Rick Taylor and Russ Bucy present a detailed build review of Roden''s BL 8-Inch Howitzer Mk. VI, both in firing and travelling modes.
Read the Review
If you have comments or questions please post them here.
Thanks!
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Review
Roden: BL 8-Inch Howitzer
varanusk
Managing Editor
Joined: July 04, 2013
KitMaker: 1,288 posts
Armorama: 942 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - 08:03 PM UTC
Rick Taylor and Russ Bucy present a detailed build review of Roden''s BL 8-Inch Howitzer Mk. VI, both in firing and travelling modes.
Read the Review
If you have comments or questions please post them here.
Thanks!
bill_c
Campaigns Administrator
Joined: January 09, 2008
KitMaker: 10,553 posts
Armorama: 8,109 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 05:28 AM UTC
Looks like a winner and far better than the resin artillery that seems to dominate the WW1 offerings in big guns.
Kevlar06
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 08:13 AM UTC
Bill, it’s a nice model when completed, but not without some “warts” which Rick and I have found out. Thanks to Model Cellar, we now have a correction set for the wheels. Rick has done an excellent job of presenting it here, and I agree, it provides an excellent option to some resin kits, at a fraction of the cost.
VR, Russ
VR, Russ
Taeuss
Joined: January 03, 2016
KitMaker: 3,791 posts
Armorama: 3,778 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 03:04 PM UTC
thank you for the comprehensive review; I like the kit and if I ever finish my stockpile (ha!) I'll be interested in looking these two up.
taylorrl
Joined: January 31, 2019
KitMaker: 50 posts
Armorama: 49 posts
Posted: Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 04:27 AM UTC
Bill,
Russ had his 8-inch and Holt completed in time for the Seattle IPMS Spring Show in April where it won first place in the artillery category. So we have objective proof that it builds up very well. I am working on another WW1 artillery piece in resin now. The Roden injection molded kit is looking better by the minute.
Rick
Russ had his 8-inch and Holt completed in time for the Seattle IPMS Spring Show in April where it won first place in the artillery category. So we have objective proof that it builds up very well. I am working on another WW1 artillery piece in resin now. The Roden injection molded kit is looking better by the minute.
Rick
taylorrl
Joined: January 31, 2019
KitMaker: 50 posts
Armorama: 49 posts
Posted: Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 04:39 AM UTC
Thanks Frank. Has anyone ever built their entire stash?
Rick
Rick
cduckworth
Joined: July 07, 2011
KitMaker: 17 posts
Armorama: 8 posts
Posted: Sunday, June 23, 2019 - 09:00 AM UTC
Rick and Russ
I’m about finished with the howitzer, limber and gun platform. I don’t think I’d made it this far without your photos of the completed kit and the US Army Handbook for Artillery. The Roden instructions are a little vague in spots. It appears the kit was designed by two different individuals. Some parts are a throwback to 1960 whereas others are Tamiya quality (not enough through). I did use Paul’s resin wheel set from Model Cellar which were excellent. I opted to add grain to the timbers using a microsaw blade. Have the Holt tractor in queue next. Thanks for the great write up. Charlie
I’m about finished with the howitzer, limber and gun platform. I don’t think I’d made it this far without your photos of the completed kit and the US Army Handbook for Artillery. The Roden instructions are a little vague in spots. It appears the kit was designed by two different individuals. Some parts are a throwback to 1960 whereas others are Tamiya quality (not enough through). I did use Paul’s resin wheel set from Model Cellar which were excellent. I opted to add grain to the timbers using a microsaw blade. Have the Holt tractor in queue next. Thanks for the great write up. Charlie
Kevlar06
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Monday, June 24, 2019 - 02:48 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Rick and Russ
I’m about finished with the howitzer, limber and gun platform. I don’t think I’d made it this far without your photos of the completed kit and the US Army Handbook for Artillery. The Roden instructions are a little vague in spots. It appears the kit was designed by two different individuals. Some parts are a throwback to 1960 whereas others are Tamiya quality (not enough through). I did use Paul’s resin wheel set from Model Cellar which were excellent. I opted to add grain to the timbers using a microsaw blade. Have the Holt tractor in queue next. Thanks for the great write up. Charlie
Charlie,
Glad you found the article useful. It appears Roden used a 1938 export Howitzer found in the Finnish War museum as an example, but there are a few differences from the WWI version (wheel tread pattern is one). There's also a small "patch box" on the Howitzer trail that was not present on the WWI version, and as Rick has mentioned, there were some "lightening holes" in the trail that have been left off. Interestingly, the box art shows a WW1 Howitzer with the Holt tractor in the background, but the carriage has much later brakes found on the British WW2 version which are not present in the kit. So you may be correct in your interpretation of how the kit was designed-- I suspect they looked at several Howitzers, and perhaps plan to release later versions. A combination Holt Tractor/BL Howitzer kit has already been announced by Roden. For the Holt Tractor, I'd direct you to the article on that, as Michael Koenig has added several great photos and details of his build of the tractor.
