Very nice start already, Michel @michel-verschuere
A nice little workbench to do some modelling.

An amazing entry and great progress already, my friend @michel-verschuere!
Looking forward to it!

Hello everyone,
Worked the gun cradle, return sled and elevation mechanism today. The kit comes with a classic two-piece barrel in halves but I got myself a metal one from RB model to avoid sanding jobs on the usual seam that so appears. The kit in fact contains a middle part of the barrel in turned aluminum but the characteristic muzzle brake is still plastic in two halves, so it does not really help.

I had to cut out the supports from the plastic barrel, which needs to be done with care. I then mounted the braces onto the aluminum barrel and built the cradle. This one comes in three main pieces (box type) and is well riveted. The edges do require sanding however, so that kept me busy. Also for the first time, I've been using putty at this stage, granted it's rivet counting...

For the rest all is fine, just some careful first (dry) assembly to let some of the pieces set overnight. The hydraulic brake arm underneath the barrel is well modeled in two pieces but I must drill it out tomorrow so that the barrel can slide over the entire length. A very fine kit indeed!

I did skip the PE jungle on the shield for now, as the secondary shield support requires more time to carefully complete, this is the hardest part in the kit IMHO just because this piece needs to be bent in awkward angles. I reckon I need a couple of undisturbed hours for that but I think I can manage.

Hope you like it!

Happy modeling, Michel.

Indeed a vast improvement, my friend @michel-verschuere!

Looking great so far, my friend @michel-verschuere!

Thanks @fiveten @johnb for your words. Meanwhile made it back from Austria.
Continued the build with the tender and the application of more PE. These pictures show a general (dry) fit of the current towed howitzer assembly so far.

There are some armor shields to the compensators that need careful bending.

I don't have professional PE bending tools for cylindric shapes but I usually employ the shaft of a screwdriver for that or - in this case - a drill shaft of appropriate diameter. Also, there was an inner rim on the tenders' wheels that required a PE bending of ca. 18mm diameter, did that with the back of a screwdiver.

The PE in the kit is rather thick, I estimate 0.3mm which means that the bent part veers back a bit, implying that the diameter to be used whild forming should be a bit smaller than the eventual desired curvature.

Overall, I am quite happy about the result!

Next is some futher detailing on the PanTel; but - as I will use this one in travel mode - I am not sure whether the telescope was mounted while dragging the piece along, need to find some references for that first.

I reckon some two hours left then this one is ready for the paint job, but I will build the tractor first and paint both at the same time.

Happy modeling!

Michel.

The tractor I have started somewhere in the beginning of the year was Thunder Models' S60 Stalinetz:

This was in fact a license built US "Sixty" tractor but during the was, these machines were mass-manufactured to pull heavy equipment such s the 155mm ML-20 howitzer that made up the first part of the build. The kit by Thunder Model (CN) is very detailed, featuring a box full of grey styrene, copper wire and a fret of PE. It builds into a fine model:

The build starts with the engine, making up a big part of the challenge. There are lots of tubes, connections, exhaust pipes, spark plugs and other fine details...

This picture shows the - not yet cleaned - spark plugs with a 2 EUR coin for size reference, these are in styrene. Must be the smallest parts I ever handled. I used a wet toothpic to add them to the model...

The engine is 80% done now - but as said, I had started it somewhere in February...

I finished the main parts assembly for the ML-20 too, The secondary shield attachment involves the most complicated PE bending work I ever took on in my whole life (I am 46)... Phew, happy to have pulled that one off...

Happy modeling!

Michel.