I received a partial shipment of Strelet's latest round of releases including the Boer War Cresout Long Tom Cannon. Wow, once glued together (it's hard plastic) it makes for the coolest looking cannon in 1/72 scale. I built it Friday and for Saturday and Sunday haven't been able to stop staring at it since. It's just so beautiful looking!

QUESTION FOR STRELETS: Are you going to make a British "Long Cecil" to go with the Boer's "Long Toms"?

The Boers bought 4 Long Toms from a French maker, but the British hand built only a single "Long Cecil."

The British Long Cecil is noticeably shorter and lower. So I plan on making a "Conversion" for the Long Cecil by using the very authentically similar barrel in the ACW Union 30 pdr Parrott set (same release date and shipment). The Long Cecil doesn't have a box design for the trail; it has a left and right side with sets of studs holding them together. So I will use the two sides and bottom piece (for strength) and drill a row of studs along the top of the trail. I may re-drill the wheel's axle holes to lower the whole thing down to more authentic height. Presto.

I highly recommend checking out the "Palmer's Armoury" site for 1:16 Scale reproductions of both guns. All the relevent measurments are there for both guns and some great pictures.

Go to this Link: < www.palmersarmoury.co.za > then Click on "Cannons for Sale" then Click on "The Premium Cannon Collection." Both Long Tom and Long Cecil cannons are there.

If you Google Search "British Long Cecil" you should find one picture of both cannons side by side for comparison. For some reason, I can't find it on the Palmer's Armoury site.

Hope everyone has as much fun as I am. - GC

Dear GarrisonClay,
We don't have such plans at the moment.
Best regards,
Strelets

Dear Strelets,

Thanks for the reply. The British only made one gun, so it really doesn't make much sense to devote a whole set for only one. I agree with you.

But making a "Conversion" does make sense for me. I got one about 1/2 done yesterday using the Union Parrott barrel. Drilled new holes to lower the barrel. A couple of more details and it'll be done. Looks nice so far. For anybody who wants to make a "Long Cecil" I put a link above to a site whose proprietor makes 1/16 scale, highly detailed reproductions of both guns to help see scale differences and really fine details.

Again, your "Long Tom" gun looks absolutely amazing. That was a good choice for producing. Thanks for all of the great new sets!

Yours faithfully - GC

The 75mm Creusot would make a nice counter piece to the British 15pr, and the British 4.7inch to the Boer Long Tom.

Yes, they certainly would. The Strelets WWI British 6 Inch Mk VII Cannon might be a good kit for a conversion in a pinch.

The Improvised field mounts created by Captain Percy Scott for Guns from his ship HMS Terrible would be most appropriate, since it was these guns which effectively neutralised the Boer Long Toms...
4 x 12pdr Naval Guns, these had superior range to the armys regular artillery.
2 x 4.7" on static (they were designed to be repositioned) pintal mounts used at Ladysmith to good effect.
2 x 4.7" on field mounts.(this could be a single kit with a standard pintal mount and improvised field mount ala Percy Scott)

And I belive one 6" on field mount.

Also there were several similar guns on improvised mounts used in the Boxer rebellion(Percy again) and WW1 Gallipoli and Africa, notable the two Peggys from HMS Pegasus and the German guns salvaged from the SMS Konigsberg.

Currently available is the 4.7" gun on Percy Scott field mount in 20mm metal from Jacklex and is not at all expensive, naval crew and ox team is also available... and this would seem to be the best option in the moment.

http://www.spencersmithminiatures.co.uk/html/colonial_wars.html

:wink:

Thank you, Ironsides! Great information. I'm kind of a "purist" which means I wish I could find some soft plastic leftover pieces big enough to make the wooden gun carriage as a conversion.

Cheers! - GC

Granted plastic would be better but its pretty amazing that someone produces the Percy Scott conversion at all... and complete with limber and crew too :wink:

GC, your enthusiasm put a smile on my face... :+1:

How did the kit go together? I bought one and am wondering if there is anything to watch out for? Regards, Pa

Good morning Pa!

This particular cannon is surprisingly simple and goes together well. Because everyone encounters their own, unique challenges with assembly kits, I'll just explain how I did mine and anyone can pick out any details/advice if they like.

Here is how I did it:

1. Wash your sprew with dish detergent before de-sprewing the parts (careful not to wash parts down the drain) (I use a super soft facial beauty brush from the drug store because it won't leave scratches in (soft) plastic.

2. Use sprew cutters and X-acto knife to prep all the parts to trim off sprew connectors and flatten any flash on flat surfaces.

3. I use "Bob Smith Industries" fast dry extra thick glue with disposable flexi-tips (turns a gusher tip into a hypodermic, tiny needle size dispensing hole so you don't overkill the glue drops (More than highly recommended; the tips are essential. I bought a couple of boxes off Amazon.com because they are disposable for each use).

4. At this point, I pressed the barrel and two trail sides together. I did a "trial fit" with the bottom piece of the trail. There are guides cast into the trail halves, but no holes, so - before you use glue, make sure you align the wheel holes on the left and right trail halves with the wheel groove in the bottom piece (this was my first problem I made and had to pry it all apart, reglue and do over).

5. Here, next, I glued the front carriage plate in place (this really helps to square up the cannons over all carriage/trail). I squeezed and held the parts together tightly until the glue held so there are no gaps. Took maybe only 20 seconds with quick dry glue.
Then I fit, then glued the trails top piece in place.

6. Here I used a pin-vise drill to make sure the wheel's axle actually turned. Drill in from the outside to the center. Do this from each side, in to center. The axle is too long so you'll need to shorten it, but leave about 2mm or so for a washer/spacer between the wheel and carriage. You will have to make your own so I used a piece of soft plastic, grey sprew by drilling a hole in it BEORE slicing it off at proper width (you know, like deli meat with a hole already in the center).

7. Here I glued on the two round hand wheels to the trail. I just slightly pushed them into their holes so there would be space between them and the trail for an authentic look. Let them dry.

8. My home-made axle spacers fit snugly onto the axle so put the axle on with both washers on left and right sides, and glue your wheels on. You have to continuously pry, bend, twist each wheel as they dry to keep them true when you spin them.

9. Lastly, glue the gunners platform onto the trail and - Bingo!

Note 1: I bought an extra cannon to make one set up with the barrel laid flat on the trail in the barrel holders for transporting. I've found two photos on Google Images of these things being moved across land and I've just got to have one set up like this!

Note 2: The time it takes to read all this (holy cow GC) will hopefully save everyone some grief. At least you'll have some things to consider before the glue makes changes undoable.

Have fun!

Many thanks for taking your time to write up this very detailed instructions GC, much appreciated. It will come handy when I start that kit. Sure helps avoiding the odd trap, and will be useful to other readers as well. :+1:

Btw Plasticsoldierreview's review of that very set is now online. Regards, Pa

Well for those who want a Long Cecil gun in 1/72 your dream have come true..




More pics:
http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22675&p=248218#p248218

For Crew you can use the figures from Strelets' set "British 15 pdr 7 cwt BL Gun."

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2676