Aaarghh,

This is a small kit but it is starting to haunt me, there is so little info on this thing that building it is not so fast as I hoped.

On the side of the gun there seem to be a rod of some kind, any clue what it could be? Could it be a cleaning rod or one of those distance markers (white/red pole), what material / color should it be?? I know I know, all those questions, but I find myself hesitating to build it if I don't know what it is for

Don't know for certain.
My 2 cents is that it's to small in diameter for a cleaning rod. I have seen artillery that use a rod inserted into connectors in the back end by the blade to help create leverage when repositioning the unit. I see what may be a connector on the top of the blade in this pictures, but not bottom connector??

It could be an aiming stake, but I'm not sure what that weapon was used for. Aiming stakes are for indirect fire weapons since the gun crew never "sees" what they are shooting at. There are usually at least 2 aiming stakes for an artillery piece.

It could be the cleaning rod since a bore brush (that would be the same diameter as the tube interior) would screw into the end of the rod and that piece looks to be the proper length. The completed assembly would look similar to a drumstick or a giant Q-tip. The brush itself would be stored in one of the accessory boxes on the gun or limber itself.

Ronny, Not sure if this well help. I found this old Tamiya version, in metal, for sale on e-Bay. If you look closely the pole/rod you're asking about is painted with red/white bands.

Tnx Geoff for that picture.

At first I was not sure if it would be those aiming rods, since the kit only has one and only at one side there where attachment marking.

And I always assumed that those rods where used in pairs.

Now I came across this picture



which clearly shows that there are attachment pints on both sided

So I made a decision, there will be 2 aiming rods on the model :-)

Tnx fellows