After some research I found photos of such a vehicle in German service in WW2 but the photo showed the vehicle in the travelling mode. After more digging I at last found a photo of a vehicle from WW1 actually in use showing clearly a telescopic ladder mounted on top of a box like two wheeled trailer.
I decided to provide my artillery battalions with this equipment. As a basis my standard box trailer was clearly perfect. I also use this vehicle as a base for field kitchens, signals and medical trailers and ammunition caissons. Each is distinguished by means of an addition such as a smoke stack, aerial , red cross or spare wheel. The obvious requirement for an observation wagon would be a ladder mounted horizontally in a travelling position. Next question, where to source ladders ?? especially over 40, that being the number of artillery battalions I have in service. I knew I could get ladders from a model railway shop but at what cost ??
I concluded I needed some sort of mesh which could be cut up into suitable scale ladders. Nothing obvious came to mind so I just started looking. A few days later during a visit to Poundland I spotted a pack of two fly swotters for a pound. This looked like my raw material. On getting home I attacked the swots with my modelling knife and soon enough had produced some 118 perfect ladders. After attaching to a wagon body and painting this is the result.
Since then I have built many of these vehicles which now equip all 42 of my field and horse artillery battalions and regiments.
Tony - as you rightly say, the German Army at the beginning of WW1 had observation ladders mounted on artillery limbers - and so it seems did the Austrian Army - as the uniforms in your picture are Austrian, not German. I managed to find some illustrations of their German equilvalent, which I will mail to you.
ReplyDeleteIf you can find the old Almark book, I think by David Nash, on German Artillery in WW1 (my copy is hidden in store!), then that has more details and pictures
Hi Ian....Yes I did know my photo was kuk but I assumed the Germans used the same equipment. It's only recently I found the Germans in fact used a "shielded" version. Many thanks for the photos, the model is first class. I will look for the old Altmark book. Regards.
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