In the last week and a half I nearly completed the restoration work on the 10,5cm lFH 98 Limber. It is made up of original parts found in France, Germany, Poland, and Russia, along with new footboards/trace chain hooks, and arm rest. It has been an eight year restoration project that pulls together the systems that support the 10,5cm lFH 98/09 and 10,5cm lFH 1916 howitzers. At a later date, I will put photos on the web site of the limber with the howitzers, ammunition, fuzes, sights, horse harnessing, and saddles. There are few of these surviving today. There is one at Atatürk's Mausoleum, parts to complete much of one in a private collection in Germany and the remains of one, badly rusted, in Russia.
The next work will be to add the ropes to the WW1/WW2 trace chains and photograph the WW1 and WW2 Era saddles and harnessing with the Limber attached to the 10,5cm lFH 16 howitzer...then load them onto the web site. After that, the focus will be restoration of the two howitzers. I think I will start wit the 10,5cm lFH 98/09. I will also need to find three more field artillery Bochsattel 73 and the breechings to for the wheel team horses (nearest the limber) to complete the WW1 six horse set.
The attached photos are of the six WW2 saddles/harnessing and the unrestored 10,5cm lFH 1916 howitzer.
The big problem is I never seem to get enough leave time away from work to focus of these projects and finish them.
R/
Ralph
-- Edited by Ralph Lovett on Sunday 4th of October 2015 04:51:41 PM