105mm Howitzer Upgrades and Backgrades

For the last several years I have been working on a long term project to repair, upgrade, convert much of my collection.  My Roco 105mm howitzers were greatly in need of attention.  Many were missing parts, many were broken, some had no wheels, few were painted, and some were just piles of parts.

This one had trails that were broken, the little taps the clip into the shied have a tendency to break off, some of them had no tabs at all.  I solved this problem by using clay to hold the shield in position while the trails were glued both to the shield and the other end to a bit of sheet plastic.

I am also back dating some of these to an older style tire.  This is the same type often found on the Interwar French 75s and several other medium guns.

I am removing the small front shield and cutting down the main shield.

Here is the small shield removed.  I try to retain these pieces in case I need them for the next gun!

The shield is cut down.

Here is what it looks like after trimming.  Starting in 1938 the US Army began a massive mechanization project to replace all the wagon wheels on their artillery with pneumatic tires.  They wanted to do it about a decade earlier but the Congress would not spend them money.  Even starting in 1938 by the end of 1941 only about half of the inventory was upgraded.