I recently found a half-built 25 pounder howitzer and a LRDG Chevy truck in my stash. I am thinking of building a diorama. Was the 25 pounder in service with the LRDG? Can the Chevy pull such a gun?

In short the answer is NO and NO!

The only things similer about them is the allied armies used both.

The LRDG only had light weapons as it was a scouting force mainly and the 25 pounder was a heavy artillery piece towed normally by 3 ton trucks and not 30cwt (1.5 ton) trucks like the LRDG Chev.

Cheers
Cliff

I thought the LRDG used a 25pdr in one of their very early patrols/raids but subsequenty ditched it as it (quite obviously) proved too cumbersome...

According to http://www.lrdg.de/vehicles3.htm#ra....




The above link also shows a 25pdr porteed on a White truck... althoug it's not confirmed whether it's a LRDG truck or not...

Thanks for the replies. I kind of figured that it wasn't possible. The cannon wouldn't have been suitble for LRDG missions.

Oh well! Back to the drawing board. :-)

Hi Adrian,

The LRDG tried a couple of experiments with the 25 pdr to try and provide fire support for the partols. Here's a couple of web sites that might be of interest and also help explain why the idea got scrapped. Without looking it up again I think the vehicle in question had one rather unsuccesful outing, anyway the web site gives all the information.

See Heavy Section/Royal Artillery

http://www.lrdg.de/vehicles2.htm

Both sites provide good information about the structure and organisation of the LRDG and some interesting camo pattern!!!

Hope this helps

Cheers

Al

PS - see below - 2nd url didn't load properly.

Adrian,

second url

http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/lrdg/lrdgvehicles.html

Cheers

Al

Adrian

Rudi is correct, three Mack NR4 6x4 Gun Portee Trucks were built; the LRDG used one for a short time only.

You may obtain a plan of this in 1/76 scale via the Geoff Lacey Plan Series. From:- 315A South Lane, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 5RR, UK. NB: Please enclose SAE if in UK or 2 International Reply Coupons for US to cover postage.

Sorry not to have responded earlier but my PC blew a gasket.

Regards, John-B.

These seem to have been the mainstays for the LRDG and the Chevy truck.
http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/lrdg/csw.html

I just started mine. Good luck with yours.

Mine was a neglected kit. It was half-built and ended up in the store for a few years. I've managed to recover most of the parts and the rest of the missing bits can be easily scratchbuilt. Sadly, it's missing the Lewis gun. I'll have to substitute it with a .50 browning.

The 25 pounder is missing the Quad truck entirely, hence why I was thinking of mating the 2 together.

Hi Adrian,

Resicast do the Vickers .303 MG as a set, if that might be of any interest to you.

Enjoy the build.

Cheers

Al

You can always have the Chevy passing an abandoned 25pdr Watch out - the Tamiya 25pdr has a counterweight moulded onto the barrel just ahead of the breech block. This is to balance the muzzle brake which wasn't too common in the desert, so a bit of work is needed for a gun with a plain muzzle.

LRDG weapons were carefully covered to protect them from dust, so you might want to put a shrouded blob in the back of the lorry rather than source a replacement gun.

Better late than never. Good to see that you're interested in the LRDG Adrian. I first built one of Tamiya's 30 cwt Chevys years ago; lately I have put a lot of work into building 'Te Aroha III' of T1 (NZ) Patrol.

The biggest drawback to the model are those pesky 'rubber' tyres, which have a bad habit of splitting after a period of time on the model. That and the difficulty in getting rid of the mould line around the outer circumference. Fortunately there are solutions to both problems;

Apparently the tyres split because of a chemical reaction between the kitset polystyrene, enamels and the material from which the tyres are made. A solution is to paint the wheels and the inner rim of the tyres in acrylics, which acts as a barrier between the two materials. It seem to work because my Chevy tyres have shown no sign of the splits after several months.

To get rid of the join line a combination of a brand new, very sharp blade several grades of wet and dry (used wet) and lots of elbow grease will eventually wear the little sods down.

The best information available on the LRDG can be found in three books by Brendan O'Carroll;
'Kiwi Scorpions', 'Bearded Brigands' and 'The Barce Raid' have lots of detail and photos of the LRDG. I don't know how easy they would be to find in Malaysia, but Amazon.com, E-Bay etc would be places to look.

A good starter is Osprey' 'New Vanguard' No 32 'The Long Range Desert Group 1940-1945'. This is a relatively cheap but comprehensive 'primer' on the subject.

Other people have mentioned 'Blindkat. Hegewisch' on the net - an excellent site.

Enjoy building your Chevy, If you want I can email you a build article I'm writing for my local IPMS magazine.