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Armor/AFV: AA/AT/Artillery
For discussions about artillery and anti-aircraft or anti-tank guns.
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M1 240mm Howitzer
RotorHead67
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 01:33 AM UTC
Artty Fans:
I know about the Hauler 1/72 kit. So I'm pretty sure there is
no 1/35 kit. (Sidenote:)The "M1" nomenclature is overly ABUSED.
I'm going out on a limb here,so......don't Tar&feather me.
I read that the carriage for the 240mm came from an enlarged
M1 8" of which, these (2) pieces shared parts. If true....
Could an over zealous madman take the AFV CLUB M1 155mm or 8" M115 kit as a base and convert and a lot of scratch building to produce an accurate M1 240mm. I know this might be a pretty big endeavor with major dedicated time & efforts.

What are your thoughts? For those interested. Hoping for reply's Thanx Todd
18Bravo
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 01:49 AM UTC
Several years ago there a game here on Armorama where folks would post photos of artillery pieces. The one who correctly guessed what it was got to post the next photo. The one I posted was of the M1 I scratchbuilt. If I had known I could have used an existing kit it sure would have saved time. I made the trails from boxed styrene sheet, and yes - I cheated. I used the Hauler model as a guide, along with photos I took at Fort Sill and Yuma Proving Ground, which both have one of the guns.
barkingdigger
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 02:05 AM UTC
IIRC the M1 240mm Howitzer/8in Gun used a completely different tube, cradle, and carriage to the AFV Club kit, so there isn't much you can borrow. Even the wheels are different! I was planning to CAD one up in 1:35 for 3D printing/scratching, but never got round to it...
RotorHead67
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 03:31 AM UTC

Quoted Text

IIRC the M1 240mm Howitzer/8in Gun used a completely different tube, cradle, and carriage to the AFV Club kit, so there isn't much you can borrow. Even the wheels are different! I was planning to CAD one up in 1:35 for 3D printing/scratching, but never got round to it...


Yes the Tubes & Cradles are totally different but the 240
carriage was made from enlarged M1 155 & 8" carriage. It has
bigger pieces of the same parts.
Tubes are different because of caliber and length needed of course w/ different cradles to match
As for wheels.....the 240mm didn't have wheels. The Howitzer
was broken into two pieces and towed on M2 & M3 Transporters
that had the wheels in question 6 of each. And yes different than the AFV Howitzer kits
Todd.
KurtLaughlin
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 04:13 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Yes the Tubes & Cradles are totally different but the 240
carriage was made from enlarged M1 155 & 8" carriage. It has
bigger pieces of the same parts.


No, they were completely different designs. The similarity ended once you got past the fact that all four pieces used split trails.

KL
barkingdigger
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 02:56 PM UTC
Yep - they both were ground-mounted when in place, so the wheels actually belonged to the separate carriages (one for the gun, and a second for the rest of the parts!), but these wheels were different in size & shape to those on the 155mm so you still need new ones. I got as far as CAD-ing the wheels for printing at Shapeways.com, but they are big so cost a fortune to print! You need six per carriage...

[Edit] PS - Rob, you got any pics of your build to tease us with? I for one would love to see them!
ericadeane
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 04:18 PM UTC
Sorry Todd-- we're still at the mercy of some enterprising model company -- AFV Club? Bronco? I'm sure it'll happen one day. Just keep reducing the stash you already have.

The M1 240mm howitzer weighed in about 64,000 lbs. The M1 155mm Long Tom was 30,600 lbs.

That'd be like trying to convert an M3 Stuart into an M47 Patton tank.
jrutman
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 06:45 PM UTC
There is another thread right above this one at the moment that goes into this in detail. Maybe a combination of the info and discussion on the two threads will cause some manufacturer to take notice? If not,at least you can get a bunch of great intel from the other thread.
J
18Bravo
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 06:52 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Sorry Todd-- we're still at the mercy of some enterprising model company --


Those walk arounds and measurements from back in the day have been passed along. No promises though.
As for photos, there's the one in the old thread. I'd try to find it, but am preparing to fly out today, and I've got a jumble of albums in my Photobucket account.
RotorHead67
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 10:21 PM UTC
similarity ended once you got past the fact that all four pieces used split trails.

