155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor Entry

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robertw
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155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor Entry

Post by robertw »

I've done quite a bit of research and I've read multiple articles stating that the M-59 155mm "Long Tom" Howitzer was indeed used in the Battle of Normandy. I've also read that in 1943 the M4 High Speed Tractor replaced the Mack NO prime mover.
So AFV's Long Tom will be my entry.
Image

As I don't actually have the models yet I'll go ahead and give some information on it. But I'll keep it short.

During the period between the two world wars, the U.S. military have envisaged to develop a powerful artillery, learning from the WW1 lessons.
In 1920, following the recommendations of the Westervelt Board study, specialized in the artillery, the first plans for a long-range 155 mm gun were drawn. This project lasted until the 1930s, the engineers being reluctant to set the gun on a mobile structure.
In 1939, the first prototypes appeared under the name T3 8in howitzer. It was installed on eight wheels and finally adopted the name M1.
Used on the various theaters of World War II, it was deployed during the Battle of Normandy, where it offered a strong and long range fire power. It was nicknamed "Long Tom".
After the war, it is modernized (model M4) and installed on a powered chassis to improve its mobility (model M40). Appreciated for its reliability and its fire power, it was sold to many nations such as Denmark, Greece, Japan, Italia and Austria.

Country creator/user: USA
Name: 155mm Gun M1
Caliber: 155 mm
Shell weight: 57,7 kg
Maximum range: 23,100 m
Rate of fire: 8 rounds/10 minutes
Rotation : 7°
Elevation : -1,5 to 60°
Weight: 4,11 kg
Length: 1,129 mm


The M4 High Speed Tractor by Hobby Boss will accompany it.
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The Great War has shown the importance of the artillery mobility and nations start replacing horses by vehicles to move artillery guns on the battlefield before World War II.
The Americans design a all-terrain vehicle capable of towing heavier guns on all the different combat zones. The Allis-Chalmers company produces a tracked vehicle in 1942 built from the M2 light tank chassis.
Deployed artillery units in 1943, it consists of a large excavator cabin at to the front of the tractor with the gun crew at the rear with space for additional equipment.
Deployed on many fronts, particularly in Normandy during Operation Overlord and during the fighting that followed, the M4 Tractor is used by the U.S. Army until 1960. Several versions are developed as M4C configured for the gunners compartment accommodates extra ammo.
M4 Tractor is also used in other armies after the Second World War such as Brazil, Greece or the Netherlands.
A more powerful version, the M6, ​​is also produced by the Allis-Chalmers company.

Country creator/user: USA
Name: M4 high-speed tractor
Total production : 5 000
Length: 5,23 m
Width: 2,46 m
Height: 2,51 m
Weight: 14 288 kg
Maximum speed: 53 km/h
Range: 290 km
Armament : one 12,7 mm Browning M2 machine gun
Engine: Waukesha 145GZ gasoline 6-cylinder, four-stroke, OHV, 190 hp (156 kW) at 2100 rev / min, 13 395 cc
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by Lee »

Nice entry :)
Where does all the bloody time go.....?
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by wappynutter »

I do love the M4 and the "long tom".... :clap:
M4 and M5 are probably my favorite Tractors of WW2..
M5_Artillery_Tractor_towing_115_mm_gun.jpg
M5_Artillery_Tractor_towing_115_mm_gun.jpg (24.34 KiB) Viewed 3492 times
M5 towing a "Long tom" in Normandy June 44....

Have fun building this, i would!
Happy Modelling..
:cheers2:
Regards Andy...Image
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by fly1ngdutchm4n »

Now that's an interesting entry :thumb2:
Good luck! :cheers2:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by Rob »

Lovely combo! :th:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by Coen »

I've seen that tractor built up a few times Robert, it's supposed to be a half decent kit bud.
The fellas that I've seen build them are master builders and could probably build one out of cheese and a booger, but still they didn't complain that the kit had too many problems.
The two kits combined will be a hell of a show piece buddy. Good luck with them. :th: :th:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

The tractor arrived over the weekend. So I'll go ahead and do my sprue shots. Note that there are some pictures missing as photobucket can be dumb. Also, the pictures are always crystal clear on my phone but once I put them on here. Not so much.

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I kept the decals in the plastic bag because there's not much point in opening it right now. But aren't they glorious. 12, only 12 decals. I love it! haha
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A mask set which is very nice of them to include.
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Some rather heavy brass photo etch.
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Right then so I got to work on this bad boy over the weekend. Aaannd I have only 1 picture to show. Note to self, take more pictures.

