Mortier 120mm

- French Mortier 120mm,
MO-120 RT-61 -

Current Service

Le Mortier lourd de Rifled

The Kit:

This 1/35th scale model kit is from ADV/Azmit. It is cast in a light tan and gray resin. Part-clean-up ranged from minimal to repair or replacement but generally, my sample was very delicately detailed. A few pin holes were found, and those that were, were easily filled and sanded.

The kit instructions are hand-drawn and are not all that clear as to the positioning of parts. I would certainly recommend relying on your references and the ones listed below to help with the building of this model. There is a good amount of reference available on this subject, most of which I found after this model was built.

The tire tread patterns are there, but unfortunately, they are too shallow which gives the tires a rather worn appearance. The loss of tread detail will be further minimized by the sanding off of the mold parting lines.

The Details:

A number of grease fittings were added by using Grandt Line hexagonal nuts.

The wire wheel guards were fashioned from copper wire and these were mounted on replaced mounts made from styrene.

My sample was short one of the hand-wheels, and in order to keep all four hand wheels symmetrical, I fashioned four replacement wheels from the anti-personal land mines that are found in the Tamiya M3A2 Halftrack kit. To these wheels, I added the hand posts and a center 'hubs' from disks punched out of .010" thick styrene plastic.

The base plate was distorted, but was salvageable by careful filing and sanding. The rim to this was completely replaced with .010" thick styrene.

The Bombs:
	Shown here are the standard High Explosive (HE) type bombs. I added the rifled band from self-adhesive aluminum foil. My samples 'stems' were not very clear, and needed to be replaced. I broke off the kit parts and re-constructed them with styrene rod. The propellant charges are disks punched out, and drilled out of styrene. The bomb shipping tubes were scratch-built from styrene tubing and sheet stock.

The Figure:
Is from the DML "French Foreign Legion" figure set and is molded in styrene plastic. His stance was modified by cutting here and there and his arms and hands are a combination of parts from the other figures included in this set. He is dressed in the standard issue desert chemical suit of the early 1990's, and is armed with the standard issue FAMAS F1 assault weapon in 5.56mm. His "handie-talkie" is for inter-platoon communications.

The items added to this figure are the straps for the rifle, the "handie-talkie" and the gas mask container. The antenna is brass rod. I also added his watch and this was constructed from a thin strip of masking tape and a styrene disk. The water bottle is cast in clear resin and is a product of Accurate Armour.

Painting, Weathering and Finishing:

Tamiya acrylic paints were used for the majority painting of this subject as well as Model Master and Polly Scale acrylic paints. gloss (optics) and flat coat. I also used a bit of Testors enamel paint. Oil washes of Winsor and Newton Oils thinned with Loew-Cornell Odorless Brush Cleaner and Thinner were applied. I also used Berol Prismacolor colored pencils to aid with the weathering, especially in the areas that need a metallic surface wear showing.

The Base and Groundwork:

The wood base is cut to five inches in diameter by 3/4" thick and is oak. The wood was then sanded, stained and sealed with multiple coats of Polyurethane. There are four felt pads on the underside of the base.

The groundwork consists of a mix of Sculptamold, white glue and water. Once this had cured, I applied a diluted white glue (with water) mix to the surface of the Sculptamold, sprinkling finely sifted dirt into the wet glue mix. When all had dried, the groundwork was painted with acrylic paints, various oil washes and then I dry-brushed it all out with acrylics.

General Mortar Info:

Designed and built in France by the manufacturing firm of Thomson-Brandt, this is one of three 120 mm mortars in currently in service with French Forces. Other than the rifled version being depicted here, there is a smooth-bore version mounted on the same carriage. The third option is of the smooth-bore weapon mounted on the more conventional bipod and base plate.

This weapon is normally towed by the VTM 120 (Véhicule de Tracte Mortier 120), wheeled armored vehicle that is a derivative of the VAB (Vehicule de L'avant Blinde) series of Armored Personnel Carrier. Towing is accomplished by a towing hitch that is screwed onto the muzzle of the weapon. The VTM 120 carries 70, 120mm mortar rounds and also offers basic ballistic protection from small arms fire and shrapnel for the mortar's crew. The Mortier 120 can also be towed by the AMX 10 TM (Tracteur de Mortier) which is a version of the AMX 10 P tracked APC.

Currently, there are six 120mm mortars assigned to each French Regiment Etranger d'Infantrie. This same number of 120mm mortars is also assigned to each Regiment d'Infantrie Marine as well as to each Regiment d'Artillerie Parachutiste.

Normally not deployed during peacetime, all of the infantry's 120mm mortars will eventually be transferred to artillery regiments where they will augment the 155mm towed artillery. This will allow both the towed 155 TR-G2 artillery guns of 155mm caliber and the 120mm mortars to be deployed simultaneously.

This weapon can be fired either by dropping the round down the tube (after aligning of the rifling bands) resulting in an automatic firing once the bomb hits the tube base, or by a controlled firing by dropping the bomb down the tube and pulling on a lanyard that will intern set off the triggering mechanism in the base of the tube. Standard North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 120mm mortar munitions are used, even though France is not a member of NATO, they do share many commonalities with NATO.

Manufacturers other than Thomson-Brandt as mentioned above include Thomson-CSF/Daimler Benz Aerospace (France/Germany(?)), Hotchkiss Brandt (Netherlands) as the "HB Rayé" and under license by MKEK in Turkey.


Known variations and users:
MO-120-RT-61	Original production version
MO-120-RT-F1	France
MO-120-RT-F1	Germany (?)
MO-120-RT-F1	Belgium
MO-120-RT-F1	Netherlands
MO-120-RT-F1	Brazil
HY-12	Turkey
EFSS	United States (Marines) See 1/1 Photo Shop page for info.


Actual Mortar Data:
Caliber: 120mm (4.7in)
Length of Barrel: 280cm (110in)
Weight in Action: 582kg (1,280lbs)
Elevation: 30-85°
Traverse: +/-14° from centerline.
Range (standard projectile): 8,000m (8,750yds)
Range (Rocket assisted projectile): 13,000m (14,217yds)
Bomb Weight: 18.7kg (41lbs)
Rate of Fire: 6-10rpm
Crew: 4(+2) (vehicle crew)


Sources:
"Armies of the Gulf War", Gordon Rottman and Ron Volstad. Osprey Publishing, Elite Series No. 45.
"Blitzkreig in the Gulf", Yves Debay. Concord Publications No. 4001
Mr. Tom Bebbington -United Kingdom
Mr. Danny Wennekes - Netherlands
A United States Marine
"The Mortar", W.L. Ruffell
JED Military Equipment Directory, Mr. Jim Webster - United Kingdom

	Mortars in Miniature ...A Scale Model Collection of the "Infantryman's Artillery"...