AFV ClubDragon
105mm Howitzer M2A1 & Carriage M2A2
1:35 Kit Comparison

AFV Club kit #AF35182 - Dragon kit #6531
Review by Terry Ashley

AFV Club
Chapter 4: Bottom Carriage:
AFV Club (Step2,5,15) The main axle is in one piece with six part Equalizing Support added to the back of the axle, take care to fit the small outer mountings (parts A35, A36) on the correct sides and any alignment issues of the parts are fixed when attached to the axle.

The Equalizing Support pivots on the actual gun but is fixed on the model which isn’t really a problem and the brake drums and hand brake levers fit to the axle stubs without any problems. Added to the axle is the larger traverse assembly mounting arm which has nicely done details with the two small lightening holes included.

The wheels in the kit are the later combat rim with the ‘Firestone’ tread pattern combat tyre which is the most common configuration seen on WWII versions of the 105mm gun, later and post war models typically had the non-directional tread combat tyres.

The tyre have excellent sidewall embossing including the “Firestone” name and tyre data as well with thread pattern being very well done with the only addition required being the small valve stem.

The combat rim is in two parts much like the original with the outer rim added to the main hub trapping the vinyl tyre between them, I trimmed the small ridge from around the inner edge of the tyre to allow the rim and hub parts to fit more snugly.

On the carriage the two small axle lock levers (parts D23) should both face in opposing directions, either facing each other or away from each other and not facing the same direction as shown in the instructions, but these should not be fitted until after the larger shields later in the assembly.

The top carriage is attached to the bottom by way of a large central pin (part A24) which in turn is trapped in place by the small cap (part A6). As the cap also fits into a recess on the underside of the axle it can be a problem gluing this without gluing the axle as well. A simple solution is to drill a small hole in the cap and when fitted onto the pin add a drop of liquid cement into the hole, all quick and clean.

Method of attaching pin cap as described above
AFV Club

Dragon (Step 2,3) The main axle is in one piece as is the equalizing support bar added to the back of the axle, this makes for straightforward assembly but again some of the detail is lacking as a consequence. The traverse cylinder support arm is the wrong shape and lacks the two prominent lightening holes while the axle doesn’t have any bolt head detail on the shield mountings. The long indentations at the front of the axle are a constant shape when they should be tapered towards the outside and there should be four small brackets on the top of the axle but these are missing. Strangely these brackets were on the axle used in the previous M2A1 carriage but not on this M2A2 carriage axle, as the earlier axle is still included in the kit you could cut off the brackets and add them to the M2A2 axle if you wished?

The wheels in the kit are the later combat rim with non-directional tread combat tyres without any sidewall embossing and not the more common “Firestone” combat tyre seen on WWII guns but being in two halves each again make for straightforward assembly and the wheels are all plastic which some may prefer.

On the carriage the two small axle lock levers (parts B17) shouldn’t be fitted until after the larger shields later in the assembly.

The top carriage is attached to the bottom carriage by way of a large central post on the equalizing support bar with the instructions showing not to glue this to allow gun traverse but there isn’t anything to actually hold the parts together and gluing these will prevent the assemblies coming apart at any time.

Bottom carriage parts.
AFV ClubDML
Bottom carriage assembly.
1. The large elongated indents in the main axle should be tapered outward as depicted on the AFV Club axle while the DML indent is not tapered.
2. The AFV Club axle has the four small brackets that are missing from the DML axle.
The DML traverse support arm is the wrong shape and has a pin mark where two lightening holes should be as depicted correctly on the AFV Club arm.

AFV ClubDML
Main wheel parts
AFV ClubDML
Main wheel assembled.
The AFV Club 'Firestone' tyres depict the most common "Combat tyre" as seen on WWII howitzers and includes the sidewall embossing.
The DML wheels have the later non-directional tread combat wheels as seen on very late war and post war
howitzers.
AFV ClubDML

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Page created May 4, 2011



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