M7 Priest scratchbuild

[AlwynTurner]

Thanks for the good words guys. This shows the complexity of what I'm going to have to scratchbuild

I'm going to need the 1/35 model to get the pivot points and details right.
Slightly daunting, but hey, I'll just take it a bit at a time. Alwyn

[HERMAN BIX]

Well Mr Turner, you are the resident "artillery-whisperer" so I'm sure it will be bang on.
And I'm also sure that I will need councelling to get even close to the patience & perseverence required to watch this get done, let alone actually do it

[AlwynTurner]

Made some progress while I wait for the 1/35 kit to arrive. Put together a gun barrel and started the cradle, built the back end which proved to be fairly straightforward working from the plans. The tricky part was making sure the upper and lower hulls still separated and went back together. I checked the storage to make sure the electronics all still fitted, but you sure wouldn't be able to get an IBU2 in there, it's a bit cosy! Because I'm planning full detail in the cockpit area then none of that is useable for the electronics. Well plenty to get on with! Alwyn

[AlwynTurner]

Some progress achieved but not as much as I would have liked. It's at that fiddly stage where it takes forever to work out exactly how things fit together, then fabricating out of styrene. The 1/35 model has arrived and I've put together enough to work out the gun mounting details. The barrel and cradle are almost ready for final assembly.

Just got the breach block to do.
I had problems sourcing fuel filler caps and Woz very kindly offered to manufacture some for me, and being cheeky I asked if I could also have a three piece transmission cover which he has also manufactured - very many thanks for the assistance Woz! And here they are:

Fantastic piece of work!
The old transmission cover came off

and after some surgery and general hacking away at the Mato chassis and gearbox covers, hey presto the Priest has a new transmission cover

There's a small gap between the new cover and the transmission but I couldn't hack anymore off the new part and the gearbox cover so it will be a Milliput fix (but only minor).
Next job is to fabricate the chassis mounting frame for the gun, which I can now work out from the 1/35 model. Working from plans is well and good but the complex parts of the gun mounting simply weren't visible on the plans. Alwyn

[AlwynTurner]

This build is proving 'interesting' in the same way as the old chinese curse 'May you live in interesting times'. I have now progressed to building the gun mount onto the priest body and the mountings are quite complex. Here is the base of the mount compared to it's 1/35 brother on the right.

The mount in situ in the body. The body section that the mount base is attached to is removable with a couple of screws so I can remove the gun at any time during and after the build as I will need access to the modified micro servos that will control the slew and elevation of the gun.

and the 1/16 body compared to the 1/35 body

It's interesting that because the slew of the gun was limited by the drivers cab, that they mounted the chassis at an angle to utilise the full slew capability of the chassis, I hadn't realised that until I got this far in the build. Anyway lots still to do on the gun.

One thing I wondered is if anyone knows a supplier of 1/16 scale diamond chequer plate styrene, as the only ones I can find are 1/50 scale. I might have to go with that if I can't find 1/16. Alwyn

[wibblywobbly]

There is a career for you waiting in a 1/16 artillery factory somewhere.

Bogeyman mentioned that he knows a source for German tank checkerplate, might be worth asking him? If that doesn't work out, I have used diamond brass mesh in the past, glue it down and it looks the part.

[AlwynTurner]

Thanks Rob, I'll PM him. The diamond brass mesh is a possible, thanks. Alwyn

[Woz]

It's looking great. Glad the cover fitted OK.

How about pressing the mesh onto a thin layer of milliput and leaving an impression.

[AlwynTurner]

Great suggestion Woz, I have some mesh I could use I think. Alwyn

[EddyK]

Great built, Alwyn! It'll be stunning model!