ARTICLE Roden 1:35 Scale Holt 75 Artillery Tractor w/BL 8-inch Howitzer • Kit No. 814
NEXT TIME:
The second part of this project involves building the Resicast 8inch Mk.II Howitzer, along with a couple of Master Box bicycles. Three Model Cellar Royal Artillery resin figures and two infantry troops are also assembled and painted, and will be featured in a second part of Gary’s series in next month’s issue of Model Military International magazine.
Inspiration to build a model can come from many sources, and when a fellow modeller had built Roden’s 1:35 scale Holt tractor, I was instantly enamoured with the look of this antiquelooking machine after viewing his pictures. Although he warned me that this kit was a daunting build, I immediately ordered one from my local hobby shop.
The kit came with an 8 inch Howitzer Mk.VI, but I pictured my project depicted in the Somme area in 1916, meaning I’d need to build an earlier variant of the gun. Although it was a fair investment to obtain it, I ordered the Resicast resin kit of the Mk.II 8 inch Howitzer which looked exactly as I’d seen in photos of the Somme battles of 1916, with the two recoil cylinders mounted above the gun barrel.
The Holt tractor was a workhorse of the Royal Artillery throughout the Great War, and saw service from early in the conflict to the armistice in 1918. The tractor was employed in hauling the larger artillery pieces around, typically several miles behind the front lines. My diorama was to depict a scenario of this taking place, with a few figures to give it some life and size perspective.
After starting a blog on a modelling forum, I was approached by the owner of the miniature company Model Cellar who saw I was building the tractor. He had resin miniatures of a driver and two artillery troops designed to go with the kit, but not as yet commercially available. Asking if I could use them for my project, I eagerly accepted his generous offer.
The first part of this short series will deal with the construction and painting of Roden’s Holt 75 Artillery Tractor.
TRACTOR CONSTRUCTION
Almost all of the parts in the Roden kit needed a fair amount of clean-up. There was evidence of slight mould-shift on a lot of them, and quite a bit of flash, especially on the track links. Starting with the return roller assembly and frame, the parts fit well and lined up straight. I’d seen that the front wheel hadn’t gone together easily on other modeller’s builds, and so took extra care to ensure a good fit when putting mine together. Also, the housing around this wheel has an upper and lower half, and the seem between them is a chasm. I used a fair bit of Aves Fixit epoxy putty to fill the gap, and quite an effort to sand it smooth.
I suffered from a bit of dyslexia when trying to orient the sections of the final drive housing drum, and ended up having to pull it apart and redo it after the glue dried. Happily there wasn’t any serious damage, but it really made me wonder if I should pick a different hobby.
After test-fitting the rear section to the frame, it was glued in place, and the sprockets and idlers were added completing that subassembly for painting and weathering. It was obvious to me that the lower portion of the model had to be painted and weathered before the fenders were added afterward.