Well that's the whole lot in a nutshell. That's the 1st major
problem when doing research. You can never depend on what you
read. Although photos never lie. Best to find an original piece and take 400 of your own pics. Photographs can't be debated. But I don't have a M1 240mm in my back yard, so that's a mute point.
We get the same Me 109, P-51,M4, Pnzr III, and the list goes on 12x over, kitted by every manufacturer in plastic
But companies very rarely venture outside their comfort zone,
and inject a new kit of anything out of the norm.
Although Trumpeter should be commended on there kits, even if
they may not pass RIVOT COUNTERS ATROPHY.
I can correct what needs fixed, but it's a different story to
build something that doesn't exist yet.
Oh well we continue to hope and dream. That's what the hobby
is......
18Bravo
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Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 11:09 PM UTC
Send me your email address. I'll send you what photos I might still have.

KurtLaughlin
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Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - 04:21 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

similarity ended once you got past the fact that all four pieces used split trails.


Well that's the whole lot in a nutshell. That's the 1st major
problem when doing research. You can never depend on what you
read. Although photos never lie. Best to find an original piece and take 400 of your own pics. Photographs can't be debated. But I don't have a M1 240mm in my back yard, so that's a mute point.


I looked at my own documents but one need only look at two web photos



and



The 155mm lower cradle rose far above the tube and was connected to the box-like upper cradle by large equilibrator cylinders. That doesn't even consider the differences on the forward end of the carriage. It helps to put things side by side.

Also, you have to be careful what you read. Stick to official documents, not internet bull$hit and you'll come out ahead.

KL
RotorHead67
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Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - 05:11 AM UTC
KURT:
THANX for the positive reinforcement. At present I have no printed reference, and the GREAT photos from Robert....that's it. I even searched for TM's & FM's. Everything I found was for pre M1, all M1918 early model.
Scratch building doesn't scare me at all. I like the journey &
the payoff at completion is more gratifying than what you get
from a box. I just need accurate documents & photos, and then
its nail me to the bench time.

Speaking of scratch: Check out my Centaur Halftrack in
my photos. Proof's in the Pudding
Mech
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Posted: Friday, March 27, 2015 - 07:29 PM UTC
Hi Tod

I'm like you. I have been researching the 240mm and the 8" Howitzer and their wagons since I saw it at Aberdeen in 1990. It was used in WW2 in Europe and in the Philippines on special tracked wagons using Sherman suspension. I sent emails to a few manufactures and no reply from them. I guess because it was not German armor or artillery that's why no reply.

I had the two barrels drawn out and gave them to two different machine shops for quotes and I got no quote and both said they lost my drawings. I was mad!

If you need pictures I have some that I took at Aberdeen.

Cheers,

Ralph
RotorHead67
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Posted: Friday, March 27, 2015 - 08:08 PM UTC
If you need pictures I have some that I took at Aberdeen.

HHMM: Aberdeen, Now there's an epic topic. Its closed and the
Artifacts scattered to other posts. I saw a few at Ft. Lee, which I knew came from Aberdeen, but as to the whole collection.....have fun tracking them all down. Really is a predicament to be able to build,open a museum,and maintain it.
But what are we to do with everything??? I don't think sending them to scrap is really a good idea, but what to do.
18Bravo
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Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2015 - 02:50 AM UTC
For anyone interested, I stumbled across that old "Jeopardy" thread where I posted in an in progress photo of my 240mm gun. Comments and photo were near the bottom of the page linked below, and the subsequent page named the piece. I had laid it on a cutting mat with a grid to show the massive scale of it.
There's some sort of oddness to the conversation - probably because several responses seem to have been deleted. Gee, wonder who that could have been?

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/50444&ord=&page=4
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