(P52-58) M-7 Priest

7/24/2019 (P52-58) M-7 Priest

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et us pray LM-7 Priest11th Regiment Royal HorseArtillery, El Alamein, 1942

A t a le o f d is c o n t in u e d

m o d e ls , h a r d t o f in d

a c c e s s o r ie s …a n d lu c k .B y Vin c e Pe d u l la

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7/24/2019 (P52-58) M-7 Priest


This m ode l has its gen esis in the Jan./Feb.

1986 issue of Fine Scale Modeller, when

author D.P. Dyer d escribed how to

convert the then-available Italeri Priest

(N.206) into a n early version, as use d

by the British forces in North Africa during

1942. The art ic le included tw o three-view

drawings co m paring early and late Priests

and several photos of Bri tish M-7 s in

desert service. What imm ediately caught

m y eye was the interest ing hard-ed ged

cam o schem e and wel l lived-in look about

this vehicle. Although I norm ally build

German a rm or, I kept m y eyes open, to no

avai l, for this discontinued m odel at swa p

meets and sales.

When the ki t becam e avai lable last year

via the net from a dealer in England, I

imm ediately snapped i t up. My excitem ent,

quite frankly, lasted for abo ut five minutes

after opening the box. True to form for

early Italer i offer ings, the m odel w as a bit

soft and lacking in detail. I started looking

for any afterm arket parts that might help.

Kendall Model Company once made an M -

101 Howitzer update a nd conversion, as

well as a m aintenance and tool set for

this gun. These had also becom e

unavailable until I found a dealer who had

a few (thanks, Jim’s Ho bb ies!) I also picked

up the Eduard PE set (35140), as well as

some other items.

The Italeri kit represents the late version of

the Priest, with its solid tranny cover and

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heavy VVSS suspension. The conversion

starts by replacing the running gear and

transmission from the Tam iya M -3 Lee

(35039) or Grant (35041) m ode l

(fortunately re-released), which represent

the early VVS over-the-b ogie return

rol lers and bolted transmission cover.

These ki ts also provide headl ights, gas

caps and other parts. I used the Lee ki t .

The suspension was d etai led w ith a cast

texture using a m ix of Squadron green

putty and l iquid cem ent, st ippled w ith a

short brush. The same w as appl ied to

the transm ission cover, after i t was

tr im m ed to f it the I taler i mod el. I

also added PE numb ers to represent

cast ing num bers, and replaced the Lee’s

tow loops and mount with those from the

Academ y M- 12 (1394).The idlers were

also replaced with the M -12 parts. The

drive sprocket s are the Tam iya offerings.

I suppose one could use resin i tems for

the running gear and tranny, but these

looked f ine to m e after a l i t t le work.

Both the Tam iya and Italer i tracks were

basically jokes, so I picked up the new

M4 T-51 track set from AFV Club

(35026). Nicely detailed but a real pain to

assem ble! The end c onnectors are sl id

onto pins on the track shoes, l ike the real

things, and they can rem ain workable.

But the fit is loose and I did the “floor-

crawl ” numerous t imes to f ind dropped

end co nnectors. But the look you end up

with is worthw hile.

The British Priest feature d field- m ade

sand shields, which I m ade from .15

sheet plast ic, detai led w ith bolt-heads

from the p unch and die set. Also, the

Bri ts added sup ports on the hul l sides,

appa rently to add a c anopy, which when

deployed wo uld ma ke the vehicle look

l ike a t ruck. It apparently was used

mos t ly to hang gear f rom. I cu t down

Plastruct “L” and “U” shap ed stock for

the supports.

The superstructure sides we re sanded

smooth to remove the molded-on

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canopy supp orts, and the late-version

arm or hul l plates were tr imm ed aw ay. The

Italeri kit features the late MG pulpit, and

had to be c ut down, and the result ing

m issing section of superstruc ture filled. The

engine deck was also sanded sm ooth, with

the bolts replaced with punched

bol t heads, and the m olded-

on engine screen was

rem oved. I added a sheet p last ic intake

inside the screen, as the Eduard p art is

nicely etched and al lows one to see inside.

The Lee ki t provided new gas f i l ler covers,

deta i led wi th PE chain and rod. A light

st ippl ing of the putty/cem ent m ix added

texture. New l ines were scribed into the

rear stowage boxes to create the side-

opening versions, adding hinges and

latches from Grandt Line, and PE locks

from Royal. Tools were rep laced w ith those

f rom the Academy M -12, secured wi th

lead foil straps. The tow cable is a Greif

product with the ends from the M-12 ki t .

The hull front was also sanded sm ooth

and textured, after fi l l ing the locating

holes for the headl ights, which are

m uch lower on the late version. I

used the Lee headl ights and horn

parts, hollowed out to acc ept

MK lenses. I know, in the

desert the glass would

invariably be c overed,

and w as in every picture I

saw of British Priests, but

I l iked t he look..

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I ended up using relatively few parts

from the Eduard set, m ostly due to i t being

m ade for the late version. It did provide a

nice engine deck screen, an equipm ent

cover for the interior, instrumen t pane l and

gauges, and a few sm all f it t ings here and

there. This set w ill be really useful for the

late version, which is now available again!

(Like every other m ode l I’ve ever really

searche d for and finally acquired, it’s either

re-released or a better one is offered.)

