1/40 K153-398 Adams 280mm Atomic Cannon With 2 Gun Transporters - M65
Plastic Model Kit, Box Condition: Good++
Very rare classic Cold-War kit from the late 1950s. The Atomic Cannon was the Army's 20 mile range gun that could fire shells that contains small atomic bombs. The model is very highly detailed for that time and features transporters with movable wheels, towing yokes, fully detailed cab interiors, complete suspension and elevating and swiveling machine guns; the Atomic Cannon itself can be configured for firing or towing positions, the barrel elevates by actual operating gears, the carriage rotates 360 degrees on platform and it actually fires 2 "Atomic" shells. Includes crew of 7. Inside, the model is factory new. It has never been started. The internal factory cardboard divider is present and in 'excellent' condition. The parts that were factory sealed are still in the factory sealed bags; the parts that were never factory sealed have been inventoried complete. With decals and instructions. The decals are very loosely rolled and in 'very good' condition with the typical yellowing as the main flaws. The instructions are in 'excellent' condition with minimal yellowing and a slight bit of wear and creasing to the right side of the cover page. The box has like-new color and gloss with no rips, no price tags or tag marks, no tape or tape marks (other than the factory sealing tape), four solid corners, no repairs and no fading. However, it does have very light age foxing (which is very difficult to see, it is so light) and light edge & corner wear with two small spots of moderate edge wear on the left vertical edge. the four box sides are in the same condition as the top except NOTE: There is one factory tape litho pull on the lower long side. It measures 1.5" x .5".The amazing M65 280mm atomic cannon originally started life as a conventional artillery piece. Development first began in 1944 before the first atomic weapon had been tested. Far from being 'just another giant gun', the M65 was carefully designed to be a very mobile and versatile weapon. Liberal use of aluminum and other light-weight metals kept the weight of the gun and both transports to about 85 tons, which is not much more than the largest conventional gun of WWII. As a result, it is light enough to be carried by trucks and cross bridges without collapsing them. Size was also a major factor, as it can fit inside landing craft, turn street corners of an amazingly small radius and travel as fast at 35 mph. The two transporters are required to move the gun, with one in back and one in front. Power is supplied to each tractor by a 6 cylinder engine with 375 horsepower. Both transmissions are manually controlled. These 4x4 machines can push, pull or parallel one another - with the gun slung between them. The driver of the front tractor has control of the brakes and throttles of both units and can communicate to the rear driver by telephone. The gun can be traversed in a complete circle and has a range of up to 20 miles. A complete 280mm batter consisted of two guns, four 5-ton trucks towing ammunition trailers, another two trucks pulling a pair of generator trailers (each with a 30 KW generator to furnish power to the guns, a 5th truck carrying four shell carts and a 2 1/2 ton shop van. The total crew was about 100 men. Each gun could be set up to fire in less than 12 minutes and can fire a round every two minutes.
$475.00