Steps 1 and 2 are complete and I must say that so far this kit has been a dream. It's going so smooth at the moment it's almost scary. Oh and I worked with my first 2 pieces of brass photo etch and my god. Why is the silver photo etch a thing? It was so much easier to work with the brass.
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I also received the Long Tom today. Ignore the Big Ed set. It's for a Blackhawk.
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That's it for now. I'll be sure to take more and better pictures.
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by Coen »

Awesome... so it begins!!! :clap:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by schweinhund227 »

Image

The never ending EPM on this kit is.... what killed the Fun for me !

I wish you good luck with it...

Those are visible even after adding other parts to the kit...
Hobby Boss has fallen down in grace... in my book !

None the less.... I wish you Happy Trail !
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

schweinhund227 wrote:Image

The never ending EPM on this kit is.... what killed the Fun for me !

I wish you good luck with it...

Those are visible even after adding other parts to the kit...
Hobby Boss has fallen down in grace... in my book !

None the less.... I wish you Happy Trail !
Yeah, I'm about to put some filler on them...
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Update 2: Progress

I remembered to take more than one picture. Yay me! :dance:

Nasty EPM taken care of. This took longer than it should have because my sanding sticks need replaced.
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So I continued with the guts of the vehicle when I noticed a fooboo in the directions or I'm an idiot. It looks like they want you to cut inside of the bench but that doesn't make any sense.
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There was however a page with said piece shown in place. That makes more sense.
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Perfect fit
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I then started on the engine. There are quite a few gaps and seems but I may just leave them as some of them would be a pain to clean up.
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I went to sand one of the last belts that goes on the engine when an uh-oh happened. :ooops:
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Not perfect but better than being in two.
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Next was the engine fan stuff. Another uh-oh but this time it wasn't my fault. It was like that on the sprue. It's a very delicate piece with very delicate joints.
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Good as new
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Engine coolant system? Fully assembled. Engine coolant system sounds better than engine fan stuff ;)
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I believe this is an exterior piece.
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Went back to put the pedals and such things in.
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Believe it or not I'm done with half of this build. That is if you go by the directions. So far this is probably my most enjoyable build. Everything is fitting exceptionally well. In my opinion at least. So next I need to probably either start priming and painting what I've got or move on to interior cab. Lots involved with that. Just trying to think about what would be simplest and easiest.

The guts, engine, and coolant system I think should probably be primed and painted before assembly. That way everything gets painted. I can do touch ups of course afterwards. The next question is when to paint the interior and then the exterior? Should I paint the entire exterior at once or paint the guts, lower hull exterior, engine, and coolant sytem? Hmmm. Not sure. I have a feeling I'm over complicating things :lol:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

One quick question before I go to bed. I'd like to do some significant weathering on this build. Any products you guys would recommend for this and the Long Tom?
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Update 3: EPMs...

Right then, I had been warned about the EPM on this kit. They weren't wrong.

This part isn't too bad.
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But this one is just a wee bit excessive ain't it?
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I moved onto the the details of the dash and hit a fooboo. That's not supposed to be metal on the right... One thing about this kit is some pieces are so effing delicate that they just snap when you cut them off the sprue. So I took a pearlized needle used for fabric, cut it down to approx. size and glued it on (note that these are pretty tough so you'll need a pair of wire cutters). It goes inside the dash so no big deal.
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Here is the dash finished
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I then put most of the bits and bobs on the exterior of the cab.
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Another small criticism of this kit. Sooo much going on on this page with little break up. Gimme some lines and boxes! Actually the problem is that half of these steps have "options" which should be presented differently as it can be quite confusing.
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Errr there's supposed to be another locator pin. I don't recall clipping it off...
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No matter, it was just to line up with the exhaust to make sure it isn't crooked. I don't know if you can see it or not but I used a needle again, those are becoming a great tool for screw ups :lol:
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And it's pretty straight.
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I'm not sure what that thing at the bottom is but it was quite warped on the sprue. I tried my best straightening it out but didn't want to break it. I'll just say it's supposed to look like that :whistle:
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Another mishap :doh: Tried to make as easy a cut as possible but it just snapped. I forgot to take a picture but I glued it back on just fine.
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More lovely EPMs...
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Tiny little fiddly bits that you use on the ammo crate.
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Direction fooboo. Directions call for part F11... Here is part F11
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I needed part F21. Easy enough to figure out but if it were a smaller or similar part that could have been a problem.
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So I'm now to the point where I've broken the M4 HST down into multiple sub assemblies ready for paint. I've decided to put it in a project bin and start on the Long Tom that way I can do the painting all at once. Despite the annoying EPMs this kit is still a blast to build so far.

Until next time!
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by peppie »

Wow :jd:
Great to see your still going with this one, dispite all the nice round holes. Don't know what I would have done... :bash:

And about the breaking of parts. I had the same problem with a ICM kit, tiny pieces and hard plastic don't go together well.

