WW1 Narrow Gauge Field Gun Carrier #1

WW1 narrow gauge railways shifted huge amounts of stuff to the front in northern France, including some artillery. They made up cradles that fitted over other wagons so they could roll the guns on top.

The model is 16mm : 1 foot scale (1:19) which is a moderately popular garden rail scale in the UK, for 32mm gauge track representing 2 foot gauge.

The wagon under it all is a resin cast kit from Swift Sixteen. Pretty sturdy as it has to get towed around the garden by a live steam locomotive.

The cradle for the gun is scratch built from styrene strips and I beams, with mostly styrene rivet heads applied.

The gun kit is a bit vague on scale, supposedly 1:24 but when compared to an actual historical drawing of the gun, it scales close to 5/8" to 1 foot which is near as I care to 1:19 🙂
The gun is quite a bit kitbashed as a few of the details just looked way off. I added the brake lever setup and corrected some of the shield bracing bars.

The limber ammunition carriage is mostly scratch built, just using more wheels from a second field gun kit. Made from styrene sheets and strips, with bits of brass, card and wire. Drilling 300+ perforation holes in the foot rest took some time!

The field gun is an American M1902 of the type that apparently went in very small numbers with the first US troops. I don't actually know if the British narrow gauge would have delivered US guns to forward positions, but its the right size and shows how it all worked.