I have recently inherited a rather nice model of a WW1 field gun from my late-father's estate.
It originally belonged to his father, my grandfather, who fought in WW1.
I have always coveted this item for as long as I can remember and I am delighted to be its current custodian.
I don't know who built it. I am having difficulty deciding if it is a one-off, scratch-built model or not. I think it is a model of a particular gun and I'd like to know which. After trawling through numerous photos on the internet, my best guess is it's a Krupp Howitzer, but I am no expert.
It is pretty much complete although the breach block is currently removed for a repair and the ammo?/tool? box lid.
It has working recoil on the barrel and adjustable trajectory.
Much of the components are cast metal. The barrel is brass.
Overall length is about 0.75m.
The painting is a little crude, particularly the dummy rivet heads which makes me think it was not part of a production run. There again, the extent of casting as opposed to fabrication is considerable and must have required a lot of preparatory work which seems odd if it was a one-off.
I believe it was made during or shortly after/before WW1.
The only thing missing is the seats which certainly were present many years ago but unscrewed easily and sadly are lost. I would like to replace these which I anticipate will mean I will have to make some. I have an amateur engineering background so I'm not too bothered about that but any drawings of photos showing the seats would be really helpful. I vaguely remember them being kidney-shaped, but I could be wrong on that.
Any extra info would be really appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation.
Apologies for the inverted pic. Not sure why that is nor how to correct it.
-- Edited by Andrew Bradshaw on Monday 28th of January 2019 06:38:43 PM
I do not think it is a precise enough model to positively identify it. However, your model looks like it may have been inspired by the Austro-Hungarian 8cm FK M5: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_cm_FK_M.5
Your model has 12 spoke wheels which are correct for German and Austro-Hungarian Artillery. The breech is a horizontal sliding wedge and the shield has a slight curve. The slightly curved shield differs from the 8cm but aside from that it is quite similar. It could also be argued that the model looks like a German 7,7cm lFK 96 n/A but there are also a number of differences in the details of your model and the 7,7cm.
I hope this helps
R/
Ralph
-- Edited by Ralph Lovett on Tuesday 29th of January 2019 02:07:53 AM
I can see there are close similarities between my gun and those you have identified.
I think I can make some seats which won't look too out of place. I am trying to restore it and at the same time preserve originality. Hopefully, any restoration work will not be obvious.
The breach block is damaged and I am trying to carry out an invisible repair to re-attach it to the barrel.
I don't suppose I'll ever find out who made it but at least I know more about it now. I had guessed it was German. How it came into my grandfather's possession I guess I'll never know.
Thanks again for your input. I'm now going to study some of the original drawings on you website to see if I can find some details of the seats to work from.