Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Cardboard Guns...

Field artillery regiment; 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade
 About 20-odd years ago, when money was short and time was long, I wondered how I was going to acquire the guns I needed for my Russian (or Pan-Andean People's Republican) Army.  A rather crudely scratchbuilt set of infantry guns didn't pass muster, though one of the more outspoken critics offered to lend me a metal field piece from which to draw up templates for scratchbuilding.  The first results you see here: the First Artillery Battalion of 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade.
The middle gun in the line above was the first built, all from cardboard, chads, and bits of ball-point pen.  Even the wheels were cardboard, made up of layers that vaguely suggested a tread, and the outer circle having its centre cut out for a better representation of tyres and hubs.   That centre gun also has its towing assemby, a rather fiddly construction from thin cardboard (cereal packet), paper and a discoid section cut from the ink reservoir of a ball pen.
Finally, the muzzle brakes were fashioned, again from ball-pen ink reservoirs.  Trial and error suggested the best method was to sharpen a length of reservoir with a pencil sharpener, cut out square sections on either side, up near the blunt end, leaving a millimetre or two untouched.  Then shave off slivers top and bottom of the whole thing.  Then it can be slipped over the end of whatever you are using for a gun barrel.  For these guns, it was modellers' white plastic tube.

From what I've seen and read of Sovier artillery, I'm guessing this was an early war - possibly a pre-WW2 design.  Perhaps someone can correct me on this.
A fourth field gun, same calibre (76.2L39) under construction.  Until very recently I had not based them, slotting gun crew stands between and under the trail legs of the pieces.  Unfortunately, the construction isn't very robust, and even before the earthquakes, pieces had to undergo periodic repairs.  This usually meant retaching the legs.
76.2L39 Field gun under construction.  Beer mats make very good bases...

A few years ago, I was given some spare parts from a number of gun, AFV and vehicle kits a friend had already assembled.  The easiest such conversions were the guns.  There were enough gun barrel and breech black assemblies to form a regiment (We're talking Command Decision, here) of 152mm Medium pieces.

This is the way they have been for quite a while now - a few years at any rate.  Still a few bits and pieces to add.
They will also get the same sized bases as the other field guns.  These bases have no meaning in CD terms, that being defined really by the base of the gun crew stand.

There was, however, just the one 122mm piece.  This one, though, I gave 'proper' wheels.

As it happened I had already made a beginning on a couple of other 122mm gun/howitzers, but hadn't worled out the breech blocks.  Incidental to a later picture you will see some of the bits involved.  Not much progress there, though.




And now for some infantry guns.  This was really where I came in, trying to construct some of these small guns with, at the time, no worthwhile information on what they looked like.  A few years ago I acquired these white metal pieces at a bring-'n'-buy.


So far they have received no more than an undercoat.






What formations will get these guns?  Probably some of the less well-equipped Rifle Brigades in my army, but the decision is still pending.






Finally: a couple of 'Quick-built' Italeri ISU152s.  Such vehicles features in a recent article in the Plastic Warrior blogspot, but they had different gun barrels.  I had forgotten that they came with alternatives.  I opted for the short barrelled guns with the 'shark-gill' muzzle brake.

The earthquake damage to the far vehicle (above pics), though quite apparent in the b&w picture, turned out to be quite easy to repair, and will be completely hidden by a paint job...





...once they have been dusted off!

13 comments:

  1. amazing. I think I must try and use pens to make artillary one day. I have used it to make rockets so why not guns... Thanks my friend

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    1. Remember, it's the soft inner bit that holds the ink that I've used. Take it from me, wait 'til the pen runs out first (recycling! but also, have you ever seen how ball pen ink can get everywhere? That stiff has a fluid physics all of its own). Felt tip pen might make for really large calibre guns/howitzers, but you might be looking at 40mm+ figure scales. Check out the possibilities, too, of cotton bud and any other plastic tubing or rod that comes your way. I prefer these alternatives for making gun barrels.

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  2. Wow! A great selection and some wonderful idea's to digest.

    I would never had guessed most of them were scratchbuilt jobs.

    Well done.

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    1. I'm gearing myself up to using parts of other kits to 'semi-scratchbuild' AFVs (Hummels, Rosd transport, and the like). Partly on commission in the case of the Hummels. Brian provided the materials and he gets one Hummel, I get the other. It's a kinda stiffen the sinews and summon the blood sort of gig though...

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    2. Ion, I have been itching to construct some L5's for old times sake and my Cold War Kiwi's, any ideas?

      I am thinking bread bag ties for the shields, but the trail arms have me stumped.

      Cheers Paul

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  3. Those cardboard guns are brilliant Ion. Amazing work.

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    1. I think you might have seen the first gun, Rodger, but not the rest. They came later. Thanks for the accolades!

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  4. Very nice! Do you have drawings/measurements? Airfix Magazine had a series on the Eighth Army back in the mid 70's which gave details for making of the British guns like a Bofors and 2 pounder from balsa. We're spoilt nowadays.

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  5. This sort of thing can be fun, when it goes well. I did draw parts diagrams from the metal example I was lent of the 72.2mm field gun, and had them still until a few years ago. For the rest, I worked from kit diagrams.

    I forgot to include in this posting a couple of 57mm anti-tank guns that went a bit wrong. After some thought, I've just about decided to finish them as late-War versions of the 76.2mm field piece, and redo the AT guns from scratch. I might make that the subject of my next posting.

    I don't recall the articles you mention, but I have built a cardboard BA10 armoured car from a magazine article, and I'm thinking of adapting a couple of spare British Medium 5.5" pieces into Russian 152mm with the 'shark-gill' muzzle brake. Landing craft I've also seen as Magazine subjects for scratchbuilding.
    Cheers,
    Ion

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  6. Great work and very inspiring.

    Paul.

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    1. Thanks, Paul. I was hoping so - to inspire myself! May I say here that your work I find as deserving of such an accolade.
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  7. Fantastic work as always! I've been meaning to pop round, but have been rather hammered by the 'flu...

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    1. Man, that's bad luck. Get well soon, eh? I'll have to do another posting, then, for your delictation...

      Meanwhile, I'm looking fwd to the next instalment of the Bosnia action...
      Cheers,
      Ion

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