Friday, July 22, 2016

Stalin's Sledgehammer


Another subject that has not been produced by plastic model companies in 1/72 scale is the 203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4). A resin version of the howitzer was produced at one time by AER, but the kit looks like it would be a bear to prepare and assemble.

Once again though, Altaya comes to the rescue with a model of this sadly neglected subject.


The barrel can elevate to to about 45°, but the limber is glued in place so it cannot be displayed in firing mode.

The same model is also sold by War Master, except with a different color scheme and some weathering.


Since both howitzers are in travel mode, I've pre-ordered a couple of Trumpeter Komintern Artillery Tractors to tow them (maybe Trumpeter will make a 1/72 version of the howizter as well).


The following images are some interesting photos of the howitzer that I found on the web.










3 comments:

Rob Young said...

Irregular Miniatures do a metal one in their 'Really useful guns' range - it's gun 32. http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/Misc/UsefulGuns.htm

EY said...

Thanks for the heads up Xaltotun. Haven't been to the Irregular site in ages. The B-4 is rather crude compared to their other guns, but £6.00 is pretty cheap for something that size.

I just wonder how it scales out. I have some of their 20mm figures, and they are not as tall as typical 1/72 figures so it may be 1/76 scale.

Rob Young said...

There view is that they are somewhere between 15 and 20mm so you can use them for either. Guns I've got from their range certainly fit OK for 20mm.