Did that version receive a unique designation? It seems to me that I might have seen that in one of my reference books. I’m going to look later for my own edification . I found it interesting that in order decrease the weight of the gun and thereby increase its maneuverability they used a modified PAK carriage. When they were looking to produce a dual purpose gun for that branch they mounted a PAK40 into the previously modified Pak40 carriage(18/40) that gave them the 7.5cm FK 7M85.
Love the latest dio Jerry. Is that the Ardenne Abbey in the background?
As regards the LFH 18/40, DML did a kit of it, which they’d obviously put together from other kits. There were three main types of the LFH, the original version which had steel wheels and no muzzle brake, the “M” version which had the same carriage and a muzzle brake; some examples had spoked wooden “artillery wheels”, even in motorised units. The final version is the 18/40. It seems to have been available with various types of wheels, but I believe the ones supplied in the kit, which are from the Pak40 or perhaps the SIG33, are too small. They would prevent firing at full elevation as the breech would recoil into the ground. The example pictured in Ian Hogg’s “German Artillery of World War 2” has the original type wheels and the muzzle brake has been unscrewed. It is easily recognised as the elevating and traverse handwheels are both on the same side, as befits a Pak carriage. DCCOOK353 is correct about the FK 7M85. It was not a success as it was nearly as heavy as the 10.5cm gun and was too much carriage for too little gun.
Thanks mate. No, that is just the church in St Manieu.
Yes I am aware of the 3 different types of 105. I built the larger steel spoked wheels for mine from scratch. The one being towed by the horse team in the pic above.
The last style muzzle set up was added to help dampen the recoil because of the smaller lighter carriage of course. You can buy the first version in kit form with square trails and no break and stamped steel wheels and also the mid version with wooden spoke wheels and mid type muzzle break
J
I searched in my reference material and online and came across a few photos that I could say were not wooden spoked and As I saved each one I Noticed I had already saved them in the past. Don’t know why I saved them other than something about them stuck out to me. I also came across some guns with steel disc wheels on rubber tires. In the picture of one the wheels looked like PAK36(r) wheels. I saved them. Brazil had on contract with Krupp on an improved version and only about 60 were delivered with remainder being diverted back to the Army. The earlier guns had wooden spoked wheels and a Solothurn style break. The later units having disc wheel with rubber mounted tire and conventinal 4 baffled break.
The German army was a strange bird. Liked standardization but was constantly making changes. Like uniformity but would use,in some form or another, any and every piece of equipment they captured.
When the Americans first captured an ig37 they thought it was a Soviet design that the Germans were using due to the embossed soviet star on the gun shield which came to be beacuse the germans used the fast stockpiles of Soviet 37 and 45mm AT guns for parts as they were Krupp designed.
I am not going to surprised at any combination I see.
The first type was built using two different types of wheels. The stamped metal ones and the wooden spoke ones. One was supposed to be for motorized transport and one for horse drwan. The next change came with making the same gun and also using both wheels but adding the early muzzle break. The last versions then used the PAK40 cradle and trails with the steel spoked wheels and the last style break.
HTH,
J
Sure sure thanks. I believe I understand the intent but sometimes the real world steps in and “good enough” is all you get. Like the SiG 33 with the steel wheel and no rubber. I don’t think they thought that was the best solution but a solution for a country short on rubber.
I like seeing all the odd ball ,possibly one offs , or interim fixes.
Yep me as well. That’s why I just labored over converting an Amrican halftrack into the International Harvester version only issued to British units.
J
Nothing wrong with that. In fact it’s awesome,especially if it was manufactured in Memphis.
A possibly interesting aside. I grew up in Memphis or one of its suburbs and in the late 70’s I drove by what appeared to be some military salvage lot. I remember there being what I believe were early M109’s, a bunch of military trucks of all types and a handful of halftracks. I use to wonder why they were there as I had imagined they were long out national guard service. Now I wonder if they were IH halftracks? Also we had a Firestone plant in town as well so I wonder if the IH vehicles would have had Firestone tires from the factory?
Finally pulled out my arty books and got some good pics to show the styles of 105mm howitzer used during the war.
Early style.
Stamped metal wheels,no muzzle break and heavy cradle with square trails and detachable spade anchors.
Limber has the same heavy wheels.
Last version. The improved last style muzzle break reduced recoil and enabled a much lighter cradle and tubular trail system to be employed. The same used on the PAK40 but with a larger version of the steel spoked wheels. The last style liber was also way lighter and had large wooden spoked wheels as well… Some were fitted with electric firing devices but those had mixed reactions from the crews as they were not dependable
Hope this sheds some light. Of course, as with all Wehrmacht subjects, there were combos of all these elements as well but these were the most often seen/used types.
J
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Really like this one Jerry. But then I quite like the original figure anyway, despite coming from the “dreaded” Tamiya (a lot of whose figures are actually very good). He is moulded in a realistic casual pose.
I absolutely love this figure! Somehow it captures the essence of British soldier of the period; how the hell do you make a couple of inches of plastic express body language so eloquently that even an aspie like myself can feel it? Although he’s going to be just a small part of a big picture, he is pretty much the exemplar of what one should be aiming at when making a minature to display on it’s own. You regularly(!) make figures which embody/express the the emotions generated by their situation they are in but for some reason, for me at least, this one knocks it clear out of the park…
Regards,
