I´ve just got this plastic model kit of an "75mm World War I Artillery Piece"from "HALES Life-Like Model Kits".
There´s neither a name of the gun model nor a scale of the model indicatet?! First I thought it could be the German "7.7 cm Feldkanone 96 n/A" but it seems to the French "Canon de 75mm mle 1897 ("75")", but is the barrel not to short for that gun, isn´t it? And what scale is it? - The diameter of the whells are 73mm, the trail about 110mm!
I´ve never heard of "HALES Life-Like Model Kits" before, does this firm exist yet? (It seems to be a very old kit!)
The picture is almost certainly a 77, and nothing like the French 75, so the description makes no sense. I've never heard of this manufacturer but shall investigate.
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The picture is almost certainly a 77, and nothing like the French 75, so the description makes no sense. I've never heard of this manufacturer but shall investigate.
Yes, that was what I thought first, too!
But take a look at the breech (last pic), that looks like a (rudimentary) breech of French 75 and not like the "block-Breech" of the German 77!?
I have one of these. It was intended to be a French 75 as used by the US Army. The firm sold three kits, a Gatling, an 18 pounder naval gun and the 75 - all wildly inaccurate. The 75 as modelled has no form of trunion - the cradle just rests in the hole in the shield! I think they got the moulds from someone else as Hales did make some good kits of other subjects.
I have one of these. It was intended to be a French 75 as used by the US Army. The firm sold three kits, a Gatling, an 18 pounder naval gun and the 75 - all wildly inaccurate. The 75 as modelled has no form of trunion - the cradle just rests in the hole in the shield! I think they got the moulds from someone else as Hales did make some good kits of other subjects.
Had the 75 used by US forces another barrel? I´ve never seen any pics of it!
And do you maybe have some pics of your build model?
I don´t wanted to build this one, actually I wanted use it as an exist for an custom 1:6 model. - But it seems not to be suited as it´s so incorrect!
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These are kits that have been around for many years.Who ever gave the kit its title just got it wrong. It is a US M1902 3 INCH with an interrupted screw breech not a Nordenfelt breech.
This was a US piece that did not see service in WW1.It was only used state-side for training and the raids into Mexico in 1916.My unit (1/118 Field Artillery) had these back in the WW1 Era for service against the Mexicans and like most other US Field Artillery units, once sent to Europe, got French 75mm mle/97 pieces.
I have attached a tech drawing of the US 3 Inch 1902.There is also a 1905 variant of this piece.Over the years I have had two field guns of this type.They are common in the US.
The US also produced a 3 Inch M1916 which was the same old 1902 type tube, with a St. Chamond recoil and a split trail carriage.These also never saw service in either of the World Wars.
The M1902, a.k.a. M1905 3-inch gun (76.2mm) was the U.S. Armys first steel, rifled, breech loading, recoiling field gun. These features improved the range, accuracy, and rate of fire of the gun, allowing it to be used more effectively in operations with infantry. These new capabilities allowed the gun to provide accurate indirect fire on targets not in a direct line of sight, which provided crucial firepower for infantry attacks. It was also one of the first artillery guns to have an armored shield to protect the crew from small arms fire.
The M1902/5 was used from 1905-1917. During World War I, the Army used the French 75s instead of the M1902s, which were mostly kept in the United States for training. Very few of the M1902s were used in combat in Europe. They were phased out of active service in the 1920s.
The gun fired 3 inches (76 mm) Shrapnel or Explosive Shells that weighed 15 Pounds[1]. It had a muzzle velocity of 1,700 ft/s (520 m/s) with an effective range of 6500 yards, and a maximum range of 8500 yards. The maximum rate of fire was 15 rounds per minute.
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One way to get the scale is to use a known measurement. The wheel outside diameter should be 57 inches. However, with the error in spoke numbers, who knows if the wheel diameter is correctly to scale.
Ralph Lovett http://lovettartillery.com/index.html