After hunting around for a plastic model of a British 17 pounder anti tank gun, i soon realised that the choices i had were severely limited. In fact, i could not find one option for a 1/72 scale 17 pdr gun in plastic anywhere. So in my quest i had to turn to metal manufacturers, which was against my self imposed rules, but i had little choice. On reflection i am happy to break my rules on metal for figures, so why not for anything else?

SHQ make a huge range of everything 20mm for World War 2 and i picked up there 17 pdr for eight pounds fifty. I think after Brexit i may be purchasing more stuff from England in the future if the pound keeps depreciating. The gun is nicely detailed, well moulded and easy to put together with a bit of superglue. I think the model came in about ten parts maximum, so it didn’t take long to build. My crew figures are from AB Figures which is no surprise as they are far and away the best figures you can find.

I cut the base and placed the gun and crew on there first to get an idea of positioning. Then used modelling clay to build it up a bit before gluing the crew on, leaving the gun off. I find this makes it easy to paint the base and the crew before gluing the gun onto the base last. The gun was base coated black before a spray with olive drab. You get some ammo boxes and spare shells with the AB crew so i spread them around the base too.

The 17 pdr is an essential addition to my under gunned British company, especially when they come up against the bigger German tanks. Here he is taking up a defensive position in a French village.