VR, Russ
taylorrl
Joined: January 31, 2019
KitMaker: 50 posts
Armorama: 49 posts
Posted: Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 01:13 PM UTC
Charlie,
Sorry for the delayed response. I was on vacation with poor to no internet connectivity. I'm glad you found the review useful. I hadn't considered two designers for the kit. There is definitely something unusual with the mix of finely detailed good fitting parts and others that are really vague and fit very poorly. I'm just glad that they did produced the kit. All of my other WW1 artillery kits are resin. Hopefully Roden will release a couple more WW1 artillery pieces.
Rick
Sorry for the delayed response. I was on vacation with poor to no internet connectivity. I'm glad you found the review useful. I hadn't considered two designers for the kit. There is definitely something unusual with the mix of finely detailed good fitting parts and others that are really vague and fit very poorly. I'm just glad that they did produced the kit. All of my other WW1 artillery kits are resin. Hopefully Roden will release a couple more WW1 artillery pieces.
Rick
Kevlar06
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Thursday, July 11, 2019 - 04:37 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Charlie,
Sorry for the delayed response. I was on vacation with poor to no internet connectivity. I'm glad you found the review useful. I hadn't considered two designers for the kit. There is definitely something unusual with the mix of finely detailed good fitting parts and others that are really vague and fit very poorly. I'm just glad that they did produced the kit. All of my other WW1 artillery kits are resin. Hopefully Roden will release a couple more WW1 artillery pieces.
Rick
Rick & Charlie,
It could be that Roden uses more than one designer for their kits, but having built a number of Roden's 1/32 and 1/144 aircraft kits (and their Rolls Royce Armored Car), I'd say this kit and the Holt tractor are pretty typical of Roden's manufacturing technique. Their kits seem to be a mixture nice engineering and poor fit, along with nice details along with crude molding. I think it's just them, and the shortcuts they take in getting a kit produced. That said, I like most of Roden's releases, because they tackle subjects that other manufacturers don't. To my recollection, no other manufacturer has released a mainstream injection molded Allied WWI Artillery piece in 1/35 scale (although they definitely fell down on their research on the 8" Howitzer). The same goes for many of their aircraft subjects. Let's hope they release more WWI ground subjects.
VR, Russ
taylorrl
Joined: January 31, 2019
KitMaker: 50 posts
Armorama: 49 posts
Posted: Saturday, July 27, 2019 - 03:43 PM UTC
I received a copy of the Model Cellar resin aftermarket wheel treads this week. They are excellent! Using them you can correct the Roden wheel treads in a fraction of the time that Russ and I spent scratch building the treads. I'll write up an in-box review of these and get them posted.
Rick
Rick
vettejack
Joined: November 23, 2012
KitMaker: 1,277 posts
Armorama: 1,254 posts
Posted: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 01:58 AM UTC
Wheel orientation:
Kevlar06
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 03:50 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Wheel orientation:
That's just one possibility, on a different gun. Most of the photos I've seen, including the diagrams in the US manual for the 8" gun, have the orientation the other way around. Rick might have more information on the subject.
VR, Russ
taylorrl
Joined: January 31, 2019
KitMaker: 50 posts
Armorama: 49 posts
Posted: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 04:48 PM UTC
John,
The US technical manual ODN 1798, Handbook of the 8-Inch Howitzer Material, Model of 1917 (Vickers MK VI) shows the slats pointing up when viewed from the muzzle in all of its drawings. ODN 2033, Handbook of Artillery has photos of several different 8-inch pieces some with the slats pointing up and some with the slats pointing down.
There is a lot variation in wheels in period photos. I looked through the period photos that I have collected and found 13 with the slats pointing up when viewed from the muzzle and 8 pointed down. Assuming that these photos are a representative sample, slats pointing up was more common. That is how Russ and I decided to depict our models. You can depict them with the slats pointing up or down and be correct.
