Here we build and take a look at the Soviet 203mm Howitzer M1931 B4 from Zvezda in 1/35th scale.
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/soviet-203mm-howitzer-m1931-b4
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/soviet-203mm-howitzer-m1931-b4
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I made the trumpeter kit years ago that went together great .hope this does the same .
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I built the Trumpeter kit as well. And the resin one before that.
The problem with the Trumpeter kit is how they designed the towers - two halves with a seam runnng down the middle - right between rows of rivets. Cleanup was do-able but quite tedious.
Zvezda has done the same thing. It would have been nice to have the riveted plates on the rear of the towers as separate pieces, just like the large plate on the front. Maybe theirs is engineered better and the seam won’t need as much clean up as the Trumpeter kit did. I find their recent kits to be among the best out there.
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I just got this kit from Estonia yesterday. It’s absolutely beautiful. All the ejector pin marks are on inside faces - no filling required. The Trumpeter kit was plagued with ejector pin marks all over it among the rivets. The seam lines between the rivets will disappear with a little Mr. Surfacer 500 cleaned up with a Q-Tip and Mr. Color Leveling Thinner, I’m not worried about those. I have the ancient resin kit that I bought a barrel and tracks for; now I’ll use them on this. Judging from the new Zvezda kits I’ve built, this kit should have excellent fit and engineering and go together perfectly. I’ll be building this as soon as I finish my T31.
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I knew there was another reason the kit was tedious. I forgot about those.
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I have used a similar technique but with Vallejo Putty and water.
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I don’t have the Tankograd book so I can’t comment on the origins of its drawings, but there is an article reviewing the Trumpeter kit in the 11/2010 issue of the Russian magazine M-Hobby. There is a discussion noting that previous drawings were made of this weapon (including in M-Hobby about 10 years earlier) culminating in the author stating that he had found a contemporary drawing album for the weapon that included dimensioned drawings and views. The author checked these drawings against a B-4 howitzer on display outside the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum that could be measured (those inside cannot). He reports that the album drawings are excellent matches to the real thing, as would be expected when dealing with the actual engineering drawings used to make the item. This issue of the magazine includes 1/35 reproductions of those drawings.
Long story short, there is a history of inconsistent drawings for this weapon. Of late, Zvezda has been using technologies like digital scanning to acquire dimensions for their kits. Before condemning the model for dimensional discrepancies I would look deeper into the provenance and accuracy of drawings used for comparison.
KL
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Zvezda does not include the limber in their kit. Can the B4 be towed without it? I cannot tell if the limber is present in the photo.
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Kurt: thank you for the information. The Tankograd book covers the weapons system over its history and I have noted differences beyond the obvious which makes me question if there are differences in the real weapon over its changes from the easily observed differences. That said this is a nice model to build and better detailed than the Trumpeter offering.
Dark: the limber is present in the photo as I can just see part of the wheel. I do not believe this model can be set up as a towed piece/
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