One wonders who's hands last held this thing when it was "alive and firing". Some young Hitler Youth firing at a Soviet T-34? Or some grey haired old crippled man leaning over a pile of brick rubble? And did the shooter succeed and lived to get away after taking his pot shot? Like they said, it's unknown history must be fascinating but forever lost. It did clean up pretty decent!
(I always soak stuff in White Vinegar, myself-it's slower, but relatively safe!)
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
I'm not too sure Glenn, I did keep the current low as I didn't want to bugger it up so I could always stick it back in the bath for a few more hours. I'll have a think about it over the week, I might have another go at it with the electrolysis. I reckon it looks pretty good the way it is now though, I could always paint it with rust converter and leave it at that, I still think it would look ok.
Won't the rust converter turn it black? Agree with the plan to think about it over the week as there's no need to rush.
And William, I've seen footage of Russian troops using captured 'fausts so there is another possibile scenario.
This is a map of where it was found, in the satellite pic you can see the exact building site where it was unearthed. This is what really appealed to me about it, knowing how close it was found to the Chancellery, I just think it's great!
Amazing! How on earth did you track it down? Ebay?
I wonder myself William! Whats interesting about this one is that it was never fired! It was found with the projectile attached and what appears to be a pretty severe bullet strike to the explosive head. Nothing remains inside the projectile, it is completely inert. I don't know how much luck I'll have getting that into Oz though, that's why I got the bloke to send the tube first, I really wanted that part! I just wonder what happened, was that position overrun? did the defenders there surrender? Did they flee? Or were they killed? I hope not the latter but many were, as were many Russians, so that could well have been the case. We'll never know but just knowing it was there during the dying days of the Third Reich, so close to the Reich Chancellery makes it a fascinating piece to me.
Any way to tell what size launcher this one is? How wide is the tube? 1.3cm , 2.0cm or 2.4cm? These things were used by Alot of troops-even the US used them quite abit. But, chances are, it belonged to some poor sad sack of a Volkssturm fighter or some fanatic HJ dying stupidly for a lost cause.
I think sometimes that the Not knowing of the history of an object can be more fun than knowing. It lets you think about it and wonder without ever really being able to know for sure!
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
Glenn, I have been extremely lucky to have found a bloke with an equally strong fascination with the battle of Berlin as I have. He is in Berlin almost monthly and knows several blokes on various construction sites in the city. That is how I can pinpoint where these things come from, I have spoken to this fella on the phone and he is a genuine collector like us. He is only interested in Berlin though, he doesn't collect anything that hasn't come from there.by Glenn66
I've just put a tape on it mate, it's 50mm (2"), I think it's a panzerfaust 60 judging by the sights. If only it could talk.
Hi Dave, I only have these bits ( trigger & sight ) from a '60' but I still love 'em!
Panzerfaust relic parts
I was thinking of making up a tube just to display them? All of these are pretty thin on the ground here in Oz!
I dig yours better though.
Cheers, Dan
" I'm putting off procrastination until next week "
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