Allen's 1/35 Brach Models 16 tube Reihenwerfer auf Somua MCG S307(f)
- Thread starter Allen Dewire
- Start date
Neil Merryweather
SMF Supporter
I'm watching from the sidelines....
Nothing to contribute but banter and admiration ( I don't think I know you well enough for abuse
)
Nothing to contribute but banter and admiration ( I don't think I know you well enough for abuse
)
I do Neil , so leave it to meI'm watching from the sidelines....
Nothing to contribute but banter and admiration ( I don't think I know you well enough for abuse
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2018
- Messages
- 6,212
- Points
- 113
- First Name
- Bob
Looks a very good build Allen, late AGAIN, sorry My friend!!
My ass is sore from warming this chair waiting for an update. 20 days? WTF, I thought you were retired? I feel for you with the resin. I finished my Anh 116 in resin, a real exercise in cursing/swearing/stepping away. No slots/tabs/locators or sequential destructions, just splosions. I hope yours are better.
Morning Rabble and all other folks,
Yea, I know you have all been waitingpatiently with bated breath for this to kick off. Thanks for wrecking my apartment and eating/drinking me out of house and home. Still love ya all and CA slinging has begun, but first....
No need to apologize Tony. The kit is great and if I do have probs with the decals, you are my first point of contact for help!!!
And a great job you've done Buddy!!! Next time though, keep the Rabble outta my fridge and cupboards. Had to empty the wallet to re-stock.........
Me. Merryweather, I think we know each other for more than 20 minutes Sir!!! That qualifies you to use abuse where necessary. Great to have you along!!!...........
Dude 2, this will get finished and you know I accept all abuse cheerfully. My sense of humor knows no boundsAlbert!!!
Super Mick and glad to have you!!! I did have a good stock on hand, but the damn Rabble cleaned me out........
'Admiral' Bob, After all the rough times you and Julie have been through, you don't need to apologize Buddy!!! Glad to see you looking in and please check out the Latest Acquisitions thread as I bought something to help rehabilitate you and bring you back to normal.....
What can I say Paul!!! I had to finish the Mossie before I could jump into this project. It's not my fault you didn't grab a cushion to put under your boney butt. They were in the corner......This kit is the same and as with most resin, no locating tabs, but parts do fit into each other, with care, to make them moveable. The rest is pretty easy to work with and fit with tweezers being your best friend....
I will start a new post with info and some pics to keep it easier to follow shortly................
Prost
Allen
Yea, I know you have all been waiting
No need to apologize Tony. The kit is great and if I do have probs with the decals, you are my first point of contact for help!!!
'Ats all right Tony.....Allen's just gettin' started.....we're just warming the chairs up till the rest of the crew shows up.
And a great job you've done Buddy!!! Next time though, keep the Rabble outta my fridge and cupboards. Had to empty the wallet to re-stock.........
I'm watching from the sidelines....
Nothing to contribute but banter and admiration ( I don't think I know you well enough for abuse
Me. Merryweather, I think we know each other for more than 20 minutes Sir!!! That qualifies you to use abuse where necessary. Great to have you along!!!...........
I do Neil , so leave it to me
Dude 2, this will get finished and you know I accept all abuse cheerfully. My sense of humor knows no bounds
Super Mick and glad to have you!!! I did have a good stock on hand, but the damn Rabble cleaned me out........
'Admiral' Bob, After all the rough times you and Julie have been through, you don't need to apologize Buddy!!! Glad to see you looking in and please check out the Latest Acquisitions thread as I bought something to help rehabilitate you and bring you back to normal.....
What can I say Paul!!! I had to finish the Mossie before I could jump into this project. It's not my fault you didn't grab a cushion to put under your boney butt. They were in the corner......This kit is the same and as with most resin, no locating tabs, but parts do fit into each other, with care, to make them moveable. The rest is pretty easy to work with and fit with tweezers being your best friend....
I will start a new post with info and some pics to keep it easier to follow shortly................
Prost
Allen
Airborne01
SMF Supporter
The casting looks most excellent - ugly little brute (not you!) but I'm sure you'll ace it! Watching with interest.
