12cm Gr.W 378(r) Russisch Mortar

[Granatwerfer]

Hi Guys

I hope this is the right section to post in.

I have started the restoration of my German captured and used Russian PM-38 12cm mortar. I have started on the breech cup making dummy parts for those that are missing, see before & after attached pictures, I still need to make the fire selector. Sprayed it sand yesterday as I was fed up with the red primer and I was painting other bits sand anyway.

Will post more updates in the future, it will take a while as I have other things to do as well.

Regards

[Granatwerfer]

A couple of months ago I decided to restore the rest of the mortar, which I hope to have finished by the middle of 2017. So far I have restored the baseplate, sad to say could not find any marking due to the amount of rust damage. Have attached some before and after pictures.

Have now made a start on the bipod. Will post more updates as the restoration progresses.

[Granatwerfer]

I have now finished restoring the bipod. This is from a German Gr.W 42 with a repro foot on one leg, not my work came like this, still have the leg chain to do. Have found the makers code, but can not find the piece of paper I wrote it on.

Next is the barrel clamp and recoil section, this is Russian as is the barrel.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Its looking good!

[Granatwerfer]

Since the last update I have finished the barrel clamp/recoil section and the barrel. Hopefully this weekend, with the help of a couple of very good friends, all the different sections will be put together for the first time.

If it all goes well will post a couple of pictures early next week. In the mean time here are some of the recoil unit and barrel.

[Martin Bull]

Pics of our crushed fingers will be posted here at the weekend....

[Granatwerfer]

Well it finally happened today, Martin and another good friend helped me assemble the mortar. It is bigger than I thought it would be, but it does look great. Just some minor paint work needed and a couple other parts need to be made, easier to do now that it is assembled.

Storage is going to be a problem, will have to take it apart again in a couple of months.

Now to find something else to restore as I await parts for the Kettenkrad.

[Martin Bull]

No crushed fingers, fortunately.....make no mistake, this is a large and heavy piece of kit ! Here's a couple of pics of the 'kit of parts', the team at work and the final result, complete with person to give scale......







It was quite a privilege to be able to work on what is a pretty rare piece of WW2 militaria. It's a big, clumsy item and the experience for me added an extra dimension to the well-known images of 12cm mortars in use in the Battle of the Bulge.

[Granatwerfer]

Just a few more pictures to finish this thread off. I have made or have had made by a friend, the leg clamp locking piece and a leather cover for the horizontal adjuster. Not an exact copy of the cover or clamp, but close enough.

Regards

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A fine piece of restoration of a rare weapon!