Menards new Field Artillery Division Flatcar

Have you cut it in half yet ?

Cabinet Bob,

   Looks great, what do you think of the quality of the trucks & couplers?

PCRR/Dave

I ordered two of them yesterday. I'll follow you Bob and play with them in the winter.

I know I can find a place for those guns somewhere .

Larry

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

Cabinet Bob,

   Looks great, what do you think of the quality of the trucks & couplers?

PCRR/Dave

they worked and looked good

Larry Sr. posted:

I ordered two of them yesterday. I'll ...... play with them in the winter.

 

They're no good the rest of the year. They overheat.

cabinet Bob posted:

This flatcar came in today and just looking at all the details, it looks Great !   As shown in the pictures the detail of the gun is outstanding. The container can be taken off as well as the gun, if you want to make a different load , as I'm sure I will..There are two extra holes on the deck of the flatcar, maybe something yet to come? Bob

Looks like the 88mm rifle mounted on most WWII U-boats ... !

That's a very imposing End Of Train device! 

Kerrigan posted:

cabinet Bob posted:

This flatcar came in today and just looking at all the details, it looks Great !   As shown in the pictures the detail of the gun is outstanding. The container can be taken off as well as the gun, if you want to make a different load , as I'm sure I will..There are two extra holes on the deck of the flatcar, maybe something yet to come? Bob

Looks like the 88mm rifle mounted on most WWII U-boats ... !

 

Agreed. Doesn't look like any of the "Field Artillery" pieces I was around at Fort Sill, OK nor Fort Hood, TX.

jay jay posted:

That's a very imposing End Of Train device! 

Looks like it will blow away the competition! lol.

Lee Fritz

Hot Water posted:

Kerrigan posted:

 

Looks like the 88mm rifle mounted on most WWII U-boats ... !

 

Agreed. Doesn't look like any of the "Field Artillery" pieces I was around at Fort Sill, OK nor Fort Hood, TX. 

It's a model of a German 8.8 cm Flak gun (anti-aircraft Flak version, one of a number of versions of the 88), with stationary mount, from WWII.                                                                                                   (It was really, really hard to find these riding around on American flatcars.)  

The U-Boat deck gun version was much different:

Waiting to get mine, might put the container on top of the Mack truck.

The German 88mm was one of the mainstays and came in many different versions.  Yup, the 88mm you nailed is different from the land-based versions.  The Naval 88mm could depress much further than the land based 88mm, and was standard on the VII boats until most we removed after surface combat use became next to impossible due to the boats being kept under by anti-sub groups.  The continued use of them was left up to commander's personal like/dislike.   The larger Monsoon boats, the IX series, sported a larger 108mm version for a while as these boats were dispatched to distant reaches of the oceans like the Indian Ocean, where they could operate independently with less interference from anti-sub patrols, and were able to use them.  All were removed from all boats as the war wore on; they were not used any longer and caused increase drag when diving, etc.

"Field artillery Division"  ???

Thought I would post this from a site I found "88mm Flak Series-Flugabwehrkanone"

German 88mm gun is probably the best known artillery piece of World War II. First time 88mm saw combat was in Spain during the Civil War in 1936, where it proved itself to be not only excellent anti-aircraft gun but also ideal tank killer due to its high muzzle velocity and efficient heavy projectile. It again proved to be an excellent anti-tank gun in France in 1940, especially against heavily armored French Char B1-bis heavy tanks and British Mk.II Matilda infantry tanks. By the time when it arrived in North Africa it was a feared tank killer, which could knock any Allied tank at distances well over 1000 meters. It again proved its reputation in Russia, where it was the only gun capable of dealing with Soviet T-34/76 medium tanks and KW-1 heavy tanks, before the arrival of heavier German tanks. 88mm Flak guns were also used as field artillery – e.g. during the Battle of the Bulge.The only problem with 88mm Flak series was its height and weight, which forced it in action to rely on its power and range rather than concealment. During the war 88mm Flak series guns were used aside of the German Army by Italy and captured examples were often used by the Allies including US Army in late 1944 in Western Europe. After the war many 88mm Flak series guns were used by many countries including former Yugoslavia and Denmark."

The model gun on the Menards flat could have been bolted to the large base that would support the gun on land, or could be bolted to a vehicle to make it more mobile.

Ranger Rick posted:

During the war 88mm Flak series guns were used aside of the German Army by Italy and captured examples were often used by the Allies including US Army in late 1944 in Western Europe. 

Often, my foot.

The 7th Army had one unit (and a small one, at that) that was equipped with German artillery because in the late Fall of that year, there was a crushing ammo shortage and a surplus of captured artillery. If memory serves, it was a mix of 105 and 88 MM guns, all towed pieces because they were mobile and ammo could be found. It didn't last long.

Unlike the movies, you rarely ever saw GIs or Brits using German weapons due to the possibility you were going to be shot at or counter-battery fire called in on you from a spotter who recognized the sound not being "one of ours." Artillery didn't sound nearly as clear as small arm fire, but a tanker could sometimes tell rounds from high-velocity guns if they passed close by, from the sound, if that was a German or American anti-tank gun shooting at them.

P51, you would have never been fun to play with as a kid.      I bow to your knowledge. I did just paint the gun on the flat a beige color with a touch of camouflage green and bound a couple of German soldiers to the base of it! I have to use my imagination someway!

Rick

The flat car should be relettered as a military one but NOT "artillery division" and imagine that it is going to Aberdump or some other Army base. The military museum in Newport News, va. has one displayed. From what I have read, Rommel in North Africa was the first to use the 88 in a big way against tanks. The US and GB had nothing like it.  Towards the end in Europe GIs were picking up German MP44s. There are numerous photos of them carrying the gun.  I had a real one for quite awhile, again the Allies had nothing comparable. The Germans did like and use the Russian submachine gun with the drum magazine.