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PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: March 7th, 2017, 1:25 am
by LarryH57
To go with the British & Commonwealth CMP 15 cwt Truck by Plastic Soldier Company, I recently bought the 1/72 scale CMP Quad Field Artillery Tractor, as I fancied building something used by the Allies rather than Axis. Like the CMP Truck it is fairly simple in construction and goes together very quickly and lend itself to a bit of detailing, such as having wing mirrors, a hold on handle in front of the roof hatch and bridge plate. Some windows can also be stuck quite easily from the inside though purists may wish to fix them in the windows, especially in the rear compartment, as the doors are quite thick.

As with the CMP Truck the radiator is for a Chevrolet but the axles are Ford. In my case I removed these and added banjo type axles from the spares box after sawing out the kit ones between the stubs for the wheels. As it’s a Chevrolet it needs a radiator overflow tank stuck on the side of the bonnet on the left hand passenger side, which I have yet to make out of scrap.

Another option is to keep the axles, and not bother with a radiator overflow tank and instead shave off the detail on the radiator and make it flat (and more in scale) and add a small oval Ford badge

For a Ford radiator I was thinking of painting it a lighter shade of the base colour then spraying the vehicle colour through some fine mesh I have and so hopefully leave a pattern. I did consider cutting the mesh for the rad but it is too tough and also would not sit well on such a small model, plus I’d need to create an engine and engine bay to go behind it.

The bad bits apart from the wrong axles, is that the wheels are so massively over scale. Photos of CMPs show the extra-large gap between the top of the wheel and the wheel arches. This was to allow the axle to move quite a lot over rough ground. So with the kit wheels in place the Quad looks quite wrong but a rather easy solution is at hand by using the wheels from the CMP Truck which for a 15cwt are also massively oversize. When the CMP Truck wheels are used on the Quad they are still a bit large but look so much better. On the real Quad vehicle the tyres don’t come up higher than the bottom of the cab doors, and another problem is that the CMP wheels have a hole right through them, so the nice hub detail on the CMP Quad kit are lost. However I’m sure they can be made up from scrap.

All I need now is some wheels for the CMP Truck; hopefully someone will do some aftermarket ones for this kit and those to replace the really dreadful ones in IBG 1/72 scale CMP 15cwt kits!

As for colour schemes, although this vehicle was made from 1942 or 1943, it was too late for use in the Desert in WW2 and doesn’t feature that often in the Italian Campaign in 1943-1944, which suggests the vehicle may have been stock piled in the UK for D-Day. According to Mike Starmer’s camouflage research a mid-war CMP Quad may have been produced in SCC.2 Brown and have black or dark brown upper surfaces with micky mouse type camo on the sides, and yet most photos I have seen show these Quads in a single colour which for D-Day and afterwards in NW Europe would be the SC.15 Olive Drab which was the basic colour, which the Mike Starmer has stated didn’t need black upper surfaces and mickey mouse as in the previous scheme.

Top; the Quad with the kit wheels

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Quad with wheels from CMP 15cwt Truck
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Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: March 7th, 2017, 1:36 am
by LarryH57
I've just found this link for replacement wheels

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/112745- ... -firestone;

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: March 7th, 2017, 2:17 am
by JohnRatzenberger
Agree on the wheels ...

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: March 7th, 2017, 8:56 am
by ShaunW
Another excellent looking allied piece from you Larry. Being no expert on the Quad I'll go along with your wheel corrections :grin:

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: March 7th, 2017, 9:24 am
by iggie
That looks to be a nice looking kit; I may have to invest in a couple!

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: April 11th, 2017, 6:54 pm
by LarryH57
And now the completed vehicle build more of less out of the box but with the PSC CMP 15 cwt Truck wheels and some Chevrolet banjo type axles. The kit has no decals so these came from the spares box.

The roof is a tight fit so went on without glue so the crew and perhaps windows will go in later.

As for the 25pdr the kit instructions are wrong in that the older type of carriage (that has a bowed profile) can go with a gun that has a muzzle brake and a shield that has indents in it above the wheels.

I used PSC paint to represent SC15 olive drab which according to Mike Starmer would not have had black mickey mouse camo on it. This vehicle is supposed to be new so is not too weathered.

Late type Chevrolet CMP Quads didn't have the radiator overflow on the nearside which was a relief!

BTW - the left over PSC Quad kit wheels look to be a reasonable match for a AEC Matador though they are a touch too thin, but still better than the old Airfix kit ones! The joy of the spares box!

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Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: April 11th, 2017, 7:21 pm
by iggie
A very nice little trio Larry and some very useful tips too

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: April 12th, 2017, 8:13 am
by ShaunW
That is nicely done Larry and a very informative thread.

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: April 16th, 2017, 3:42 pm
by ntrocket88
Nicely done!

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: September 12th, 2017, 11:47 pm
by LarryH57
My kit was based on this vehicle seen about 2009 at Military Odyssey in Kent, but I'm thinking the green is too green on both my kit and the vehicle to be Olive Drab SCC.15. It can hardly be compared to US Olive Drab that it was supposed to be similar to; oh well you live and learn!

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Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: September 13th, 2017, 9:35 am
by ShaunW
That is a nicely restored Quad, Larry. IMHO some care has to be taken if using restored vehicles/aircraft as a reference point for a build, many such machines feature non-standard parts including bits from earlier/later models or more modern parts fitted for safety reasons (such as brake lights, turn signals, radio gear), incorrect colour schemes (museum aircraft in particular seem to suffer from the latter malady) and so on. That said, it's great to see the full-size close up and especially if it is an operating example rather than a static exhibit.

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: September 13th, 2017, 6:18 pm
by Corricon
Nicely finished 8-)

Wee Friends do a set of Quad wheels for the Airfix Kit, which incidentally I used on the Matchbox kit. They may 'look' right on this kit plus that have the hub detail too!

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: September 19th, 2017, 12:10 am
by LarryH57
On my model I used Plastic Soldier Company British Armour Green paint which I was lead to believe was SCC.15 Olive Drab but it is far too green and not even a match for any British Armour in WW2, so who knows what they compared it to!

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: October 5th, 2017, 7:37 pm
by PTB11
Excellent work. Just crying out for a little diorama base.

Re: PSC British 25pdr & CMP Quad Tractor in 1/72 scale

Posted: December 11th, 2017, 3:39 pm
by LarryH57
I saw on another site that you need to saw off the second seat on the PSC 25 Pdr - only the left had seat is required opposite the sighting window in the shield. I should have looked at more references!