WW1 155mm Schneider Howitzer - American Expeditionary Forces

In WW1, the US used proven French and British artillery pieces with an existing European supply base for ammunition. The French 155mm Schneider Howitzer was the standard medium caliber field howitzer used by the AEF.

I depicted this important piece in the 3-color camo scheme in the 11th Field Artillery Regiment, American Expeditionary Forces.

The kit is the Commander Models part number 1-039 in resin. I spent 18 hours cleaning the parts and filling the many pin holes and voids. I added a lot of scratch built details to complete the model: brakes, curved portion of the gun shield, rivet detail on the crew side of the shield, sight door on the shield, sight details, PE handwheels, T&E mechanism details; wheel hubs, breech and breech block details, travel lock latches; rivet detail on inside of cradle, rammer; sponge and staff, forcing cone and staff; trail box latches; handspike latch, spade hinge and latches, handgrips on spade, and various missing bolt heads.

It was primed with Krylon rattle can black primer from the hardware store. The Krylon is inexpensive and sticks to resin and metal better than any of the hobby primers that I have tried. The model was painted with Tamiya and weathered with Winsor & Newton oils and AK Interactive enamel weathering products and pigments.

As I was finishing up the camo painting, I dropped a wooden painting stand on the model shattering the spade into 10 pieces. After a couple of days cooling off period, I decided the model could be salvaged. The repairs worked and are nearly invisible.