1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

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PainlessWolf
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1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

Afternoon all!
I finally got the 44' International Harvester KR-11 Lend Lease truck completed so now it is time to work on the Field Piece that it will tow. I remembered when I opened it up that it was a cast resin kit. The manufacturer is MPM and it is certainly intricate with _lots_ of small parts cast with _LOTS_ of base material requiring removal. After removal of finger prints and a nice slash on the left index finger, I have worked out a process and have the right tools to safely remove all that extra material. I will be following up with pics and progress updates a lot quicker than I did with the truck. The kit is 1/15 in scale but who knows what scale the JJRC base truck actually is ( I think it is 1/16 - 1/14 ) so this gun will not look out of place being towed or sitting next to the truck in the tank area. Pics: ( Click to Enlarge )
Attachments
The truck serves its purpose.jpg
The truck serves its purpose.jpg
Steps two and three are done..jpg
Steps two and three are done..jpg
Step one involved drilling which was not mentioned at all..jpg
Step one involved drilling which was not mentioned at all..jpg
Instructions are straight forward if a little lacking in how parts go together....jpg
Instructions are straight forward if a little lacking in how parts go together....jpg
A Lot of Resin.jpg
A Lot of Resin.jpg
Gifted Kit and Perfect Opportunity.jpg
Gifted Kit and Perfect Opportunity.jpg
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PainlessWolf
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

Another night, another drill bit in the ol' index finger. ;o) Tonight saw steps Four and Five completed. Thank all the Powers for the Tamiya flexible plastic saw. I might make this assemblage of old resin into a Field Piece yet. Again, the base material covered up pegs meant to mount other parts. Fortunately, I have a goodly length of that metal rod left that came with the kit. Pics: ( Click to Enlarge )
Attachments
A test fit of the two sub assemblies produces good results..jpg
A test fit of the two sub assemblies produces good results..jpg
Assembled.  The little trailing arm stops rotate with the arm mounts..jpg
Assembled. The little trailing arm stops rotate with the arm mounts..jpg
Closeup of the parts for Step Five.jpg
Closeup of the parts for Step Five.jpg
Step Four and Five with cleaned up parts for Five.jpg
Step Four and Five with cleaned up parts for Five.jpg
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PainlessWolf
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

I was able to spend sometime working on the next two steps ( almost was just one but I'm thick headed that way ) today. Some head scratching on how to let the wheels go round and round was needed. A little careful drilling and some machine screws provided the answer. I want as many of the parts on this model that are supposed to move, move like they are supposed to. Aside from going crazy in brass ( no offense, Barry ;o), I think it will be functional enough. My fingers are cursing me roundly because of all the resin I am removing ( which is slowly removing the tips of my fingers as well). Pics: ( Click to Enlarge )
Attachments
Stowed away for the night.jpg
Stowed away for the night.jpg
Shovel closeup.jpg
Shovel closeup.jpg
Gun Carriage closeup.jpg
Gun Carriage closeup.jpg
Six and Seven complete.jpg
Six and Seven complete.jpg
Another view showing the thickness of the gate resin even on these smaller pieces.jpg
Another view showing the thickness of the gate resin even on these smaller pieces.jpg
Pre cleanup parts for Step Seven.jpg
Pre cleanup parts for Step Seven.jpg
Parts for Step Six pre cleanup.jpg
Parts for Step Six pre cleanup.jpg
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sassgrunt
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by sassgrunt »

You're doing a great job on the kit, (albeit with the parts fighting back somewhat). It will be a great piece to be towed by your truck, as long as the resin towing hitch holds up to that.

I know that the same company also made a resin 7.5cm Pak 40, but I have never seen one for sale. And, other than using it as a fixed gun emplacement; it would also be a good candidate to be towed by something.

Anyway, keep care of your fingers and continue on to what's a very enjoyable build to watch!
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PainlessWolf
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

Sass!
Many thanks for the Look-See ( and the Kit ;o) I will probably reinforce ( or replace ) the kit's tow setup with a metal one. Due to the all resin construction, this gun will definitely be a slow as you go tow. ;o) ( one of the reasons I upgraded the truck's electronics to progressive steering and speed control )
regards,
Painless
...Here for the Dawn...
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PainlessWolf
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

I jumped onto the build tonight expecting to knock out a couple of critical steps, 8 and 9. Well, four hours later, Step 8 was done. The large pieces for the gun trails were soaked in extra resin and some of the small boxes required extensive cutting and sanding and cleanup as well. At least we have caisson tonight. I should be able to start priming and painting within a week. I will be satisfied with that. Pics: ( Click to Enlarge )
Attachments
I will start working on the gun tube in a day or so.  Fingers are beat..jpg
I will start working on the gun tube in a day or so. Fingers are beat..jpg
Working caisson.jpg
Working caisson.jpg
Since two sub assemblies were involved along with the huge amount of resin cleanup, tonight only saw Step 8 completed..jpg
Since two sub assemblies were involved along with the huge amount of resin cleanup, tonight only saw Step 8 completed..jpg
Resin for Step 8.  You would not guess that it was four hours worth of work laying there looking back at you.....jpg
Resin for Step 8. You would not guess that it was four hours worth of work laying there looking back at you.....jpg
...Here for the Dawn...
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HERMAN BIX
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by HERMAN BIX »

Some days a man wonders why simple s$%t is so hard !!!
Its going to look a treat behind that Soviet lorry mate
HL JAGDPANTHER,HL TIGER 1,HL PzIII MUNITIONSCHLEPPER, HL KT OCTOPUS,HL PANTHER ZU-FUSS,HL STuG III,HL T34/85 BEDSPRING,
HL PZIV MALTA,MATORRO JAGDTIGER,HL F05 TIGER,TAMIYA KT,HL PANTHERDOZER,HL EARLY PANTHER G,TAIGEN/RAMINATOR T34/76,
HL AN-BRI-RAM SU-85
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Max-U52
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by Max-U52 »

That looks great, Painless. I would highly advise that you use bearings on that axle. Resin doesn't wear very well.
When FDR coined the phrase "The Arsenal of Democracy", he was talking about Detroit. Proud to live in the 2nd most violent city in America!!
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PainlessWolf
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

Good Morning, Herman,
My hands will certainly have something to say the next time I open up a resin kit. I don't remember the Profiline Kit for the early StuG Ausf B requiring so much cleanup but then there are so many more parts and resin gating involved in this field piece.
regards,
Painless
...Here for the Dawn...
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PainlessWolf
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Re: 1936 leFH 18 10.5cm Towed Artillery

Post by PainlessWolf »

Good morning, Max,
This kit was designed as a display model. I have had to do a significant amount of drilling and pinning to get parts to move so that I could have a towed form of the Gun and a dug in\ready to fire version. The wheels were just stub and hole mounts suitable for gluing together. I drilled all the way though and made a screw channel out of epoxy. The axles are now small carriage screws. This is good resin but as you say, resin is still resin. I don't anticipate a lot of use outside of the odd video and static display but if that ever changes, I can remove and install bearings with this new setup.
regards,
Painless
...Here for the Dawn...
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