics of Vietnam,you can see the shock waves from a fired gun looking from up in the air. The humid air of the tropics makes for a very visable shock wave like the pics always shown of the F4s dropping 500 pound bombs into the jungle. Tremendous pressure waves. Same with the area in front of the breech of this bad boy here.

J

I definitely feel for you. I did the same in Artillery Officer Basic School at Ft Sill, Oklahoma in the middle of winter. Not fun at all.

Didn't you guys get to use the canvas covers that fit over the whole gun crew area? I saw these used a lot when I was in Baumholder. My head was out of the hatch in my APC but we would pass these guns and the dudes would sitting totally out in the elements on their tractor seats
J

Hi Jerry,
Those were the days of drafted officers and drafted gunners!
And, since we were in the Dutch Army of the seventies: these items were either not purchased to save money or well kept in some sort of vague army ware house, waiting to be handed over during the "real battle for western Europe" ( which luckily never came).
But it made fun, at least afterwards, since these guns, the m107 and the M110 showed a very wide range and an enormous impact at the target area. Being in such a unit lifted you light years above those guys who were in a AMX PRA unit ( the AMX PRA was also known by its producer as Obusier de 105 Model 50 sur Affut Automoteur), being another example of the political impact in The Netherlands on the purchase of miltary equipment! If it looks like a gun, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, it would go.