Post by DuckyShot on Oct 13, 2023 10:19:09 GMT -6
I'm going to a weekend building event this weekend and enamel paints aren't allowed, and since I'm getting super close on the Carrier to painting and I only use enamels, taking that is out. I thought about taking the Firefly that will go in the diorama with it but with all the battle damage I need to do, I figured I might run into something that I needed more specialized stuff that I would only have at home.
So on to the next plan. I have an Italeri Priest Kangaroo that I got from an estate sale a few years back. As I've concentrated on Canadian armor the last little while, this kit definitely fits in with that. But, its an old kit with some big errors on it, so I have decided we are going to build it and fix those errors and super detail the best I can. I want to build this as one of the original Kangaroo's from Operation Totalize in August of 1944.
The major errors are:
1. Incorrect transmission cover. It has a cast cover in the kit while in reality the Priests that were landing in Normandy had the 3 piece bolted cover. I grabbed a 3piece transmission cover from the spares that I am guessing is from a Dragon kit.
2. Side shields are completely wrong in the kit, they have them mounted weird and also the wrong shape. I will probably have to make all new shields.
3. Wrong track. Pretty much every picture I've seen has the Priests/Kangaroos of Normandy with T48 or T62 style track, not the rubber block track in the kit (which is made from horrible plastic anyways). It will be getting switched with T62 vinyl tracks from the spares box.
4. Missing gun shields. The kit has the front shield to plug the gun hole but not the back shield. I also assume that there should be a bottom shield between the 2 shields, but I'll see how everything lines up.
5. Wrong engine deck. Priests from this era had a different engine deck that had some extra vents on them. I'll be cutting those out and making screens for them.
6. Overall bad detail on a lot of parts. I'll be replacing the bogies with newer, more detailed bogies. The M2 will get changed out the same way. I did get the Eduard PE set for this kit, I also have a replacement No19 radio coming for it and I'll be seeing if I can switch out the air cleaners on the back. The resin replacements I have seem a bit bigger than the kit parts, so we will see if they fit in without too much work.
As minimally detailed as the drivers compartment is, I won't be messing around with it a pile. There are a few panels and bolts I'll be able to add, but the rest will stay stock mostly. It's just the seat and levers and transmission.
As there is a lot of modifying, cutting and adding, it should keep me busy over the weekend.
There are not a lot of good pictures of Kangaroos in Operation Totalize. As such, there are a typical couple examples that people build. I'm going to break away from those examples and build one replicating a couple pictures of a Canadian Priest in action a few weeks earlier. As all the Kangaroos were modified from the surplus Kangaroos as the artillery units transitioned back to towed 25 lbrs and were modified so quickly that they all maintained their artillery unit markings, this is a super plausible machine to use as a Kangaroo.
I didn't know this until I started researching this, but apparently the Canadian artillery units had already installed and were using the side plates on the Priests as is evidenced in these photos. So most of the modifications done for Operation Totalize was just on removing the 105mm howitzers and filling that gap and removing the ammo storage.
So anyways, this will be modeled with the markings for S-215860, "E4" of the 13th Canadian Field Regiment, 3rd Division
I've done this one other time where I took a super old, out of date kit and went to town on it and it was one of the funnest builds I ever did. It was Tamiya's old Jumbo Sherman. Not the most efficient builds when better options are out there nowadays, but super fun nonetheless.
So on to the next plan. I have an Italeri Priest Kangaroo that I got from an estate sale a few years back. As I've concentrated on Canadian armor the last little while, this kit definitely fits in with that. But, its an old kit with some big errors on it, so I have decided we are going to build it and fix those errors and super detail the best I can. I want to build this as one of the original Kangaroo's from Operation Totalize in August of 1944.
The major errors are:
1. Incorrect transmission cover. It has a cast cover in the kit while in reality the Priests that were landing in Normandy had the 3 piece bolted cover. I grabbed a 3piece transmission cover from the spares that I am guessing is from a Dragon kit.
2. Side shields are completely wrong in the kit, they have them mounted weird and also the wrong shape. I will probably have to make all new shields.
3. Wrong track. Pretty much every picture I've seen has the Priests/Kangaroos of Normandy with T48 or T62 style track, not the rubber block track in the kit (which is made from horrible plastic anyways). It will be getting switched with T62 vinyl tracks from the spares box.
4. Missing gun shields. The kit has the front shield to plug the gun hole but not the back shield. I also assume that there should be a bottom shield between the 2 shields, but I'll see how everything lines up.
5. Wrong engine deck. Priests from this era had a different engine deck that had some extra vents on them. I'll be cutting those out and making screens for them.
6. Overall bad detail on a lot of parts. I'll be replacing the bogies with newer, more detailed bogies. The M2 will get changed out the same way. I did get the Eduard PE set for this kit, I also have a replacement No19 radio coming for it and I'll be seeing if I can switch out the air cleaners on the back. The resin replacements I have seem a bit bigger than the kit parts, so we will see if they fit in without too much work.
As minimally detailed as the drivers compartment is, I won't be messing around with it a pile. There are a few panels and bolts I'll be able to add, but the rest will stay stock mostly. It's just the seat and levers and transmission.
As there is a lot of modifying, cutting and adding, it should keep me busy over the weekend.
There are not a lot of good pictures of Kangaroos in Operation Totalize. As such, there are a typical couple examples that people build. I'm going to break away from those examples and build one replicating a couple pictures of a Canadian Priest in action a few weeks earlier. As all the Kangaroos were modified from the surplus Kangaroos as the artillery units transitioned back to towed 25 lbrs and were modified so quickly that they all maintained their artillery unit markings, this is a super plausible machine to use as a Kangaroo.
I didn't know this until I started researching this, but apparently the Canadian artillery units had already installed and were using the side plates on the Priests as is evidenced in these photos. So most of the modifications done for Operation Totalize was just on removing the 105mm howitzers and filling that gap and removing the ammo storage.
So anyways, this will be modeled with the markings for S-215860, "E4" of the 13th Canadian Field Regiment, 3rd Division
I've done this one other time where I took a super old, out of date kit and went to town on it and it was one of the funnest builds I ever did. It was Tamiya's old Jumbo Sherman. Not the most efficient builds when better options are out there nowadays, but super fun nonetheless.