Anyway, the kit is looking great. And your build report is nice to read, with lots off pictures :clap:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by UKguyInUSA »

schweinhund227 wrote:Image

The never ending EPM on this kit is.... what killed the Fun for me !

I wish you good luck with it...

Those are visible even after adding other parts to the kit...
Hobby Boss has fallen down in grace... in my book !

None the less.... I wish you Happy Trail !
I noticed those ejector pin marks, too...well who could miss them deeply recessed buggers! If the mold designer of this particular mold had any gumption and was aware that EPM's can be a nightmare in the modeling world, he/she could have eliminated all of those marks simply by putting in two overhanging Ejector bars that extended beyond the two ends of those flaps and also the two sides. There'd just be a witness line at the intersection of where the transition takes place from the horizontal flaps to the vertical walls (sides of the armor). Those horizontal ejector bars are simply actuated by two push rods connected to the ejector assembly. Well, that's how I would have designed it! The advantage of those ejector bars is; you're covering the total surface area of the flaps and thus you're getting maximum evenly distributed loading on those two surfaces, which will prevent ejector pin stress marks, due to small surface areas at the end of the pins pushing off large surfaces area of the mold, and also, remove the risk of distorting those two overhanging flaps ie...no warping.

Must have been designed in China for cheaper mold costs?!
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by fly1ngdutchm4n »

Damn... :eeek:
I hope you've got enough filler for this build!
Looks great after you filled and sanded it though :thumb2:
Nice work so far mate!
:cheers2:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Update 4: Long Tom sprue shots

Since I've finished most of the assembly on the M4 HST. I've moved onto the Long Tom. Once again photobucket was dumb and wouldn't let my upload some pictures.

Image

Image

Image

Nice barrel
Image

Image

Image
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

peppie wrote:Wow :jd:
Great to see your still going with this one, dispite all the nice round holes. Don't know what I would have done... :bash:

And about the breaking of parts. I had the same problem with a ICM kit, tiny pieces and hard plastic don't go together well.

Anyway, the kit is looking great. And your build report is nice to read, with lots off pictures :clap:
Haha yeah thanks! Putty and sanding sticks. Speaking of which, I need some new ones...

Yeah they are quite annoying to as the piece that broke in the picture was just the handle to the M2 Browning. Kind of pointless that it was molded separate other than part count fluff.
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

UKguyInUSA wrote:
schweinhund227 wrote:Image

The never ending EPM on this kit is.... what killed the Fun for me !

I wish you good luck with it...

Those are visible even after adding other parts to the kit...
Hobby Boss has fallen down in grace... in my book !

None the less.... I wish you Happy Trail !
I noticed those ejector pin marks, too...well who could miss them deeply recessed buggers! If the mold designer of this particular mold had any gumption and was aware that EPM's can be a nightmare in the modeling world, he/she could have eliminated all of those marks simply by putting in two overhanging Ejector bars that extended beyond the two ends of those flaps and also the two sides. There'd just be a witness line at the intersection of where the transition takes place from the horizontal flaps to the vertical walls (sides of the armor). Those horizontal ejector bars are simply actuated by two push rods connected to the ejector assembly. Well, that's how I would have designed it! The advantage of those ejector bars is; you're covering the total surface area of the flaps and thus you're getting maximum evenly distributed loading on those two surfaces, which will prevent ejector pin stress marks, due to small surface areas at the end of the pins pushing off large surfaces area of the mold, and also, remove the risk of distorting those two overhanging flaps ie...no warping.

Must have been designed in China for cheaper mold costs?!
Huh, I was wondering what kind of engineering went into these kits. Neat!
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:Damn... :eeek:
I hope you've got enough filler for this build!
Looks great after you filled and sanded it though :thumb2:
Nice work so far mate!
:cheers2:
Enough filler yes but my sanding sticks are toast unfortunately... :(
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by wappynutter »

I love what you are doing with this.... :thumb1: :clap: :clap:
Unfortunately for you its taking a crap load of work to make this half decent..
I remember an ISM member building this same kit last year and having similar problems with IPM and bad instructions....

Found it.... http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=441
schweinhund227 A.K.A Norm was working on one...
I was following his build too.. :th:
Good luck, keep up the good work buddy.... :thumb1:
:cheers2:
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by MarkVerploeg »

Yay a big gun
Too bad about the epm's as these will give a lot of extra work
But with a bit of effort it can be solved
Good luck with the rest of the build
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

wappynutter wrote:I love what you are doing with this.... :thumb1: :clap: :clap:
Unfortunately for you its taking a crap load of work to make this half decent..
I remember an ISM member building this same kit last year and having similar problems with IPM and bad instructions....