Steve
Steve
Here we go!!! First the background,
Captain Alfred Becker served in WWI and WWII as an artillery officer. Between the wars he earned a degree in mechanical engineering which would later be most useful. As an artillery battery commander, in the 1940 battle for the Netherlands, he came across abandoned artillery towing vehicles on the battlefield. As his battery was horse drawn, he thought he could use these vehicles to pull his own guns and he did. As his battery was re-stationed to Le Havre, in France, he also noted all the abandoned/destroyed French tanks, halftracks and English tanks everywhere he went. He made some conversions by mounting artillery guns on them and after using them on the east front, where vehicle losses were high, his works/conversions caught on with the high command in Berlin. He was then re-stationed to Alkett to do his work there and to find a way to mount 7.5cm PaKs and 10.5cm howitzers on the French Lorraine chassis...
He was sent back to France to evaluate all the remaining unused French vehicles and to determine if they could be used by Germany to boost the loses on all battle fronts. The German War Ministry created Baukommando Becker and he was given 3 factories to use. They were Matford, Talbot and Hotchkiss outside of Paris. He set up his HQ at the Matford factory and set about the huge task of recovering the abandoned, wrecked and destroyed vehicles all around France. He sent teams all around the country to recover the vehicles and bring them back to the factories. They were then sorted into 3 groups. Minor repair/refit, major repair/refit and beyond repair, with these being used for spare parts. He had amassed about 1800 vehicles of different types, including Lorraine chassis, Hotchkiss H35 and H39 tanks, Somua MCG 1/2 tracks and Unic P107 1/2 tracks. He was also sent a team of engineers from Berlin to assist him in his work. Along the way, he was also promoted to Major. I won't get into all of them and will mainly deal with the Somua MCG. He made plywood armor templates for these conversions as mock-ups. He then sent the templates to Alkett in Berlin for manufacture into steel plates. These were sent back to the factories near Paris where they were assembled on the vehicle. The 81mm mortars in the kit I'm building were also captured and are of French design...It's a really fascinating story about Baukommando Becker and if you want to read more, wikipedia has a pretty good and detailed story about him......
The Somua MCG 1/2 track was an un-armored vehicle used by the French to tow their medium artillery pieces and as a recovery vehicle. Until May 1940, 345 artillery tractors and 440 recovery tractors w/crane were built. With the fall of France, many of these were captured and re-used by the Germans after refits and armor upgrades. They looked like this,
The specs are as follows from wiki,
They weren't he fastest puppies in the world!!!..........Stripping one down, Becker made a wood mockup of the armored cab and designed the rotating table with the two rows of 81mm mortars. It was given the designation, Leichter Reihenwerfer (16 Rohre) auf Somua MCG s307(f) which translates to, Light Mortar (16 Tubes) on Somua MCG s307 with the (f) = French. The vehicle had a crew of 4, consisting of the driver, commander and 2 loaders. The loaders were completely exposed while loading and had little protection while underway. The armor plating was 12mm and protected against small arms fire and shrapnel. This vehicle had a weight of just under 7.3 tons, an 80 liter fuel tank and a range of 180 km with its 5-speed gearbox,
As you can see, the 81mm mortars (type Brandt Mle 27/31) were arranged in two rows of 8 tubes each. The table could rotate 360° and the mortars had an elevation of +35° to +90°. They were fired in two salvos of 8 each. The shells were held in place with a mechanism at the top of the tubes when loaded. Pulling a lanyard on each row, released the round into the tube and fired it. It used two different shells with one weighing 3.25 kgs and the other 6.5 Kgs. Maximum range was 2.8 Km and 1.2 Km respectively. The vehicle could carry 90 rounds onboard. Another pic,
Notice the shells in the loader's hands. A total of 36 (according to Spielberger) of these were built by Baukommando Becker. They were assigned to the 21 Panzer Division and used in the Normandy area in 1944. Major Alfred Becker survived the war and died in 1981...
