Hi, I am looking to gain info and pictures pertaining to WWI German bicycle infantry. what information is there about their bicycles? I am interested in color, seat characteristics, handle bars etc. Also info regarding pumps, lamps, package racks etc.
Any info is welcome and appreciated.Thanks in advance Josh.
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"General, you have nobly protected your forts. Keep your sword...to have crossed swords with you has been an honor, sir." General der Infantrie, Otto von Emmich
I really do not now much about this subject but I will tell you what I know. A tentcloth/greatcoat was rolled into one and strapped to the front of the handlebar stem. The handlebars went out in a straight shape in the outward directions about a foot, then suddenly curved backwards to form the hand grips. There was a thin fender on the rear wheel to prevent mud and dirt to be flung onto an unfortunate soldier's back, to make this I would suggest aluminium foil. When the tent-cloth/greatcoat roll was not carried, a headlight about as big around as an big orange was carried, perhaps you could make this out of a very small shotgun shell pellet. The seat was in a rounded triangular shape, there were two springs attached to the underside of it to absorb the shock, to make the seat I would just form one using putty or flour and water dough, but you have to give it a rather thick coat of paint after it tries, for it tend to have a gritty texture, this would also work for the tent-cloth roll and the later to be explained rifle carrying sock. I should think the pedals would be wood, not sure though. A leather ( I think) rifle sock or sleeve was carried (strapped) to the side of the frame rod between the seat and handlebar stem.
To make the frame itself, I would suggest very thin paper clip wire. For the wheels, perhaps some very small rubber gaskets from a machine of some sort, diary milking equipment might some of these. For the spokes, very, very, very thin fishing line super-glued criss-cross across the diameter of the wheels. For the frame color I would suggest Tamiya Field Gray, seat leather or semi-gloss black, spokes aluminium, tires gray, and for the chain a metalic grey.
By the way when did dynamo light systems come into being? I ask because carbide oil lanterns are flying off ebay like hotcakes I just lost out to about (my guess) 6 snipers on one that started at $9.99 American. Yikes! its a real no mans land on ebay right now, with 2014 less than 6 months away.
Greetings, josh
-- Edited by FR73 on Saturday 29th of June 2013 05:59:05 AM
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"General, you have nobly protected your forts. Keep your sword...to have crossed swords with you has been an honor, sir." General der Infantrie, Otto von Emmich
Oh silly me. The scale for this project is 1:1 not 1:72!
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"General, you have nobly protected your forts. Keep your sword...to have crossed swords with you has been an honor, sir." General der Infantrie, Otto von Emmich
If anyone is interested in a 1/35 conversion they may want to look at the Asian Bike and British WW2 Military Bike kits from Diopark, which might be worth considering as a basis. They are available from www.hlj.com and have recently been reviewed on www.perthmilitarymodelling.com. As Terry Ashley has actually assembled the kit the reviews are especially useful! I have the WW2 bike but have not assembled it yet.
May be other pictures of interest in the http://www.lochnagarcrater.org/PhotoAlbum.html pages - though a good many look familiar to me. Still, a website worth visiting in any event.
Thanks for the replies. do we know for certain if carbide lamps were used? many German bicycles appear not to have them.
what do you think?
Greetings, Josh
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"General, you have nobly protected your forts. Keep your sword...to have crossed swords with you has been an honor, sir." General der Infantrie, Otto von Emmich