Someone recently suggested that the barrel of the Airfix 25pr gun is too short. He said that it had been represented as it would be if it were in partial recoil. This means that the muzzle would be too near the front end of the recoil mechanism housing below the barrel.

My references are not detailed enough for me to check this. Does anyone know if this is a fault in the kit or not? I can't claim that I've ever noticed it. Are there any other known faults in the gun in this kit?

The instructions say that the gun and limber trailer should be painted in brown. Is this correct or should they be in one of the greens? Would guns produced whilst SCC No 2 was in use have been brown but earlier and later guns green?

Gordon McLaughlin

Here's one in the factory showing how far the barrel sticks out in front of the cradle

http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/media/images/Photographs/Image/D_011393.jpgX

Remove the X to view

Airfix's barrel may be a little short, but not much IMHO.

As for colours, SCC2 brown is possible as is SCC15 Olive Drab, with old equipment not getting a repaint just for the sake of uniformity.

David

I'm not an expert, but you might like to look at the photos of Milicast's 25pdr on their site for a comparison.

According to the WW2 Fact File on Light and Medium Field Artillery the length of the 25pdr "piece" (Tip of barrel to rear of breech) is 2400mm which in 1/76 will be 31.578947mm. Measuring my Airfix 25 pdr I get 32mm so I'm happy with it. Alan

Put another way: is the barrel a little thin?

Thanks to everyone who replied. I'm glad to hear that the barrel is OK. I've always liked the Airfix 25pr. It's a pity the Quad isn't as accurate.

Gordon McLaughlin

as they are very old. Going by the illustration in the kit this vehicle is intended to represent a scheme in use during 1940-42 period. If if so then the basic colour would have been Khaki Green 3 which is a brownish yellow green. The disrupter was Dark Green stripes or alternatively Dark Tarmac. The gun and limber would be the basic colour only. By mid-1942 the SCC 2(brown) was in use as basic colour but by then Dark Green was not being used so use SCC1A (very dark brown) stripes instead or do it as MPT 46/4A scheme in those colours. In any case leave the limber and gun as basic colour.

Mike,

Thanks for your help. What colour is (Nobel's?) Dark Tarmac? I've often wondered. It seems to have been introduced as a camouflage colour for the concealment of aerodromes and I'm intrigued to find that it migrated onto army, as distinct from RAF, vehicles. Does it appear in BS987 of 1942? If so, which colour chip is it?

Gordon McLaughlin

This colour was introduced for army and RAF vehicles in 1941, ACI 1559 is dated August 1941, so it had to have been used at least 2 months before then due to the usual administrative delay. If a colour photograph is any guide, IWM COL 77 then the colour is a dark blue-grey. This is broadly matched by Revell 78. The colour was never in BS 987C. In fact none of the colours introduced immediately pre-war were ever standardised as BSC's. This is one of the colours that I am trying to find a surviving sample of.