Early WW2 US 105mm Howitzer M2A1 on Carriage M2

During The Great War, the United States was forced to purchase nearly all of its field artillery from France and Britain. Resolving to never be in that position again, it began the development of its own artillery weapons immediately after the armistice. The M2A1 105mm Howitzer was a direct result of that effort. At the outset of WW2, the US had a proven, world class divisional direct support weapon ready for mass production. The early war models used the M2 carriage which featured a one piece shield, electric brakes, and disk wheels. As the war progressed the carriage underwent minor improvements. This rugged and utterly reliable weapon remained in service with US and allied forces until the mid-1980's.

This model of an early war 105 is based upon the exquisite AFV Club kit. I purchased the Voyager PE set; but, in the end did not need to use many pieces from it due to the high level of detail and fine molding from AFV Club. An optivisor, fine pointed tweezers, a GodHand sprue cutter and a lot of patience are necessary to build this kit. There are large number of tiny delicate pieces to assemble. The kit includes a metal barrel and an excellent PE fret of brass data plates and fine retaining chains. I scratch built aiming posts to replace the kit supplied ones which are too small and included molded in attachment brackets. Likewise, the cleaning kit staff sections were replaced with ones fabricated from 1.2mm styrene rod. I added additional detail to the electric brake box and added brake lines to the wheels.

The model was primed with Krylon rattle can flat black primer from the hardware store -- very tough and cheap. It was painted with various shades of Tamiya XF-62 mixed with XF-60. I applied a dot filter of various Winsor & Newton oils. Light chipping was done with a tiny piece of sponge. Detail painting also used Tamiya acrylics. The entire model was sprayed with "Future" prior to applying a dark pin wash and various AK enamel streaking and weathering products. After a coat of Testors Dullcoat to give it a dead flat finish, AK pigments were used sparingly for dust effects.

The AFV Club kit is outstanding. I look forward to building their late war version and the Korea/Viet Nam version.