Hi guys.

Does anybody make a 1:35 British ( / Canadian, Australian etc) figure lying down, firing a rifle?

Thanks for your help,
Harry

I don't know of any firing rifles but Dragon do the British Infantry set with a Bren gunner, it would mean a bit of modification but nothing too taxing and you'd have a pretty good sniper in the prone position!

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Matt

Cheers Matt!
Yes, that was my 'fall-back' solution!
Do you think it would be easy to move the left hand to underneath the rifle, or would I have to use one of the left arms from one of the others?

I have a really good B&W picture that I wish to copy into 1:35! Should be quite easy once this hurdle has been jumped...

Harry

Hmmm, I wouldn't bother with the supplied left arm, could one off another in the set work? The angle of the head and the right arm are also critical on a sniper! Is the subject in the photo taking a shot or looking over the sights?

I'm tempted to have a go at this myself now, and I don't even need a sniper! You swine!

Good luck

Matt

Harry,

I saw a picture of a British Sniper in Normandy wearing a captuered SS camoflage smock, I wonder If you could Kit bash an German Sniper Set You might Have something quite intresting.

I 'll see if I can find the picture for you

Jerry

Jerry - if you could find that pic it would be great - I could maybe 'merge' the two together!?
Matt - the sniper will be looking down the sight - one eye looking through the lens, the other closed.

Secondly - I just realised that I don't even have a Lee Enfield with one of those little scopes! Aah! Any one know of one in 1:35?

Thanks,
Harry

Harry, I wouldn't worry about the sniper's left arm. Quite often, snipers using battle rifles with a scope attached, would place the non-firing hand on top of the cheekpiece as a comb, in order to raise the shooter's head and eye to align with the scope. Most specialised sniping rifles come with an integral comb, but this is not there on a battle rifle like the Lee Enfield. What is most distinctive in a sniper's stance, is this raised head position, which is unlike that of a regular shooter who aims through iron sights mounted directy on the receiver and barrel.

I've seen some British sniper pics, and they were all using No4 (T) Enfield sniper rifles...could 'kitbash' something together from a Mauser or Mosin sniper that I know Dragon makes and an Enfield from the Dragon NWE Brit set?

The No4 (T) has a cheekpiece for a comb and then the Bausch and Lomb(spelling) scope, so a German scope would look closer to it than a PU scope from a Mosin....

I'd love to see that pic as well of a Brit in SS smock..might be a cool thing to do

Harry, Dragon used to produce the Mk4 1(T) in their Allied weapons pack which sadly is out of production. You should be able to convert a standard Mk4 reasonably easily as the only major difference is the cheek rest (oh and obviously the scope...LOL). Some units (especially Commando units) had a preference for the SMLE 3 due it's superior accuracy and adjustable sites so that could be an option. I completed a pair of British snipers not long back and gave one the Mk4 1(T) and one an SMLE3.
http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl04-e.htm
This has a good pic of both types for reference. Plus it's a fascinating site

Harry, these are the two I built for my Normandy dio. They'll be examining their handiwork. Just need to build a dead German now...LOL. You can just about see the scope on the standing figure under his ghillie net.

This is a picture of my idea. I like it. What do you guys think about it, and have you guys got any further suggestions as to going about it?

Thanks for all of the very useful information guys!
Karl - how did you make the scope on the guns?

Cheers,
Harry

Ooops! Sorry!


Harry!

Thats an interesting pic. The weapon he's using is a US M1917 or a P14 which was initially issued to the LDV from old stocks of imported US weapons. The Mk4 I've used for my fig was one of the Dragon Mk 4 1(T)'s I had left over from years ago. There was only 2 to a set which is a shame as they are superb.

Harry, just been thinking about the sights. You could actually modify one of the German DML ones to give the appearance of a British sight. If you PM me your e-mail address I'll mail you some pics I've got of German rifles with scopes I got off the net. I know there's a fair few Kar98's that DML make with scopes so I'm sure you could modify one to resemble a British scope.

It might be easier instead of puttzing around with kit arms, to just cut the hands off, then use wire from the body to the hands, and build the arms/sleeves up with 2 part epoxy putty.

Thanks Karl! I just looked on the old Google search and I think it is a P14.
It seems that this is quite a hard gun to find in 1:35? (Any more ideas!?)

So I was thinking that I may use a Kar98, which he may have picked up or swapped with his previous rifle. I don't know which rifle was better, if the Kar98 was far superior, he might have done so?

However, I would like to keep 'loyal' to the photo!

Harry

Hi Harry,

Thanks to the Great Guys at WWII reenacting.co.uk who tracked the picture down to the Imperial War Museum Collections

http://www.wwiireenacting.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24569

Go to the following site and search on sniper and it will be amogust the results:
http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/

It is Photo No.: B 8177

Hope this helps

Jerry

Harry,

In addition to my previous post there is an Published picture of this figure on Page, 38 of the Osprey Title The British Army 1939-45(1) North-west Europe Brayley & Chappell, isbn 1841760528

Hope this Helps,

Jerry

Here you go


The next shots show the cheek rest and the sight

Thanks Pat - they are great pics, esp the last one!
Cheers to everybody who has helped as well.

Pat - in those pics the scope looks a lot longer than in my pic - is this a different version?

I think I may scratch build an arm (thanks Dave) but ---
I'm still stick on finding that P14 and a scope... anybody got any fresh ideas?

Harry

Here's another recent fig from Arthur you might find useful:

RM sniper

Does it have to be a P14? . These were only ever classed as limited standard, even in WW1, in NW Europe the No4 Mk1T was far more common than the P14.

Pat,

Well done I wasn't sure how to do that, hope your finger is better now

Jerry