Missing Links Article The Kangaroo Infantry Support Vehicle

Introduction

After the 1944 invasion of the Normandy Conentin the Allied forces increasing victories became more and more impressive, the Allied war industry was not able supply enough specialized support vehicles to the expanding front. There was a increasing demand from infantry divisions for an armoured personel carrier, also an infantry support vehicle was needed. Not recieving anything, many units helped themselves by converting and refitting their M-7 "Priest" self propelled guns. The general conversion depended on removing the main 105mm M2A1 howitzer and covering the gap with a 30 mm thick steel plate, and adding raised 12mm side shields on the hull for crew safety from small arms fire. Many Kangaroos were fitted with a Bren 7.62mm machingun on the front of the hull and a Browning .30 caliber on the rear for extra firepower. The 69 105mm shell storage cases were removed to give more interior space, also two rear storage cases have been added. The chassis recieved no modifications.

Specifications

The powerplant is a Continental R975 CL 9cylinder, 4 cycle radial engine. Transmisson is a Syncromesh 6 speed with a dry disc 2 plate clutch. 80 octane gasoline was used for the engine. The Kangaroo weighs about 19.24 tons, has a maximum speed of 25mph and a range of 120 miles on road. Its suspension is made of verticle volute springs with 12 20 inch, solid rubber tyre road wheels with 6 return rollers which allow the vehicle to turn with a 31 foot radius.

Armour is 50mm to 160 mm thick on the lower hull and 12mm to 30mm on the fighting compartment. The vehicle is 19ft 9 inches long, width is about 9ft 5 inch. and 8ft and 8 inches high (to the top of the MG). It was capable of transporting 20 men and a crew of 2 or 3.

The Kit

The model is Italeri's 1:35 scale Kangaroo infantry support vehicle kit no.204.

The vehicle is 167mm long comes with multilingual instructions and a decal sheet with Canadian army markings. Follwoing their earlier release of the M-7 the Kangaroo is a logical

extension from that kit. Italeri added two new sprues. Although the interior detail was not very high the inject molded hull and other parts have very accurate and tiny detail. I was glad to see a lot of stowage items in the kit, you get a mortar and its stand, two jerry cans, a couple ammo crates and boxes, three figures,bedrolls and backpacks, shells, sandbags and 2 Garand .30 cal. rifles.

All in all the kit is new (1999) and you get a lot for the money (Italeri is really cheap in Poland).

Construction

This begins with the lower hull. I did everything according to the instructions with no problems except putting on the tracks ( I always paint and assemble them last). Next came the upper hull this I also did exactly as the instructions said. I had a little problem with the plate above the engine as it wasn't entirly symmetrical and didn't fit at the begining. Well, nothing a little sanding can't do. Everything fit nicely. Now came the interior. As I mentioned earlier it wasn't the best. I spent my monthly parental wage on the model an did not have enough cash for the Eduard, Aber photo-etched parts so I used an old grain car kit (my older hobby used to be model railroading) witch had many small and accurate parts suitable for my model. I studied some fotos of M-7's from the Aberdeen museum internet site and began detailing. I added wiring around the driver control panel and radio. The visible gearbox was also modified by adding ventilation rails beside the drivers postion. Bolt heads were added on the MG ring mount. I also added a steel ladder to the hull as seen on some APC's. A couple hooks were mounted on the inside of the hull. I added foot pedals and replaced the inacurate driver joystick if I can call it that.

Then came the stowage. I put on all the stowage included in the kit plus some jerry cans and water cans from a Academy supplies kit. The .30cal. MG was from the academy kit.

Painting and Weathering

The whole model was molded in a very dark green so I did not have to spray it black to get the postshading effect. I washed the model in soap in preparation for the airbrushing. My airbrush is a Revell low quality and cheap model, connected to a aerozol can. Its usless for spraying nice patterns like on german AFV's thats why I'm stuck to monocolor Allied tanks. I Painted the model a Humbrol olive drab color. After the model dried off i painted the detail: stowage bags-forest green, Boxes-desert yellow, MG's flat black and interior seats a flat brownish-red color. Next came a wash. I mixed my paint thinner with flat black and burnt umber and applied near the detail. I took off excess wash with my T-Shirt (Mom got mad). Now comes drybrushing. I dry brushed the extrior raised lines with that brownish red Humbrol #100 to give a rusty effect, some places got drybrushed silver. The interior was drybrushed a steel color and the MG's got some silver drybrushing. The last step was the dust, I wanted the APC to look dusty like it wood in summer or fall 1944. I found a great occasion to use pastel chalks, these things look great, they are easy to apply and remove if not wanted.

The End

In conclusion another good quality kit from Italeri, easy to build and pretty well engineerd. I would just like some more decals. I personally like the M-7 Priest for its awkward look and the Kangaroo fits fine in my oddball AFV family.