M1918 Howitzer

 

Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider was used in the First and Second World War by the US and French armies as well as about 20 other nations.

The curved front shield was indicative of guns made by the French.

The spoked wheels were introduced in World War One but often were replaced by the late 1930s.

The US purchased over a thousand of these and manufactured hundreds more.

They were used in combat in WWI and WWII by US forces.  This is an HO scale 3D printed model that is sold by Fidelis Models.

Flail in Primer Paint

Once giving a primer coat these flail tanks look much better, I think.

Certainly they don't look so patchwork and more military.

I am out of olive drab paint right now, so these will have to wait for final painting.

Still, I think these look pretty good.

In detail these are not particularly accurate, but do give the general look of the flail.

And they are durable for wargame use.

I am happy with them.

They look good as a group.

The final line up!
 

Using the Flail

Sherman tank mine flail.

Top view.

Bottom view.

Clearing mines on the beach.

Moving along parallel to the water to make a wider beach landing area.

Having several mine clearing vehicles together can make a wider and safer.

Two side by side and one in the middle to clear the gap.

Here they are getting primer painted.

 I usually paint the bottom of models first and then when they are dry I can flip them over and paint the other side.  Since these are made out of several different materials and different colors primer painting of these is essential.  It will help the actual paint to stick and it will create a uniform base color for the top coat paint.

Flail Tank Information

This is one of the flail tanks that I got in a used collection.

The real tanks had chains with little extra chain parts on them to add weight to beat the ground.

This particular version of the flail is just a bit of wire with a small blob of glue at intervals along the wire.

That makes the wire look like the "chain" has the extra weights on it.

This one is depicting the flail in action.

I did not bend the wire so that it touched the ground.

I figured it would be likely to get caught on the playing surface and either damage the model or the surface.

I have three flail tanks in my collection so a tank battalion could provide one flail to each company in an attack.

These don't move very quickly in real life so it would be important to have artillery to fire smoke and high explosive to protect the flail tank.

My plan is to make three Aunt Jemima mine rollers also, to give me a total of six mine clearing vehicles.

I scratch built two Aunt Jemima anti-mine rollers and purchased one from Paul Heiser Models.  So when I am done I will have a total of six Sherman mine clearing vehicles.