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Set 282 Obice da 75/18 Mod 35 Howitzer & Italian Crew
The PSR review of this set is on their site, and as always it is a measured and informative view.
I have recently purchased a set of this gun and crew, and I have to say that I like it quite a lot. However, a couple of key points made in the PSR review may be useful pointers for future Strelets WW2 artillery - Italian or otherwise.
1: Question: Why make a model of a gun that was only rarely used? The PSR piece reflects that the gun was only made available to Axis armies in North Africa fairly late in the campaign, and then only in small numbers.
I agree and accept that Italian artillery was a mixed and varied selection of (mainly older) and some new guns, but there were other artillery pieces that were more widely used. In particular a good model of the 47mm Bohler AT/Infantry support gun, and a similarly good model of the Breda Modello 35 20mm AA/AT gun, are very likely to be useful to modellers and wargamers alike.
2: The gun itself is moulded without moveable trails and with no gun shield. I accept that the trails are a problem in soft plastic, although the old (and still excellent) Revell German 105mm field howitzer set got around this by providing a split trail (firing position) and closed trail (travelling position) gun in the same box. The Revell set also provided gun shields for both guns.
Could Strelets consider doing the same with future gun sets?
Re: Set 282 Obice da 75/18 Mod 35 Howitzer & Italian Crew
I liked the set a lot, no complaints here. But yes to the one`s you suggest and the Italian guns captured and used rather famously by the Australian bush artillery at Tobruk. I have now painted all but the French heavy weapons from the last release and thought them all very usable, but either too many or to few crews for the weapons, Plenty of room for more sets from both sides for the desert 1940/43.
Re: Set 282 Obice da 75/18 Mod 35 Howitzer & Italian Crew
No, but they did use that gun too, with the same type of wheel as the strelets gun. If you search Bush artillery images the gun in question comes up,with an Aussie crew.