1:35 Semovente M40-75/18 accessories set

The accessory set 1:35 Semovente M40-75/18 accessories set

This is an accessory set in 1:35 scale for a model of the Italian Semovente M40 self-propelled gun of 75/18 caliber. It is not a model of the vehicle but a set of parts with which you complete an already finished model with kit and stowage. Compare the exact extent of the set against the manufacturer's details on the packaging, because the individual sets of this label differ markedly in contents.

The real subject

The Semovente da 75/18 came about on the chassis of the Italian M13/40 medium tank and its relatives. Instead of a rotating turret it carried, in a low armored superstructure, a short howitzer of 75 millimeters with a barrel eighteen calibers long. Originally it was a gun for the close support of infantry, but it was precisely against Allied tanks that it proved the most effective Italian armored weapon of the North African campaign. The vehicles served in North Africa, in Sicily and on the Italian mainland, and after 1943 the Germans used them in smaller numbers as well. The low silhouette and the simple construction make it a rewarding subject for a diorama.

How to make use of the set

Italian vehicles went about the field loaded down with baggage, crates, tarpaulins and jerrycans, so the accessories will move a vehicle to a believable form at once. Paint the parts separately away from the model, so that the difference between painted armor and canvas or wood stands out. Apply the dusty weathering and the light pigments at the very end, so that they tie the vehicle and the stowage into one whole.

Who the set is for

• Builders of Italian armor in 1:35 scale
• Modelers of dioramas from the North African and Italian fronts
• Collectors who want to take a model beyond the level of the box contents
• More experienced modelers used to working with accessory sets