I have always liked the stubby look of the M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC). Well ever since a friend sent me the 1980's era Tamiya 1/35 scale kit of the vehicle. I must confess prior to that, I suppose mostly to my extremely limited vehicle knowledge, I had never heard of this self-propelled artillery piece. Even more so since my WWII focus is normally that of Germany.
Looking for an easy Christmas holiday build, I decided to pull this kit out and give it a go. And so, I started the build with what I call the 'project initiation phase'. This is a pre-build period during which I look for reviews, blogs and build articles of the kit, and even just photos of the completed model. I do not restrict myself to only the aforementioned articles about the kit, but also look for similar articles about other kits of the vehicle, and maybe even different variants of the vehicle. During this phase I also conduct some minor research on the real vehicle. At the end of this phase I decide, based on the amount of effort required to put the kit together to a level which I find acceptable (I do not consider myself a 'rivet counter', unless we are talking figures, so I am generally not bothered if a hull is 1mm out or the kit not 100% accurate, but I do like the kit to look good and be reasonably accurate), and if I still want to go ahead and build the kit. I quite obviously decided to go ahead with this project.
During my preliminary research phase I came across a great article about building the kit on PMMS by Terry Ashley. This article would later become one of my main references in building the kit. In reading Terry's article I noted that Eduard had released a photo-etch (PE) set for this kit and also that the tracks were particularly dreadful, but that AFV Club had released an excellent track set which would work for the kit.
Now something I also like to do with each model is to set some personal goals. These goals might be something small like trying a new painting technique or something large, such as in this case. It has been a few years since I tried using PE, so I was really keen to try it again. Unfortunately Eduard has discontinued the PE set Terry used during his build. They have, however, released two new kits to replace it. An exterior and an interior kit. What the heck I though, in for a penny, in for a pound. And so promptly ordered both kits from LuckyModel. Something else I wanted to try was individual link tracks, and so was pleased to find the AFV Club track set at one of my local hobby stores.
Unfortunately the PE sets did not arrive until the first week of January, a few days prior to my vacation ending and thus the delay in the build actually beginning. So much for a Christmas holiday build! LOL! That said, my thanks to the staff at LuckyModel for kindly splitting my order and sending the PE sets ahead of the other items on the order.
Above are the kits to be used in this build: Tamiya 35110 1/35 M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage; AFV Club T16 Track; Eduard 35509 M8 HMC Exterior Kit; Eduard 35530 M8 HMC Interior Kit.
My approach to this build
Perhaps a quick word on my approach to this build is in order. While I have been modelling for years, I have not built an AFV in about 3 years. I do by no means consider myself an accomplished modeller, especially not an accomplished AFV modeller. And so this step-by-step (SBS) article will be written very much from a beginner point of view for beginners. I will mostly be following the kit instructions, deviating from them occasionally where my (sometimes misguided) logic tells me otherwise. The chapters of this build will follow those of the kit instruction sheet, so some instalments may be larger than others.
I should also add that I assemble models in sub-assemblies prior to painting. I find this method works best for me.
I unashamedly confess that I do not now what many of the technical terms are for parts of the vehicle, and apologise in advance if I do not call something by the correct term.
The techniques I use here are techniques I have read both online on various modelling websites and in various modelling magazines, as well as techniques shared by good friends. I use these not necessarily because they are the best or right way to do something, but rather because they are the ways that I find easiest given my level of experience and yield results which I find acceptable.
The next chapter of this SBS will detail some of the tools I will be using.
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