Landships II

Hi here's a pic of some russians:




Cheers

and its not a good looking model of a Lewis. Maybe its just a bad picture?

Strelets have a 'unique' style. its not really much to my liking. but, as peter says, we should all be happy that there is another WW1 set coming. and i am. and Strelets do get rather reasonable reviews on Plastic Soldier Review. Usually.

So, guarded optimism, tempered enthusiasm, here!

I wouldn't mind having a look at that Russian site. I can't find much about Lewises in Russian service during the War, but it seems they were widely used in the Civil War and in WWII. There's a strange claim on Wikipedia that the much-debated expression the whole nine yards comes from "the Lewis's 27-foot ammunition belt"; the author is apparently oblivious to the fact that it was drum-fed.

There's a claim that it was produced in Russia in 7.62mm, and also by the US, UK, Belgium, Japan, Estonia, Holland, Lativa, and Portugal. I'm not happy about that; it sounds more like the Madsen. Another site says they were produced in France, and I'm certain that's not true.

A British account of 1917 says, "in the British, French, Italian, and Russian armies there are at this moment nearly 40,000 in actual and daily operation." But how many by whom? Curiouser and curiouser.

Of course, Strelets, being Russian or thereabouts, may well have done their research very thoroughly, but I think there's a good deal of confusion here.

James H wrote:

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 There's a strange claim on Wikipedia that the much-debated expression the whole nine yards comes from "the Lewis's 27-foot ammunition belt"; the author is apparently oblivious to the fact that it was drum-fed.

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Hi James,
I've heard that too,can't think where,I assume it was Vickers ammo if that's what the expression refers to.
The Strelets stuff does look at bit wargamey,but more WW1 figures have got to be good.
TTFN,
Marcus

We're wandering back into the Lewis gun discussion that huhncc started here:
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=63528&p=3&topicID=14224811

The NY Times article (from June 1916) says that the Lewis was being mass-produced in Britain and that it was in use by the British, French, Russians, and Belgians, but, as I said before, there's little actual evidence of it in service with the last three mentioned.

The article on Henry Rudd says that there were "few" Lewis guns in Belgium after manufacture moved to Britain. The orders from the Central Powers and Italy were, naturally, cancelled, but no mention is made of what became of the orders from Russia and Sweden, except that "by now all orders from the Continent had to be refused".

It depends how accurate these accounts are. What casts doubt is the absence of photographs; there are so many of troops posing proudly with machine guns that it's hard to believe there wouldn't be some of the Lewis. Spencer Coil's book on the French Army has dozens of pics of units lined up behind their Hotchkiss, St. Etienne, and Puteaux, but not a single Lewis.

Meanwhile, here's a pic from Mollo and Turner of Russian with Adrian helmet in Salonika. Note the ankle boots and puttees, which I'd not been aware of. Whatever the Lewis situation, I think it's clear that Strelets have over-represented the Adrian.

This is annoying. On the site where there's a precis of William Easterly's book on the Lewis, I've now noticed that there's a link to a chapter entitled The Russian Lewis. Unfortunately, the link doesn't work. The only solution appears to be to try and get hold of the book.

http://thebelgianrattlesnake.dragonsoffire.com/

I have received this very kind reply from the mysterious forces at Plastic Soldier Review:

 The Russian government ordered a handful of Lewis guns before the war but never got them.  It seems large numbers were shipped to Russia in 1917, but when exactly is not clear, and to what extent they saw service in the field before peace with Germany is also unknown to us.  Sadly we do not have Easterly's book, so we can't offer any answers.  As a Russian company Strelets may have access to Russian sources on this, however.
 
As for the Adrian, there does seem reasonable evidence to support its appearance in Russia.  The Allies supplied much equipment to Imperial Russia, including many Adrians, so it seems almost certain that they were put to use.  Certainly photos and film do not show them, and they were never widespread, but film and photos rarely showed troops actually at the front, when helmets might have been worn, so the likelihood of their use by specially selected or privileged units is almost certain.  Also of course these figures could depict those Russian troops fighting in France anyway.
 
While we are quite confident about the Adrian, the Lewis gun is far from certain.  One of the frustrations of this hobby is the number of doubts there always is about this or that feature, but that also makes it so interesting to discuss.  The Strelets set is certainly flawed but perhaps not as flawed as some may imagine.

This is not about Lewis guns!

I have recently purchased two Strelets sets; Russians in winter uniform, and German cuirassers.

I just happened to be in a shop, browsing, when I saw the figues. The boxes were not sealed. So, rather naughtily, I opened the boxes and got the figures out and had a good look at them.

Here's my 'mini-review':

           They're good figures!

They actually dont photograph at all well. So thats why they look bad in all the reviews. Even Strelets' own photos on the box make them look awful. I can't explain it using logic, because it doesnt make sense! In photos they look terrible, but in your hand they look good. Really they do.

I wouldnt have got them if I hadnt actually pulled them out of the box and looked at them. And I wont buy any others without doing the same thing again. But they are, at the very least, worth looking at.

(Oh, and the barrel of the Lewis gun looks a bit fat, maybe. Maybe not. But nowhere near as bad as it looks in photos of the figures!)

And I have deliberately not taken any photos to prove my point!

No, James, I'm not angry or anything ridiculous like that!

I was disappointed with the reviews of the Strelets figures, because the subject matter (the cavalry) is interesting to me. So, when I saw a box in a shop I happened to be in (looking for WW1 flying boats), and took a look inside at the figures, I was very pleasantly surprised.

I just wanted to pass on the information because if, like me, somebody else went by the reviews they would never buy Strelets figures. So I just wanted to say that the figures are worth taking a look at, at least.