Found it.... http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=441
schweinhund227 A.K.A Norm was working on one...
I was following his build too.. :th:
Good luck, keep up the good work buddy.... :thumb1:
:cheers2:
Thanks I'm trying my best to make it look good.

Yeah I found that thread which gave me a preview of what I was in for.

I guess it's good for experience...
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

MarkVerploeg wrote:Yay a big gun
Too bad about the epm's as these will give a lot of extra work
But with a bit of effort it can be solved
Good luck with the rest of the build
Cheers Mark
If it weren't for the epm's it would be a near flawless kit. My biggest problem is my sanding sticks are shot. Takes forever to sand a tiny nub down.
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Update 5: Long Tom

I'm going to go ahead and warn you now that since I haven't updated real recently, there's gonna be a sh*tload of pictures.

Let's start with a screw up
Started on the breech, well so far so good right?
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Sh*t! :doh: Don't I feel dumb...
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No matter I just cut those pins off and all is well.
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I guess I was tired when I done this step because I found it really, really confusing.
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But I figured it out.
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Next was barrel assembly. No seam lines here!
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But there are some here.
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I have no good idea the name these parts make. Carriage, cradle, the thing that the big gun sits in...?
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Bad picture but that is a really stupid place to put a sprue gate.
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It's starting to come together.
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So was fitting the hydraulics together and kinda got one stuck. Also kinda broke the bracket part.
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I had to put the piece in my xacto knife box and then push on it with needle nose tweezers to get the darn thing to come out.
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Here they are in place
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Tried to fix the bracket as I lost the piece that broke. Why do I always lose what I need but every single useless piece of plastic I can always find. It lasted for a while but failed later on.
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Arm things
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Oops... that's supposed to be one piece :doh:
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Went to sand the leaf springs and then I noticed something. I cut the locator pins off of them. :doh: :wall: :wall:
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Twas a pain but I managed to get everything fitted together.
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More fiddly ass pieces
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That step was relatively easy actually. I really need to work on lighting.
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Chassis is complete. There is over 50 pieces there. More pieces in this things chassis than the Tamiya m41 Walker Bulldog kit altogether. Even puts some car chassis's to shame.
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Fitted to the arms.
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Kind of fuzzy but the right side should be pointy
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Bit of filler and we're good.
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On to make the transport thing
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Complete. Relatively simple
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So at this point the build is pretty close to done. So I went to start work on the tires.

All 10 tires had this annoying tee in the middle of them. Just a pain to clean up
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See that little nub sticking up that I circled? Well if you don't put the gun on first this will screw crap up!
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That little piece will not let the gun sit down
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I tried to soften the part up with some Tamiya extra thin but it did nothing. So I had to start Frankensteining it. The slide things on the bottom, you're going bye bye.
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With a lot of encouragement it decided to fit down in there.
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Dry fit of everything together and man that thing looks awesome.
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Started priming and hello seam! Anybody use the Vallejo olive drab primer as paint? I don't see the point in spraying olive drab primer and then olive drab paint when they both look the same. Seems like wasting paint.
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One final note. To connect the Long Tom to the M4 HST I'm gonna have to cut something. Neither the trailer part for the Long Tom nor the hitch on the M4 HST are designed to open in any way. Anybody got any idea on how to connect them aside from just cutting something and hoping for the best.
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Man, that took forever lol Next time hopefully I'll have one of them finished! Take care
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by Thomas2542 »

Wow. That looks really good. Shame the kit has so many EPM. I am looking forward to seeing this kit finished.
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Thomas2542 wrote:Wow. That looks really good. Shame the kit has so many EPM. I am looking forward to seeing this kit finished.
Thanks! Yeah all I have to say to anyone thinking about getting this kit is if you're don't want to mess with EPMs then stay away. Such a shame... Yeah same here, painting should be done soon and next week I'll hopefully get weathering products delivered :cheers2:
I build bad models so you can feel good about yourself! :th:
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UKguyInUSA
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by UKguyInUSA »

Coming together nicely! :thumb1:
WIP:: Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1A Corsair

Non-WIP::Eduard 1/48 Fokker DVII, Revell 1/32 Arado AR196 and 1/32 BF109G10 Erla,
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Re: 155mm M-59 "Long Tom" Howitzer w/M4 High Speed Tractor E

Post by robertw »

Update 5.5: Painting

Not much to update today. Got my new paint booth so it was mostly painting, filling, sanding, repeat. These EPMs are being a pain to get rid of. As well as the seam on the bottom half of the Long Tom.
It's a very brown looking olive drab from the pictures but it's not nearly as brown in person. For those curious, I'm using Vallejo rlm81.
Image
I build bad models so you can feel good about yourself! :th:
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