Grandson of "Cool useless stuff I bought"

On May 7, 2014, I wrote a post entitled "Cool useless stuff I bought" and on June 5, 2014, "Son of 'Cool useless stuff I bought'". So, as a continuation on the theme of weapons that have such a long range that they will never appear on a wargaming table, even at 1/600, I offer today's post. Additionally, it's been almost 1000 years since I painted anything other than WarPac equipment (it feels that way anyway), so it seemed a long overdue mental refreshment to paint some West Germans. 

In 1981, the American-built M110A2 8" (203mm) howitzer was the heaviest self-propelled gun fielded by NATO armies. In Northern Europe, it was used by the U.S., British, West Germans, Belgians, and the Dutch. 

The exact makeup and deployment of M110 units varied slightly from nation to nation, but as this is a West German post, I'll go with them. A heavy self-propelled artillery battalion of three batteries was attached to each panzer or infantry (be it Panzergrenadiers or Heimatschütz) division. Heavy batteries in most NATO armies were only two sections (that being four guns), but the West Germans used three sections, just as in light and field batteries, for a total of six guns. Each gun in the battery was assigned a tracked ammunition supply vehicle, that also carried eight of the gun's thirteen man crew, the other five riding on the gun carriage. 

The M110 could carry only two rounds on the vehicle, so its accompanying M548 was never far away:

As each round weighed just over 200lb/91kg, the M548 was backed up on the rear left side of the gun so that the M110's powered shell hoist (which was renown for incessant breakdowns) could reach inside:

For "shoot and scoot", the M110 could be emplaced in just two minutes, by lowering and digging in the recoil spade:

and locking out the torsion bar suspension. The two rounds carried on the vehicle would then be fired and the M110 would move out. After "scooting", two more rounds would be loaded onto the vehicle from the M548 and a new firing site would be found. If an "overflow" ammunition load was being carried in the M548, an M113 could be attached to each gun to carry the excess crew. 

In inclement weather, it was common to see a shelter attached to the rear of the vehicle to help protect the crew from rain or snow:

Here's my battery: three sections of guns:

an M113 Beobachtungspanzer for the forward observer:

the M548s that accompanied the guns:

and the battery commander's M577:

and finally, the whole battery:

I thought about snuggling the M548s up to the rear left side of the guns, but it made each stand look very packed in, so I went with doing them seperately. 

The M110's normal firing range was about 10.5mi/17km, out to a maximum of 15.5mi/25km (18.5mi/30km with rocket-assisted projectiles). So for just the normal range, I'll need a wargaming table 92ft/28m long!!! Well, the battery looks good, even if I never get to use it other than as an off-table firing asset. 

That's it for this weekend. I feel an aircraft post coming on....

Mrs. History PhD's first FOW!

After working on it off and on for a couple of weeks, my wife has finished her first Flames of War Vietnam vehicle! For those of you that remember, it was an M577 that I bought for her as a birthday gift. 

I must say that I was not at all impressed with the casting or how poorly the (few) pieces fit together. All rather clumsy and it took a considerable amount of filing and trimming to get it together properly. The .50cal that was provided was a particularly dreadful and misshapen lump and looked NOTHING like what the website would lead you to believe:

Look at that pristine little Ma Duece! Definitely NOT what you get in the package. If I were Battlefront, I believe I'd be quite embarrassed. However, Mrs. History PhD has persevered and, in my opinion, turned out a very superior first effort:

(Please note that sole responsibility for the crap photography must be laid at my doorstep.) She says she still needs more stowage, which I have to buy for her, but overall, she's quite pleased with her end result. 

She's now decided that she wants to continue on in 15mm Vietnam. 

I should've seen this coming when I set her to painting in 6mm. She also says that 3mm is too small to be worth her time! 

Who's filling her mind with these horrible lies!?! 

In any case, I could already see that she was enjoying herself, so, good husband that I am, I was prepared: 

Always nice to know that I'm appreciated.

I can tell where this is all going to end:

Lord! We'll need a bigger apartment!

Mrs. History PhD's foray into FOW Vietnam

Unable to contain her giddy anticipation even one day longer (i.e. until her actual birthday), Mrs. History PhD pleaded and wheedled me into handing over her birthday gift a night early. 

After much excited chattering in Thai, the gift was duly unwrapped and was pronounced an unqualified success! 

I thought I had better choose something with a minimum of assembly required. What better than an M577?

Now begins her research phase. I was informed that she'll give me a list of any paints we don't have (with about 150 here already, I think it unlikely that there is going to be much on her list), as well as letting me know that I need to get some appropriate decals. Always the planner, is the Missus. 

She's also asked me to dip into my photo collection for some M577 photos that I'm positive were taken in Vietnam. No reason all of you shouldn't share with her, so here we go:

And finally, an ARVN M577 (which there weren't many of):

She's already noticed that she has the option to go with an mobile command post or a field ambulance. We'll see which she chooses. More when her project is completed!