Models Of 155 Mm Sph M44?

[DogDodger]

A gentleman from England emailed me and asked if I knew where he could find a model kit of the 155 mm self-propelled howitzer M44. His father was a crewman on one back in the day, and the son thought it'd make a cool 80th birthday present for his dad. I'm no modeler, however, and a quick search turned up this artillery modeling site which indicates no M44 kit is available. Has anyone here ever seen one? Thanks!

[DougRichards]

If anyone had made a plastic kit of this vehicle it would have been Renwal back in the late 1950s / early 1960s. I can find no trace of a Renwal kit. Later Monogram / Revell picked up many Renwal molds, and a lot of the 1.32 scale AFV output from those companies has been using those molds. No trace there either.

 

Scratch building may be a possibility using parts from various M41 'Walker Bulldog' kits and a lot of patience, Maybe using the hull / chassis of the HobbyFan M52 in 1/35 if you were able to find one, that is.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/214625-hobby-fan-hf002-m52a1-us-105mm-self-propelled-gun

 

but see this for a scratchbuild

 

http://www.panzer-modell.de/specials/leserbilder/m44/lg.htm

[TonyE]

There is a resin kit in 1/76 scale by Giesbers Models (from Holland)....and thats about it, a rather small scale so it is only around 8cm long.

[Chris Werb]

Firepower (which sadly closed in 2016) had a real, ex British Army one he could go and look at. Presumably it will end up as an exhibit at the new museum in Larkhill if that ever happens. I'm guessing the rest of ours went to Turkey around 50 years ago, along with Germany's.

[DogDodger]

Thanks, all!