Tamiya/Italeri M107 Vietnam War Era

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

I see Wild Bill is building the Tamiya Su-76M and i've been building the Tamiya/Italeri M107



I can't compare the Italeri kit,never built one, to what Tamiya has told us about the improvements they've made but from what i've read they are not that big a deal other than the tracks are of a softer material and can be cemented.



The kit is nearing construction completion and I primed it just today.












The fit at the rear of the upper and lower hull is not great and takes some work to get it to fit this well. I was told the Italeri kit had the same problem and in fact it was the only place I needed a little filler.

Later Folks
Tony lee

[wing_nut]

Is that the big stick Teddy was talking about?

[Leon]

Now that's a big gun! Coming along nicely Tony.

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

WN, Teddy said a BIG STICK this is a 22 mile CLUB

Looks even better with primer Leon.

Tony lee

[deafpanzer]

Another big gun... looks like your obsession on those has grown over time. To my surprise I don't think I have ever seen this kit before and I am really looking forward to your another build.

[sturmbird]

The gun (it's actually a 175mm rifle, but known as a gun) will do 23 miles on a hot day from sea level. At 1500 feet above sea level, and shooting to sea level it's said it will do 27 miles. Can't prove it by me. I do know for a fact that it'll do 22 miles in Oklahoma!

I've crewed on a real M107 (most you in combat were revamped M110's), and probably shot 120 rounds. Enough to wear out the barrel (80 rounds of zone three). My first round was a zone three charge at close to max range (21 miles more or less), think I was one of the guys loading the crane. The concussion was what remembered the most. Totally unprepared! A zone three charge is about 12" in diameter, and roughly 67" long. The projectile weighs 147lb., and is close to 30" long. Has a very high ballistic co-efficient. The killing zone is 100 meters. Where as the 203mm is barely 80 meters. The barrel has 1.5" of droop in it when in the horizontal position, but the travel lock helps fix this. Still it's a rare thing to ever shoot with a horizontal barrel. (but sometimes it happens).

The blast is so bad that nothing stays put on the chassis unless it's tied down! Even worse 250 yards out front. Rate of fire is rather slow, but once your shooting you try to keep the barrel hot. An accuracy thing. The guns were almost never used for fire support within 800 yards of friendlies. Not accurate enough. You can see the barrel wiggle when the round lets go. Serious concussion. Nobody ever stands behind the breech (even fifty feet back) There has been many cases of breech failure, and even barrel failure. When you change the barrel, you use a pair of ten ton wreckers. Takes less than two hours. When you shoot the first few rounds with a new barrel, you use at least a fifty foot lanyard, and many use an eighty foot lanyard. Call it scary!!

The best way to tell an M107 hull is the travel lock. I've seen 8" howitzers with the travel lock (many), and 175 guns with the travel lock added. Track pads tend to wear fast due to constantly using a dead steer to shift the azimuth. Not as bad as guns in a parapet, but still bad. Aiming stakes are always to the rear unless you like working on them all the time. Plus the concussion will blow the lights out in no time (night shooting). I spoke of shooting with the barrel in a horizontal position. Actually a negative number. You have bad guys running at you, so you load a zone three charge without the projo. Now we have a giant flame thrower. Never done it, but know folks that have.

gary

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

It's a NEW Tamiya release Andy

Gary I had heard the 107 was not very accurate and the 110 was much better at that. Thanks for posting,very interesting. This kit is not supplied with the shell cradle for the auto loader which is an important item for
loading.

Thanks
Tony lee

[dupes]

Tony - I'm just wrapping up a Testors/Italeri M107 myself. Unless I'm missing something, your kit is exactly identical to what I've got. Doesn't look like Tamiya made many (or any) improvements. Hope it was cheap!

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Here's a review of it:

www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=12045

I paid $43.50 from Sprue Bros Dupes

Tony lee

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Primer:





Later
Tony lee

[sturmbird]

Mar 15, 2016 10:53:27 GMT -5 tonylee-Rest In Peace said:

It's a NEW Tamiya release Andy

Gary I had heard the 107 was not very accurate and the 110 was much better at that. Thanks for posting,very interesting. This kit is not supplied with the shell cradle for the auto loader which is an important item for
loading.

Thanks
Tony lee

Here's the way you look at it:

* A 175 gun (what the Army called them) shooting twenty miles will have a pattern radius of about 100 meters. Not exactly outstanding. With a dead cold barrel it's even worse! The round was pretty much used for saturating an area. Still you didn't want to be down range when the rounds hit.

