ONLY kit made in this scale, and probably
only one to ever be offered; beautifully rendered version of very large
Soviet-era SP gun; comes complete with all details and accouterments; CD
is a great help in building and painting the model
Disadvantages:
Very high price and mixed media format will
probably ensure low circulation of the kit
Recommendation:
Highly Recommended for all Soviet-era
artillery fans
FirstLook
The Russians have always loved their "Bog Voyny" – "God of War" – as
they term their artillery arm, which they trace back more than 600
years as the oldest established arm in both the Russian and Soviet
armies. They love guns, and the more and larger they are, the better
things can be for them.
Their favorite heavy gun during the Soviet era was the B-4 series
203mm howitzer, which was used for general army level artillery
support down to street fighting. There are film clips of one being
used for house clearing in Berlin during 1945 (easy – one 203mm
round, no more house.) But during the Soviet era, as artillery
ranges increased and the projectiles themselves became more lethal,
a new weapon was needed both for army/front level artillery support
as well as delivery of nuclear rounds. Initially the Soviets could
not get their artillery projectiles below 203mm caliber, and the
short range of the B-4 meant that it would put its own crew in
jeopardy. As a result, on 8 July 1970 the Central Committee of the
CPSU accepted a resolution to proceed with the development a new
203mm self-propelled heavy artillery weapon. Chief designer was N.
S. Popov, who was the head of KB-3, the descendent of the Kotin
design bureau in Leningrad, and who was also developing the T-80
series tanks at the same time.
The new weapon, dubbed Article 216 while under preliminary
development since 16 December 1967, was developed in two different
directions: Article 216sp1 used components of the T-10 heavy tank
and a V-2-type diesel engine; Article 216sp2 used the driveline of
the T-72 tank but with the running gear of the T-80 series tanks.
Both were combined with the massive 2A44 203mm gun, designed by the
famous "Barrikady" factory in Volgograd (Stalingrad.) The later
variant, Article 216sp2, won out and was fully developed, entering
service with the Soviet Army in 1977. One brigade of 72 of these
guns became part of the 34th Artillery Division in GSFG during that
period of time. Later, this chassis was used to develop the
launchers, radar and command and control vehicles of the S-300V
(SA-12) surface-to-air missile system as well as improve a number of
heavy engineering vehicles.
The 2S7 Pion (Peony – most SP guns are named after trees or flowers)
is a huge weapon. While it is only partially armored and weighs 46
metric tons, it is 12.8 meters long (the hull is 10.5 meters alone),
3.5 meters wide and 3.5 meters high. That translates into 366mm x
100 mm x 100 mm in 1/35 scale, so it can be seen this is a big
beastie even in scale. It is powered by a V-46-1 engine of 780-840
HP (some were upgraded later in their service life) and it uses the
running gear from the T-80 series tanks. The gun has seven road
wheels per side and an idler that can be lowered to the ground for
stability when firing.
The 2A44 itself is huge – barrel length is 11240 mm (321 mm in
scale). The gun has a range of 37,500 meters with conventional
projectiles and 47,000 meters with "active-reactive" or rocket
assisted projectiles. An HE-FRAG round weights 110 kilograms so
these rounds are about 23% larger than those fired by the American
M110A2. Even recoil is big – 1400 mm or about 4 ½ feet. But for its
size, it only carries four ready rounds; the rest must be brought up
by truck. Rate of fire is 1-2 rounds per minute. Crew of the gun is
7 men.
A slightly improved version dubbed 2S7M "Malka" (bevel) was
developed to improve its rate of fire. Externally the only
difference between them is a slightly lower engine deck (basically
eliminating what the kit dubs parts R135, R131 and R110) behind the
armored cab. "Malka" uses one less crewman.
About 200 of these guns were built, and most remained in Soviet
service. Some were sold to Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria, but their
current operational status is unknown.
Panzershop has used one of the Czech service guns as a reference in
rendering this monster into resin as a very nicely done kit. The
model only builds as a 2S7, but considering the iffy nature of the
2S7M that is not a big deal. Format is typical of many of the
Panzershop kits, with a simple parts list and guide and black and
white "stick here" paper instructions. The real instructions are
provided on a very handy CD which gives some background, step by
step kit assembly photos in color, and a very handy walkaround of
their subject gun. This also has decals provided for it in the kit,
so the Czech gun may be faithfully reproduced.
The hull consist of a pan (the "boat part" as my wife refers to
them) and a deck cast in grey resin. The suspension is assembled
first, and as noted the modeler needs to be aware that the
directions show the idler wheels dropped for support and not raised
for travel in the photos. You may wish to assemble the kit track to
the wheels prior to attaching the deck as it forms the main fender
line.
The gun and its attendant kit take up a good portion of the kit's
parts. The gun has a massive recoil assembly, plus a resupply crane
and basket, a spade, and sundry guards and brackets; most of these
are resin, so will require very careful cleanup. The forward 2/3ds
of the barre comes as a turned aluminum item; purists may grouse as
it does not have rifling in it but then again it is a very awkward
shape and modelers should be happy it did not come in resin.
Compared to the earlier P-40 LONG TRACK radar, etched brass is held
to a minimum with this kit.
The armored cab attaches at the front of the hull after the gun has
been assembled, but unlike the P-40 interior details are kept to a
minimum. Considering that the cab is an armored assembly, you can't
see much even with the hatches and ports open anyway, so this isn't
such a bad idea.
Color and painting information is left up to the modeler, but the
photos on the CD should give more than enough information to the
modeler to do it up right.
Overall, this is a spectacular kit, and while probably $100-120 more
that similar resin kits that makes it seem very expensive it is also
very big and comes with its own set of references. That's hard to
beat.
Highly Recommended.
Thanks to
Bill Miley of CMD for the review sample.