Vickers 8″ howitzer complete

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

For those who remember my first add about a year ago. It's now complete and en route. Can't wait. Many thanks for all your comments

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

And thank you to the very talented engineer who pain stakingly laboured for hours to produce this work of art

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nice work, Bob [and your un-named engineer]

When you first asked for help with this, people dismissed it as unachievable.

I hope the nay-sayers are duly impressed.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 04/10/2013 08:35:30

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Yes its a nice enough representation though from the first posts I thought you were after a true scale replica, one can see where compromises have been made such as the wheels, brass handwheels and those rather out of scale nuts on the front of the carrage. Also took a bit longer than the original 7 weeks I think you were quited.

Perhaps when you have it in your hands you could post a series of photos of teh finished item rather than the ones your builder has been sending so we can all have a good look

J

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Definitely different, well done to everyone involved

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

At first sight JasonB ‘s comment seems a little churlish.
But it does serve to highlight the difference between what was proposed and was achived..I suspect wiser heads than mine looked at the original request and thought ..nightmare … The practical implementation of the client’s desire was probably shall we say “iterative”.
Nice build btw.

[mike TParticipant @miket56243]

Shame on you JasonB; there is absolutely no need to be so negative and critical. The model is still en route to it's new owner, who has yet to inspect his pride and joy. Your comments could have been better timed or not written at all.

The howitzer looks to be a very fine work of model making. The builder is very talented and has done a good job to satisfy Bobs requirements.

Mike T

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I'm sorry if what I said offended but I was just stating it the way I saw it. Bobs original enquirey was for:

"It will be a historically correct, highly detailed 1/10 scale WW1 8inch Howitzer that will be fully functional (non firing of course) and made from steel."

From what I can see detail has been left off, things like those large nuts at the front are not historically correct, the handwheels are off the shelf brass items from steam fittings not the correct style at all. I said that it was a nice representation but its certainly not a Highly detailed scale model.

As someone who has made several models to commission I think I am in a reasonable position to offer constructive comments and not just negative ones. This is something you find of a lot of forums especially the American ones everybody says "oh what a lovely job" yet there are glaring errors, hopefully if these are pointed out it will help the builder in the future or stop them before things cannot be recovered.

A good example of this came up recently on a boiler build, the guy put the tubes at the top not teh bottom, several said great work, but should I have done the same or pointed out his errors??

J (off to start another commission job)

Maybe a photo of the full size will help illustrate what I mean

Edited By JasonB on 04/10/2013 13:40:32

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

How Many Rivets!

Some of us are happy with the results and are not perfectionists.

More encouragement on this forum i say.

You enjoy it Bob

Bri

[HobbyNutParticipant @hobbynut]

It is a nice metal model. Jason is right tho' it isn't an accurate "fine"scale model of the real thing. Still impressive. Good job to whomever did it.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I think Bob has mentioned that he will be adding further detailing himself, including the rubber strakes.

Neil

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Spot on John
Most of my hobbie work is of the class “What the hell it works”
( I wish )

This is why I don’t inflect photos of my abominations on the forum.

But my taste may not be your taste.
Pointing out “errors” can be helpful..I lack the courage to run that particular gauntlet. .but in reality I would guess the op is quite aware before sharing his work…

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

Hi thanks for all your input positive and negative. It's not an exact replica however it is what I wanted as I required all the functions of the real thing and it's not always possible to replicate functions and size due to tensile strength of material. I.e a scale size hand wheel would collapse under the pressure of turning it to elevate the barrel. It's also a case of economics as to rubberise the wheels totally and hammer down riveted blocks to squeeze the tyres down would cost thousands per wheel I'm sure.

I shall be adding rubber inserts to the wheels to mimic the effect.

all in all I'm over the moon with what the engineer has created from scratch. The hand wheels control elevation, transversing, it recoils, has interrupted thread breech which is operated by the correct handle. All in all it's a work of art and its is far more than 50% accurate but at less than half the cost of the quotes I received in this country.

Will post more pics when it arrives.

I now need a quote for some brass shells, say a dozen as the cannot be sent airmail.

again hanks for the interest and comments

bob

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

Ps as a creator of scale tanks I'm very used to input from the "detail police". All comments are welcome.

even though positive comments give me a better feel good factor, I have never even been close to sticking my head in a glass oven or jumping of a river bridge with a rock tied around my neck. .

