Landships II

Brennan · Lieutenant-Colonel

Converting Hat (Ottoman Artillery pack) 105mm Le FH to Schnieder-Canet 120mm Howitzer

Brennan · Lieutenant-Colonel

Did a process statement as well - have learnt it is better for this to follow the pics rather than preceed. So here is that original process description. Hope it helps.

Brennan

WWI - Howitzers in 12cm - that we won't see but can make

Unfortunately I don't have a didgital camera - but am trying to get a mate to take pics to illustrate the discription below:

One of the most common "odd" weapons in WWI is the 12cm Howitzer & many of these are the Schneider-Canet / Cresout (1907 through 1915 depending who & date of introduction) including the great bulk of Russian 122mm QF pieces in WWI (this was the Schnieder 12cm license built in Russia & is visually identical).

Start with.

the 105mm le FH in the Ottoman Artillery & MG pack.

All changes, but 1, are to the gun barrel.

1. Trim off the front (slightly smaller) barrel section.
2.Trim the support section that extends forward from under the barrel - remove the approx 1.5mm that angles foward & down (also taking off the front 1.5mm approx of the existing recuporator.

3.This is the tricky bit. Trim the support section back so it is flush with Both the underside of the remaining barrel & the Rivet stiplings of the recuporator. This will create a channel either side approx 1.5mm high and 0.5mm to 0.75mm deep.

4. Into the channels made in 3. above fit a section of 1.5mm 1/2 round plastic ( I use Evergreen Strip Styrene) this fills the channel from the Breech to flush with the trimmed front (see 2.) of the old recuperator.

5. Cut two short sections of 1.5mm rod. Theses should be 4mm long (so I suggest cut the 5-6mm as you will need to trim carefull to get a 'vertical' cut - at least I always doing cutting this ****ed rod).

6. Next @#$%^&*! tricky section. Carefully glue the 2 trimmed sections of rod onto the forward section of the old recuperator so they are flush & contiguous with the sections of 1/2 round. I have found no other reliable way than care and paitence. The 2 sectoins will set slightly apart BUT MUST be level & straight. These now create the twin circular recuperators of the Schnieder in place of the single bigger rectangular section from Krupp.

7. Cut a section of 2.5mm rod bigg enough to extend from the remaining barrel stubb to just forward of the new twin recuperators. Again I recomend cut long & trim to get a vertical face for the muzzle & a fit with the barrel stub. The thicker the rod the more impossible (at least for me)a single verticle cut. Then glue this in place.

8. Take some 2.5mm 1/2 round & cut 2 sections - one short to go frm the breech end to the attachment pin, the other long to go from the pin all the way forward on the underside of the old recuperator. This should probably be a curved ended & truncated V shape but making this is ridiculously hard & looks little different from the 1/2 round. Glue these underneath.

9. Take another section of 1.5mm 1/2 round approx 8/9mm long & glue under the rear of the breech. Why, well Schneiders were long reciol weapons & had a support extension behind the breech to hold the barrel at max reciol.

10. Take a small rectangular section of sprue from the box (either end of the bit that links gyn shield to MG carriage will do) trim this to fix in the open part of the box trail, basically level with the 1st of bolt stipples on the trail. Then glue in place.

Now assemble choosing a suitable angle for the barrel.

I normally pin the Gun shield to carraige - in so doing lift it a mm or 2 to give a higher angle.

If the centre of the support extemsion (9.) is painted dark it looks more concave & thus more accurate.

Hope to have the pics soon.

Brennan

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

Excellent conversion job, Brennan.

And welcome to the Landships forum.

Pat · Commander in Chief

Brennan, it has been a while. I am sure others would be as happy as me for any further conversions of yours. Your postings were most inspiring. Regards, Pat