"Holy Grail" model kits

[Rheged]

Ah I built that Skysweeper as well back in the day. 

The Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich had a British self propelled AA gun prototype that looked somewhat similar except it was 120mm and fully automated. The driver/operator controlled it all from his cab. I remember saying to my mate. "he probably parked up, fired off both magazines and just had time for a quick cuppa before the bomb went off " Never went into production. The powers that be probably realised the sheer futility of it all in the days of the H bomb 

I think that this would have been "Green Mace" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mace

[PR19_Kit]

After digging about a bit on the Net it seems I got the name of that Renwall SPG kit wrong. It was 'Big Shot', not 'Big Six' and the gun was 8" calibre anyway. 

The box art doesn't mention its real name or number but it seems it's an M55 Self Propelled Howitzer. It certainly is a weird looking thing. 

[NARSES2]

Ah I built that Skysweeper as well back in the day. 

The Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich had a British self propelled AA gun prototype that looked somewhat similar except it was 120mm and fully automated. The driver/operator controlled it all from his cab. I remember saying to my mate. "he probably parked up, fired off both magazines and just had time for a quick cuppa before the bomb went off " Never went into production. The powers that be probably realised the sheer futility of it all in the days of the H bomb 

I think that this would have been "Green Mace" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mace

Yup that was it. Ta 

[Nick]

Green Mace as seen at Woolwich.

The bang-bang end!


Drivers Cabin


Ammo load - about 20 seconds worth!


25 pounder cannon with atom bomb shield.....

[PR19_Kit]

Is that 35 pdr upside down?

The trail seems to be going to the top of the gun, but the training platform is on the ground, weird. 

[Nick]

Is that 35 pdr upside down?

The trail seems to be going to the top of the gun, but the training platform is on the ground, weird. 

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14838.0

Here's the placard:

[PR19_Kit]

Ahah, thanks. 

That sure is a weird looking thing. 

[NARSES2]

That sure is a weird looking thing. 

It's the basic idea of a 25pdr with a shield to protect the crew from fallout and presumably blast that gets to me. I was incredulous when I first saw it a Woolwich and still am in all honesty. In some ways the 50's was similar to 1914/15 with the military powers that be trying to get their minds around completely new concepts of warfare when their minds were stuck in the previous generation. 

[Old Wombat]

I think the mind-set was somewhat different in the early "atomic" era. I'm fairly sure the idea was to keep the troops alive just long enough to counter the follow-up enemy (Soviet) assault before they succumbed to the effects of radiation but that they were expected to die in the process. At the time there was no other known solution. I don't think there is now, either, but technology & medicine have improved to the point that the incapacity & dying stages are greatly delayed.

No nuclear battlefield is ever going to be a survivable environment. Not for long, anyway.

[rickshaw]

I don't think the ideas were limited to the 1950s.  In the 1980s, when the Neutron bomb was proposed, it lasted until someone pointed out that the attacking Soviet armoured hordes who it was to kill would take about a week to die and in the meantime would be rather upset with the idea of dying from radiation poisoning from the Neutron warhead that had been let off over their heads....

As it would take them about a week to reach the Channel ports, it was obviously not going to be a good exchange.   

[NARSES2]

I remember the Neutron bomb discussion very well and my thoughts were very much along the lines that the Soviet troops would simply have gone "what have we got to lose".

I think the mind-set was somewhat different in the early "atomic" era. I'm fairly sure the idea was to keep the troops alive just long enough to counter the follow-up enemy (Soviet) assault before they succumbed to the effects of radiation but that they were expected to die in the process.

Two of my younger uncles did their National Service at this time and I worked with loads of guys who done it at the same time. None of them ever spoke about what might have happened "if". It was always tales about the fun and larks they'd had. I suppose the unthinkable was truly unthinkable.

[KiwiZac]

I think that this would have been "Green Mace" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mace

I've just had a look at the Wikipedia page and see it says "the project was cancelled in 1957." I'm equal parts unsurprised and annoyed.

[KiwiZac]

I have two, the absolute must-have is the Nichimo 1/20 Hughes 500. It has the option of being motorised or the complete engine, interior etc. It pops up on eBay every so often, sometimes for less than US$100, but I always seem to miss out.

I didn't miss out this time :-) This was waiting for me when I got home - early Christmas present from She Who Is Immensely Loved.

It is completely mint - all bags still stapled shut, decals totally fresh and un-yellowed, even the original (mostly perished) rubber bands were holding the fuselage halves. All for less than she paid for the Tamiya 1/32 Mossie last year.

Too bad. It's being built!!!

[Old Wombat]

Good!

That's what models are for, not collecting dust in some musty collector's dungeon!

[KiwiZac]

  Seriously, it's stupid how mint and complete it is:


How are those decals 40+ years old?!