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37mm at guns?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:21 am
by fullmetaljacket
Hello all i need 37 mm US AT guns for a campaign me JB, Pitfall and several others are planning to start in August any ideas? GHQ doesnt carry any 37mm AT for the US HINT HINT GHQ :) just need some suggestions all thanks and good hunting.

FMJ

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:59 am
by jb
...the closest thing would be the Polish Bofors 37mm AT gun. The trails,wheels,and tube would work. But the gun shield would have to be replaced or reworked with a "flat" type shield. If this is just for the game get a few,I would rather see that than the other degrading quality of where you have to go to get them...

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:15 am
by RoughRIder
From some pics that i have seen on the internet. It looks like the soviet 57mm AT gun looks closer to the United States 37mm AT gun. Just my opion, but would look closer than the polish model. Looks like if you would cut down the barrel a little it would be a close enough match.

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:21 am
by jb
RoughRIder wrote:From some pics that i have seen on the internet. It looks like the soviet 57mm AT gun looks closer to the United States 37mm AT gun. Just my opion, but would look closer than the polish model. Looks like if you would cut down the barrel a little it would be a close enough match.
The gun shield might work,but you have the recoil mechanism above the gun tube,and it looks generally oversized in comparison to a 37...
I was thinking the 37mm Bofors closer in size overall

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:29 am
by RoughRIder
Here is one pic of a U.S 37mm AT http://www.fightingiron.com/Cannon/Cann ... 0234-a.jpg and then off of GHQ site for the soviet 57mm AT http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/r46.html I will let you make up your own mine. :lol:

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:34 am
by jb
yup,the 57's 50% larger.

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:03 pm
by Mk 1
I would recommend you get US 37mm AT guns from one of the overseas (Brit) vendors.

JB is right, they are not nearly as nice at GHQ's stuff. But they look a lot more like a US 37mm than a GHQ Zis-2 or Bofors gun would. If you are picky about the look add some GHQ gun crewmen. No, wait, GHQ doesn't make kneeling gun crews, do they?

Ah, but that's half the fun. No one company makes everything you'll want. You got to explore the world a bit...

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:34 am
by fullmetaljacket
hey all thanks for the advice.

FMJ

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 5:28 am
by 1ComOpsCtr
I do not like to list another manufacturers products on this forum, but there is a European manufacturere that makes a 37mm US AT gun with crew. I have never understood why GHQ has not made the 37mm in their "weapons pack" format (with the crew huddled around like you see in the pictures). While it was not very effective it was what we had early war... H & R makes a 1/300 scale gun with crew.

Will
ComOpsCtr

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:45 am
by jb
From the US Infantry Homepage...Of note is its "success" throughout the Pacific war...
This gun was modeled from a successful German design shortly before World War II. Outmatched by German armor, the 37mm found use in the smaller Pacific Theater. The Japanese tanks were smaller and vulnerable to the 37mm throughout the war. For close antipersonnel fire, a shotgun round was developed. This round was also useful in opening jungle undergrowth to clear fields of fire and flush out enemy snipers. The 37mm was operated by a crew of 4 with an effective antitank range of 500 meters.

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 10:57 am
by tstockton
If I may, one post to respond to two previous posts...

JB -- thank you for that information about the use of the 37mm AT gun in the Pacific Theatre! One thing I absolutely love about this site is the way "everything" gets all mixed together -- the modeling aspect, the historical aspect, the gaming aspect... looking at rules sets, scenarios, TO&E's, "how-to's" on modeling, and especially seeing pictures of models and games and "what-not" posted... OUTSTANDING!

Will -- In my opinion (which may well be way off base... :oops: ) -- GHQ's lack of a U.S. 37mm AT gun is simply the fact that "they just haven't gotten to it yet". I would imagine the same would be true for nearly every model that is not currently in their line. Give them long enough... and they'll make a model of it!

Personally, I'm waiting for GHQ to model my two favorite tanks -- the American M-103 heavy tank of the early 50's, and the Swedish "S" tank. I realize that both are rather "niche" vehicles... but (again, in my opinion) the two "coolest looking" tanks ever built! And I know that when GHQ does get around to modeling them -- they'll be done right!!