On to the build!!! I have cleaned up most of the parts for the chassis and will save the mortar bits until I get that far,
The big question was how I was going to paint the thing. I figured it would be best to build the interior and give it a coat of paint and weathering. The main cover plate with vision ports could then be CA'd in place. So, here's the cab, so to speak,
The levers, pedals and shifter done. The steering wheel and IP will be added after painting. The gas tank has been added too. I had to make sure the filler neck aligned with the hole in the top plate over it. I also spent a bit of time cleaning up around the radiator fill neck and the hood as it was filled with excess resin in front. I moved on to the underside and went about test fitting the suspension parts to the frame and working on the front axle. The rear road wheel frames are workable, but with the solid resin tracks, they won't move,
Oh well, and Friul doesn't make a set for this critter either. I have done a bit more, but forgot to take some pics (as usual) ...I hope to get more done later today and have some pics for you too.
Sorry for the long intro and the time between posts today. I type as fast as pond water. Thanks for looking and take care....
Prost
Allen
Captain Alfred Becker served in WWI and WWII as an artillery officer. Between the wars he earned a degree in mechanical engineering which would later be most useful. As an artillery battery commander, in the 1940 battle for the Netherlands, he came across abandoned artillery towing vehicles on the battlefield. As his battery was horse drawn, he thought he could use these vehicles to pull his own guns and he did. As his battery was re-stationed to Le Havre, in France, he also noted all the abandoned/destroyed French tanks, halftracks and English tanks everywhere he went. He made some conversions by mounting artillery guns on them and after using them on the east front, where vehicle losses were high, his works/conversions caught on with the high command in Berlin. He was then re-stationed to Alkett to do his work there and to find a way to mount 7.5cm PaKs and 10.5cm howitzers on the French Lorraine chassis...
He was sent back to France to evaluate all the remaining unused French vehicles and to determine if they could be used by Germany to boost the loses on all battle fronts. The German War Ministry created Baukommando Becker and he was given 3 factories to use. They were Matford, Talbot and Hotchkiss outside of Paris. He set up his HQ at the Matford factory and set about the huge task of recovering the abandoned, wrecked and destroyed vehicles all around France. He sent teams all around the country to recover the vehicles and bring them back to the factories. They were then sorted into 3 groups. Minor repair/refit, major repair/refit and beyond repair, with these being used for spare parts. He had amassed about 1800 vehicles of different types, including Lorraine chassis, Hotchkiss H35 and H39 tanks, Somua MCG 1/2 tracks and Unic P107 1/2 tracks. He was also sent a team of engineers from Berlin to assist him in his work. Along the way, he was also promoted to Major. I won't get into all of them and will mainly deal with the Somua MCG. He made plywood armor templates for these conversions as mock-ups. He then sent the templates to Alkett in Berlin for manufacture into steel plates. These were sent back to the factories near Paris where they were assembled on the vehicle. The 81mm mortars in the kit I'm building were also captured and are of French design...It's a really fascinating story about Baukommando Becker and if you want to read more, wikipedia has a pretty good and detailed story about him......
The Somua MCG 1/2 track was an un-armored vehicle used by the French to tow their medium artillery pieces and as a recovery vehicle. Until May 1940, 345 artillery tractors and 440 recovery tractors w/crane were built. With the fall of France, many of these were captured and re-used by the Germans after refits and armor upgrades. They looked like this,
The specs are as follows from wiki,
| Mass | 6.8 t (6.7 long tons; 7.5 short tons) |
|---|---|
| Length | 5.30 m (17 ft 5 in) |
| Width | 2.17 m (7 ft 1 in) |
| Height | 2.85 m (9 ft 4 in) |
| Crew | 2 + 8 passengers |
| Engine | 4-cylinder, petrol, 4712 cc 60 hp (45 kW) |
| Payload capacity | 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) |
| Maximum speed | 31 km/h |
They weren't he fastest puppies in the world!!!..........Stripping one down, Becker made a wood mockup of the armored cab and designed the rotating table with the two rows of 81mm mortars. It was given the designation, Leichter Reihenwerfer (16 Rohre) auf Somua MCG s307(f) which translates to, Light Mortar (16 Tubes) on Somua MCG s307 with the (f) = French. The vehicle had a crew of 4, consisting of the driver, commander and 2 loaders. The loaders were completely exposed while loading and had little protection while underway. The armor plating was 12mm and protected against small arms fire and shrapnel. This vehicle had a weight of just under 7.3 tons, an 80 liter fuel tank and a range of 180 km with its 5-speed gearbox,
As you can see, the 81mm mortars (type Brandt Mle 27/31) were arranged in two rows of 8 tubes each. The table could rotate 360° and the mortars had an elevation of +35° to +90°. They were fired in two salvos of 8 each. The shells were held in place with a mechanism at the top of the tubes when loaded. Pulling a lanyard on each row, released the round into the tube and fired it. It used two different shells with one weighing 3.25 kgs and the other 6.5 Kgs. Maximum range was 2.8 Km and 1.2 Km respectively. The vehicle could carry 90 rounds onboard. Another pic,
Notice the shells in the loader's hands. A total of 36 (according to Spielberger) of these were built by Baukommando Becker. They were assigned to the 21 Panzer Division and used in the Normandy area in 1944. Major Alfred Becker survived the war and died in 1981...
