Development of the 2S19 started in 1980, and since then, it has seen several improvements. In 2013, the 2S19-M2 entered service featuring a new automated fire control system. It is still in frontline service with Russia and several other countries, including Ukraine.
The new HobbyBoss 1/72 scale 2S19-M2 model kit comes molded in tan plastic and features crisp moldings with excellent detail. Separate pieces are provided for many small details, including grab handles, lights, and smoke launchers.
The tracks are molded in one piece with the inner road wheels, return rollers, and center of the drive sprocket in place. The outside road wheels and idler, as well as the inner and outer drive sprockets, are separate pieces.
Similarly, HobbyBoss provides a single-piece upper hull with much of the detail molded in place. Unsurprisingly, the turret is also mainly one piece with only the bottom plate, gun, and some small details to be added.
I started the assembly by building the lower hull, but I did not add the running gear at this time. I saved that until I finished all of the painting. I also left off the unditching log.
Building the self-loading mechanism in Step 2 needs to be done with care, especially when cleaning and handling the delicate parts.
The upper hull only needs a few parts added to it. I noticed HobbyBoss has included some extras of small parts, such as the running lights (Part A2) and grab handles — a nice touch if one is a victim of a tweezer launch. I left off the main gun support, waiting until the turret was added to make sure it was positioned correctly.
A test fit of the hull halves showed a noticeable gap at the front joint. Drilling out the holes in the two front locating posts, making them larger and a little deeper, corrected the problem.
The turret, while mostly a single part, requires many detail parts. I completed it, except for the auto-loading mechanism and turret machine gun, to make painting easier. Don't forget to install the rear panel (Part A13); the instructions don’t show it. While the grab handles are delicately molded, advanced modelers may want to replace them with thin wire for a more scale look.
The decals went down perfectly with some Microscale Micro Set and Micro Sol. However, you might want to leave the snorkel tube off the rear of the turret to make decal placement easier.
It took me about 12 hours to build and finish my HobbyBoss 1/72 scale 2S19-M2 Self-propelled Howitzer. While the dimensional data on several websites varied, I think the model scales out well — at least it's close enough for me. While there is nothing particularly difficult in building the kit, you will need some experience with small parts to get the job done.