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anyone started the atomic cannon?


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Has anyone gotten into the atomic cannon yet? I'd really like to end up with one of these on the shelf, but I'm a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to get it into a decent looking model. I'm a little spoiled by the newer tamiya and dragon kits where ya shake the box and out falls a nice Dragon Wagon. LOL

I'm ok with scratchbuilding some, but I'm wondering if pretty much everything on this kit will have to be redone.

Another idea that I've had is picking up another kit to use some of the parts (maybe another dragon wagon and steal the winches etc).

Thoughts?

John

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The kit is really basic and (in my opinion) needs a lot more than "just a little extra detail work" to make it look good. It is from 1950s molds, when accuracy and detail were not really thought about in modeling. As long as it kind of looked like what it was supposed to represent, it was good back then.

Here is a great example of what can be done with it, with a lot of work.

Wim Vink's Atomic Annie rework: http://www.mil-mod.nl/html/atomcann.html

Edited by HeavyArty
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The kit is really basic and (in my opinion) needs a lot more than "just a little extra detail work" to make it look good. It is from 1950s molds, when accuracy and detail were not really thought about in modeling. As long as it kind of looked like what it was supposed to represent, it was good back then.

Here is a great example of what can be done with it, with a lot of work.

Wim Vink's Atomic Annie rework: http://www.mil-mod.nl/html/atomcann.html

I read Wim Vink's build in FSM many years ago. Mind boggling stuff. He rebuilt almost every part.

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I'll make the jump and pick one up.

What other cannons were there? I only knew of this one and the Davy Crockett. Do you have any pics?

John

Though it wasn't specifically an "Atomic Cannon" we would commandeer a units M-109 self propelled howitzer to fire a W48 155mm .04 kiloton artillery shell. Of course, never got to fire a live round and haven't even seen one. Training missions used standard shells and we had a dummy round to practice assembly and arming. I believe there was a 203mm round that would be fired from the M110 8" sp howitzer as well. Sure loved being on the guns.

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  • 1 month later...

Though it wasn't specifically an "Atomic Cannon" we would commandeer a units M-109 self propelled howitzer to fire a W48 155mm .04 kiloton artillery shell. Of course, never got to fire a live round and haven't even seen one. Training missions used standard shells and we had a dummy round to practice assembly and arming. I believe there was a 203mm round that would be fired from the M110 8" sp howitzer as well. Sure loved being on the guns.

My understanding--and correct me if I'm wrong--is that the 8" guns were a NATO-European nuclear mainstay during the Cold War. Specifically, the M110, toward the 1980s, I think, was the nuclear arm of NATO's field artillery. Maybe the M107 was, too, while it was in service? Are there publicly admitted nuclear rounds for MLRS M270 systems?

Got the M65 kit from Santa. (Seems the elven workshop at the North Pole is now in the nuclear proliferation business. Are sanctions in order?) I did not antipate how big the kit is. I, too, and contemplating some improvements, but i will not be going for perfect accuracy. What Renwall supplies doesn't offend me terribly, and the whole thing is so big that its overall composition is the visual interest, not the details. So the M2 machine guns, grills,grabhandles, and some other details will be replaces, but i do not antipate a "white-plastic overhaul," myself. I'll be doing some sort of basic diorama, with at least one crewman for scale indication. Vink's build, however, does show what a dedicated modeler can do with this kit, though, to make a masterpiece.

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The kit is really basic and (in my opinion) needs a lot more than "just a little extra detail work" to make it look good. It is from 1950s molds, when accuracy and detail were not really thought about in modeling. As long as it kind of looked like what it was supposed to represent, it was good back then.

Here is a great example of what can be done with it, with a lot of work.

Wim Vink's Atomic Annie rework: http://www.mil-mod.nl/html/atomcann.html

I agree. For all the talk about being an accurate model made from blueprints, it really is a 50's model when the standard of detail and accuracy was far lower than today, sometimes due to the the desire to include working features. For example, the cab interiors have virtually no detail, and there is no hole in roof under the MG rings (which isn't a bad thing as most photos don't show any secondary armament, so just leave the rings and MG off).

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  • 4 months later...

And by the way, It looks like the final length of gun tube can be replaced with half-inch styrene tube. If that works out, I'll skip the filling/sanding nonsense, and use sleeved tubes to produce a proper bore. For rifling, I'm considering lining a short length of the inner bore with strands of styrene. Only needs to go in about a half inch, I figure.

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  • 10 months later...
Anybody got any cheap or easy idea for replacing the cheesy-looking munition in this kit? That is, an idea that doesn't involve a lathe?

You are not kidding about the cheesy looking projectile. At first glance I thought it was a prop from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

You could try modifying one of the 280mm projectiles from the Trumpeter or DML/Dragon K5 28.0 cm cannon. Another option is to use the resin ammunition that Verlinden had available for the same subject. That will get you the basic projectile shape but then you will need to modify it to represent a projectile used in the M65 280mm (11.2") Heavy Motorized Gun and that means a second set of rotating bands on the projectile plus increasing the overall length of the projectile. The fuze or a shipping plug will need to be fabricated to add to the top of the shell and associated propellant charges or the propellant charge storage container might also need to be fabricated if you want to present what constitutes a complete round of ammunition.

Edited by jeffryfontaine
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  • 5 months later...

I remember every once in a while seeing the tractors going down the road not far from my house when I was growing up. Picatinny Arsenal was literally on the other side of town and I could drive there in about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic in town.

I also remember seeing a photograph on the night I graduated from H.S. that a girl in my class received from her boyfriend who was in Vietnam. He was standing in a clearing with a couple friends, all wearing their flak vests and helmets on, and behind them, with a M-551 tank on each side was what I could swear was an atomic cannon. It's been a while but I'm pretty sure the tractors were near the tanks. Is there any record of one of these monsters being over there? I mentioned this photo to someone a long time ago and he tried to tell me that it must have been an old railroad gun left over from the French. I doubt that.

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