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Airfix 1:32 QF 17-pounder Anti Tank Gun *COMPLETED*


clive_t

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Hi all, not letting the grass grow under my feet too much having just completed the Alam Halfa dio. Something that's a bit of a departure for me, though: a field gun. In a sense it's returning to what I know, i.e. an Airfix kit. New looking box, but from what I can see it's a re-badge of a 1980 kit:

 

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But, oh look - another 6 figures! Aghhhhh!!!

 

Not sure what I am going to do with this, but aside from the figures there are only 3 sprues of gun parts, and they aren't that big either so shouldn't be a massive task to assemble it.

 

Tally ho!

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You have caught the armour bug nice looking project Clive, tucked into a pile of rubble looking down the street for a stray Panther.

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2 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

You have caught the armour bug nice looking project Clive, tucked into a pile of rubble looking down the street for a stray Panther.

Cheers Ozzy, yes that could be a scenario...

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Hi Clive. I was looking at this kit in a model shop this week. Didn’t end up buying it at the time but I will follow your build with interest for future reference.:popcorn: 

Kind regards,

Stix 

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Here's the sprue inventory, just for completeness:

 

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And of course the six figures:

 

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Nice of them to provide me with 5 little pieces of scrap plastic with which I may amuse myself... :)

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Tables. They'll make nice tables. Brought out into the street to build a barricade.

 

You say that's an 80's kit, but the detailing looks very sharp to me. Re-tooled perhaps?

 

I will be watching.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Tables... Hmm, possibly.... ;)

 

I think it is the original tooling, just different decals. Not bad quality moulding to be honest, but the plastic has a certain softness to it. We shall see...

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On 10/23/2017 at 4:27 PM, Bullbasket said:

Agree with Badder. The detail on those figures does look sharp. Glad to see that you are staying on the dark side.:D

 

John.

John, I am very much enjoying myself on the dark side, so why not continue!

 

Before my progress update - such as it is - I thought I would try and share the picture I found that gave me the idea for this next little project:

 

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British soldiers and a Dutch boy with an Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun in Nijmegen, 1944 (Photo credit: Sylvie Bacchie)

 

If the photo should have to be taken down, there is a Pinterest link to it here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/482588916311779203/

 

I won't be trying to reproduce the scene verbatim, as I won't have the room in my display cabinet to show it, but mine will be kind of based on this - I hope!

 

I shall resist the temptation to flood this thread with great numbers of 'step-by-step' pics, as doubtless you good people will rapidly lose the will to live. However, at this stage, after 3 evenings' work, this is where I am with the main gun assembly:

 

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I have a bit of filling to do, but I have some of that Liquid Green Stuff for that.

 

Not much progress, admittedly. I think I can point to 3 specific reasons for this:

 

1. I had the devil's own job locating some of the components as they are scattered all around the 3 sprues with no relationship to the logical sequence of assembly.

 

2. There is an appreciable amount of flash on the mould lines which takes an age to clean up.

 

3. The instruction diagrams come with a certain ambiguity in a couple of crucial places. Already I have had to remove a piece after the glue had dried, and re-fit it round the other way, all because the picture of the component didn't match how the actual piece looked.

All very trivial in themselves, and if the kit had only cost me a fiver I wouldn't even have mentioned it. For £20, though, I feel I shouldn't have had all these problems. Or maybe it's just me being a grumpy old git.:angrysoapbox.sml:

 

There has been a definite change to the composition of the plastic the kit is made of, compared to my past experience of Airfix offerings. It's softer, shinier, which seems to make cleaning and sanding more difficult. I found myself scraping the flash and mould lines off with a scalpel blade more often than not. Hey ho, it is what it is I guess, I will persevere with it.

 

Comments, criticisms all welcome! :)

 

 

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Even with the tail of woe, nice start Clive I'm liking your picture for a bit of inspiration. I've got to agree in regards to the plastic used by Airfix these days it does seem softer compared to the plastic used on there older kits moulding.

