These arrived today. The Howitzers are stunning as is the Abrams. The packaging was impressive. I wish I would have thought to take pics before I removed them from the box. The howitzers actually fire included artillery rounds. 
"Go ahead, make my day!"
These will be added to my Veterans' Day military consist!
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How much damage do the rounds do? 
Nice addition to a military train.
I'll have to wait until my grandson, the gunner, arrives! 
Thanks.
I picked up a set of the Premier cars with the tanks on them, they are amazing! Superb job MTH!
The “Howitzers” look out of Scale!
Scale or not, I ordered two Premier flats.
Fredstrains posted:The “Howitzers” look out of Scale!
So is the tank. The tracks on those things overhang the edge of a flat car by quite a bit.
But they shoot shells! Fire away!
-Greg
Big Jim posted:Fredstrains posted:The “Howitzers” look out of Scale!
So is the tank. The tracks on those things overhang the edge of a flat car by quite a bit.
Seem to be prototypical to me - these are not your grandfather's weapons
https://www.google.com/search?...iw=1920&bih=1055
The M1 Abrams seems to be scale proportioned. Remember, the real one weighs 60 tons plus when loaded and is considerably larger than the World War 2 vintage M4 Sherman tank.
Ed Boyle
ToledoEd posted:Fredstrains posted:The “Howitzers” look out of Scale!
Here's another pic with 2 O scale soldiers next to the Howitzers.
Korean War 105.
The upper photo of the model looks too big, in my opinion, for the small, towed 105 (note how much smaller/lower to the ground the real one is in the lower photo). The nice small, towed 105s we had in the 2nd Armored Division (1965 & 1966), looked like the photo of the Korean War 105. I'm wondering if the MTH model might be a towed 155?
I was considering building a 155mm Long Tom (Built one of those when I was kid) and put it on a flat car...then i saw these MTH Howitzers and decided to buy them. I agree, the barrel for sure looks too long.
Ed Boyle posted:The M1 Abrams seems to be scale proportioned. Remember, the real one weighs 60 tons plus when loaded and is considerably larger than the World War 2 vintage M4 Sherman tank.
Ed Boyle
Seems to me, the Abrams is pretty well scaled, although the comment about the track overhang is right. I looked at a number of photos of these beasts on flatcars and the tread does overhang a bit.
ToledoEd posted:I was considering building a 155mm Long Tom (Built one of those when I was kid) and put it on a flat car...then i saw these MTH Howitzers and decided to buy them. I agree, the barrel for sure looks too long.
Well, the "Long Tom" Howitzers we had (one battery of them) were 175mm. They were eventually taken away from us in late 1966, and sent to Viet Nam. Thus, all we had remaining were some towed 105mm, a bunch of self-propelled 155mm, quite a few 8" self-propelled, and two Honest John rockets. By far the absolute best, and most accurate, Howitzer was the 8" self-propelled; 220 pound projectile and with white bag propellent, was good for 20 miles.
Speaking of long barrels, an atomic cannon from the early 1950s on display at the "Nuclear Museum" in Albuquerque, NM:
Are we sure this is not a 105 "Recoilless rifle ' ? The mth Howetizers resemble 155s and not the 105'.. that would justify the longer barrel... remember rarely are these accessories actually perfect 1:48 scale. Probably closer to 1:43, 1:45...
When I was in the first Armored Infantry Div. our M60A1, 120 ton tanks, tracks, hung way over the rail cars. Especially when on exercises in Germany, when we moved equipment by rail from Graphinvere to KT on Reforger war games... So Ed, your tanks tracks hanging over are prototypical...
It's been a long time since I was in tube artillery, but I do not recognize this model. The carriage sort of looks like a hybrid 155 M1 (Long Tom) carriage, but it's missing the second set of wheels. The howitzer mount, elevating mechanism, equilibrator, recuperator, recoil cylinders, and muzzle brake are of unknown design. But, having said that, I'll be the first to admit that it's not fair to compare this to a scale model. It's an approximation and it makes a great flat car load.
Which reminds me … didn't Life Like produce M1A1 105mm howitzers in 1:40 or 1:44 scale back in the day?
I had a toy Atomic Cannon back in the 1960s. As I recall, it was Blue and Orange plastic and shot plastic shells. I think it was made by Ideal. Definitely considerably larger than O scale!
Chris
LVHR
Moonman posted:Big Jim posted:Fredstrains posted:The “Howitzers” look out of Scale!
So is the tank. The tracks on those things overhang the edge of a flat car by quite a bit.
Seem to be prototypical to me - these are not your grandfather's weapons
https://www.google.com/search?...iw=1920&bih=1055
You and Ed need to look a lot closer!
Ed Boyle posted:The M1 Abrams seems to be scale proportioned. Remember, the real one weighs 60 tons plus when loaded and is considerably larger than the World War 2 vintage M4 Sherman tank.
Ed Boyle
The key words being "scale proportioned"! It may very well be scale proportioned, but, to what? Not 1:48.
The 105mm appear to be like the modern M119A1 - long barrel lightweight weapon - about 20ft long
Carl, they sure do. 
