Small Scale Military Headquarters

I saw a Power Elite howitzer on Ebay and thinking about bidding, but was wondering what it is like. Is to scale and does it look toyish. The seller says it does not and he likes it. I believe him since we have bought and sold from each other in the past, but I was just wondering what other board members thought about.

Here is a link to a thread I bookmarked in case I ever bought one of these.

viewtopic.php?t=1664&highlight=power+team+elite

I do believe Aferg has customized one but we don't believe him since he doesn't have a digital camera.

MK

Try KB's for the Howitzer. I did see one a few month's back at a KB by me and now wish I would've picked it up! I continue to email KB Online about them putting more PTE 1:18 FS on their website.

I actually have two of them now....the second one i got for $1.99 on Ebay, if you can believe it. That was the starting bid and nobody else placed any bids on it, for some reason. It was brand new, in box.

Anyway, as it comes it really isn't very accurate or good looking. BUT with a few simple mods it can be made to look very nice.

I made one into a limbered Long Tom and the other into a deployed 203mm howitzer. Limbering it is easier since the trails on the toy do not swing out and are molded as one solid piece.

The most important mod is to replace the wheels. I did this with cheap tractor wheels i got at TRU. They are a bit too tready but available and inexpensive (they worked out to $2.50 per wheel.....since you need 8-10 of them it's good to keep cost per wheel low). You want to find wheels that are just over 2 inches in diameter. Looks MUCH better after replacing the wheels.

The next most important mod is the barrel. It's too short for a long tom and too long for the 203mm howitzer (it's also too thick for the long tom and too thin for the 203mm howitzer but not much you can do about that and it's really not that noticable).

When i did the limbered long tom i simply put muzzle and breach covers over each end of the barrel after lengthening the breach area with whatever was handy.....doesn't matter since it will be covered. I lengthened the breach area because the barrel on the real Long Tom slides back when limbered, so needed to overhang more at the rear. In actuality the barrel on the toy is far too short at the muzzle, so keep that in mind if you are going to make a deployed Long Tom, as that is where you'll need to lengthen it, about 3 inches or so iirc. For the 203mm i simply cut the goofy muzzle brake thing off the end and that made the barrel almost exactly the right length (actually slightly too short).

The next most important mod is to modify the area where the barrel pivots. For some reason they made a circular platform that the barrel sits on....totally inaccurate. You have to unscrew it and rebuild that area. Not too tough to do but you'll want to find some good pics of that area to work from (lots of good pics on the net).

Splitting the trails was actually a lot simpler than i thought it would be. With a bit of thought you'll see how to do it. I think they are a bit short overall but it's not very noticable so i didn't bother to modify them.

There will still be a lot of details that aren't quite right, even after doing the above mods but the overall look is quite good imo.

I think it is well worth getting if you're an artillery fan. Don't pay too much though, i've seen them go for well over $35....not worth it.

Aferg we need pictures!
Reading the description of what you did to yours is like looking at a picture of a steak and I am drooling, but I want to sink my teeth into the real thing!

I'm drooling over the description now, but I want to see some pics!

why don't you guys take up a collection and send me a camera..

I haven't got the howitzer yet but i have seen it over here in the UK and i do really like it and it temps me every time i go into the store. I heard from a friend that has been out in the states recently that they found the howitzer and the cargo slats back humvee in KB toys packaged together for $20 which sounds like a great price! has anyone else seen this?

yes, this is exactly what I saw but it was $25. Keep in mind that this is NYC and every place has their requisite mark-up. $20 for the set seems more reasonable considering PTE's general price range.

Currently on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ULTIMATE-SOLDIERS-W ... dZViewItem

TTT

I saw the Howitzer at KB yesterday and the price was a little higher then I remembered it being. Then I notice the packaging had "push here for sound' button. You push a small button on the breach and it made firing sounds. Did the original have this feature? Maybe that is why the price is higher.

yes original had it......price increase could be due to drop in US doller or higher fuel costs....or could just be that KB jacks up their prices sometimes.