French Medium Howitzer

I got somewhat annoyed by my failure to find a medium howitzer for my planned WWII French army for Bolt Action. Despite many hours of searching I could not find any French artillery larger than 75mm. I even hunted for Great War vintage weapons as the French used a lot of antiquated equipment during the Battle for France. So on Thursday night I started to scratch build (Westwind 25pdr for scale).

I based on the design of the Schneider 1913 105mm. Primarily because the box carriage is simpler than split trail and partially because I can use the same carriage for the 1917 155mm heavy howitzer.

I posted the work in progress shots on the WWPD forums and received a deluge of requests to cast and sell it (Four requests in two days counts as a deluge in my mind). With this in mind I put in a bit more work into the model than I would have done for my own temporary proxy model. This was the result just before it entered the pressure pot for the start of casting.

 

It wasn't until I received the 'Armies of France and the other allies' earlier today that I realised what luck I had in choosing this subject to scratch up. The French did not manufacture this gun only for domestic military use, but also exported it to Poland, Belgium, Greece and Italy.

I'll see how it casts up some time next week.

~ Bob