Rick Taylor does an in-box review of AFV Club's new M107 175mm Self-Propelled Gun from the Vietnam era.
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/afv-club-m107-175mm-self-propelled-gun
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/afv-club-m107-175mm-self-propelled-gun
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Sounds great! Very useful review so thanks Rick. Sadly I won’t be getting one anytime soon - I have the Italeri one in the stash so I’ll soldier on with that.
What I will do is access the instructions (courtesy of Scalemates) and use those to identify where I can add details, particularly regarding the hoses and cabling.
Anyway, this sounds like a great kit so am looking forward to seeing some built-up.
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Too steep of a price for a kit without metal barrel and with vinyl tracks. The photoetch does not make up for it.
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Hell dude, I’ll send you those areas from my walk around.
As for a metal barrel, I don’t really see a need for it on this kit, especially given its length. The longer and heavier they are, the more they have a tendency to fall. Besides, even with the old Italeri kits the barrels were always a seamless affair.
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Well, that’s very kind but I won’t be tackling this one anytime soon - unless the draw becomes too great(!) However, I’ll bear that in mind when the time comes.
I quite enjoy wrestling with the older kits sometimes - you know - trying to get the best from them. I’m happy enough with the barrel in plastic, not least as I plan to show the gun on the move:
The solution to cleaning up barrel seams perhaps; anyway, I’ve far too many stalled projects which need attention to start this one just yet, tempting as it always is when a newer version comes out. With all that stowage and some crew I reckon I can obfuscate a fair bit.
I also managed to track down the old Verlinden set for the boxes on the spade, which will help.
Thanks again.
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My experience with the vinyl hydraulic lines was not pleasant in that the lines are relatively stiff and resisted remaining attached when curved or bent. I replaced those lines with equal-sized solder. The plastic hydraulic lines worked out fine, but required very careful study of the instructions and test-fitting before glue.
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Thanks guys!
@BootsDMS Brian, I was about 100 hours of detailing and $200 of aftermarket into the Italeri M107 kit. I had the hull tracks, and gun complete; but still had to deal with the hydraulics and scratch a new loader/rammer. I set it aside to wait for this kit. I now plan to use that Italeri hull that I labored on with the HobbyLink M578 Recovery Vehicle conversion kit. I’ll build up the AFV Club kit for the M107, out of the box it will be more detailed than I was going to get with all of the aftermarket on the old Italeri.
@gtdeath13 A metal barrel will make the model nose heavy. You would need to add ballast to the hull or use metal aftermarket tracks to keep it from tipping forward.
@M75 Jim, yes, the vinyl hydraulics are springy. I found that I had to glue one end, wait for it to completely dry before doing the other end and clamp/tape the second end in place until the glue dried. Yes, you really have to study the directions on the styrene hydraulics and only remove them from the spue when needed.
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Thanks Rick; $200 worth of aftermarket is impressive I must say. That said, I’ve probably assembled as much on some of my projects - which depressingly - are still unbuilt!
I was unaware of the Hobbylink kit, or indeed, of Hobbylink at all, not that I want to add recovery vehicles to my themes.
Good luck with the AFV Club when you get it.
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I have hoped that this variant would be the so as I find, very important weather protection, fabric cover attached.very sad that this was not taken into account. Maybe a aftermark manufacturer will take care of this matter
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That’s something Black Dog would tackle, in which case you’d be better off doing it yourself.
I’ve always wanted to do one but don’t have enough references.
I wish Perfect Scale would do the job.
Thus, the Bundeswehr and the US Army would be covered…and the quality would be much better
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I must admit when I first discovered the weatherproof covers I thought, “Wow!” - that would make the models look soooo different. I was almost tempted to try a scratch build, but inevitably, I quailed.
I suspect FC Model Trends will be the best bet for an after-market effort. here’s hoping!
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Star Decals has an M107 variant. Nice review!
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A winterization kit would not be too difficult to scratch. The Eduard PE set for the Italeri kit includes the driver’s windscreen. The canvas covers over the air intakes are easily made from tissue and white glue. The crew heater would not be difficult to scratch with various bits of Evergreen sheet, rod and square tube. The crew lights are available on Shapeways. The side “shields” would be fashioned from sheet styrene and angle iron. The crew cover rods are bent from brass rod or Evergreen rod and covered with canvas made from tissue and white glue. The other items of the winterization kit were internal and not visible unless you are opening the engine compartment and battery box. I think that getting the canvas cover to look good is the only real challenge. But, being a lazy modeler, and having a lot of kits in the stash calling my name, I’ll wait for the aftermarket folks to jump in on this one.
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