15mm 203mm gun and tractor

 Another Syborg 3D print I picked up at Partisan was a Russian B4 203mm howitzer and an enormous tractor (they were supplied as a pair). Rather cheaper than many of the offerings in metal of weapons of this type, with the huge bonus of not needing any assembly. Hurrah! Putting guns together is not one of my favourite jobs.

Gun and tractor, they look rather grand together.

The gun is a very hefty piece (John has a metal one which weighs a ton), but as a 3D print it is very light. I have to be completely honest, the printing on the gun barrel and trail is pretty ropey. The round sections are covered in print lines and the angled trail has ended up with a wierd stepped effect. I did think about trying to fill all the holes, but in the end I just couldn't be bothered.

It is a huge cannon as cheap as chips, so some compromises need to be made. I just slapped a lot of paint on the offending bits and tried to avoid drybrushing them.

Rear view. The holes are for the top and bottom recuperator slides. The wierd stepped effect can be seen here, but it isn't too obvious. The crew are various figures from the bits box, mainly PSC. The seated gunner is a BF horse cart driver (very useful those figures have been), while the guy in a greatcoat is converted from an SU76 crewman. The ammo box is from the 76mm gun set.

The saving grace is all the external detail which drybrushes up beautifully and draws the eye away from the hideous print lines. I'm pretty pleased with that and it will be a worthy addition to my Breakthrough Artillery Division.

The tractor is a thing of beauty, an incongruous wood and canvas box slapped on a huge tracked chassis. It really looks the part and will go well with my BF Stalinets tractors (although it is much bigger).

It has nice deep moulding of the panel lines and windows. I've no idea if the Russians ran to perspex/glass in all their apertures but I thought it deserved it. The suspension is also beautifully moulded. One of the real strengths of 3D printing.

As with the Fordson, the horror show is on the roof and bonnet. You can see the horrible print lines on top of the canvas roof. I've just decided they add a quaint charm.

Both pieces were just finished in basic Russian Green with a tactical drybrush to highlight the good bits of the print, and hopefully avoid the bad bits. Again, despite the odd rough bits of printing, I'm pretty pleased with those.