So as this GB was coming together, this box arrived at my front door, slightly the worse for wear.
It is Italeri's T17E2 Staghound AA, a WW2 4x4 armored car configured for AA protection. Staghounds were a US design (Chevrolet) that was not used by the US, but found favor among Commonwealth armies, being widely used by the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and New Zealanders as well as allies serving under the British Army umbrella, such as the Polish brigades. Staghounds were also widely used after the war around the world.
They came in three versions. The T17E1 was the basic vehicle and came in 3 Marks: the Mk.1 was equipped with a 37mm cannon; the Mk.2 with a 3" howitzer, and the Mk.3 with the turret from the Crusader tank and its 75mm gun. The T17E2 was the AA version with 2 Browning MGs in a turret originally designed for British Motor Torpedo Boats. The T17E3 had the turret of 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8, but never went into production. I have the T17E1 Mk.1 and Mk.3 by Bronco in my stash.
So the box got a bit mashed but the contents are OK, just hope everything's in there. The kit appears to be quite a bit simpler than the Bronco renditions. There's a fret of PE and the decal sheet has 2 Polish, 1 Canadian and one US unit (curious, since the references I have seen so far state that they were not used by the US). Guess which I'll be building!
I'll be starting this weekend.
Oh Canada!
Man - you are definitely moving over to the "dark side" of AFV...!!! That's a very interesting subject - looking forward to seeing it come together!
So, as promised, here's the basic box assembled. No issues really.
Well dang, I need one of these. I really like anti-aircraft armor. I didn't know this was even thing, but I'm sure glad it is. I have couple Bronco kits in my stash and the amount parts and detail in them is almost off putting. looking forward to following this build
CFL
Drive train and suspension done.
Looks like they just strapped on a couple of 45 gal drums for fuel on this bad boy.
looking good - are those PE straps around the fuel drum?
Yes, the kit came with a small fret of PE.
So that's both tanks, the rear engine covers and fenders. The front fenders weren't a great fit, but I got them wrestled into place.
moving along...
Looking good.
cool
So it's been a few days without apparent progress, but I've been working on the AA turret and what a treat it is! The MG's sit between a couple of plates with ½" holes in them and a outer round insert goes through the hole and is glued to the MG. The problem is that there is no positive alignment between the inserts and the gun. the outside insert has a lug on it at about a 2 o'clock position and the inner one has a slot to which the ammo feed is glued. Getting teh gun, the plate and the insert aligned and glued together needs at least 3 hands. You find out later when you have mounted the MG & support plate assemblies to the turret that the alignment of those inserts really matters. Grrrr.
Anyway, after discovering that I can swear fluently in several languages, here's the result. Nothing is square or properly aligned so my story is that a bomb from an Fw190 hit close-by and knocked everything about. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I rather like your story! Adds a bit of life to the build!!