M1A1 75mm Pack Howitzer & Prime Mover by Egilman - Vision/Tamiya - 1/35th Scale FINISHED!

[Egilman]

Hi all, a little diversion here to give me something to do while awaiting parts to arrive for Blue Jay Four.....

 

The 75mm pack howitzer is a mobile, general purpose, field artillery piece. It is manually operated, single loaded, and uses fixed and semifixed ammunition. It is used for either direct or indirect fire and can be elevated to high angles to deliver plunging fire on a target. It was a versatile artillery piece. It came in three versions, the most common one seen, is the M8 carriage. (for the airborne forces)

 

The pre-war vintage M1 had a "box trail" and wooden wheels and was design to be pulled by a cavalry horse or the artillery crew over friendly ground. Or, it could be broken down to be packed onto six mules for moving in rough terrain, as in the Pacific and China-Burma-India theaters and mountainous Italy. The Airborne version, which became the standard version, was the M1 box trail design with rubber wheels for jeep transport. It could be apportioned into seven "paracrates" and dropped from the skies with paratroopers, or come in on glider and transport planes. It could also be broken down into pack for mule carrying into mountainous terrain. (hence it's name "pack" howitzer) It weighed 1,339 pounds, had a range of 9,600 yards, and a crew of four could manage a prolonged rate of fire of three rounds per minute. (standard crew was 8 men)

 

The M1A1 Pack Howitzer was phased out at the end of WWII, replaced by the 57mm and 75mm recoilless rifles. They saw service all round the world, most prevalent in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division and in the Burma-India-China theater. They also served with distinction with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions from Normandy thru Market Garden and US marines as a light landing gun. (as you can see in the box art, Mt Suribachi, Iwo Jima in the background)

 

I"m intending to build this as a standard issued piece and will add it's Prime Mover (Willys MB) when it's done....

 

The parts:

Front and back side of the main sprue......

 

Details, yes that is a metal end tube to represent the barrel and straight tread tires for it's WWII appearance....

 

The casting is excellent and precise as you can see.....

This shouldn't take too long....

 

EG

[Egilman]

First step done....

 

The Barrel assembly, believe it or not that is eleven parts...... (measures 1.75 inches long)

 

Onward.....

[Egilman]

Second step done.....

The end box trail, spade and lunett... (lunett = hitch)

 

This is 12 tiny fiddly parts , and also measures about 1.75 inches long....

 

Next up, the carriage...

[Egilman]

Step three complete...

Carriage mated to the Box Trail... Another dozen parts added... 24 parts in 3 1/2 inches by 1/2 inch.... Fiddly isn't the word for it....

 

Axle and Tires next, then final assembly.....

 

Onward...

[fnick]

4 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Fiddly isn't the word for it....

And yet the blown out instructions make it look so easy!😄 Bet it isn't though. Guessing thats why the tweezers are out! Good job.

 

Nick

[Egilman]

Thank you Nick, an interesting piece of work, lotsa parts for not really much gun.... but the detail is incredible for such a small piece... A well designed kit...

 

It's gives the option of setting it up in firing mode or travel mode, I'm going to try and get a shot in firing mode before I finish it in traveling mode for the Willys MB that's going to be hauling it... But that for later today...

[Old Collingwood]

I'm In   interesting  subject.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Very nice kit EG, the first one I've laid eyes on. Did you order this kit or find it in a hobby shop?

[Egilman]

Actually Craig, I got it in a dusty old corner of a model shop sitting there looking forlorn... Not a subject a lot of people are interested in.....

 

It's been out there for a while, since 2009 I believe...

 

It's actually a very good kit, simple and straightforward, it will test your assembly skills..... I give it an 8.5 out of 10...

[Egilman]

15 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

I'm In   interesting  subject.

 

OC.

Welcome aboard OC...

[Edwardkenway]

I'm in EG 

[Jack12477]

I'm in stealth mode in the rafters 

[Egilman]

11 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

I'm in EG 

Welcome Ed, Just a little quickie here while waiting.... I think I've got 1.5 hours of actual work on it and it's done already...

