History

Originally produced in 1941 as the M1A1, the gun was continuously updated and, during the 1960s, was rebuilt with its designation changed to M114, M114A1, and M114A2. These weapons served in Vietnam. The kit represents the M114A1 designation that served in the Vietnam War.

Kit

Inside the box are 10 spruces molded in olive drab plastic. All are sealed in plastic. The kit also includes 1 PE fret, 1 decal sheet, and an instruction booklet with color photos/drawings of the gun. There are 28 steps in the instructions, with a section on how to build the rounds and powder canisters/bags that are included with the kit. The parts are all nicely molded with very little-to-no clean up. The box art shows five figures stationed around the gun in the firing position, but they are not included with the kit.

Build

You can build the gun in either the firing position or the towed position. So, you will need to figure out what position you intend to do before you start. Also, if you choose the firing position, you can choose to model the breech in the open or closed position. The build starts with the breech and gun barrel, then progresses through to the gun carriage. The build was very smooth and the fit was excellent. There are a couple of errors in the instructions. In step 1, the breech housing part is listed as part C25 and should be part C15. In step 3, there is a part EA7 listed to go on the model, but I could not locate this part on any of the spruces. So, I left it off. It is minor, but can be corrected with some simple scratchbuilding. In step 9, part C28 is not listed, but does get applied in this step and attached to part B30. In step 13, I had trouble figuring out which way to attach P.E. parts P10 & P5, as the printed instructions did not provide a clear view as to how to apply these parts. In step 26, part C8 should be part C9.

Other than these minor instruction errors, I could not find any other faults with this kit. The kit goes together beautifully. I highly recommend this kit to any modeler and especially to armor modelers looking to add an artillery piece to their collection.

I would like to thank Dragon Models USA and Bronco Models for this kit. I would also like to thank IPMS/USA for allowing me the chance to review it.