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Gladiator WW2 Railgun


Garethp8873
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Hi

 

According to Ian Hogg in his book British and American Artillery of World War 2 he states after examining the Shoeburyness gun, "It is shorter, has trunnions, and has a old type three motion breach". Looks I was off target with my 18 inch battleship gun but the gun that was at Shoeburyness  is not the same as Bosh Buster.

Interesting. The mystery deepens. So where did this come from? It is not like they could make these things in secret, they required very large gun pits to be made and there existed just one such pit in the UK.

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Really hope the First World War version is correct - some source state it is an '18 inch railway howitzer' which is incorrect for the First World War, as 'Boche Buster' in the WW1 sense was a 14 inch railway gun

At the end yes,but earlier it seems to have carried a 13.5inch weapon. In WWII, three carriages carried 13.5 in guns (the forth being boche buster with the 18in). There is of course scope, for Oxford to do all types.

 

206 13.5 inch guns were made, 54 still around in WW2, with 9 turrets (3 on board HMS Iron Duke).

 

The 9.2 inch used as rail guns were RN MkX 46.66 calibre weapons. It was the standard army coast defence gun, none of those mountings allowed greater than 35 degrees. With super charges, the weapon could fire a 380lb shell at 2872ft/seconds. 5/10 C

Crh (calibre radius head) wind shields gave those weapons a range of 32000yards. Not enough to reach France.

 

Source Campbell Naval weapons of WWII.

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Really hope the First World War version is correct - some source state it is an '18 inch railway howitzer' which is incorrect for the First World War, as 'Boche Buster' in the WW1 sense was a 14 inch railway gun

You are correct the WW1 weapon was the 14 inch gun. The 18 inch howitzer was designed in WW1 but the barrel not completed until after the war. The barrel of the 18 inch howitzer was made to the same external dimensions as the 14 inch gun. Ian Hogg explains in British and American Artillery of World War Two "It was designed with the same exterior contours and dimensions as the 14 inch gun so as to be immediately interchangeable in the mounting without adaptors: this was possible in spite of  the 4 inch difference in caliber, because howitzers are less highly stressed than guns and the barrel walls could be made thinner." Less stress is a smaller bang and a shorter range. So visually there is only the hole at the muzzle end of the barrel which you can tell if it is the 14 inch gun or the 18 inch howitzer.*

 

In the 1920s the guns on the 14 inch mountings were scrapped but not the mountings. In 1940 three 13.5 inch naval barrels were found from a scrapped warship and luck had it their dimensions were close to the 14 inch guns as to be mounted on the railway carriages.

 

*I use to enjoy doing "examination of ordnance" where I would measure the wear on the inside of the barrel of our guns. 

Edited by Clive Mortimore
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These are amazing, I shall definitely be getting both types to go with my Lima K5 Leopold railgun. The ROD locomotive will give me something to colour match my 43xx I bought to turn into a ROD locomotive to, what a surprising thing to release. The prices are pretty good as well, I wonder why they only do the WW1 version in a pack with the Dean though, that might hinder the sales a bit if people are only interested in the WW1 railgun.

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At the London Toy Fair yesterday, Oxford had a couple of 3D printed samples on the stand so I grabbed some photos for you:

 

attachicon.gifBigGun_2_AY.jpg

 

attachicon.gifBigGun_3.jpg

Thanks for the images! Certainly looking the part, even at this early stage.Can't wait to see the livery sample of the Dean Goods at some point. Really got me thinking about plans for how to attach that standard gauge extension to the 009 set-up...

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Thanks for the images! Certainly looking the part, even at this early stage.Can't wait to see the livery sample of the Dean Goods at some point. Really got me thinking about plans for how to attach that standard gauge extension to the 009 set-up...

 

You mean this one?

 

DeanBlack_1_AY.jpg

 

Apparently, the sound version of the loco will include a suitable firing noise.

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new email from Oxford today,

prices amended from yesterdays email:

 

OR76BOOM01 WWI Boche Buster - Camouflage and ROD2330
Scale: 1:76
Retail Price: £169.95
Barcode:
5055530130470

OR76BOOM01XS WWI Boche Buster - Camouflage and ROD2330 DCC Sound
Scale: 1:76
Retail Price: £279.95
Barcode:
5055530130487

OR76BOOM02 Railgun Gladiator WWII Railgun
Scale: 1:76
Retail Price: £49.95
Barcode:
5055530130494 

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Assuming they keep it to that price, I can actually see this one selling quite well. As others have pointed out, it has good crossover potential for wargamers and military modellers, and I'd say that at that price it's cheap enough for the "oh go on then" market, who'll buy it because it's interesting rather than because they can use the railgun on their layout (that's how Hornby got me with their P2).

 

It doesn't hurt that there's now plenty of WWI/WWII specific stock coming out these days.

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I just found this picture online of the one they are representing, makes for a good comparison. Looking at some other pictures it looks like the ROD extended the roof on a few of these, I may be wrong, im sure someone with more knowledge on Dean Goods can correct me on this. 

 

dean-goods-locomotive-no-2330-444984.jpg

 

https://www.mediastorehouse.com/dean-goods-locomotive-no-2330/print/444984.html

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I wonder why they only do the WW1 version in a pack with the Dean though, that might hinder the sales a bit if people are only interested in the WW1 railgun.

Yes, I just noticed that the gun-only option is for the WWII version, not the WWI Boche Buster. Ah well, back to sleep I go (after cancelling that preorder).

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That's an impressive photo, and it shows that the project is already well under way - this isn't some future vapourware product.

 

I know little enough about rail guns that the top half is already good enough for me :) My main concern, as others have said, is how well it will run, and in particular how well it will handle curves. The bogies are going to be the most interesting part of this, from a rail modelling perspective.

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Yes, I just noticed that the gun-only option is for the WWII version, not the WWI Boche Buster. Ah well, back to sleep I go (after cancelling that preorder).

 

I suspect that, again, the standalone version is the one they think is most likely to appeal to the crossover with military modellers (where WWII is more popular than WWI, and has more representation in Oxford Diecast's existing range). But, of course, it also gives them room for offering the WWI version separately as a future release.

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The 18 barrel for Bosche Buster came from the Yantlet creek gunnery testing station on the Isle of Grain, it's previous history I never took much interest in.

Bosch Buster had a new built barrel the 18inch barrel that still exist is possibly the one you are talking about.

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The  18"  gun  preserved  at  Fort  Nelson  is  not  on  a  true  railway  gun  carriage.

It  is  on  a  test  mounting,  these  were  used  at  the  ranges  to  mount and  test  fire  different  gun  barrels.

It  is  not  suitable  for  movements  over  the  mainline  railways  and  has  minimal  provision  for  elevation  etc.

 

Pete

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