[Egilman]

9 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

I'm in stealth mode in the rafters 

Hi Jack, your welcome to join the group.... (I saw ya trying to hide up there) 😉 But you'll have a great view on the Willys.....

[Egilman]

Ok last steps, fitting up the options field set, or towing set... (I've already chosen towing, but just checking the options...

 

Field set....

The barrel isn't elevated cause to do the travel set you have to have the carriage in zero elevation...  so it's kinda pointing straight out rather than up...

 

Travel position......

When they set it up for travel position they actually break it down and reposition everything, I have a training video of one of these by the Corps called "Serving the Piece" showing how a battery of these functions and goes into details on how they are set up, if anyone is interested that is..

 

Finished...

 

In travel position awaiting it's prime mover to hook up and go... (the dressmakers pin is there to give a sense of scale..... It is tiny...

 

Anyway, on to the Willys MB....

[Jack12477]

50 minutes ago, Egilman said:

I saw ya trying to hide up there

Oh darn! Knew I should have used that Klingon cloaking device ! 

[CDW]

This reminds me of the gun that sits in front of our local VFW. I'll take a photo of it next time I go past it. In front of University of Tampa are some huge naval shore gun emplacements. Those are interesting to see, and massive. I think those might be from the Spanish American War era.

[Egilman]

Ok, here is the video of the Marine Corps training films covering the M1A1 Pack Howitzer....

 

The Marines are using Dodge 1 ton trucks as the Prime Mover for this gun, a bit of overkill if you ask me....

 

Service of the Piece.... M1A1 Pack Howitzer.....

 

 

Enjoy....

 

EG

[lmagna]

I guess it doesn't matter where I sit on this one since Jack took my normal rafter position. It's pretty much already all over.  Sure wish someone had brought popcorn for the movie though! It was a real snoozer after the first few minutes.

[Old Collingwood]

14 minutes ago, lmagna said:

I guess it doesn't matter where I sit on this one since Jack took my normal rafter position. It's pretty much already all over.  Sure wish someone had brought popcorn for the movie though! It was a real snoozer after the first few minutes.

I thnk Mark is rationing  the popcorn  aint seen any in a while in here😁

 

OC.

[Egilman]

49 minutes ago, lmagna said:

I guess it doesn't matter where I sit on this one since Jack took my normal rafter position. It's pretty much already all over.  Sure wish someone had brought popcorn for the movie though! It was a real snoozer after the first few minutes.

Nah, it's intermission at the moment time enough to go track down the popcorn and use the facilities, I'll make sure to tell Jack to share the rafters...

 

Mr Willys is about to come save the day.... 

[Canute]

You remember when movies had intermissions?

 

Beep, beep, Eugene the Jeep.

Here you go, Popeye.

 

Found it:

[Edwardkenway]

I used to like the supporting series they showed before the main feature 

[mtaylor]

3 hours ago, lmagna said:

I guess it doesn't matter where I sit on this one since Jack took my normal rafter position. It's pretty much already all over.  Sure wish someone had brought popcorn for the movie though! It was a real snoozer after the first few minutes.

That's Ok,  Lou.  That leaves more popcorn of the rest of us.

 

2 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

I thnk Mark is rationing  the popcorn  aint seen any in a while in here😁

 

OC.

 

Sorry.   I thought it was already here.    

[Egilman]

Hmmmm crackle, crackle,, (speaker firing up) Ladies and Gentlemen, Ladies and Gentlemen,  Please return to your seats the second act is about to start...

 

Well, we now have the light artillery section well apportioned and equipped, so how do we make them mobile... The US army had to answer this question in 1938..... 

