A little while back I picked up Hobby Fan's Riverine Firing Platform for the M102. With the nice weather this past weekend I finally got around to starting it. Here it is along with some other goodies for the project

Here are all the parts after a quick wash.

Wow, cool, looks pretty big, I’ll be watching 👍

This should be nice. Very cool.

Yeah, it's about 9 inches square.

John Carrico's book is a must have for this project.



Here are the main parts to the platform. I initially thought the holes on the underside were done by Hobby Fan to lighten the resin but if you look at the cover on John's book, they're actually a feature of the thing.

Interestingly, the actual platform goes together the same with a large pin on each side.

I ended up using a table saw and palm sander to cut off the pour plug on the platform halves. Here it is clamped into place with some gorilla glue. There are some small details on the sides so might be able to make out the LEGO spaces between the clamp and platform.

All the other parts are cleaned up and ready to go.

There really isn't much to do. Each corner gets a leg. The longer sides have a wing with some underside supports to attach. The shorter end has a bolt plate and two holders for the ratchet arms that are used to raise and lower the legs.
Hobby Fan also includes four ratchets if you wish to display them outside of the holders. Unfortunately they don't include the empty holders so you'll have to scratch or modify the parts with the ratchet.

The AFV Club base is just sitting in place for now. Per Guns Afloat, the real ones were welded in place.

To strengthen the legs, I drilled them out a bit and inserted a section of tubing. I left each tube a little longer than the feet so that weight of entire platform will eventually rest on the tubing instead of the relatively thin tops of the feet.

Speaking of the feet....each one has 25 holes that needed some minor cleanup. There is a small round tube that attaches to the underside of each foot where the leg would go. I ended up flipping that round attachment and sliding it over the section of tube I added to sandwich the foot in place.

Thanks for checking in Gino, I'm probably going to need some of your expertise with the M102.

Very interesting! You just got yourself another viewer

Very nice. The gun is looking good. Where did you get the muzzle brake from?

Some phots I found on the net. I just noticed the orientation of the muzzle brake.

Thanks Gino, It’s from the Hobby Fan M102 gun crew, HF523.

[quote]Some phots I found on the net. I just noticed the orientation of the muzzle brake.

Hi Steve, thanks for checking in, I hadn’t come across those photos.
I’ve seen the brake oriented both ways.

Here is a video in the horizontal orientation:
M102 movie

Here are some M102s with vertical brakes
Riverine Operations

It’s just tacked on, and I may switch it around as I’m starting to wonder if they were mounted differently for land verse riverine operations.

I have only seen the muzzle brake used on the floating firing platforms. All the land-based M102s I can find pics of have smooth barrels w/out the muzzle brake. That makes sense since the muzzle brake reduces the recoil, which would be needed on the "floating" platforms.

Even amongst the Riverine M102s the brakes are pretty rare.

The video I linked to above with the brake in use on land is from 1965. I've seen just handful of photos with land based Vietnam M102s (with brakes) in use with the 1st Cav. in '66 and '67.


Here are some 1st Cav. M102s in action with the muzzle brakes
Operation Crazy Horse Some neat high angle firing about 1 minute in.

On the topic of muzzle brakes on land based M102s. They are out there, but seem pretty rare, as already stated:




Could the orientation of the brake have something to do with how the gases are reflected backwards, and effecting the crew?

Very interesting thread here sherb! I have pretty much the same ingredients in my pile and will follow your build with much interest.

Cheers,
/E

Now with paint....

Maybe there is a risk that the muzzle brake could kick up dust and increase the risk of being located?


The blast from the muzzle brake mostly goes sideways, the baffles redirect the hot gas slightly more than 90 degrees
/ Robin


Edit: This was interesting

"CH-47 doing experimental M102 howitzer 'six-pack' slingload, circa 1973"

Looking good.