M1 155mm Howitzer

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December 11, 2023
A nice simple kit to ease myself back into it after a long break.
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December 13, 2023
This one's going to be 50% filler by the time it's finished!
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December 16, 2023
Steady progress. Fill, sand, repeat.
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December 17, 2023
Slowly coming together now.
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December 19, 2023
Primed and mostly base coated.
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December 21, 2023
Shading done.
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December 23, 2023
Chipping & filtering done.
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December 26, 2023
Just a little tidying up to do, then the matt coat.
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December 26, 2023
Note the different colour of the centre of the wheel hub. The bulk of the kit was done with AK Real colours rattle can. The hub was done with AK Real colours bottle. They are decidely different colours!
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December 26, 2023
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December 26, 2023
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December 26, 2023
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December 26, 2023
Note the new storage boxes in the background. Much neater than what I was doing before! My employer has decided to follow ISO27001, so I can no longer log on to my works PC from my personal PC when working from home. I now have a works laptop, but have had to set up a new workstation to accomodate it. All told, it's cost me over half a grand!
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December 26, 2023
Not bad for a 50 year old kit.
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December 26, 2023
Basic assembly of the figures done.
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December 27, 2023
The howitzer is finished.
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December 27, 2023
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December 27, 2023
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December 27, 2023
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December 27, 2023
I need to redo the dials on the radio as the gloss varnish ruined the markings on the dials. The figures are primed, but I'll have to wait for the paint before continuing.
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January 17, 2024
I've made some progress on painting the figures, my first attempt at doing so in any level of detail. So far, so good, so what? I can see some of the joints needed cleaning up better than I have done, but they're very hard to get at. Looks like Vin Diesel's family reunion.
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January 27, 2024
Now that the uniform paint set has arrived, I can make a bit more progress with the figures.
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January 28, 2024
More progress on the figures
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January 28, 2024
Must be doing something right. The camera is recognizing faces.
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January 28, 2024
Anyone else out there used to watch The Clone Wars?
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January 28, 2024
Must remember to do eyebrows at some later point.
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January 28, 2024
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January 28, 2024
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January 28, 2024
Lots of products and guidance is available for painting flesh tones out there. Unless you're this guy. Gap in the market, perhaps?
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January 31, 2024
And another few stages closer...
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February 3, 2024
Nearly ready for a clear coat.
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February 3, 2024
In this kit you get the howitzer, the radio and the crew, including one round of ammo. One. What's needed is a pile of ammo and a stack of discarded casings. There don't appear to be any third party option either.
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February 3, 2024
That radio is HUGE!
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February 10, 2024
Shading and dry brushing done.
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February 10, 2024
Next step, picking out any remaining details.
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February 12, 2024
Here's a taste of the finished look on a ReDog UK base.
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February 12, 2024
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February 12, 2024
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February 12, 2024
Note the very obvious bubbles in the wall. The whole base is the same.
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February 14, 2024
The figures have been matt coated.
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February 14, 2024
I's call them somewhere between "better than I expected" and "not as good as I'd hoped".
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February 22, 2024
The base has a LOT of bubbles to be filled as well as some huge gaps. I'll try giving it a good coat of Mr Surfacer.
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February 26, 2024
First dose of colour for the base. In the course of picking colours, I had to throw out three lots of paint that had dried out. Some still had the seals on them.
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February 29, 2024
Picking out individual stones in different colours. More of this to do with other shades.
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March 1, 2024
Two more colours added. A wash later on will blend them together.
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March 2, 2024
More colours added to the stones and a quick test to see how it looks with the howitzer in place.
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March 3, 2024
I added a soil coloured wash to the soil areas. This is an Italian farm, so we're talking light, well drained soil, typical for vinyards.
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March 3, 2024
Somehow, I managed to get all the figures to balance on their feet on an uneven base in less than 5 minutes. I'm sure I'll never manage that feat ever again!
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March 3, 2024
This is just a bit of an experiment in diorama composition. I'm liking it so far as nothing sticks out over the edge of the base.
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March 3, 2024
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March 3, 2024
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March 3, 2024
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March 4, 2024
A soil effects wash helps blend the multiple colours of the stonework together.
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March 5, 2024
The base has been given a dry brush with light dust colour and the whole has had a matt coat. Now I have a bag of rocks & dirt to apply and a bag of tufts of grass.
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March 6, 2024
Another composition test before deciding where the rocks & grass need to go.
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March 6, 2024
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March 6, 2024
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March 7, 2024
The rocks & gravel are in place and I'm amazed what a difference they make.
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March 7, 2024
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March 9, 2024
It's finally finished!
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28 11 December 2023, 19:23

Treehugger
Kit moulding can suck for a lot of kits, and I am guessing that you have kit parts with excess plastic here and there.
I can recommend the Tamiya file set, for smooth cut. Their flat file is super useful and makes short work of those kit parts that has to be flattened to get a good fit.
One has to make sure for some parts, to not file off too much plastic, or there might be another type of fitting issues, but usually not a problem in my experience, just on a rare occasion.

For a lot of kit parts in general, I like using a flat metal file to sand the surface flat, and then go over with a 2500 sanding stick, even though the surface is probably smooth already. Larger kit parts seems to be notoriously non-flat, and it gets worse once you use a file at first, then you (I have to) have to complete the flattening, else there will be noticeable sink marks.

14 December 2023, 03:51

Marc Le Bayon
lot of work for a very old kit I've seen when I was a kid under Max/Pearless Label.
Good luck...
I think roadwheels exist in resin cast, and barrel in metal.

14 December 2023, 10:26

Olivier
It turned out quite well.

26 December 2023, 19:24

Ben M
Great work - what a challenge!

26 December 2023, 20:09

John Hughes
Thanks, all. The biggest issues were sink marks & ejector pin marks (sometimes in daft places), but I suppose you have to expect that on such an old kit. The figures are by Masterbox. I've just put some Mr Surfacer on the joins to dry overnight. With luck, I'll be able prime them tomorrow and get to painting after that, if I've got the right paints.

26 December 2023, 20:44