Current and Finished Projects > Other
What-If Weapons - Ground - WIP
Jeffry Fontaine:
While I have a lot of ideas for building the part where the idea gets turned into a work in progress sometimes never gets further than staging the parts together in one box for building it at a later date. This sometimes gets a bit further along such as this current WIP to create some what-if large caliber small arms for anti-material/anti-tank weapons.
I managed to get three different weapons built and modified with two actually receiving optical devices and the third on hold while the wound in my finger heals (finger meets #11 X-Acto blade and loses match).
The first weapon was sort of already built as that is the way it was molded so that only the bipod needed to be attached. This is the Boys .50" Anti-Tank Rifle from the Italeri 1:35th WW2 Weapons and Equipment set and it is a bit anemic on the size of the barrel, almost looks like it could pass for a smaller caliber weapon such as the .408 Cheytac or the .338 Lapua so I am going to settle for that as the caliber instead of the .50" that the original weapons were chambered for. The modifications were simple enough, I cut the magazine from the top of the weapon and moved it 180 degrees so that it is now mounted on the bottom of the receiver. This gave me the much needed space to mount the weapon optics which came from a Hasegawa or Fujimi 1:48th scale Hughes 500/OH-6? kit that started life as the TOW Missile sighting system and with a couple of passes with the hobby knife and sanding stick it looks rather riflescope-ish and not out of place on top of the weapon. I determined that it was best to work out the idea on the Italeri weapon in lieu of ruining a better weapon from Tamiya or the new one from Riich Models.
If you want to learn more about this weapon you can visit the Wikipedia page: Wikipedia > Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
The other two weapons were a bit more complicated as they are from the both included in the DML/Dragon Russian anti-tank figures set: DML/Dragon 6049 1:35 scale Soviet Anti-Tank Team 1942-1943
Both weapons have separately molded bipod legs that have to be mated to the weapon and both were a real PITA to affix as the flat spot on each weapon was so tiny and difficult to see that it was tempting to just go find a one piece bipod and use that instead. I made several attempts to get the parts to fit right and the CA cement was not setting up and drying fast enough which was odd as it had worked just fine previously when gluing parts and occasionally my fingers togehter so maybe it was shelf life issues or maybe not as I had similar problems with a fresh tube from Gorilla Glue but that at least did dry and the legs were finally attached. In between the attempts with CA cement I used two different types of liquid cement and both failed so it was not just the CA cement that was giving me the problems.
If you want to learn more about these to fine Russian plinkers you can go to these links at Wikipedia:
Wikipedia > PTRD 14.5mmX115 Anti-Tank Rifle
Wikipedia > PTRS-41 14.5mmX115 Anti-Tank Rifle
The PTRD (looks like a couple pieces of pipe with a bipod attached) was fairly easy to assemble but it did have a couple of very tiny parts that could easily be left off and ignored. The PTRS-41 had one carrying handle that was lost during the construction process and I have not made up my mind on replacing it or just leaving it off, it would be ahead of the optical sight if it is attached so probably best to ignore it now.
The PTRD has a generic looking sniper scope mounted on it that was included as optional parts in one of the many AR-15/M16/M4 weapons sets and it looks rather like it belongs there. The PTRS-41 will have a what-if weapons sight that I built from a hydraulic jack and a tail light. The hydraulic jack was part of the Italeri 1:35th scale Field Workshop and Tool set and the tail light was found in my parts pile of which there were four and just by chance, four of the hydraulic jacks so I opted to fabricate four identical optical sights to have some spare for use on future projects. It was while I was working on number four that I stabbed my finger with the #11 X-Acto blade so I am going to be waiting a few days before going back to finish attaching the what-if scope to the PTRS-41. Attached images are a bit fuzzy thanks to me and my cell phone camera.
Old Wombat:
Nice job, Jeff! I know exactly how difficult it can be to kit-bash/scratch-bash small-arms & I'm seriously impressed! :icon_alabanza:
Jeffry Fontaine:
Thanks Guy,
Finger wound still hurts today and still not healing fast enough for my liking. Damned blood thinner meds probably to blame for that.
I wish I had some more of those tiny 48th scale TOW sights. I think that shape and size are the best match for a whif-weapon based on these larger caliber weapons.
Frank3k:
Jeff - They all look good, in particular the Boys - and believable, since IIRC, it was used as a sniper rifle in Korea. I hope the finger gets better.
Brian da Basher:
Those look like a million bucks, Mr Fontaine!
It takes some real skill to work with subjects that small!
Most excellent, amigo!
Brian da Basher
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