1/35 Bronco Bishop SPG - forum choice

[Dave Ward]

After a brief poll, this was chosen by a large margin:

This was a rapidly developed self propelled gun in service 1942-3. Based on the reliable Valentine chassis, the large box shaped superstructure made a high silhouette. The structure was only splinter proof, but the weight of the gun/mounting/box overloaded the chassis, and the top speed was only 15mph.
Even though the structure was tall, it limited the elevation of the 25pdr, and consequently limited the range.

Just under 150 were made, and saw service in North Africa & Sicily - they were phased out when the 105mm Priest became available
Sprue & detail shots tomorrow........................
Dave

 

[Graeme C.]

I'll follow along Dave, got one of these in my (far too large) stash. Looking forward to seeing how you get along with it.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Glad to see this one took it!
I`ll be following along too Dave .

 

[stillp]

Watching...
Pete

 

[outrunner]

I will kep my eye on this.

Andy.

 

[Mini Me]

I'll be peeking in from time to time as well. Have fun Dave.
Rick H.

 

[Dave Ward]

Quite a large box, and a fair few sprues. Some of them come from the towed 25pdr model, and only a few parts used off them.






The mouldings are crisp - not a sign of flash.
The instructions are a in a glossy booklet - like all Bronco models, they are very 'busy', and need careful study.
There are four finish versions, 2 North Africa, 2 Sicily.

Next u some detail shots........................

 

[stillp]

That should keep you busy for a while Dave.
Pete

 

[Dave Ward]

A few detail shots, just some that caught my eye



There are a series of nuts moulded onto the sprues, to be shaved off and applied individually...............

There are some optional parts that I won't be using - you can leave the hull rear doors open to show the radiators & final drive - even though the parts are nicely moulded, I'm not adding them...........

The instructions would have you start with the gun, but I'm going to start with the chassis, running gear & tracks, getting the long winded bits out of the way first.
Dave

 

[scottie3158]

I will follow along. The one thing about the Valentine I never really understood is why they took the exhaust forward and not to the rear to clear the fumes away from the crew.

 

[Dave Ward]

Been through the instructions, and the colour call outs are pretty meagre - I've been through them several times, and I can't find any colour for the interior of the fighting compartment. If I want to leave the rear gun box doors open, it's pretty essential. I've had a search on the internet, the only reference I could find was to an old Dragon model of the Bishop - the interior was painted white ( or ivory ), so, for the moment that's what I'm planning on - I'm going with a North African finish, as I think the scope for weathering is much better than the darker variants............
Dave

 

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
Looks a nice kit. Even given that some parts are not used there are enough left to keep you busy for a while. Bishop seems an odd name for a SPG - do you know how that came about?
Jim

 

[Dave Ward]

Jim,
the story I've seen is that the ginormous gun box was likened to a Bishops' mitre, hence the name, but I'm not convinced! A 6pdr anti tank gun mounted on a AEC armoured truck ( in the same time frame ) was called Deacon, and the successors to the Bishop were the Priest & the Sexton, so it seems that ecclesiastical names were chosen for SPGs!
Dave

 

[Jakko]

the only reference I could find was to an old Dragon model of the Bishop - the interior was painted white ( or ivory )

I would hazard a guess that it was white. British AFVs were originally painted silver inside, but white was used from early in the war if memory serves. Ivory (off-white) is a German colour, so I kind of doubt that would be accurate.

 

[stillp]

Jim,
the story I've seen is that the ginormous gun box was likened to a Bishops' mitre, hence the name, but I'm not convinced! A 6pdr anti tank gun mounted on a AEC armoured truck ( in the same time frame ) was called Deacon, and the successors to the Bishop were the Priest & the Sexton, so it seems that ecclesiastical names were chosen for SPGs!
Dave

Maybe they were all can(n)ons?
Pete

 

[Jakko]

the story I've seen is that the ginormous gun box was likened to a Bishops' mitre, hence the name, but I'm not convinced!

Same. The story you always hear is, “The machine gun mount on the 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 reminded the British of a pulpit, so they nicknamed the vehicle Priest and then similar names followed for others.” Sure, except … there were already other SP guns with ecclesiastical names before that one, like you say. Much more likely is that this theme was selected beforehand, and then names were chosen for the guns as they were accepted for service regardless of what the thing actually looked like. (There was, for example, the plan to name all infantry tanks after lizards, and of course all American tanks were named after American generals of the ACW.)

 

[Dave Ward]

Finally got to put some plastic together! Suspension - very unusual - 3 hands would have been a help!
You allegedly can get the suspension to move, but tiny pins & blind caps, glued together, to allow movement is not a starter for me. The suspension is a bit flimsy, and as soon as I get the roadwheels ready, I'm going to fix everything solid - you can't do that at the moment, because the roadwheels have two different diameters!
I'm just about ready to prime the wheels & the chassis, just one or two bits to add before cranking up the compressor
Dave

 

[MikeC]

Dave,
Save me a seat for this.
Interior of fighting compartment was white, interior of the vehicle, aluminium/silver.
Mike

 

[Dave Ward]

Mike,
in this case, it's deciding where the interior finishes & where the fighting compartment starts, being a total rush job, I wonder if they didn't just paint it one colour - photo references for the internals of a Bishop are a little bit scarce
Dave

 

[outrunner]

Coming along nicely Dave.

Andy.