Are there any kits of this US fieldpiece available? If not....why the heck not?

The US 57mm AT gun was similar (if not the same) as the Brit 6pnd gun. Tamiya released the latter about 30 yrs ago, and have recently rereleased it in the original tooling. There are no conversion, PE or AM sets for this kit (OMG how I wish there were, I have 3 in my stash :-) ).

Resicast have recently announced that they will be releasing the 6pnd in 4 variants including the US M1! This featured in the recent Resicast news item ( HERE)... A great reason why all users should read our news... you tend to pick up these exciting little gems...

Rudi

Don't forget the Italeri M1 AT-gun



(source: http://dougd.hispeed.com/gsmc/gcon12/pindex/cat_15.htm)

Martin

The Brit 6 pdr came first and the American 57mm M1 is patterned off of it, but with a slightly longer barrel and different wheels (plus a few other small differences). Later in the war, the Brits lengthened the barrel of the original Mk III to something a bit longer than the M1 and it became the Mk V with the muzzle brake.

Tamiya makes an ancient kit of the Mk V that is, by all accounts, utter sh*te. Italeri, Zvesta, Airfix, Peeless/Max make an even more ancient kit of the earlier Mk II 6 pdr that is, appart from being 35 years old, pretty accurate.

No one makes a styrene M1.

HTH

Paul

Zvezda reboxes the Italeri kit (minus the figures). I have a spare kicking around somewhere.

Resicast's should not be too much longer till release. I have had my eye on it since news was released.

Below are a couple shots of the 6pounder version, pre-release:

Some years back Italeri released a towed version of the British 6pdr which, except for wheels and barrel length, were almost identical to the US 57mm gun.
If I recall correctly, by using Tamiya's Jeep Trailor wheels/tires and adding about one inch to the barrel with dole or plastic rod stock made for a rather successful conversion.

Check that inch measurement, would you believe a 1/2 inch piece of rod stock. Missed it by that much 99.............

I belive the wheels from a Dodge 3/4 ton truck are more suitable, at least as far as hub detail is concerned