M7B1 Priest

[Ecam]

I know I said I was going to finish this first.....

I am nearly out of .020 styrene, and yet I am trying to build this without purchasing anything - using leftovers. I even saved some olive drab (though I did buy some additional OD for the DUKW projects).

Hunting around the garage and property I found some soffit material left over from a previous owners remodel. It is .020 aluminum and painted on one side. There is about 4" of usable material on each side and they are 4' long (several sections of it).



I used a sheet metal pneumatic nibbler to cut the sheets and it leaves a 5.5mm "pig tail". To create some angle iron sections (for better glue adhesion) they scale up to 2"x2" by a little over 1/4" angles.





The strips were easy enough to cut by scoring with a utility knife and a straight edge.





Now that I live in a rural part of the country, I have been trying to embrace local customs. Red Neck paint mixer.

[Ecam]

That is 9mm brass in some in the ammo slots. 105 scaled down to 16th works out to just over 6.5mm.

Ammo and sighting apparatus for the 105 and next.....

[Ecam]

More work on the fighting compartment. These are the oil drums that come with the HL M4A3. They have become my favorite way to build seats.



I turned these on the lathe, but have used the hand drill in the past.

[PainlessWolf]

Strong and Solid Work! Following along!
regards,
Painless

[HERMAN BIX]

Yeah, any model with an open fighting compartment gets my added points award for difficulty !

[Ecam]

Sorry for the long delay between post.

First up ammo manufacturing. I'm sure the real stuff was made much faster than I was able to build 'em.









Couldn't resist making one out of brass.





I rebuilt the ammo storage boxes. They were a bit over sized. And YES, I had to buy my first supplies for the project. The Aluminum was a pain to work with so I bought four 12"x12" .020 styrene sheets for $4.09 and used about half of one for the ammo boxes! I am also out of the 3/8" aluminum rod that I turned to make the ammo. I made just short of half of what a fully loaded M7B1 can carry. I do have plenty of 1/2" aluminum rod left over (barrel making supply) but these get turned down to 6.56 mm (.259") and there is too much waste.

[Ecam]

Gun sight and what ever that thing is on the right side....





Crew seating. The first M7 had three seats on the left side (and some pictures show three on the right), but when they built the B1 they added additional ammo and deleted two (or 4) seats.




As near as I can tell from the pictures I've studied. the MG mount is bolted to the upper ring and the ring turns. Well for now my ring is fixed so I took liberties with my mount and allowed it to slide around the ring. Rivet counters look away!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

"Well for now my ring is fixed so I took liberties with my mount and allowed it to slide around the ring. Rivet counters look away!"
1) Based on what my poor eyes saw in photos of the MG ring on a Halftrack or Deuce-and-a-Half, I thought the ring was fixed and the gun mount rode it. So much for my eyesight.
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVFCLq664Oc

[Ecam]

A classic video. I enjoyed it!

Perhaps some of the rings are fixed. I know the M2 half track had a "skate rail" that ran around the crew compartment, I'm assuming for a MG mount. But I think on the Priest the ring rotates. It appears the tie down for the barrel is always opposite of the mount. I would not be surprised if I'm wrong..... again!

[Ecam]

Running total is climbing. I've $11 US in it now. Got enough aluminum 3/8" (just short of 10mm) rods to finish the ammo supply.