 

In 1937 the U.S. Army invited 135 companies to submit proposals for a new military vehicle to replace its horses and myriad older mixed and matched trucks. Only three companies responded: the Ford Motor Company, Willys-Overland, and The American Bantam Car Company. After submission and approval, the initial contract went to Bantam, after an initial production run of some 3700 vehicles The Bantam Reconnaissance Car (BRC) proved to be a less that what the Army needed in a light utility vehicle. New prototypes were then ordered from the three companies that originally responded. Willys ultimately won the contract in July 1941. and a controversy erupted, congressional investigations took place and so on and so forth allegations thrown back and forth.  Ford came up with a vehicle they called the GP "GP" did not stand for "General Purpose" as is routinely speculated but stood for "G"overnment "P"rocurment The Willys Overland version was called the MA for "M"ilitary model "A". The Bantam Company maintained their original designation as BRC. Those were the designations the Army ran with as the QM corps didn't have a designation system in place like the Ordnance corps used. (the "M" number system) Ford's entry was the GP, Willy's was the MA and Bantam's was the BRC. Bantam was the first to drop out of the competition their vehicle was but little better than that which was being replaced. The QM wanted to give Ford the contract as it had the manufacturing capacity to supply all the Army's needs for this vehicle and the WPB (War Production Board) was strictly bent on low bid pricing... of which Willy's Overland won by over $100.00/vehicle but they didn't have the capacity to produce the needed quantities... 1500 of both Fords and Willy's prototypes were ordered and rigorously tested in actual unit operations...... Willy's was asked to modify a few things and produced the model "MB" which was accepted by the QM..... 

 

Now, it's best to address the official US Army designation for this vehicle was and always has been "1/4 ton 4X4 Truck" it never had a "T" or "M" number designation which were reserved at that time for actual ordnance designs.... The term "jeep" was a slang term used in normal society to slur something different or something small and handy... it's first official usage in relation to the 1/4 ton 4X4 Truck was in Willys advertising about how much they were doing for the war effort, (I'm sure you all have seen such kit, posters and newsreels in your modeling research) and the name stuck.... Forever more when someone sees this vehicle it will be called a Jeep..... the amphibious model was called a "Seep" (and it really wasn't liked by the troops), and the Dodge 3/4 and 1 tons were called "Beeps". "Jeep" was the only one of those nicknames that stuck, all prior definitions of the term disappeared and "Jeep" became part of the lexicon... (this was cemented by the federal courts when Willys was using the term in it's advertising, and Bantam who invented the truck type sued, recognizing the potential after the war sales of this wonder vehicle) The Court ruled in Willys favor and the term "Jeep" became a registered trademark of the Willy's Overland corporation......  (just a note: the WWII jeep, the Willys MB version, became the Jeep CJ2 after the war)

 

Now back to the Jeep story.....

The army had their vehicle rigorously tested in the hands of the actual using troops and the demand was up, the troops/commands WANTED this vehicle enmasse and wanted it yesterday.....

But the WPB had a problem, they needed to get Willys some capacity to build these since they had won, and they needed to produce over 250 thousand of them (initial contract) like instantly based upon the demand.....

Willys initially wanted the entire contract designated to themselves and was a might put out that the WPB wasn't willing to give it to them.. Now the war production board had wide powers of getting things done the initial contract offered to Willys was for 50 thousand vehicles AND a modern brand new automotive plant to make them in built for them....... And Willys had a problem with it... yeah, I know, would you have had a problem with it?  The WPB told Willys that they could just vacate their bid for refusal to accept and go with Ford's version? Since the design was produced under a government contract and was the property of the government....

Willys relented.. the next major hurdle was Ford's unwillingness to build Willy's design. they wanted to build their own design.... NO the WPB just needed production they didn't need different designs doubling the supply and maintenance/parts issues with two different vehicles... (this came from the production experience of the first world war where we have everyone under the sun selling trucks to the government and they had no less than 15 different makes with corresponding different models under those makes, a logistics nightmare.... This wasn't going to happen this time around (it was the issue that the WPB was formed to deal with)...... The WPB approached Chrysler to take a production contract and at that point Ford agreed to build from Willys' plans, (first time in history ford was going to build something they did not design) and received an initial contract for 200 thousand Willys MB's.  Ford, for their internal purposes designated them as GP (W) (eventually just GPW) as Government Production Willys and the rest is history. Bantam as consolation was given a production contract to build 1/2 ton trailers for the Willys vehicle.

 

So that's the long and the short of how an entire industry was created based upon the need to motorize the US Military prior to WWII.... in all versions, all manufacturers made over 800 thousand Jeeps during the war. it was used by every nation involved and none of them got the numbers they actually wanted..... oh and that created industry? the whole four wheeling paradigm...... A lasting legacy of a simple but revolutionary vehicle....