The Italer i gun is kind of soft and w ould be

hard to fi ll, I felt. With no m etal

replacem ent avai lable, I turned to the KM C

set, which o ffers a resin recuperator, two

barrels, a breech a nd breec h block, and

som e PE parts. The parts are kind of a

chal lenge, as you have to remove the

plast ic recuperator w hi le leaving their

supports,

but i t worked

out n icely. The rest o f the g un is all Italeri,

detai led with som e bolts per references. I

could have add ed a lot of detai l to the

drivers com partm ent, (and kind of wish I

had) but i t would have been hard to see.

Also in the inter ior, I tr imm ed the am m o

boxes to show the early, short

configurat ion, mad e two new seats and

detai led i t out. The MG was rep laced with

the Verlinden .50 cal, while the m ount is

from Tamiya’s 2.5 ton truck acc essory set.

The f ire ext inguishers from the M -12

replaced the Italeri versions.

I don’t ever paint hard-edged camo

schem es, but the M-7 c al led for it . I

learned som ething very imp ortant…when

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the bott le of l iquid m ask says “not for use on water-b ased pa int”

THEY ARE SERIOUS! More on th is la ter…

I started w ith some thing new, the Tam iya lacque r spray cans. I

used white as a primer, and it went on sm ooth and dried hard as

stone! I followed w ith a base coat of Tam iya d esert yel low, then

oversprayed sof t patches of red-brown and panzer grey. Af ter

they dried for several days, I brushed on l iquid m ask over the

brown a nd grey, intending to sp ray the yel low to create the hard

edges. HOW EVER…when I tr ied to peel of the m ask, it would

not bud ge. Crap, that ’s whe n I actual ly read the b ott le. I

broke out the alcohol and a toothbrush and started

scrubbing the p aint off. That’s when the m ask cam e off .

However, that Tamiya lacquer stayed put.

I had to turn to ena m els, which I norm ally only use for

drybrushing. The Hum brols I felt w ere go ing to b e d iff icult

to use in an airbrush, so I picked up som e of the new Testors

enam els, and although loath to run them through m y Aztec, they

worked very we l l and cleaned up easi ly. This t ime I sprayed the

base coat, then m asked the yellow and sprayed the brown and

grey. The m ask peeled off easily this t im e.

After drying for several days, I l ightly washed the whole thing with

Raw Um ber oi ls, and d rybrushed with Hum brols and oi ls, picking

out detai ls as needed, such as the tools and f i t t ings, gun breec h,

etc. I am trying to a void too m uch w ash lately, as several of my

recent m odels have ended up too dark and d ingy. Instead I pick

out de tai ls and keep the washes very local. I also use a rt ist ’s

colored penc i ls to add scratches, m etal wear, and other sm all

m arks, which would be hard to paint.

I wanted a be at-up look, and w ith the recent interest in chipped

and b attered p aint jobs, I decide to try m y version of i t , which was

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to actual ly chip the paint with an X-acto

knife, and repaint or penc i l the chips dark

brown and B urnt Sienna. This often

revealed the lacquer base c oat, and has

led to an idea for w eathering a future

m odel…More on this another t ime. I tr ied

to str ike a balance be tween a funct ional

wel l-used m achine and a wreck, and w as

part ially successful, probab ly going a bit

too far. Live and learn.

Mark ings for the M-7 cam e f rom two o ld

Verlinden dry tran sfer sets, British Division

Markings (349) and Bri t ish Arm or M arkings

(348), also no w u navailable. Luc kily, I found

these at tw o dif ferent shows. I m arked i t asa Priest from the 11th Regim ent Royal

Horse Artil lery, El Alam ein. Could ha ve

used m arkings from Archer instead, as

they have several British sets.

One of the a ttract ive (to m e) features of

the Bri t ish M -7 is the plethora of gear that

the c rews ca r ried . I used accessories

from Verl inden, Custom Dioramics, Plus,

Greif , and some I don’t even know where

they cam e from. I actual ly painted and

finished muc h m ore gear than I ended up

using, because al l that gear covered too

m uch of m y hard-fought paint job. I try

hard to m ake sure that al l gear looks l ike i t

has been secured, not glued on, and

m akes sense where i t is placed. I used

lead foi l straps and very thin cab le, which I

cul led from Griei f tow cab les. These are

am azing, actual ly thin copper strands

woven like real cable. If you twist themapart, then becom e smaller woven cable,

looking just l ike thin rop e. Two Verlinde n

105mm Amm o sets were painted up and

placed. The lovely cleaning rods and

dis tance m arkers came f rom the KM C M-

101 acc essory set, as did the rope and a

few other bits. There’s a lot left over.

Finally, Tam iya’s British Infantry on Patrol

(35223) set was used for helme ts, packs,

rifles, tiny m etal cup s, and gea r.

A d usting of pastels for that wel l- traveled

desert look was added , and I now have a

very dif ferent m odel for my German arm or

to glare at on the shelf.

This m odel wa s several years in the

searching and planning, and the f irst Al lied

arm or ki t I’ve done in a d ecade . I was very

lucky that all of the elem ents and i tem s Ineeded to com plete it seemed to

eventu ally fall into m y hand s. I love it when

a p lan com es together!

(P52-58) M-7 Priest

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