U.S. ARMY M65 280MM MOTORIZED HEAVY GUN “ATOMIC ANNIE”

The U.S. Army 280 mm Gun is the largest piece of mobile field artillery that the U.S. Army has built. This weapon was shipped to strategic U.S. military bases throughout the world to insure retaliation for any aggressive act against the free world.

Manufacture and development of the 280mm Gun and Transporters required the combined efforts of many contractors under direction of U.S. Army Ordnance. A few of the prime contractors are:

  • Baldwin-Lima Hamilton Corporation
  • Dravo Corporation
  • Kenworth Motor Truck Corporation
  • R. Hoe & Co.
  • Treadwell Construction Corporation

It is interesting to note that nearly 2200 separate blueprints were required for the gun assembly alone.

The weight of the Gun and Carriage is approximately fifty tons and the payload of the Transporters is approximately fifty tons. The two Transporters are used to carry the Gun and Carriage as a single load with the gun retracted.

U.S. ARMY M65 280MM MOTORIZED HEAVY GUN “ATOMIC ANNIE”

The weapon can be emplaced in approximately seven minutes for firing as compared to two to four hours to emplace older standard heavy field artillery. The Carriage is unique in that it is equipped with double recoil arrangement consisting of two complete recoil systems, one for the Gun and the other for the top Carriage, which operate independently of each other. Ninety percent of the entire emplaced weight actually recoils.

The weapon has both power and manual elevating and ramming mechanisms. In addition to firing and accurately delivering an ATOMIC SHELL to a target, this weapon will also fire a conventional 600 pound high explosive shell to a maximum range of eighteen miles. This weapon is four times more accurate at long ranges than any mobile artillery piece developed prior to World War II.

The lenght of the Carriage is 38.5 feet and the overall lenght (including Transporters) 84 feet. The Gun is carried suspended between two Transporters and can cross bridges capable of carring any standard piece of equipment in any army devision. It can also be transporterd by a landing ship designed for amphibious operations. When emplaced the Gun is so balanced in the vertical by a hydropneumatic equilibrator system, that one man can elevate or depress it by exerting a pressure of not more than 30 pounds on a hand wheel, in event of failure of the power unit provided.

Construction
Airbrush and painting
Diorama
Construction

The model kit is from the American make RENWAL and descends from the year 1958. The scale is 1:32 and it has over 300 parts. The whole model is rather coarse (normal for that time) and it has a lot of parts that are not enough detailed and/or are not right. I have made over 700 (!!) new parts to make the whole as correct and detailed as possible. In total, including the building of the diorama, this has cost me 427 hours. It’s impossible for me to describe everything I have built, reconstructed and detailed. For that reason, I will only mention the parts parts I’ve changed and reconstructed. To prevent confusion, I will use original names out of US Army Technical Manuals as much as possible.

A) Front-transporter

  1. spare-wheel winch/carrier
  2. propeller shaft
  3. dust shields
  4. winch + controls
  5. floodlight
  6. fork guides
  7. front- + rear suspension
  8. axles
  9. power winch
  10. steering system
  11. fifth wheel + cables/airlines
  12. grub handels
  13. winch cable + lower sheave
  14. cover clips
  15. window wipers
  16. engine cooling shields
  17. frame
  18. muffer
  19. engine compartment
  20. mirrors
  21. shaft propeller
  22. headlights
  23. clearance lights
  24. windshields
  25. .50 cal. MG + ring mount
B) Rear-transporter

  1. step assembly
  2. pioneer tools + holder
  3. hoist hydraulic reservoir
  4. transfermuffer
  5. piper
C) Lifting fork front-transporter

  1. hoist cylinder
  2. keepers
  3. cables/airlines + connectors
  4. lifting brackets
D) Lifting fork rear-transporter

