Hi guys its me again looking for prime movers of the 155mm Long Tom.You will have to excuse my ignorance on the subject,but would it be possible to use the AFV club M35A1 or M35A2 as a basis for the prime mover?What about the old Heller GMC?Thanks for looking and any info would be much appreciated....Dave.

I don't think that the 2 1/2 ton truck s would be able to haul this big gun for very far. I would think that a five ton or larger vehicle would be needed to haul it. the @ 1/2 tons transmission would be over worked. I have never seen the Long tom towed these trucks. Wasn't the 155MM of the WW2 and Korean War era? Maybe Maj. Rob or Gunnie would know the answer better.

I believe the duce and a half should be able to handle it good, I'm not sure how the military rates their trucks, I believe the rating is its load capacity, cause looking at it, it surely weighs over 5 thousand pounds, cause my bare tractor weighs 20 thousand, and these are trucks not tractors, and I'm sure with the long tom as big as it is, it would have its own braking system, and as long as the duce has a good enough hitch, it should handle it, see the trouble is not getting it to move, it is getting it to stop. I believe they only have 5 thousand pound payload is for rough terrain without braking down the suspension, but the long tom will carry its own weight, there should be only a couple thousand pound tong weight if that much. I'd say yes until somebody proves me wrong.

A 2.5 ton is rated for 2.5 tons on rough terrain IT CAN carry up to 5 tons on good roads.

Nope, prime mover for 155mm Long Tom was the Mack NO 7-ton truck. Here are some images of it.
The AFV Club 2 1/2 ton would be too light for the Long Tom, also wrong era. M35A2 as depicted by AFV Club was not introdued till early 1970s, Long Tom was used during WWII and maybe into Korean war. Also 2 1/2 ton GMC would also be to light to tow it. The only Mack NO model I know of is a resin kit by ADV [url=http://www.missionmodels.com/pages/azimut.htm]here[url] (scroll down) for $130. Here is a picture of it:

It doesn't look too difficult to scratch/convert a Mack NO using parts from other truck models. Just from looking at the pictures I have seen, you could probably use the frame from a M925, running gear and converted bed from a 2 1/2 ton GMC, maybe tires from a Long Tom kit. Would probably have to scratch up the front hood/fenders and parts of the cab (may be able to use part of 2 1/2 ton cab too). That's pretty much how I cobled together my M123A1C (still in progress, you can view it in my gallery, p.3), different trucks for different parts. Doesn't look like too hard a project, and a hell of a lot cheaper than the resin kit. Good luck. I may just have to build one myself. I am on a string of softskin vehicles lately.

The 2.5 ton truck would melt it's transmission in about 10 yards trying pulling that beast. She weighed over 30,000lbs!
The standard PM, like Gino said for the "Long Tom" was the 7.5 ton Mack NO. Another option for a PM for the 155mm would be the M35 which AFV Club makes for about $30.
Furthermore the HSTs were also used, unfortunately these are only resin kits too. except for Blue Tanks kit of the M4 18ton HST, but never mind that as it's woefully inaccurate.

Hi

The M4 Allis Chamlers High speed tractor can haul the 155mm Long Tom . Here a pic from High speed tractor witj 8 inch how.



Photo edited for size

Cheers

pascal

Great photo!

Yes, I agree. Really nice pic, wish I'd found it!

But, I'd like to get some more input on the Mack NO. HeavyArty says the conversion doesn't look too hard. And, on the surface I would have to agree. But since I'm no expert on trucks. I, and probably at least a few other fellas I can think of, would like to delve into this a wee bit deeper.
animal, your both a truck pro, and an accomplished scratcher. What do you think? Could you use some of the parts HeavyArty suggests?
Maybe I'll PM 'Roo and get some of his input as well. Never hurts to put as many minds into something as you can.

Tread.

well at a quick look there are hardly any parts that could be used from the Tamiya GMC kit. These would be the cab back and the windscreen. you MAY BE able to also use the floorpan, dash and front cowl with modifications, but I would need to investergate this more.

wheels are bigger and heavier both in height and width and there may possibly be a kit out there that you could steal the wheels from or has after market resin sets you could buy. The rest could be scratch built as long as you had plans (of which Kencelot has some from the Mack museum) and some detail pics of the undercarriage. The rest of the military body could be built out of plastic card with minimum skills in scratchbuilding. BUT it is not a conversion or scratch build for the beginer and I personly would rather buy one of the two availiable resin kits and fix any parts that were inaccurate or faulty, although this would be the easiest way, in my opinion, it is also the most expensive for me as I do have the skills to scratch it..

