“Dad’s Cannon”

$15 for a $70 kit isn’t bad for a project I’ve been wanting to start for years.  

This will be “Dad” (SPC4). Borrowed from an old 1:72 scale Hasegawa half track kit, along with Jerry cans and Pioneer tools.  

Kit bashed pioneer tools and scratch-built hose and valve assemblies on the front of the cab. The vinyl hoses were stolen from a Hasegawa AGE equipment kit. They’ll run to the lifting fork later 

Dad in the driver’s seat, Jerry can stowed on the back of the engine cowling (as per reference pictures) 

This model kit is incredibly detailed! I’m still adding brake and hydraulic hoses where necessary, to punch-up the level of detail.  

He’ll look the part when it’s all done. 🙂 

The lifting fork is hollow, so I used .020” sheet styrene to box it in.  

The gun hoist winch spool is wrapped in heavy EZ line with bits of wiring for the controls and the floodlight 

I added hydraulic hoses, rear fender struts, and I wound the smaller winch spool with fine EZ line. 

The headlights on the cab of the front truck were drilled out in preparation for adding clear lenses during final assembly 

I’m still fiddling with running the hydraulic hoses, but I’m nearly ready for primer on Dad’s M250 rear tractor! 

The entire model will be about 15 inches in length if it was all assembled. For display, I am probably going to have the cannon on the ground, elevated into the battery position and have the two trucks behind it.  

Driver side of the M250 rear tractor 

Front three-quarter view of the M249 front tractor 

Cannon elevated to battery position 

1:72 scale 3D Printed M1 Carbine rifles from eBay  

1:72 scale 3D Printed M1 Carbine rifles from eBay  

Rifles super glued to rear cab wall  

M1 Carbines mounted behind the seats…a really cool detail I just couldn’t leave out.  

Tamiya primer applied  

The base coat of dark green model master enamel is on. Next will be OD green done in varying tones.  

In this picture, you can see the difference between the dark green alone (left side of the part), and the OD green sprayed over it. It really gives the color a lot more depth and adds some shadowing to all the details. 

 

 

Not quite finished painting at all, but you can see the difference between the dark green and OD green