Regards,
Tom Stockton

Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:49 am
by Donald M. Scheef
I suggest that you get a pack of G-56 - Support Weapons - WWII German. This contains four of the 3.7 cm PaK. Basically, this is the same weapon as the US 37 mm anti-tank gun. The German gun shield is different in shape, but this can be ignored at 1/285 scale (or, if you are ambitous, cut off and replaced with card stock or such in the US shape). Be sure to remove the hollow-charge grenade from the two German guns that have this - nothing like this was used on the US 37 mm.

D. Scheef

Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:45 am
by jb
Donald M. Scheef wrote:I suggest that you get a pack of G-56 - Support Weapons - WWII German. This contains four of the 3.7 cm PaK. Basically, this is the same weapon as the US 37 mm anti-tank gun. The German gun shield is different in shape, but this can be ignored at 1/285 scale (or, if you are ambitous, cut off and replaced with card stock or such in the US shape). Be sure to remove the hollow-charge grenade from the two German guns that have this - nothing like this was used on the US 37 mm.

D. Scheef
By God sir! You are correct. Those could easily be turned into the "terror" of Tunisia....

Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:23 am
by Mk 1
Donald M. Scheef said:
I suggest that you get a pack of G-56 - Support Weapons - WWII German. This contains four of the 3.7 cm PaK. Basically, this is the same weapon as the US 37 mm anti-tank gun. The German gun shield is different in shape, but this can be ignored at 1/285 scale (or, if you are ambitous, cut off and replaced with card stock or such in the US shape). Be sure to remove the hollow-charge grenade from the two German guns that have this - nothing like this was used on the US 37 mm.
I would strongly disagree.

Contrary to popular belief (and more than a few histories), the U.S. 37mm cannon was NOT a copy of the German gun. It may well have been inspired by the German gun, and perhaps even developed from the German gun. But it was not a copy.

It fired a different cartridge. (The German gun fired a 37mm x 249r tapered cartridge, while the US gun fired a 37mm x 223r necked cartridge of greater capacity.) As a result of the differences in cartridge it had a different breech. It had a notably longer barrel. The shield of the German gun was tall, tapered in from the sides, and was sloped, while the US gun had a short, wide, rectangular and vertical shield. In appearance it hardly resembles the German gun in any way, other than that it is a relatively small, split-trailed gun with a shield.

To wit:

Image
The U.S. Gun, Anti-Tank, 37mm, M3

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The German 37mm PAK35/36.

Nope, I can't see using one as the other if I have any choice, even at this scale. I prefer to mix manufacturers, than to call a Me-109 a P-51.

Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:12 am
by jb
Mk 1 wrote:
Donald M. Scheef said:
I suggest that you get a pack of G-56 - Support Weapons - WWII German. This contains four of the 3.7 cm PaK. Basically, this is the same weapon as the US 37 mm anti-tank gun. The German gun shield is different in shape, but this can be ignored at 1/285 scale (or, if you are ambitous, cut off and replaced with card stock or such in the US shape). Be sure to remove the hollow-charge grenade from the two German guns that have this - nothing like this was used on the US 37 mm.
I would strongly disagree.

Contrary to popular belief (and more than a few histories), the U.S. 37mm cannon was NOT a copy of the German gun. It may well have been inspired by the German gun, and perhaps even developed from the German gun. But it was not a copy.

It fired a different cartridge. (The German gun fired a 37mm x 249r tapered cartridge, while the US gun fired a 37mm x 223r necked cartridge of greater capacity.) As a result of the differences in cartridge it had a different breech. It had a notably longer barrel. The shield of the German gun was tall, tapered in from the sides, and was sloped, while the US gun had a short, wide, rectangular and vertical shield. In appearance it hardly resembles the German gun in any way, other than that it is a relatively small, split-trailed gun with a shield.

To wit:

Image
The U.S. Gun, Anti-Tank, 37mm, M3

Image
The German 37mm PAK35/36.

Nope, I can't see using one as the other if I have any choice, even at this scale. I prefer to mix manufacturers, than to call a Me-109 a P-51.
...I know I had some of those German things laying about from 25 years ago. I snipped off the curved gunshield and fashioned one from left over brass from GHQ rotor blades. I don't think it takes any imagination to tell its a US 37mm ATG...Thanks for the idea Donald BTW everything here is GHQ,ironic.Isn't it!
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