I have been looking for a 1:48 Long Tom for my military consist. Remember having one with my 1960's Lionel that I built from plastic kit . May have been a Revel kit, came with a half track to tow. Had no luck surfing the web, does anyone know of a source for this? The piece with the MTH flat is identical to one put out by Solido back in the '70s. Ft. Sill, down by Lawton, Oklahoma, has a nice artillery museum, including a set of the Atomic Cannon as pictured above.
Jesse TCA 12-68275
If you ask me I think they look just fine! Makes a nice load on the flat car!
Not sure what they are, took this picture at camp Summerall Korea in 1971. A 1/15 FA
texastrain posted:I have been looking for a 1:48 Long Tom for my military consist. Remember having one with my 1960's Lionel that I built from plastic kit . May have been a Revel kit, came with a half track to tow. Had no luck surfing the web, does anyone know of a source for this? The piece with the MTH flat is identical to one put out by Solido back in the '70s. Ft. Sill, down by Lawton, Oklahoma, has a nice artillery museum, including a set of the Atomic Cannon as pictured above.
Jesse TCA 12-68275
Good eye! They are Solido models according to the package containing a little wrench that came in the box.
Looks like a M-114A2 from the front.
texastrain posted:I have been looking for a 1:48 Long Tom for my military consist. Remember having one with my 1960's Lionel that I built from plastic kit . May have been a Revel kit, came with a half track to tow. Had no luck surfing the web, does anyone know of a source for this? The piece with the MTH flat is identical to one put out by Solido back in the '70s. Ft. Sill, down by Lawton, Oklahoma, has a nice artillery museum, including a set of the Atomic Cannon as pictured above.
Jesse TCA 12-68275
Bandai, made a 1/48 WWII Long Tom kit as well as many other US and German armor, artillery, and accessory kits, including halftracks. They are getting kinda rare and pricey, alas!
texastrain posted:I have been looking for a 1:48 Long Tom for my military consist. Remember having one with my 1960's Lionel that I built from plastic kit . May have been a Revel kit, came with a half track to tow. Had no luck surfing the web, does anyone know of a source for this?
Jesse TCA 12-68275
It was a Revell kit. From 1956-57. 1/40th scale. I had one, too. It was a neat model. They did a lot of reisses of classic Revell kits, a number of years ago, anyway - not sure if this one was done or not. The ad is from a 1957 issue of Popular Science magazine. My favorite armor kits way back in the day were the ones done by Renwal - Blueprint Models. Too large for O Gauge, though.
gunrunnerjohn posted:How much damage do the rounds do?
Palallin, Yes, have seen the kits, and prices, of the Bandai models! Too much for my blood.... just wish to have a couple for loads on military flats. But, not at the cost of an entire rail line!!
Breezinup, Yes, have also seen the kit shown with the tractor included to tow the Long Tom. However, I distinctly recall, with certainty, the model I had made use of a half-track. No doubt about it, it was a half-track. I placed them on my flats too many times to not remember, and the half-track was a little wider than the dual tired axle of the Long Tom. As noted above, have seen the Bandai model kits.. way too expensive. Also, have located a source for the Solido artillery pieces. But, the ones I located, by Solido in the 1970s, are priced around $100... each! Must have grown some diamond crystals on them while in storage...….
So... still seeking some reasonable priced Long Toms in approx. 1:48 scale for military loads. If successful, will pass on the information. Hmmmmm….. Looking at the artillery piece situated on the KMT US Army flat #42010...….. Take it off the flat, place a carriage with dual axle underneath, some detail work added...…. Hmmmmmmmm……….
Jesse TCA
texastrain posted:Breezinup, Yes, have also seen the kit shown with the tractor included to tow the Long Tom. However, I distinctly recall, with certainty, the model I had made use of a half-track. No doubt about it, it was a half-track. I placed them on my flats too many times to not remember, and the half-track was a little wider than the dual tired axle of the Long Tom.
Jesse TCA
I'm quite sure Revell never made a half-track to go with the Long Tom. Actually, I don't recall that Revell ever made a half-track at all. Monogram made one, though, although it was 1/35, a somewhat larger scale than the Revell Long Tom.
You may be remembering the Monogram model. And if your half-track was wider than the Long Tom, as you say, that's probably because the half-track was 1/35 scale whereas the Long Tom was 1/40.
A MoPac Mike moves a Main Train through Notch Junction on its way to overseas deployment.
2 Bandai Halftracks, 1 M13, 1 M3A1
1 Bandai 155mm Long Tom
1 Bandai M30 Ammo Carrier/Prime Mover
1 Tamiya M4 Sherman (I can't remember the designation for this version)
I came across this image of a 155 Long Tom model on The Google. It's a shame Life Like (or someone) doesn't re-release it/them. They may not be the exact scale we need, but it ain't bad.
The new MTH flatcars with military equipment loads have been very popular. We still have some Premier and Railking in stock. My favorite is the Premier with the ambulances and the latest M1A Abrams Tank on the Railking flatcars. Good job MTH!
I also was impressed with the packaging. So much so that I did take some pics. The howitzers are 1:43 scale according to the product description at MTH. They do look big. They dwarf my 1:48 scale Shermans. But I still like them.
I remove the sharpener and spray paint these in olive drab for excellent howitzer loads ( see the reviewers uploaded photo) -
OK you Hooked me, I just placed my order with Nicholas Smith. They will ship on Monday.
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