WIP
Now I like to build unusual French kit and after seeing these images, I have wanted to build one for ages.
Built secretly in workshops in Fez and concealed from the armistice commission, the French mounted 75mle1897 guns onto a variety of trucks. The ones pictured were built on Fargo 1.5 tonners, The batteries were called Groupe Special d`Artillerie du Maroc (GSAM)
They were deployed briefly against the Americans after the Torch landings and later transported by rail and road across to Tunisia to face the Germans and Italians serving with 63rd Regiment Artillerie d`Afrique
Now after much searching and asking questions from various clever guys - David Reasoner & Leland Erickson to name two, it was pointed out no-one makes a Fargo in 20mm, but any Chevy would do really.
As luck would have it Ian Clunie of Shellhole Scenics was in the process of making some new trucks among which was a 1937 Chevy 1.5 ton GS
The gun mounts are from Raventhorpe (German AA machine gun mounts)
This plastic truck bed was my first attempt, would have been OK, except I didn`t have enough plastic for a second one - bugger!
Next, I needed to get the ammo and storage bins which hung below the truck, for the general bins I used resin boxes from Hobbyden, but for the ammo storage lockers, I took two Hat French `75 limbers and cut them in two and fitted the halves on either side of the truck bed. To fit the tail end storage boxes I had to remove about 2mm from the chassis to make enough room for the boxes to hang.
The trucks had a hand-cranked rear brake on the rear wheels to hold the vehicle against the gun`s recoil, so I added a couple of hand wheels (left overs from various guns) and created a simple look-alike break using tinfoil and fuse wire
Now apart from some stowage the trucks are done, onto the guns.
As I said above the mounts were from Ravensthorpe, the guns are Hat, I simply cut down the carriages, just to keep the mounts, I then mounted the whole thing on a 5x5mm piece of 1mm plasticard. taking a notch out of this and fitting a gunners seat (out of the bits box).
The shield
I hand made this using the tank off the Airfix Matador fuel-tanker, carving the rough shape with a blade - not perfect of 100% accurate, but good enough for me :)
You can see the seat here to the right of the breach
The selected crews, a mix of Hat WW1 and WW2 plastic crews
They were deployed briefly against the Americans after the Torch landings and later transported by rail and road across to Tunisia to face the Germans and Italians serving with 63rd Regiment Artillerie d`Afrique
As luck would have it Ian Clunie of Shellhole Scenics was in the process of making some new trucks among which was a 1937 Chevy 1.5 ton GS
And so I had a base for my project
Now I fully admit I am not in any way a great or skilled model maker, even at best my stuff is functional, so please excuse any obvious fudges and errors
First things first cut down the rear of the cab and build a new bed out of coffee stirrers
This plastic truck bed was my first attempt, would have been OK, except I didn`t have enough plastic for a second one - bugger!
Next, I needed to get the ammo and storage bins which hung below the truck, for the general bins I used resin boxes from Hobbyden, but for the ammo storage lockers, I took two Hat French `75 limbers and cut them in two and fitted the halves on either side of the truck bed. To fit the tail end storage boxes I had to remove about 2mm from the chassis to make enough room for the boxes to hang.
The trucks had a hand-cranked rear brake on the rear wheels to hold the vehicle against the gun`s recoil, so I added a couple of hand wheels (left overs from various guns) and created a simple look-alike break using tinfoil and fuse wire
Now apart from some stowage the trucks are done, onto the guns.
As I said above the mounts were from Ravensthorpe, the guns are Hat, I simply cut down the carriages, just to keep the mounts, I then mounted the whole thing on a 5x5mm piece of 1mm plasticard. taking a notch out of this and fitting a gunners seat (out of the bits box).
The shield
I hand made this using the tank off the Airfix Matador fuel-tanker, carving the rough shape with a blade - not perfect of 100% accurate, but good enough for me :)
You can see the seat here to the right of the breach
The selected crews, a mix of Hat WW1 and WW2 plastic crews
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