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Thanks Ozzy :thumbsup2:

 

Some more progress today, several sub-assemblies were made up, although once again a lack of clarity on the instructions caused me to fit some pieces on the 'undercarriage' round the wrong way, resulting in a somewhat hasty deconstruction and reassembly. Fortunately, no lasting harm done, apart from my nerves!

 

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I am hoping to flatten and fatten the tyres at the bottom of each wheel where it will contact the ground, to try and give an impression of a heavy weight being borne. I need to figure out a way of doing that so that I don't totally trash the wheels, though... :worry:

 

Thanks for looking in! :)

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I built this when it was new, more years ago than I care to remember.  As I recall the gun wasn't bad then and it still looks good now, although perhaps more moulded-on detail than would be the case today. 

 

The problem I found is that the figures are just a standard set of Multipose infantry - which were always excellent - and it is difficult to make satisfactory gun crew poses from them without some major surgery.  The running legs are useless.  The prone figure could be observing or could have a Bren for local protection.  The kneeling figure is hard to use except perhaps as the gun commander observing and indicating a target.  Biggest problem is the gun layer, who would normally sit on the trail leg.  If the running legs were reversed, i.e. left leg leading, that might have been a start.  He wouldn't sit with legs inside the trail.  Perhaps the kneeling figure would work here, but I bet he won't reach the sight.

 

Two of these guns made it to Arnhem, but sculpting Dennison smocks and para helmets would be a task - although would disguise any torso and arm surgery.  Leather jerkins were commonplace over battledress in NWE.  Lead sheet tailoring?

 

Would 1/35 ammo and boxes work for a dio?  You only get a few rounds and no boxes.  Maybe.  The calibre difference is only 0.2mm too small.  1/35 85mm ammo would be about 0.05mm too large, but the wrong shape projectiles and probably too-short cases.  The Armour Accessories tools and jerrycans are closer to 1/32 than 1/35.

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Thanks for this reply Peter, always good to hear from you. 

 

I quite enjoy customising figures, so as long as I can source some reasonable reference photos from somewhere, I am reasonably confident of doing something. Ironically the figure sprues are the best of the whole kit in terms of crispness of moulding, absence of flash etc. I do however need an additional figure to become the inquisitive Dutch teenager. Still, I think I will get away with a 1:35 scale head for it, seeing as I am blessed with several spares right now!

 

For ammo boxes, I figured I could maybe do something with coffee stirrers or possibly Milliput for unopened boxes. I also had an idea for empty shell casings, getting some appropriately sized brass tubing and maybe crimping one end slightly, then drilling out to make it look thinner metal. 

 

Just ideas at the moment, but I'm not against the clock with this one so plenty of time to think on it further.

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4 minutes ago, Carius said:

Hi Clive, interesting project and excellent progress. 

 

Looking forward to see the next sptep and the ]'new" figures.

 

Cheers

Thanks Carius, to be honest I am quite enjoying the kit in spite of the minor problems with the instructions, and the necessary cleaning up on virtually every component so far! With a small amount of luck, I might actually get to apply some primer tomorrow :thumbsup2:

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Managed some good progress today. A handful of bits still to add, not yet though as I think they will be easier to paint prior to fitting. I did, however, manage to prime everything today, and even managed a dry-fit of the main parts:

 

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I tried flattening the tyres with heat from a halogen hob... probably not the best result I could have hoped for :)

 

No matter, a small amount of Milliput gave me pretty much what I was after. Some mud and dirt once it's planted on the dio should hide any obvious defects in the detailing of the tyre where it was flattened.

 

Thanks for watching so far :)

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14 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Cracking job Clive,

Thanks Ozzy, much appreciated. 

 

I think I might try a modest amount of chipping on this beastie, so I guess the next step will be to apply a steel-like colour to the various sub-assemblies. Hopefully I will get a chance tomorrow afternoon after work :)

 

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Cheers Stix, the matt primer helps with showing up the detail, I think. The kit has some fairly detailed parts, it's just a shame that every single part either had some flash, or very prominent mould lines, or in some cases both. A few ejector pin marks add to the cleanup headaches. But I am quite pleased with the results so far.

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