* the 8" howitzer was exactly the opposite. The most accurate piece ever used. Folks would jokingly say the round could hit the same garbage can 8 miles out over and over. Has roughly an 80 meter killing radius, but in reality is closer to 70 meters.

the crane (what you refer to as the loader) is there, but they show it setup to ram the projectile into the barrel. It's the same for the M110 or M107. When the SPG is traveling, the crane will be in that position. But can't be fired of course. I think I have several photos of the crane from an M110a2 (same crane). I'll see what I can find for you.

gary

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

I'm talking about the thing with handle the ground crew carries the shell on and then hooked it on the lift which flips over and lays the round in the ram Gary.


Tony lee

[wbill76]

Tamiya has a long-standing partnership with Italeri and reboxes a lot of their stuff...usually with just adding some figures or similar type of extras. Looks like it's still the same old Italeri plastic! You'll beat it into shape though I'm sure Tony.

[bbrowniii]

Tony Lee

THAT is a BIG gun!! WOW... great work thus far. Can't wait to see you bring this one home!

[sturmbird]

Mar 15, 2016 17:36:58 GMT -5 tonylee-Rest In Peace said:

I'm talking about the thing with handle the ground crew carries the shell on and then hooked it on the lift which flips over and lays the round in the ram Gary.


Tony lee

OK your referring to the "tray". The one with four handles. There is another tray you lay the round on. Eight inch guys used the tray with four handles (204lb.), but we simply laid the round onto the crane..
gary

[Deleted]

That's allot of Tray!

[sturmbird]

last night I looked over pics I have of that M110a2 (chassis is the same), but the pics of the crane could be better. I'll get back down there for some more pics this weekend. I noticed two things in my pics so far. Hydraulic hoses all over the place, and welds. Don't sand anything smooth because it's not flat! Lots of paint chipping on the steel hydraulic lines on the trunion. Going to try putting together a photo DVD in the next week or two.
gary

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iGVfNsz_T0&feature=player_embedded

[Deleted]

And they didn't even wear ear plugs!

[sturmbird]

Mar 16, 2016 18:16:16 GMT -5 tonylee-Rest In Peace said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iGVfNsz_T0&feature=player_embedded

that was a really good video showing how the crane works (I'd forgotten about some of it. I noticed that there are two different styles of cradles used with the crane. Must be an early and late. I have several close up photos of the crane assembly. Still I now see I could do better. When I get down there (Sunday if the weather is nice) I'll take some more pic's. Is there anything you wanting to see? They've got an M1a1 (a2?) tank down there now, and also want to burn a bunch of frames on that one too.

Gary

[sturmbird]

Mar 17, 2016 9:24:08 GMT -5 @dogfish7 said:

And they didn't even wear ear plugs!

In the video, it looked like they shot a zone one charge. Even the explosion from the round looked small (more like a 155 HE round). Ear plugs should have been worn I agree, but are also of little use when the bone mass right behind the ear transfers of concussion. The trick is to open your mouth, put your middle finger in your ear with your thumb and index fingers on that bone mass while holding the rest of your hand against the ear lobes. Works better than an ear plug. Works well during a slow rate of fire like the M107 / M110 do. In something like a 155 towed gun laid out in the lazy W; you shoot so fast that you almost don't have the time. AG's had a lot of hearing issues as their hands were always busy.
gary

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Update

Tracks and Paint





Detail painting coming up next.
Tony lee

[Leon]

That looks fantastic Tony!

[Deleted]

Nice recovery from your B-Day Tony!

[wbill76]

Now the real fun can begin on this green monster. Looking good Tony.

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

Last post was April 2nd OH my i'm so embarrassed,that's what happens when you get tied down with exclusive kit builds.

Anyway the Marder I is out of the shop and the BIG gun is back front and center with the barrel sticking out the back wall window.
First thing this morning is to find my log book and get started where I left off.

Uncle Tony

[dupes]

"Exclusive kit builds"? What have you got going on?

[Leon]

Looking really good Tony!

[Tojo72]

Looking good Tony,did you see they are coming out with a new tool M 40

[tonylee-Rest In Peace]

"they are coming out with a new tooled M 40"

I saw that and would like to build it just to see how it compares with AFV's kit but that takes money that I don't have anymore.
Everything is costing more and more but our POTUS tells us not to believe it because we are in great shape.
I must have big wholes in my pockets?

Tony lee