 

Edited By bob gould on 05/10/2013 17:12:36

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

Just wanted to add that the nuts are not that out of scale apart from thickness but I guess as that holds the recoil spring it needs to be pretty chunky on the model

[PeteParticipant @pete41194]

I guess I'll need to pre-apologise in case of offending anyone. People sure seem to quickly forget Jasons's always consistent efforts to help everyone here or on any forum He's on no matter what there skill level is. I'm afraid too many took offense at his comments that I think were sincerly meant only to help. Being hyper critical of a persons innocent comments probably isn't much different than being one of those rivet police either. I've seen many instances where a builder was 'praised' for obviously incorrect work just as Jason's mentioned. To be honest, that helps no one, and it's a very poor practice. If you post pictures then you should expect a critical assessment either good or bad. If you disagree? I'd suggest you maybe check Jason's last 200 posts just for starters.

I like the cannon very much, and most of it was more than very well done. If it pleases the owner then that's what's really important. But understanding where there were some detail mistakes made shouldn't ever be a sin to point them out. Being told or telling someone they just did a sh**y job is standard practice in my industry. And in a lot less nicer words than that. I sure don't expect much or any different for anything else in life. And………………….I usually put my big boy pants on when I get up in the morning.

 

Pete

Edited By Pete on 15/10/2013 08:33:04

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by jason udall on 05/10/2013 15:05:14:

Most of my hobbie work is of the class "What the hell it works"
( I wish )

This is why I don't inflect photos of my abominations on the forum.

Why not post some photos Jason? It might encourage others to have a go. Don't you think that all the photos of perfect models might be off-putting to beginners who might think, "I could never do that "?

Russell.

[bob gouldParticipant @bobgould42821]

is there anyone who I can commission to build these. one piece steel construction except fuse which should screw or pressure hold in brass

[SmudgeParticipant @smudge]

Hi

Well done, very good work, Was it from casting or made with a drawing and material

Doug

[mark mcParticipant @markmc72333]

Well I thinks it looks fine, scale perfect or not.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

I think it's an amazing looking model.

Furthermore, can I warn off the detail police a little as a result of my own experience. I admit that I am very much a beginner when it comes to making things, even though I have been employed as an office mechanical engineer for 28 years. A few years ago I was interested in joining the Maidstone MES, and was seriously thinking of making an LBSC 'Rainhill' having cut my teeth on making a sextant to my own design. To the detail police at MMES a sextant wasn't a model, so contributed nothing to my limited stock of machining knowledge, and then I was collared by some total bleep who explained to me that I couldn't make a model without re-machining every nut to make it properly hexagonal. After that welcome, I decided I had better things to waste my time on.

I may make a Rainhill eventually, but it will never run at MMES.

Regards,

Richard

[JoParticipant @jo]

Yes there are too many rivet counters amongst Locomotive fanatics who don't realise how they come over, they are a real turn off.

Jo

[NJHParticipant @njh]

I find this concern with other folks opinions very strange. My objective is to make "stuff" to the very best of my ability. I may not be as able as others but I wager that I get as much satisfaction from my efforts when they turn out as I intended as they do from theirs. This is a HOBBY – done for relaxation and fun – no one else's opinion is important UNLESS you wish to enter into a competitive forum. Then, especially with the very high levels of expertise about, there has to be closer inspection and extreme attention to detail becomes important. In my book life is too short!

If the club member at Maidstone was serious in his remarks to a new/ potential member then he does his club a disservice. My experience of clubs ( not just ME) is that , whilst you get a mix of types, most are friendly and helpful. There is much to be gained from associating with like minded folk so maybe give them another try?

As far as the Howitzer goes I'm afraid guns leave me cold but it IS a valid subject for a model and it looks pretty well made to me. More time and cash spent could, no doubt, produce a "truer" replica but the only person who needs to be satisfied with its "authenticity" is the one commissioning the work.

Norman

Edited By NJH on 28/11/2013 17:19:43

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

As ever, where ever go or do things there are 'Eletists', I get this when I deal with people with the bees. Their bees always produce 100lbs of honey a year and they never swarm, When you get to the nitty gritty they mostly talk bees and not do.

As always a coat of paint will cover up most of the faults and give shape and shine and shadow to soften all the edges, revel in a job well done and sit and admire it.

Clive

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