Tackling the Exterior

The exterior of Baboon is where the most significant changes are made. In spite of the reference photos, the wading walls were a particular puzzlement. The Tankograd manual shows a different version, British-made, than the wall kit that Baboon sported. With the British kit, the hinged upper wall segments on either side were lowered and the wading kit was secured in place. On Baboon, however, the short walls remained in place and the wading walls sat atop them, any cracks and gaps sealed with asbestos grease. Based on the photos, I presumed that bracing was welded to the Priest structure, and then the wading walls were bolted into place. There was probably a canvas sheet smeared with asbestos grease tucked under the gun like a bib, and similar waterproofing applied to the fuel caps and air intake on the back engine deck. The main thing was to keep water out of the engine, and try to keep the crew compartment as dry as possible for the short trip from the landing craft to the beach. The Pathe newsreel frames show the canvas missing from the front; perhaps this was torn away immediately to allow the gun to move freely should it require immediate use? But given that Baboon landed on D+4, I suppose there's any number of reasons why it was removed before the vehicle left the beach. I estimated the sizes of the wading wall segments from the photos, and made some cardboard templates. When I was satisfied with the size and fit, I cut the real parts from plastic sheet stock. I reinforced them with angle stock as I thought would be appropriate. You can see below how the unit looked before gluing in place. Once satisfied with the fit, I sprayed the inner walls, which would allow me to mask off and avoid overspray on the already painted and weathered interior.

The keen observer will note that the added armor walls on the side and rear of the compartment look quite like the Italeri kit. And indeed they are. I used photoetch parts from the Voyager Models set for the Academy kit, but did not relish all of the monkeying around with plastic card and aligning a lot of brass bits that for the bolts, and the hinges are oversized and incorrectly shaped (square edges rather than round). So I cut out the Italeri parts from my spare kit and they fit fine. The wading trunks covering the rear exhaust are from Eduard. I was able to bend them carefully without the aid of a bend-and-fold device; I just used my metal straightedge and the chisel blade of my X-acto knife. I reinforced the joints with plastic strip stock and a healthy does of super glue. It's a bit tricky because you need to fold things correctly and there is not much tolerance for error. The lower unit coming off of the rear engine plate is the first segment, and the two-part stack is assembled independently. Fortunately, I had no problem dryfitting them together.

The Priests in the field artillery battalions of the 2nd Armored Division were noted for having side stowage racks virtually identical to those seen on M3A1 half-tracks. Luckily, I had a spare set from a Tamiya kit, so on they went. Other changes to the exterior include removing the tie downs from the front sides of the superstructure, adding tubes to the walls that were used to hold up camo netting, and adding the armored plates over the vents (made from plastic as they are not included in the Voyager set for some odd reason). The gas can racks on the rear fenders are left over from an Eduard set.

The fenders and stowage boxes on the glacis are from Voyager. I opted to thin down the kit's brush guards over the headlights. A grab bar was added to the roof over the driver's compartment, another distinctive element of 2AD Priests. Archer Fine Transfers provided the weld beads around the superstructure. I didn't take the horizontal bead all the way across the front glacis joint nor did I add the small stowage compartment to the right since they would be covered by the large roll of camo netting.

The Historical Baboon
Updating the Interior
Tackling the Exterior
Painting, Decals, and Weathering
The Diorama: "Lafayette, Baboon Has Arrived!"