Rick
The US technical manual ODN 1798, Handbook of the 8-Inch Howitzer Material, Model of 1917 (Vickers MK VI) shows the slats pointing up when viewed from the muzzle in all of its drawings. ODN 2033, Handbook of Artillery has photos of several different 8-inch pieces some with the slats pointing up and some with the slats pointing down.
There is a lot variation in wheels in period photos. I looked through the period photos that I have collected and found 13 with the slats pointing up when viewed from the muzzle and 8 pointed down. Assuming that these photos are a representative sample, slats pointing up was more common. That is how Russ and I decided to depict our models. You can depict them with the slats pointing up or down and be correct.
Rick
Kevlar06
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 05:03 PM UTC
Thanks Rick, I figured you could address the question. Just one more comment on the photo-- this particular gun looks like a post-war modification, with the oil reservoir on the barrel. The length of the barrel also looks like this might be a different weapon altogether, on an 8" carriage. Or a prototype/test model. I'm looking at the small plaque on the ground under the barrel. Although I can't read the top line, I think the bottom line states "...Gun on the 8" Carriage". It would be interesting to know the background of this piece-- it would make a great conversion for the Roden kit. And the Model Cellar treads would be easy to adapt.
VR, Russ
VR, Russ
vettejack
Joined: November 23, 2012
KitMaker: 1,277 posts
Armorama: 1,254 posts
Posted: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 11:48 PM UTC
Quoted Text
John,
The US technical manual ODN 1798, Handbook of the 8-Inch Howitzer Material, Model of 1917 (Vickers MK VI) shows the slats pointing up when viewed from the muzzle in all of its drawings. ODN 2033, Handbook of Artillery has photos of several different 8-inch pieces some with the slats pointing up and some with the slats pointing down.
There is a lot variation in wheels in period photos. I looked through the period photos that I have collected and found 13 with the slats pointing up when viewed from the muzzle and 8 pointed down. Assuming that these photos are a representative sample, slats pointing up was more common. That is how Russ and I decided to depict our models. You can depict them with the slats pointing up or down and be correct.
Rick
Yea, I should have elaborated more on the orientation of the wheel patterns. My bad. I got tunnel vision on the kit orientation without taking in consideration the two different patterns on the real article, ensuring they are correctly opposed to one another when dealing with the kit build. I displayed the photo without explaining further the orientations...thanx for adding to the discussion and giving the modeler more to go on!
That's why we're all here...helping one another along by filling in the blanks!
165thspc
#521
Joined: April 13, 2011
KitMaker: 9,465 posts
Armorama: 8,695 posts
Posted: Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 12:13 AM UTC
Guys, That final photo with the entire lash up shown including the towing tractor is quite something!
Kevlar06
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 04:08 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Guys, That final photo with the entire lash up shown including the towing tractor is quite something!
Yep, with the tractor, it's almost 2' in length. But the gun on the firing platform is equally impressive too, and a very unusual depiction of an artillery piece in it's "natural environment". That's what I really like about this kit-- it makes a very unusual and distinctive model. And it's a nice historical transition from 19th to 20th Century Artillery technology. After seeing Rick's meticulous build of the gun on the platform, I'm committed to acquiring another Howitzer so I can build one on he firing platform. I think Roden (despite its warts), has a winner with these two releases.
VR, Russ
taylorrl
Joined: January 31, 2019
KitMaker: 50 posts
Armorama: 49 posts
Posted: Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 07:18 AM UTC
John, Russ,
I think that the photo of the long barreled gun that John posted is a British 6-Inch Gun Mk XIX. It used a slightly modified BL 8-inch carriage. The US purchased 100 of these; but, they were not delivered until well after the war. It appears that the US placed them into storage before eventually trading them to Brazil for airbase rights in 1940.
Resicast does a detail set that converts and backdates the Thunder Models WW2 BL 7.2-inch gun to the WW1 6-inch gun.
Rick
I think that the photo of the long barreled gun that John posted is a British 6-Inch Gun Mk XIX. It used a slightly modified BL 8-inch carriage. The US purchased 100 of these; but, they were not delivered until well after the war. It appears that the US placed them into storage before eventually trading them to Brazil for airbase rights in 1940.
Resicast does a detail set that converts and backdates the Thunder Models WW2 BL 7.2-inch gun to the WW1 6-inch gun.
Rick
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