  1. fifth wheel
  2. corrections (measurements and model)
E) 280 mm Gun

  1. cables/airlines + connectors
  2. transporting wedges
  3. pedals
  4. platform + step assemblies
  5. elevating controls
  6. mounting ladders
  7. handels
  8. oil gages
  9. rammer cranks
  10. complete recoil mechanism
  11. loading davit
  12. ammunition carls
  13. travel locks
F) Jeep

It concerns a re-edition of Monogram, scale 1:32 of the year 1980. This model also had to be corrected and detailed, among which:

  1. window and wiper
  2. tools
  3. mirror
  4. head lights
  5. grips
Airbrush and painting

Personally, I like paints from Testors a lot. I have tried a lot of paints but Testors is the absolute winner, even from Humbrol. Testors has more finery pigment-particles.

A) Base-colour

  1. Testors Olive Drab with 25% thinner
  2. Testors Olive Drab with 40% thinner
  3. Testors Olive Drab with 60% thinner
B) Second-color (cloudy pattern)

  1. Testors Olive Drab with 15% Matt White plus 60% thinner
C) Third-coulour (dust/dirt)

  1. Bottom model Matt Dark Earth, sparing
D) Gloss-paint (where the decals come)

  1. Fix the decals, they must dry at least 24 hours
  2. Fix the Matt-paint on the decals
  3. The whole must dry at least a week
E) Wash of oil paint

  1. A heavy wash of black and brown oil-paint

F) Drybrushing

    E) Wheels

    1. Matt Black with 20% Matt White
    Diorama

    The bottom-plate consists of a glass-plate of 8 mm. The bottom is covered with self-adhesive velvet and the top is covered with hardboard. Hereupon plaster is detached. For curing, detache the tire-tracks, etc. After curing, smear with thinned white glue and brown acryl-paint. After this, strew sand and stones. Finally, a little air-brushing and drybrushing. The palm trees are from Verlinden. They look a little bare, therefore I gave them some extra palm leaves. The figures are a composition of the makes Tamiya, Dragon and Verlinden. They are “enlarged” from 1:35 to 1:32. In the main, lenghten the trunk, the neck, arms and legs. The diorama is of course provided with a nameplate as shown on the photo.

    Information
    Postscript
    References
    Information
    Production: 1952 – 1953
    Costs apiece (1952): $800,000 (T131 280mm)
    Total production exemplars: 20 T131 280mm Guns
    30 M249 Front-Transporters
    30 M250 Rear-Transporters
    Operational: 1955 – 1970
    Operational in Germany: 1954 – 1956 (10 pieces)
    Test first atomic shell: May 1953, Nevada Dessert
    Weight Atomic Shell: Over 500 kg
    Postscript

    I know that I have not really discussed how I have built and detailed this kit, but I hope the photos give you a good idea of the work that went into it and especially the photos prior to airbrushing and painting. If there are readers interested in building the “Atomic Annie”, they can always ask for further information. Also if they are only interested in information and not in building plannings. I have a lot of documentation, and so on, among which:

    • All the US Army Technical Manuals
    • Quite a lot of general and detailed information
    • Photos of the real Annie
    • Video-recordings: Firing the first Atomic Shell and the Annie in Germany
    • 65 Photos (under which detail-recordings) built Annie and also lots of photos prior airbrushing/painting
    • Assembly instructions ADAMS + LIFE-LIKE Atomic Annie, scale 1:40

    For those who have RENWAL model-plans a joyful announcement. Of the most old Renwals (including the Atomic Cannon) there are re-issues from Revell and Matchbox.

    References
    • Technical Manual TM 9-3019
    • Technical Manual TM 9-338-1
    • Technical Manual TM 9-8806
    • Technical Manual TM 9-8006
    • Technical manual TM 9-8007-3
    • Technical manual TM 9-500
    • Standard Catalog US Military Vehicles, Fred C.Crimson, USA.
    • Saturday, USA 1952
    • Military Spectator, Holland 1957
    • Army Motors Magazine, USA 1987
    • Renwal, Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, USA
    • Adams, Hawthorne, CA, USA

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