4.5" howitzer questions

[George Moore]

Gents,

I am a model maker and although I deal in small scale, I make the master patterns for kits to be made in resin.
You can search for some of my stuff on the "resicast" site.

As I require reference material, I have quite a bit on the gun and limber.
Scale drawings, photographs etc, plus information on the construction of wheels (spoked).
In my collection is a copy of the manual for the gun.

The conversion from spoked to rubber tyred wheels used the Martin Parry kit, an American design originally used to convert the (ex French WW1) 75mm guns used by the US Army, to be used with rubber tyred wheels. The same was used for the 18pdr guns.....one example of a 4.5" howitzer here in the UK, has the Martin Parry design, with "18 pdr" cast on the body.

If I can be of any help let me know.

georgemoore66 followed by hotmail.co.uk

Only too happy to help if I can.

George.

08-28-2009 03;21;33PMaas.jpg Muckleburgh weekend 1 199.jpg

[Barry J. Cox]

Rob: I've done a bit of work on the wheels of both a 50mm Krupp Mountain Gun and one of the Bethlehem Steel 37mm 1916 guns and agree that the spokes are often numbered. Not clear why, unless it had something to do with the military fetish of numbering everything, including the men... But because the tire is bolted, rather than shrunk, on, it's easy to replace spokes, at least on those two examples. The ones in question have a more complicated design, but surely it is reproducible.

Further, I also have an 18 pdr and limber in the same condition, so if the wheels on that unit are the same size it would mean 8 wheels, which makes the construction of jigs/fixtures for the wood parts worthwhile. Do you know if the size is the same?

George: At the moment a drawing/closeup photo of the hub would maybe decide if I'd be over my head here.

There is no particular rush here, as the present project in the shop is not quite in the roll out stage, and there is cleanup on the units in question regardless of the outcome of the reconversion issue.

Did a little web searching last night. Had not realized just how significant the 4.5 and the 18 were in British history. They and their users certainly got into the mix of things.

Really appreciate the responses. It's pretty amazing how much knowledge and info is available if one just finds the appropriate people.

[George Moore]

The enclosed drawing is from the book on British Quick Firing artillery by Len Trawin. It has some excellent illustrations and cut away for the 4.5.
Also included is a section on the types of wheels.
The 18pdr and 4.5 used the same wheels, as did the limbers.
The official designation was 2nd class 'C' No 45.

You can see the spokes are offset to the next one around.

Yes, both the 18 pdr and 4.5 were quite important, the 4.5 fired over 25 million shells....the 18 pdr 99.3 million.

George.

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[Barry J. Cox]

George: Thanks for the pictures. While the easy way would be with existing hubs, it is clear one could make them. We'll see.

Looked at the units again yesterday and the 4.5 has the conversion marked "18 pdr" as shown in your earlier picture. Interesting.

Also noted that the limbers especially have a number to leather pouches still attached, which might be of interest to some, assuming most would not have survived.

Will get pictures posted asap.

Thanks again.

Barry

[George Moore]

Interesting find, especially the leather parts. I have stowage lists and drawings of what was carried.

The info I have states 3 types of limber.
Two were identical except the items carried:
1A Limber with gun, ammunition and tools
1B Limber no gun, all ammunition

A third was longer, basically twice the capacity of the standard limber, again, all ammunition. It has a different "towing pole" that is shorter and not used hitched to horses, but connects to the towing hook on the rear of the limber.

All types were seen again in WW2, all fitted with rubber tyred wheels.

I do have fairly detailed drawings with dimensions and layout for them all, if interested.

George.