Hope that helps

by the time most people have purchased 3 plus kits and a lot of AM stuff the resin kit purchase and some plastic sheet to fix the faults would be cheaper by far in the long run.

Hi to all,

1) The M4 pic was taken by a friend during a open day exhibit in Belgim. It is amuseum or collector vehicle.

2)For Mack NO model : I have an excellent french modelling article with drawing of each part and pics. If some is interested, I can send copy of this article by mail. Please send me you ask at [email protected] (remove no spam).

3) I have one resin kit 1/35 (JMP kit, a french manufacturer) and one complete set of wheels to sell. Contact me on my mail.

Best regards.

pascal

You could use the chasis from the 923/25 kit and a set of wheels from the dragon wagon. The cab section from a CKW 2 1/2 ton could be used and the nose and fenders would have to be scratch built. In my opinion it would be just as good to purchace the resin kit. I think that after you purchase all the different kits, you will be spending just about the same amount of money.

Howdy fellas,

Many thx to both 'Roo and animal for their input. As far as I'm concerned their word is gold.
But I know this fella, he looks a lot like me, and he walks a lot like me....but, he's not me. That want's to ask this question (remember, it's not me).
If this fella wanted to try the 'scratch' route. Couldn't this fella just cast copies of the parts used from the different kits, thereby rendering the copied kits still usable?

My friend's just curious, is all

Tread.

More than 800,000 units were built before the end of WWII, most were GMC and over 100,000 were sent to Russia alone, mostly studabakers and back then they didn't have automatics, and with that dolly, it didn't have any tong weight, and with it geared so low, it could pull it with ease, I think it was in the 70's before they got automatics, but if you look you will see countless numbers of duce and a half during WWII. I'm building one now from that era, it is Italeri #205. GMC. But Studabaker, Reo, just to mention a few others that built the duce and a half back then, now it doesn't say the weight, but I'd bet it is close to 25,000 pounds empty, whether or not it is correct, but the model is showing a metal floor for back then, why the new models are showing a wooden floor I dont know, but this old one from WWII is showing a metal floor in the bed.

Tread, tell your "Friend" that you could cast the parts from the different kits if he is very good with two part molds and has a vacum chamber to get all the detail. I would love to see the model after it is finished. I am sure your friend can do a bang up job on it.

I guess a VW bus couldn't tow a Long Tom then...

Shaun
/remembering the M113 & VW thread/

Thanks! Shaun - you're worth a Million Bucks! I wasn't going to retype my comments from that thread into this one...

Gunnie

Hey there animal
i think we might get away with using a dodge2 12 ton cab and box on back..a 925 chassis...and the hood front ends looks almost like an old b model mack,,,which is easy if you narrow the dodge hood...or gmc hood grille fenders could be scratched...whats your thoughts


Ray

I think I created a few monsters here. I agree with with Tread and Darkstar. I still think the scratch route is the best way to go. I still can't justify spending that much on a resin kit when I can scratch it together myself. I would rather work in plastic than resin anyway. Now you guys are getting me real ly excited about doing a MACK NO myself.

The dodge cab may just work. Hmmm..

Which Dodge 2 1/2 ton are you guys referring to. I'm not following. Didn't know Dodge did a Duece and a half. Do you have a photo or something of it?

Italeri made the water truck with the dodge cab.

O.K. Let me se if I have this right, It is the enclosed cab? The rest of the truck, bed, chasis, etc. isthe same (Basically) as the 2 1/2 tomn GMC (Tamiya, Italeri, or Heller). Is that correct?

you guys I am afraid have drifted into fantasy land now with talk of 'dodge 2.5 ton cabs etc. There never ever was such a 'dodge' back in WW2.

Animal the truck you are talking about is an early model GMC closed cab water tank truck and I am afraid it is totaly different to the Mack NO even the rear deck of the cargo version, while looking the same, is different.

I will not reply in this thread again but if anyone wants to discuss it more please PM me.

good on you guys if you do 'scratch' it I myself as I said before would buy the resin and be done with it and I concider that some of the scratch building I do is crazy. But now I think I am pretty sane.

this is my personal opinion and is not meant to upset anyone at all.

Roo
PS> I have built as models 10 GMC CCKW (WW2) and have looked at countless others to know that the cab is not the same as the mack.