On to the build!!! I have cleaned up most of the parts for the chassis and will save the mortar bits until I get that far,
The big question was how I was going to paint the thing. I figured it would be best to build the interior and give it a coat of paint and weathering. The main cover plate with vision ports could then be CA'd in place. So, here's the cab, so to speak,
The levers, pedals and shifter done. The steering wheel and IP will be added after painting. The gas tank has been added too. I had to make sure the filler neck aligned with the hole in the top plate over it. I also spent a bit of time cleaning up around the radiator fill neck and the hood as it was filled with excess resin in front. I moved on to the underside and went about test fitting the suspension parts to the frame and working on the front axle. The rear road wheel frames are workable, but with the solid resin tracks, they won't move,
Oh well, and Friul doesn't make a set for this critter either. I have done a bit more, but forgot to take some pics (as usual) ...I hope to get more done later today and have some pics for you too.
Sorry for the long intro and the time between posts today. I type as fast as pond water. Thanks for looking and take care....
Prost
Allen
Don't apologise about the intro Allen.... I've just had a right old read up and thoroughly enjoyed it 
It looks a cracking little kit,the clear pics of your early progress show that,and I look forward to watching it develop mate
It looks a cracking little kit,the clear pics of your early progress show that,and I look forward to watching it develop mate
Neil Merryweather
SMF Supporter
Fascinating stuff Allen, thanks for sharing
Thank you, John and welcome back. I am really enjoying this kit, so far. Working only with CA is a bit tricky though. It does clean up a lot easier than most plastic kits do, no multiple sprue attachment tabs to deal with, so prep was simple...
Trust me Steve, the kit is a lot better looking than me. Good to have you along Sir. How's your Mossie doing???
Don't apologise about the intro Allen.... I've just had a right old read up and thoroughly enjoyed it
It looks a cracking little kit,the clear pics of your early progress show that,and I look forward to watching it develop mate
Thanks Andy and I figured some background would help to better to clarify the build. I do tend to waffle a bit as you know Buddy. Hope you and Rach are finally over the C crap...
You're most welcome Neil!!! Nice of you keep tabs on me too. I do have to have a good ketchup at those wonderful Fuselages, Fusilators or Fusiliers things you have been working your magic on, Sir...
Thanks all...
Prost
Allen
Andy the Sheep
SMF Supporter
Allen, I missed the start of this thread and I just had a catch up.
Very interesting vehicle and an amazing kit.
I'll seat somewhere, if any seat is still available, ready to delight my eyes.
Andrea
Very interesting vehicle and an amazing kit.
I'll seat somewhere, if any seat is still available, ready to delight my eyes.
Andrea
That was a great piece on Captain Alfred Becker Dude 1 , thoroughly interesting. Reminded me of Percy Hobart Major General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart, KBE, CB, DSO, MC .Very similar in their engineering ideas.
Airborne01
SMF Supporter
Thanks for the ID Allen; the Mossie is temporarily stalled due to my inability to satisfactorily eliminate the nose seam (despite copious amounts of filler and sanding)! However, the Spitfire is Shelf of Doom, the Half-track build is progressing well and I intend to finish both within the time constraints! I now realise the problems of over-commitment
Steve