 

Next up, the Kit.... 

[Egilman]

Now for the kit...

 

The Prime Mover for the M1A1 pack howitzers assigned to the airborne artillery battalions was the standard Willy's MB or Ford GPW... It was air transportable as was the gun and the Artillery Battalions had 6 batteries of 4 guns each delivered to the battlefield by Waco or Horsa Gliders..... (the 82nd airborne had one artillery battalion that was equipped with 105mm howitzers on D-Day, the rest had M1A1's) The Waco gliders could carry either piece, the Horsa's could carry both. I'm going to represent this as a possible combination of the 101st Airborne division Artillery Battalion on D-Day. The situation of the glider troop landings (6 of them) the morning after the initial parachute drops. I have no real pictures of this combination but it did happen.... 

 

The kit is the Tamiya #35219. Released in 1997 as new tooling.

And it replaced kit # 35015 in their line-up which released in 1972.

First off when comparing the two the newer kit is lightyears ahead of the original kit in both accuracy and details although the added Bantam Trailer was dropped from the kit...

when comparing the two most modelers think the earlier kit looks toylike in comparison. The current Tamiya kit is still considered today as the most accurate Willys MB available and builds into an impressive model.... (even at 23 years old and several competing releases, I have the Bronco GPW with 37mm antitank gun in my stash so I will eventually get a direct comparison)

 

The Sprues:

Two main sprues, a clear sprue with headlight lenses and windshield halves and a one piece body that is a great improvement over the multi part body of the earlier release..... clean and crisp molding sharp details should be a pleasure to build....

 

Decals:

Decals come for five different vehicles.... 

• 5th Armored Division, 95th Armored Field Artillery Battery, Normandy, Summer 1944
• 7th Armored Division, 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Recon Co. #22, Belgium, January 1945
• 2nd Infantry Division, 38th Infantry Regiment, HQ #17, Czechoslovakia, May 1945
• 5th Army, 101st Military Police Battalion, C Co. #1, Italy, 1945
• ASC2 3886th Transportation Corps, Truck Co. #2, Europe, 1944-45 (red ball express)

I should have sufficient generic decals to represent the 101'st Abn. Div.'s id letters in my stash so it at least will look kinda authentic.... I believe that there is a company that puts out a limited edition run od decals for the 101st Abn jeeps, but at 19.00 pounds a pop and shipping from England? with the mailing delays? I'll try to do a decent representation myself.

 

The instructions consist of eight pages.....

 

Now as you can see with the images from the instruction, you can pretty much build any basic jeep used in any theater of the war with complete fidelity to detail some of the added features are the wire cutter mounted to the front bumper, (the Germans would string wire between telephone poles or trees right at the height of the drivers head/neck to do the obvious that would happen in that situation) a field expedient device eliminated that surprise threat) such a device would be appropriate for the jeep I'm building and it has the pedestal mounted M-1919A1 light machine gun and the M-1 Garand dash holder.... Another feature is the Thompson Sub-machine gun in a fender scabbard. (which quite a few of the artillery units were equipped with for emergency defense)

 

Anyway, Vehicle builds always seem to start with the engine/frame and this is no exception, so when this resumes, we will be putting paint and glue to plastic....

 

I hope you all enjoy the journey...

 

EG

[Old Collingwood]

Very cool  mate,   I remember building that version with the trailer  - if memory  serves me right  think it came with cardboard  boxes and plastic jerry cans.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Really like the little Willys Jeep. Nice kit.

[Jack12477]

I think I also have that same kit in my completed models stash.  Will have to do a little rummaging.  I know I have 3 variants of the Jeep.

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

Very cool  mate,   I remember building that version with the trailer  - if memory  serves me right  think it came with cardboard  boxes and plastic jerry cans.

 

OC.

Yeah, that was back when it was the only game in town. I believe that there is an aftermarket set that will do the Bantam Trailer and lots and lots of gear kits that will bring back a loaded vehicle feel to it but I still think this kit is a vast improvement over the early one...